New Call Centre for Displaced Communities

IDPs and affected communities will be able to seek information about humanitarian aid, request assistance, and provide confidential feedback on the humanitarian agencies’ services and outreach activities.

Jane Pearce, WFP Iraq Country Director, said:

“First and foremost, the call centre serves as a quick and easy way for IDPs to find out about how the humanitarian community can help. But more importantly, it offers us a chance to connect to, and better understand, the people we serve.

“Through the participation and feedback of IDPs in listening exercises and consultations, we are able to tailor the type of assistance we provide. The affected populations thus become stakeholders in the assistance process, and the humanitarian community more accountable to them”.

Following a successful pilot in July 2015 in Erbil Governorate, the information centre is now operational across Iraq and can be reached via any Iraqi mobile phone by dialling 6999.

“The IDP Information Centre represents a truly cooperative effort among humanitarian agencies”, said Kareem Elbayar, UNOPS Programme Manager. “UNOPS established and operates the information centre through the financial contributions of UNHCR, WFP, and OCHA; in-kind support has been provided by IOM. Most importantly, the information we give to callers is provided and regularly updated by dozens of NGOs and UN agencies working through the humanitarian cluster system in Iraq”.

The IDP Information Centre is currently open from 8:30a – 5:30p Sunday through Thursday, but plans are in place to extend the working hours and add additional operators as needed.

For additional information about the IDP Information Centre, please contact:

· Gemma Woods, Protection Officer, UNHCR
[email protected] or (+964) 0771 994 5695

· Bathoul Ahmed, Associate Public Information officer, UNHCR
[email protected] or 0044 7443 121235

· Kareem Elbayar, Programme Manager, UNOPS
[email protected] or +964 751 014 9245

· Mohammed Al Bahbahani, Communications Officer, WFP
[email protected] or +964 780 929 9962

(Source: UN)

(Call centre image via Shutterstock)