When violence forces you to flee your home, where do you go?
For millions of people around the world escaping danger doesn’t mean crossing a border. Many cannot leave their country or reach an official refugee camp. Instead, they run to the nearest place of safety they can find.
This is where the term Internally Displaced Person (or IDP) becomes so important.
What is an Internally Displaced Person (IDP)?
An Internally Displaced Person is someone who has been forced to flee their home because of conflict, violence or disaster but remains within their own country.
They haven’t crossed a national border, so they’re not considered refugees.
Instead, they are displaced within their own country — often with very few options for safe shelter.
Your gift can help families living in IDP camps access food, water and essential supplies.
Where do IDPs go?
Many internally displaced people find shelter in Internally Displaced Persons camps (IDP camps). These are temporary settlements that grow quickly when families flee with nowhere else to stay.
IDP camps often form because:
- communities become unsafe overnight
- homes are destroyed or abandoned
- families have little time to escape
- conflict and collapsed services leave people with no alternatives
Why families become internally displaced
Every family’s story is different. But common reasons include:
- Escaping nearby conflict
When armed groups approach, families flee to protect their lives.
- Losing their homes
Villages may be burned, looted or become too dangerous to live in.
- Lack of food, water and income
Conflict destroys farmland, markets and access to essentials.
- Nowhere else to go
For many, an IDP camp is the only available place of safety.
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Chance's story
When armed conflict swept through her community in the DRC, Chance gathered her children and fled through the night. She left behind her home, her shop and her husband, whom she has not seen since.
Today, Chance has found safety in a displacement camp. But shelters are fragile, food is limited and her family faces the threat of deadly disease.
What are conditions like in an IDP camp?
Life in an IDP camp is extremely challenging. Families face:
- overcrowded shelters
- limited food supplies
- frequent illness
- very little privacy or protection
- uncertainty about the future
Parents describe the worry of wondering how to feed their children. Despite being resourceful and brave, they’re placed in situations beyond their control – unsure how long they will need to stay and whether it will ever be safe to return home.
How Christian Aid supports internally displaced families
Christian Aid works with trusted local partners like ECC-MERU to support families living in displacement camps.
One of the most effective ways we help is through cash assistance. Offering financial assistance means people can prioritise their own specific needs and decide how to meet them. Many choose to buy ingredients that will guard their family from malnutrition. Others opt to replace left-behind bedding and blankets for their children – helping to make temporary shelters feel a little more homely. With medication beyond the budget of many households, some choose to buy lifesaving malaria treatment.
Some communities even pool their grants to grow crops, access drinking water or rebuild essential resources together.
This support brings choice and dignity to people who've lost so much.
Your support can fund cash grants, provide urgent essentials and offer hope to families starting again after conflict.
