Refugee and IDP Protection Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Protection Officers, Programme Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-HR-065

Before you join: Participants should have basic experience in humanitarian, development, social services, migration, displacement or emergency programme delivery.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Refugees and internally displaced persons face risks that often persist after immediate lifesaving assistance is available: refoulement, family separation, gender-based violence, child protection concerns, insecure tenure, missing documentation, restricted movement and exclusion from essential services. Protection staff must turn legal standards and community concerns into safe case responses, referral pathways, programme adjustments and evidence-based advocacy. Poorly designed assistance can increase exposure to harm, disclose sensitive information or exclude people with specific needs.

This course equips participants to analyse protection risks affecting refugees, asylum seekers and IDPs; apply international and regional protection standards; and integrate protection measures into humanitarian programmes. Participants examine the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the Kampala Convention, IASC protection policy and the Core Humanitarian Standard. They learn to conduct participatory assessments, map risks and services, manage referrals, apply survivor-centred approaches, protect data and monitor whether protection outcomes are improving.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with humanitarian case work, group analysis, scenario-based decision making and structured application planning. Cases reflect displacement settings such as urban asylum systems, camp and settlement operations, conflict-driven internal displacement, disaster displacement and return areas. Participants leave with a practical protection analysis pack containing a risk matrix, referral pathway, protection mainstreaming checklist, data-sharing protocol and 90-day action plan for their role.

The course is suited to humanitarian, development and public-sector personnel who already work with displaced populations or manage programmes that affect them. It is particularly relevant where teams need clearer protection responsibilities, stronger referral practice and better evidence for coordination and advocacy.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply refugee and IDP legal definitions, protection principles and non-refoulement obligations to operational decisions
  • Conduct a protection risk analysis using threat, vulnerability and capacity analysis
  • Design participatory protection assessments using age, gender and diversity analysis
  • Integrate protection mainstreaming measures into cash, shelter, WASH and food assistance
  • Develop safe referral pathways using consent, confidentiality and service eligibility criteria
  • Apply survivor-centred approaches to GBV, child protection and sensitive case referrals
  • Create data responsibility protocols for collecting, sharing, retaining and disposing of protection information
  • Build a protection monitoring and advocacy plan with indicators, triggers and accountable actions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible protection decisions using recognised legal and humanitarian standards
  • Identify protection risks before assistance activities create unintended harm
  • Handle sensitive referrals with clearer consent, confidentiality and follow-up arrangements
  • Contribute more effectively to Protection Cluster and interagency coordination discussions
  • Build a role-specific action plan for improving protection practice after the course

For your organisation

  • Reduce protection risks created by poorly designed aid delivery and information handling
  • Improve referral quality between humanitarian services, authorities and community structures
  • Strengthen programme accountability to refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons
  • Produce clearer protection evidence for donor reporting, coordination and advocacy
  • Increase consistency between sector activities, protection policy and field-level decision making

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish displacement categories and apply core legal protections to operational decisions.

  • 1951 Refugee Convention definition, exclusion clauses and non-refoulement obligations
  • 1967 Protocol, regional instruments and complementary protection pathways
  • Distinguishing refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, stateless persons and migrants
  • Internal displacement under the UN Guiding Principles framework
  • Applying the Kampala Convention to African displacement responsibilities
  • Legal status mapping through country-specific asylum and nationality rules

Participants can apply humanitarian principles, agency mandates and accountability duties when planning protection action.

  • Humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence tested against operational decisions
  • Protection risks analysed through threat, vulnerability and capacity
  • ICRC protection approach: responsive, remedial and environment-building actions
  • Agency mandates, duty bearers and coordination accountabilities mapped clearly
  • Do No Harm analysis for assistance and protection choices
  • Community participation structures that include marginalised displacement-affected groups

Participants can collect and analyse protection information to prioritise risks and affected groups.

  • Protection Analytical Framework used to structure multi-sector risk analysis
  • Age, gender and diversity analysis disaggregated by relevant factors
  • Participatory assessment methods, including separate discussions and key informant interviews
  • Safety audits identify exposure points in sites and settlements
  • Severity scoring prioritises risks by scale, gravity and affected population
  • Secondary data review validates findings against displacement monitoring sources

Participants can integrate safety, dignity, access and accountability measures into sector programmes.

  • Protection mainstreaming: safety, dignity, accountability and meaningful access
  • Safe service mapping identifies referral barriers and exclusion patterns
  • Cash assistance risk analysis addresses control, diversion and intimate-partner violence
  • WASH, shelter and food distributions redesigned using protection findings
  • Feedback and complaints mechanisms meet confidentiality and accessibility requirements
  • Protection integration indicators included in sector workplans and monitoring

Participants can establish safe referral processes for people requiring specialised protection support.

  • Case management steps: identification, assessment, action planning, referral and closure
  • Best Interests Procedure distinguishes assessment, determination and follow-up requirements
  • Referral pathways define consent, focal points, service criteria and feedback
  • Survivor-centred GBV response applies safety, confidentiality, respect and nondiscrimination
  • Child protection case management follows CPMS principles and safeguards
  • Information-sharing protocols set minimum necessary data and access controls

Participants can identify legal and administrative barriers affecting displaced people's rights and access.

