Measuring Separation in Emergencies: Community-based monitoring in rural Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia

The Measuring Separation in Emergencies (MSiE) project is an interagency initiative under the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, funded by the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and coordinated by Save the Children in partnership with Columbia University.

The overall aim of the MSiE project is to strengthen emergency response programmes for unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) through the development of practical, field-tested methods to enhance the assessment of the scale and nature of separation in emergencies. 

Three methods for measuring separation in emergencies are currently being explored:

1. Projection method
2. Population-based estimation method
3. Community-based surveillance method

This report focuses primarily on the community-based monitoring approach, developed by Columbia University, and the field testing of this approach in the Tigray region of Ethiopia from June to December 2016. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Ethiopia hosted the pilot research with the support of Save the Children.