spotlight 3 Figure 8 | Impact of movement restrictions on the protection of communities in the Central Sahel | 2024 99 89% Food as the highest priority need* 68% 73% Dangerous places and activities for women and girls** 37% 58% Limited access to health services** 49% 52% No access to primary school* 23% 49% Feeling of insecurity** 17% 42% Limited access to lands* 31% 33% Protection incidents within the community* 21% 21% Fragile social cohesion* 11% 0 25 50 Areas of less movement restrictions Children’s education was also severely disrupted. In many areas of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, onethird of communities reported that children do not have access to formal schooling. Access to basic services was also reported as critically low: twothirds of communities needed more food and half had limited access to healthcare. The impact of these reported risks has been more pronounced for those communities with greater movement restrictions. Advancing protection and local solutions in the Sahel: opportunities for engagement In the Central Sahel, strong community-based protection initiatives have offered valuable entry points for humanitarian, development and peacebuilding actors to jointly support forcibly displaced people. In Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the forcibly displaced households that were surveyed by Project 21 in 2024 reported a strong sense of cohesion: 91 per cent said they felt 75 100 Areas of more movement restrictions integrated into the host community and 82 per cent reported good intercommunity relations. Additionally, eight in ten respondents confirmed the presence of community-based conflict management mechanisms and nearly six in ten considered these mechanisms to be effective. Communities have highlighted their willingness to continue their remarkable hospitality and solidarity. Examples of this hospitality are clear in respondents’ answers: one-third of the displaced families reported being hosted by a local family. Community-level respondents surveyed by Project 21 suggested that there could be greater focus on providing self-reliance and socio-economic opportunities. Throughout the Central Sahel, the lack of livelihood opportunities is consistently perceived as one of the main risks to social cohesion. Countries across the Sahel have also maintained favourable asylum policies and have aligned their 99 All indicators are based on Project 21 data. Areas of more or less movement restrictions refer to the admin 2 level areas where more or less than 50 per cent of respondents declared that they are subject to movement restrictions. *indicators are based on the data collected from key informants; **indicators are based on the data collected at the household level. UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2024 27