Settlement Based Assessment (SBA) ABA Ajdabiya August 2022 – Libya

ABSTRACT This settlement-based assessment (SBA) was conducted in Ajdabiya, a city with an estimated Libyan population of about 140,000, of which about 12,000 are internally displaced persons (IDPs)1 and an additional about 36,000 refugees and migrants.2 Located in Cyrenaica to the East (see Map 1), Ajdabia connects East and West and, due to its location, is historically known as a hub for internally displaced persons from both East and West when waves of conflict erupt. In addition, Ajdabiya is also a central transit hub for northern migration routes from the Egyptian and Sudanese borders, connecting the migration routes to the coastal cities of Tripoli and Benghazi and beyond.

Despite Ajdabia’s central role as a host for internally displaced persons, refugees and migrants, international actors still face a number of information gaps. Most of all, they lack information needed to understand not only the needs of IDPs, IDPs, refugees and migrants in Ajdabia, but also the capacities and gaps of service providers and local social cohesion dynamics. For actors seeking to address their needs in the context of protracted urban conflict, it is essential to understand the local dynamics of formal and informal local stakeholders and population groups in order to provide conflict-sensitive assistance. Lack of information and understanding of particularly informal stakeholders and systems may otherwise hinder effective local initiatives and solutions.6 REACH therefore developed this assessment in close collaboration with members of the Nexus Working Group (NWG) and Ajdabia Municipal Council to fill current identified information gaps on key services, livelihoods, social cohesion as well as migration to support future planned interventions and development plans. Information gaps were identified through rounds of preliminary interviews and secondary document review.

This assessment covers the Baladiya (Libya’s third administrative division) of Ajdabiya, covering all 7 muhallas (Libya’s fourth administrative division) in the city, through cluster sampling of suburban Sultan El Janoubi and El Chamali, as well as Zuitina and the urban muhallas in the center of Ajdabiya: Ajdabiya Charqiya, Aljanubiyya, Chamaliya and Al Gharbiya (see Map 1). Within these mohals, 37 neighborhoods (Libya’s fifth unofficial administrative division) were identified. The evaluation was a mixed-methods study in which both Libyan and refugee and migrant groups were targeted in the quantitative and qualitative data collection process. Primary data collection took place between late December 2021 and early March 2022. In total, the assessment included 385 individual interviews with Libyans (50% male and 50% female), 200 individual interviews with migrants (90% male and 10% women), 44 key informant interviews (KIIs) and 9 focus group discussions (FGDs).