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Communities living in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continue to suffer from an acute and complex humanitarian crisis. Due to the increased insecurity affecting the region these past several years, DRC has become the African country which hosts the most internally displaced persons (IDPs)- who now number over 5 million. The brunt of displacement is often left to host communities who are the de facto front-liners of this situation. Including them in the humanitarian response must be made a priority.

Displacement associated with disasters and the effects of climate change is one of today’s most serious humanitarian and development issue. In the first half of 2020 alone, disasters triggered 9.8 million new displacements, and most were linked to weather-related hazards such as storms, floods and droughts. In northwest Syria, extreme flooding events are devastating families already reeling from ten years of violence conflict, displacement, economic ruin, and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Described as a Ground Zero for climate change by the United Nations, the Sahel region hosts some of the most vulnerable populations in the world. Yet climate change is just one of the many challenges Sahelians’ are forced to contend with. The combination of climate change further compounded by the spread of COVID-19 and the measures taken to fight it, act as threat multipliers in some of the most crisis-affected communities globally.

The WASH Severity Classification is a set of tools and protocols designed to enable analysts from humanitarian and development organizations to measure the severity of WASH conditions across various crises and time- through an evidence-based approach that uses recognized standards.