  • HLP assessment identifies tenure types, documentation gaps and eviction threats
  • Forced eviction safeguards assessed against due process and consultation standards
  • Property restitution options examined after conflict, disaster and displacement
  • Legal identity barriers affecting registration, movement, work and services
  • Documentation support plans address civil records and nationality procedures
  • Camp coordination decisions consider freedom of movement and site closure

Participants can assess durable solutions options against rights, safety and informed choice criteria.

  • Durable solutions framework assesses safety, livelihoods, housing and participation
  • Voluntary repatriation conditions tested against informed choice and reintegration support
  • Local integration analysis examines legal status, services and social cohesion
  • Resettlement referrals prioritised through vulnerability assessments and protection thresholds
  • Return monitoring tracks rights, security and access after displacement
  • IDP solutions linked to national responsibility and development planning

Participants can manage protection information safely and respond appropriately to sensitive complaints.

  • Data responsibility principles applied to collection, storage, sharing and retention
  • Informed consent distinguishes service consent from data-sharing permission
  • Data minimisation reduces exposure from unnecessary sensitive information collection
  • Incident reporting pathways preserve confidentiality, survivor choice and evidence quality
  • PSEA reporting protocols protect complainants from retaliation and conflicts
  • Community feedback data analysed for trends, closure and response quality

Participants can contribute evidence-based protection strategies, coordination processes and advocacy actions.

  • Protection Cluster architecture, Areas of Responsibility and interagency coordination roles
  • Protection strategy design links analysis, objectives, activities and indicators
  • Advocacy messages use evidence, stakeholder mapping and risk management
  • Humanitarian access negotiations identify red lines, concessions and escalation routes
  • Coordination meetings track commitments, referral gaps and unresolved protection risks
  • Donor reporting connects protection outcomes with qualitative and quantitative evidence

Participants can monitor protection outcomes and prepare a practical improvement plan for their work.

  • Protection outcome indicators distinguish outputs, outcomes and negative unintended effects
  • Monitoring plans combine routine data, perception feedback and case trends
  • Outcome harvesting captures changes in policies, practices and relationships
  • Protection risk monitoring establishes triggers, thresholds and management actions
  • After-action reviews document decisions, gaps, lessons and accountable owners
  • Individual 90-day application plans specify priorities, stakeholders and evidence

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Protection risk analysis matrix
  2. Participatory assessment question guide
  3. Protection mainstreaming checklist
  4. Safe referral pathway template
  5. Protection data-sharing protocol
  6. 90-day protection action plan

Who should attend

  • Protection Officers — need structured methods for analysing risks and managing protection responses
  • Programme Managers — need to embed safety, dignity and access within humanitarian assistance
  • Refugee and IDP Coordinators — need to align field operations with protection standards and referral systems
  • Child Protection and GBV Specialists — need stronger links between specialised services and wider protection systems
  • MEAL Officers — need protection-sensitive indicators, feedback analysis and risk monitoring methods
  • Government and Municipal Officials — need to plan services and responsibilities for displaced populations

Skills and tools covered

Protection risk analysisRefugee legal protectionSafe referral designProtection mainstreamingData responsibilityProtection monitoring

Tools and standards

1951 Refugee Convention, UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, IASC Policy on Protection in Humanitarian Action, Core Humanitarian Standard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish legal standards, protection frameworks and operational methods. Participants then work through displacement cases involving asylum procedures, camp services, urban refugees, GBV referrals, documentation barriers and return planning. Small-group analysis applies risk matrices, service maps, data protocols and protection indicators to realistic decisions. Simulations examine referral consent, interagency coordination and advocacy choices. Individual application planning connects the course tools to participants' current responsibilities and organisational procedures.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic experience in humanitarian, development, social services, migration, displacement or emergency programme delivery. Familiarity with common humanitarian sectors such as shelter, cash, WASH, health, food security or child protection is useful. Participants should be comfortable discussing operational decisions involving vulnerable populations and confidential information. No law degree, prior protection-specialist post, field deployment experience or detailed knowledge of refugee instruments is required. The course explains the legal and policy foundations before applying them to operational cases.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have some exposure to humanitarian, development, migration, social services or emergency programme work. No law degree or prior specialist protection role is required; the course introduces the relevant legal and policy foundations.

Bring a laptop if possible, plus a current programme document, referral map, assessment tool or protection challenge from your work. These materials can inform your application plan, but they are not compulsory.

It suits protection staff, programme managers, sector specialists, MEAL personnel, government counterparts and staff working with refugees, asylum seekers or IDPs. It is designed for professionals who influence services, referrals, assessments or operational decisions.

General humanitarian courses focus on response systems and broad operational principles. This course concentrates on protection risks, refugee and IDP rights, case referrals, data handling, protection mainstreaming and durable solutions.

Participants can use the course templates to review programme risks, strengthen referral arrangements, improve feedback mechanisms and define protection indicators. The final application plan identifies actions, stakeholders and evidence needed during the following 90 days.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days cover ten connected modules through briefings, case analysis, group work, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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