Cabo Delgado, a province in Northern Mozambique, is among the country’s worst-off in terms of multidimensional poverty. Following attacks of terrorist groups in 2017, the province also suffered from destruction, instability, and socio-economic vulnerability. As of January 2024, an estimated 542,535 IDPs are hosted across the 16 provincial districts next to an additional 601,866 returnees (i.e. return IDPs, source).
Of those, an estimated 130,000 IDPs reside in the city of Pemba, making up one third of the urban population and contributing to a rapid expansion of the city since 2019. The influx of people into the Pemba urban area has had a number of effects, including putting strain on the housing and labour markets and increased food insecurity, as well as challenging local authorities to respond to the situation. Against this background, in 2023 UN-Habitat Mozambique reached out to JIPS to support a joint urban profiling of the displacement context in Pemba city.