DRAFT

Please send any comments on the draft terms of reference to secretariat@icva.ch..

During the NGO-UNHCR Pre-EXCOM Consultations in 2000, several NGOs decided that there was a need to create a reference group on IDPs that would focus on the work of the UN's Senior Inter-Agency Network on IDPs.

The NGO Reference Group on IDPs has provided an informal forum for NGOs from all three umbrella groups to discuss their role and involvement in the work of the Senior Network. A new Internal Displacement Unit is being created within the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and is to be operational as of 1 January 2002. As a result, the focus of the Reference Group could, accordingly, shift its focus to follow the work of the Internal Displacement Unit, as well as the Senior Network (should it continue to exist). Formal communications and reporting on the work of the unit among NGOs will continue through the regular IASC Working Group channels.

The NGO Reference Group would continue to work mainly through e-mail communications. Participation in the Reference Group is open to NGOs working to alleviate the plight of IDPs and who have an interest in institutional and protection issues.

It would carry out the following tasks:

• Act as a resource for the Unit, as a whole, which can be approached with issues and problems of mutual concern to the Unit and the NGO community;
• Facilitate NGO input and suggestions to the work of the Unit;
• Organise and facilitate the involvement of NGOs in any field-based activities, such as country missions, training activities, etc;
• Ensure consultation and participation in the evaluation of the Unit, which is to take place one year after the Unit's creation
• Engage with other actors in the UN and humanitarian system to work towards an improved response and better protection of IDPs; and
• Discuss the future direction of work of the NGO Reference Group, for example in relation to other IDP situations, which will not be reviewed by the Unit.