Learning from Lesbos

Learning from Lesbos 

4

Executive Summary  

(continued)

Findings

The findings and recommendations in this report 

look for ways to overcome the challenges and 

leverage the opportunities arising from humanitarian 

operations in urban areas, bringing benefits for both 

displaced populations and the communities in which 

they reside. The main findings, in summary, are:

1 

The IRC’s early engagement with the 

Municipality of Lesbos led to mutual benefits 

in the immediate term, and was approached with a 

view to ensuring positive long-term impact as well.

2 

Working with the existing urban  

systems of Lesbos – both public and private –  

to deliver humanitarian programming proved 

particularly effective. Where existing systems 

were inadequate or appeared to be operating 

in ways that were problematic, the IRC sought 

to engage in ways that addressed gaps and 

ameliorated or mitigated problematic practices. 

3 

A more coordinated approach, in which 

organisations and individuals engaged in the 

humanitarian response – including volunteers and 

civil society actors – were more willing to recognise 

one another, and to ensure complementarity in 

the diverse activities taking place, would have 

improved the prioritisation of efforts and 

the effectiveness of the response. 

4 

Despite the fractured nature of the response, 

the IRC managed to build relationships with 

actors at all levels of the response (from private 

individuals through to municipal authorities).  

These relationships proved critical to efforts 

to magnify the impact of the IRC’s activities. 

5 

Purposeful and ongoing engagement 

and advocacy with the local population, 

particularly in Molyvos, would have 

strengthened the IRC’s response. 

6 

Tensions between host and hosted  

populations were exacerbated by a lack of 

reliable, accessible and relevant information. 

Rumours and misinformation circulated unchecked, 

undermining social cohesion, and leading to suspicion, 

strained relationships, poor prioritisation and use of 

scarce resources and even unsafe decision-making.

below: Discarded life jackets in northern Lesbos, each representing 

a refugee or migrant that arrived on the island’s shores. 

Tyler Jump/IRC

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Learning from Lesbos 

5

Recommendations

1 

Accountability to host populations 

needs to be strengthened.  

In order to better achieve this, 

humanitarian actors should engage 

with local authorities early in their 

emergency response and ensure 

that this engagement is ongoing 

throughout the operation.

2 

Humanitarian actors responding to 

urban crises must strive to achieve 

effective coordination, which 

includes local authorities, local  

non-governmental organisations 

(NGOs), communities, and volunteer 

groups. Establishing and maintaining 

meaningful partnerships between 

these various stakeholders will 

generate stronger and longer-lasting 

benefits for affected populations. 

3 

Meaningful participation of local 

communities is essential. In addition 

to the fact that affected communities 

– host as well as hosted – have 

the right to be consulted and to 

take part in activities that affect 

them, participation that leverages 

local capacities has been shown 

to increase the effectiveness and 

appropriateness of humanitarian 

response. Active engagement of 

local people can also be expected 

to contribute to improving social 

cohesion, not least between 

displaced and host populations. 

When interacting with the local 

community, humanitarian actors 

should provide timely information, 

manage expectations, and promote 

transparency on behalf of the  

NGO sectors. 

4 

Humanitarian actors should prioritise 

the use of existing urban service 

delivery mechanisms wherever 

possible and appropriate, rather than 

engaging in direct service delivery. 

Ideally, humanitarian organisations 

should look for ways to strengthen 

local systems where these are weak, 

to identify gaps and advocate for 

local solutions to address them, and 

to undertake direct service delivery 

only as a last resort, ideally while 

working to put in place a more 

sustainable, locally led solution. 

left: A Syrian boy in the Kara Tepe refugee transit site on Lesbos.

Kulsoom Rizvi/IRC

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Learning from Lesbos 

6

Executive Summary  

(continued)

Monthly Refugee Arrivals on Lesbos

October 

November 

January 2016

December 

September 2015

February 

Resident population of Mytilene

municipal community

March 

Resident population of Molyvos 

(Mithymnia) municipal community

sources:   Refugee arrival figures from Hellenic Police  

and Hellenic Coastguard, quoted in UNHCR, 

“Lesvos data snapshot,” 30 March, 2016

 

Resident population figures from  

Hellenic Statistical Authority,  

“Population census: permanent  

residential population,” 2011  

 http://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/1210503/

resident_population_census2011rev.xls (in Greek)

 

Figures given in full in Annex C.

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