The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has suffered years of chronic insecurity and fighting between armed groups and the national Congolese army. As a result, the population has been forced to flee repeatedly from the violence and looting in many areas of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. These internally displaced persons (IDP IDP: Internally displaced persons are "persons or groups who have been forced or were forced to flee or leave their homes or places of habitual residence, by reason of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict , situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural disasters or man, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state. "(Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, Introduction, para. 2) (Ref.: IDMC)) take refuge in camps or with host families in more stable areas.
The Humanitarian Community is facing a severe challenge in assisting these displaced persons. In addition to the many pockets of insecurity which make areas of Eastern Congo inaccessible to agencies, physical access to reach vulnerable populations is exceedingly difficult because the roads, where they exist, are in very bad condition. Additionally the quality of the demographic and socio-economic data are uneven between the different provinces of DRC. This results in a situation where inconsistent data can be either purposefully or accidentally misused and misunderstood in determining the situation and the necessary actions.
The information received specifically on the IDPs came from multiple sources and is often of unknown reliability. This data was difficult for the humanitarian community to use for statistics or analysis which left them without the information to take good and strategic decisions...