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The text aims to assess the socio-economic conditions of IDPs during the year 2021. Based on questionnaire surveys and field observation, it is observed that the armed conflict has had a negative impact on social relations in the North of Cabo Delgado, affecting different social groups. The data reveals a significant worsening in housing conditions, access to natural resources and conditions of production, making the population largely dependent on humanitarian aid. The high concentration of displaced populations along the Pemba-Montepuez axis has ensured greater proximity to public infrastructure and services, increasing demand on already highly saturated services. The war, forced displacement and the COVID-19 prevention measures had a negative impact on education services, affecting hundreds of thousands of young people and compromising the socio-professional integration of an entire generation.

The displacement of populations reflected the existing social inequalities in the province. Families with greater social or financial capital (including small entrepreneurs, civil servants or pensioners) were able to sponsor the relocation of the extended family to southern areas, as well as access to agricultural land. The population with fewer resources concentrated in the most insecure areas or in temporary, highly densified centres, with greater difficulty of access to natural resources and more dependent on humanitarian aid. In the north of the province the populations remained restricted in their access to public services and humanitarian aid. Limited in its assistance to the most insecure areas, humanitarian aid has reproduced existing …