WFP Food Assistance Means Survival to Refugees in Rwanda

Refugees in Rwanda continue to depend on humanitarian food assistance provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) to meet their daily food needs, as livelihood opportunities remain limited in and around the camps.

Rwanda hosts over 170,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees and asylum seekers who left conflict and political violence in their countries.  The majority (79 percent) of these refugees live in six refugee camps in Rwanda. The remainder, known as urban refugees, are less dependent on assistance due to their access to more resources and opportunities in the urban areas they live in. 

Seeking a Safe Haven

Hashakimana Valens and his wife live in Mahama Refugee Camp with their four children. His family is among the nearly 58,000 refugees who have fled political violence in Burundi in 2015 and settled in Mahama camp in the eastern part of Rwanda. Valens left his home with the hope of returning to Burundi after a few weeks following the 2015 presidential election and consequent violence. However, Valens and other refugees like him, have now stayed in Rwanda for more than two years, with little hope of returning home any time soon.  

“When the political campaign started in Burundi, we were chased away and our lives were threatened,” says Valens. “The situation was very tense, similar to the civil war in 1993, in which my father was killed. I slept outside my home for over a month before I decided to flee to Rwanda” says Valens.

Thomas Hakizimana, another Burundian refugee living in Mahama camp with his six children, recalls his experience, saying, “every night armed people were patrolling the streets in my village, checking house by house and singing that that they wanted to kill all of us. They even took away my pig, threatening me to stay quiet and not react, calling me an enemy of the state.”

Thomas, Valens and their families eventually fled to Rwanda, where they sought safety in Mahama camp in Kirehe district. Mahama camp, home to 58,000 Burundian refugees, is now the largest refugee camp in Rwanda, representing 54 percent of all refugees in Rwanda, while Congolese refugees account for 46 percent. Almost 50 percent of the refugees in Rwanda are under the age of 18.

WFP provides in-kind food assistance to Burundian refugees living in Mahama Refugee camp, consisting of maize, beans, vegetable oil and salt (KG 16.95). Congolese refugees receive food assistance in the form of cash at 7,600 Rwandan Francs (USD 9) to buy food from local markets.  Starting in October 2018, WFP will provide a mixture of Cash based Transfers (CBTs) in the form of cash and in-kind food assistance to Burundian refugees living in Mahama camp.

Furthermore, refugees identified as particularly vulnerable, including children under the age of five, pregnant and nursing mothers as well as people living with and under treatment for HIV and tuberculosis, receive supplementary nutrition assistance from WFP. In addition, WFP also implements a school feeding programme in the camps.

Dependence on WFP Food Assistance

A joint food security mission conducted by WFP, UNHCR and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (in August 2017), found that refugees are still highly dependent on food assistance, as livelihood opportunities continue to be limited.  About 90 percent of the food consumed by refugees is provided by WFP, while only 10 percent of the food comes from their own production or as gifts from friends and family.

Refugees face challenges to increase their self-reliance, due to a lack of appropriate skills, limited access to loans/start-up capital to start or expand a small business, and unequal opportunities and wages between refugees and host community members on the labour market.

“During the period when food rations were reduced [due to a lack of funding], I struggled watching my children cry of hunger,” says Thomas. “At that time, I would leave my house and spend a full day looking for jobs in the neighbourhood around the camp, without any luck. It’s difficult to survive as a refugee here; jobs are very limited, even Rwandan citizens are jobless”.

Thacienne Imunkurize, her husband and their two children also live in Mahama camp. During the camp’s construction period, Thacienne’s husband worked alongside humanitarian agencies to build the camp. He earned 20,000 RWF (USD 22), enough to support Thacienne in setting up a small business which she also had in Burundi. Three years later, Thacienne is proud of her small business through which she sells vegetables to other refugees in Mahama camp. “Through my business, I manage to make some extra money to support my children. However, it is not enough to support my whole family. I still require food assistance from WFP, we all depend on it for our survival,” says Thacienne, as she breastfeeds her third child. The Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs and UN agencies are currently scaling up the implementation of a Joint Strategy on the Economic Inclusion of Refugees to increase their self-reliance, while also contributing to the economic development of host communities.

Going home?

The ongoing conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as the unresolved political situation in Burundi make it unlikely that the refugees in Rwanda can return to their homes any time soon. It is therefore likely that the 170,000 refugees who have sought safety in Rwanda will continue to depend on humanitarian assistance for their survival in the coming year(s).

“To me, it’s a shame that I live in the camp and depend on humanitarian assistance, as if I am disabled”, says Thomas. “But at least me and my family are safe now.” 

“When I escaped, I was not thinking of where we were going or what would be waiting for us.  All I needed was to escape from the killers who were hunting us; just a safe place for my kids. If peace comes back to Burundi, I would go back immediately. I miss my home,” says Thacienne.

WFP relies entirely on voluntary contributions for its humanitarian and development programmes in Rwanda, and requires USD 31 million to provide lifesaving food assistance to refugees in 2019.