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No way home

83.4 million reasons to act on internal displacement

May 13^th, 2025

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The latest report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) shows 83.4 million people are internally displaced by conflict or disaster.

Internal displacement has risen 10 percent in just one year. By the end of 2024, climate disasters alone triggered 45.8 million displacements. Floods, storms, and conflict increasingly intersect to drive people from their homes. Behind every number is a person; a parent without work, a child out of school, an elderly person without shelter. UNDP works with governments to help rebuild lives and communities.

Fragility fuels displacement

Over 80 percent of internally displaced persons live in fragile settings, and most of the hardest-hit countries rank low on the Human Development Index. These countries face major financial obstacles. Developing nations have a US$4 trillion annual investment gap to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, including support for displaced people.

Too often, responses to displacement stop at emergency aid. UNDP’s approach goes beyond humanitarian action by supporting recovery, rebuilding systems, creating jobs, and addressing root causes.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Strength in crisis

Francine fled violence in North Kivu several times.

“We have nothing left. Our fields have been ransacked or are occupied by others.”

In overcrowded camps, she and other women started a microloan group. Their “Our Interest” committee now has nearly 400 members starting small businesses and saving together.

“We decided to help each other start up again, even while we were in the camps. With the little we had, we started selling small things and saving little by little."

Francine is one of nearly 7 million people in DRC who have been uprooted. Communities are under pressure, economies are devastated and health risks are rising.

Unlike humanitarian agencies that provide immediate relief, UNDP focuses on recovery by restoring critical infrastructure, creating jobs, strengthening health systems to combat epidemics, and supporting survivors of sexual violence.

Photo: UNDP Democratic Republic of the Congo

Sudan: Recovery can’t wait

Two years into conflict, Sudan faces the world’s largest displacement crisis. Over 11 million people have been uprooted, and public services have collapsed. Yet in areas like Khartoum, signs of stability are emerging, and people are beginning to return.

To support recovery, development efforts must focus on rebuilding national systems; clearing mines and debris, restoring water, electricity and healthcare, creating jobs, and expanding financial access. These are cost-effective, high-impact investments.

UNDP is helping lay the groundwork. In River Nile, we support farmers switching from diesel to solar-powered irrigation. In Kessala and Gedaref, women are launching small businesses through savings and loan groups.

In Omdurman, women-led kitchens are feeding hope. With UNDP support, community kitchens have delivered over 7 million hot meals and are a model of local leadership that meets urgent needs and strengthens communities.

“Now is the time for scaled-up recovery investments that restore hope, prevent relapse into conflict, and build the foundations for Sudan’s future.”

-Luca Renda, Resident Representative, UNDP Sudan

Ukraine: “We’ve been reborn.”

In Ukraine, with the government and development partners, UNDP is helping restore jobs, housing, and essential services. In 13 municipalities, displaced families are receiving shelter and support to restart their lives.

Digital innovation is helping 1.4 million people use the Diia e-service, supported by UNDP and Sweden, to register as displaced, access digital identification, and received cash transfers, even during blackouts.

UNDP is also driving economic recovery initiatives with partners such as Germany.

After losing everything twice, first in Crimea in 2014 and then in Melitopol in 2022, Anastasia Serova, relocated her business to Lviv. The company specializes in the manufacture of safety glass for cars.

“We call our business the Phoenix. We’ve been reborn.”

-Anastasia Serova

Now the company now employs 87 displaced women, has doubled its sales and gained critical infrastructure.

Lebanon: “Strangers in our own country.”

In southern Lebanon, villages like Dhaira lie in ruins.

“We feel like strangers in our own country. Without this job, I wouldn’t have had the means to support my family."

-Nader, a displaced farmer working in Tyre through a UNDP emergency employment scheme.

Abdallah Safieddine, lost businesses built over decades.

“Our building was reduced to rubble in the blink of an eye. We’ve lost everything we spent our whole lives working for. These shops are the livelihoods of our families.”

Others, like Khodr, saw their livelihoods vanish overnight, which has devastating ripple effects on communities. With UNDP support to the government, infrastructure repairs have begun, and small businesses and farmers will be supported as they start over.

Afghanistan: Impact for women

In Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan, over 193,000 returnees are rebuilding. UNDP is providing temporary incomes through cash-for-work programmes, building water supply networks, roads, and forestation projects to protect against floods. Support to small enterprises has created permanent jobs, while solar energy is now electrifying nearly returnee shelters.

In 2024, a US$4 million seed investment from UNDP’s core donors unlocked more than $34 million from the EU and Japan to boost women’s socio-economic empowerment. It supported 80,000 women-led businesses, created 400,000 jobs, and reached 2.7 million people.

Through digital training, solar energy for small businesses, and community savings groups, women are overcoming mobility restrictions and building resilient futures. Earnings have doubled.

“Every dollar invested in disaster risk reduction saves four dollars in future humanitarian aid. Investing in prevention is far more cost-effective than responding to disasters.”

-Anatoly Balavnev, Area Manager, UNDP Afghanistan

Development from day one

Displacement undermines peace and stability far beyond where it begins. New ways of working are needed to support governments to deliver sustainable solutions to their displaced citizens.

Since 2020, UNDP has invested over $3 billion in displaced people and host communities. We help countries bridge humanitarian aid with long-term recovery by restoring services, jobs, governance, and resilience to climate shocks.

As co-lead of the Global Solutions Hub, UNDP unites humanitarian, development, and peace actors to deliver scalable solutions. We support UN Resident Coordinators from day one to align crisis response with long-term development.

The time to act

Francine’s decision to start a microloan business in a displacement camp in precarious and often dangerous conditions, when absolutely everything she owned had been stripped away, is a remarkable act of resistance.

“Our homes and businesses have been burned. But we are not giving up. We will continue to help each other to try to rebuild our lives."

-Francine

UNDP is matching that resilience, backed by our global network of partners and donors, so that wherever people are displaced, they can rebuild lives of dignity, safety and opportunity.