Highlights
Unaccompanied minors and separated children represent 6.7 per cent of the Burundi refugee child population in Tanzania, with over half of these children in foster care while the remaining are in group living arrangements or have been reunified with their families.
Bewteeen May and June 2016, all 2,281 foster families caring for unaccompanied and/or separated refugee children, received relief kits (sleeping mat, blanket, plastic sheeting).
A successful vitamin A and deworming campaign was undertaken in May with UNICEF and UNHCR support reaching over 40,000 refugee children under age five.
Access to education remains a critical gap with over 6,000 Burundi refugee children not in school and another 4,000 children attending classes outdoors due to the lack of temporary and/or semi- permanent structures.
Situation Overview
Tanzania hosts a total of 143,679 refugees from Burundi which is over half the total outflow from Burundi to the Great Lakes region. This is on top of a pre-existing caseload of 64,000 refugees from DRC who share the camp and services with Burundi refugees. Between May and June, 4,647 refugees from Burundi were newly registered in Tanzania (see figure 1). This is the lowest arrival rate since the influx started ranging from 7 to 173 arrivals per day compared to the initial influxes of over 1,000 per day. Although the rate of influx has slowed, the daily arrivals continue to overstretch the services at reception centres and camps. Due to overcrowding in Nyaragusu camp, Burundi refugees were relocated to two new camp locations. With the second camp already at full capacity, and the third camp due to reach its maximum capacity in 3 to 4 months’ time, the search for a fourth camp site is underway. However, finding a location with suitable water and road access to accommodate 50,000 refugees has been a challenge.
While the operation is shifting to a longer term focus to maintain standards of protection and social services, prevent epidemics, and move away from costly temporary measures (e.g. water trucking, tents, etc.), there is a continuous need to accommodate daily influxes as well as to remain vigilant for accelerated influxes. So far in 2016, the overall donor response to the refugee crisis covers only about 40 per cent of the total requirements across all UN agency and NGO budgets, with UNICEF’s appeal currently having a 68 per cent funding gap. Moving into a longer term mode means that media and donor attention is also slowing down while more acute crises in other parts of the world draw more attention and resources. The short term nature of donor funding makes it difficult to conduct longer term planning of services and structures. The host population in Kigoma region are among the poorest people in Tanzania and their children consistently rank among the lowest performers across many key indicators including health, nutrition, sanitation and education. The contrast between the quality of services in the camps and the poor services in local villages is noticeable and remains a gap in the response as well as a source of potential friction with host villages.