INTRODUCTION
In 2015, Burundi experienced displacement of persons, among them internally displaced, but no systematized monitoring was in place until recently due to a lack of resources. Given the significant need of information on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), their humanitarian profile and their needs as identified by the humanitarian community and the Government of Burundi (GoB), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been developing a Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) since May 2015 aimed at effectively monitoring and evaluating the flows of Burundian IDPs and providing accurate information on the current IDP situation.
The DTM is not a new tool in Burundi as it has been successfully used in 2014, upon the request of the humanitarian community and the GoB when some areas of Bujumbura were flooded, which caused displacement. This tool allowed registering IDPs in four IDP sites and in host families in four locations and identifying their humanitarian needs.
The main goal of the DTM is to set up a comprehensive system of information collection and sharing on IDPs. The project is based on a synergy between IOM and the Burundian Red Cross as its presence at field level constitutes a valuable asset to facilitate collection of data on IDPs under the coordination of IOM’s DTM team. The data collected includes: figures of IDPs, displacement centers, areas of origin, duration of stay and humanitarian needs of the displaced populations. The information collected at different levels aid in contributing to develop a global overview/profile of IDPs in the targeted provinces which could be used by the government and the humanitarian partners to protect, assist and advocate for the IDPs.
In close collaboration with the National platform of Risk Prevention and Disaster Management (Plateforme Nationale de Prévention des Risques et de Gestion des Catastrophes), IOM has conducted a pilot DTM assessment in June 2015 in the Nyanza Lac commune which allowed identifying 129 IDP households before launching the DTM in the Kirundo and Makamba provinces, respectively bordering Rwanda and Tanzania, in September. This report covers the period of October 2015.