The EU has provided €750,000 (RWF 890m) in humanitarian funding to support vulnerable refugees from Burundi.
This life-saving assistance is part of a larger package of €54.5 million in humanitarian funding for people affected by human-induced or natural disasters, epidemics, and displacement in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
The €750,000 in funding is being made available by the EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO to the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide food and nutritional assistance to Burundian refugees in Mahama camp in eastern RwandaFollowing the adoption of the joint UNHCR-WFP targeting strategy and framework, this contribution and support from other donors will allow WFP to increase general food assistance to refugees, with a specific focus on the most vulnerable.
EU Head of Delegation to Rwanda, Ambassador Nicola Bellomo said“The EU is a leading supporter of refugees in Rwanda. We aim on the one hand to support the government and UN agencies in finding durable solutions for asylum seekers and refugees through our support to the Emergency Transit Mechanism and to the government’s implementation of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework. On the other hand we recognise the urgent food security needs of vulnerable refugees in Rwanda, exacerbated by the COVD-19 crisis.”
WFP Country Representative Edith Heines said “WFP is very grateful to the European Unionfor the generous contribution to support the food and nutrition needs of refugees in Mahama camp. This contribution along with support from other donors will allow WFP to stretch available resources for refugees until mid-November 2021 and thus reduce the negative impact thatreductions in rations have had on refugees’ food and nutrition security”.
The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the socio-economic challenges of refugees in the great lakes region. Humanitarian action alone cannot solve the underlying and often structural causes of the humanitarian crises in the region. The EU is therefore applying and promoting a humanitarian-development approach, where donors work together to further increase the coherence between humanitarian and development aid and stabilisation actors.
Rwanda has been selected to receive end-to-end support across the programme cycle from the joint ‘UNHCR-WFP Programme Excellence and Targeting’ Hub. This includes support to implement targeting and prioritization of assistance, allowing prioritization of assistance for the most severely vulnerable. The work of the Targeting Hub also supports the inclusion of refugees in livelihoods and self-reliance activities. From this, a targeting and prioritization approach is being rolled out in 2021, with plans for implementation starting in May 2021.
