Operations

Tanzania1 has been hosting refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the early 1990s. Over the past few years, a large number of refugees have returned to their home countries. With the official recognition of the Forces Nationales de Libération as a political party in Burundi on 21 April 2009, the situation is expected to continue to improve. Nevertheless, the Burundian refugees living in camps in Tanzania are hesitant to return and the repatriation process is expected to be slow.

Insecurity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to be a concern. Most of the Congolese refugees living in Tanzania come from South Kivu, where hundreds of thousands of people are displaced and residents struggle with poverty, unemployment and poor infrastructure. Therefore, while Congolese refugees are expected to return to their home country, this protracted relief and recovery operation anticipates a slow and phased return process.

The design of the specific activities is based on the findings and recommendations of recent food security assessments, nutrition surveys, ongoing monitoring and review missions undertaken in collaboration with stakeholders. WFP has designed this operation in consultation with the Government – more specifically the Ministry of Home Affairs – as well as United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations involved in the provision of assistance to refugees.

Effective coordination mechanisms for refugee assistance have been established both in northwestern Tanzania and in Dar es Salaam, involving government counterparts, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund, WFP, donors and non-governmental organizations.

The overall goal of this operation, targeting over 98,000 people, is to improve the food security and nutritional situation among refugees and protect the livelihoods of food-insecure households within the host population. The specific objectives of the PRRO are to:

• Stabilize the mortality rate and acute malnutrition among children under five in refugee communities;
• Increase access to assets, especially for women, and strengthen coping capacities through training and asset creation activities among the vulnerable host populations;
• Assist out-of-school children in the host communities to attend school; and
• Improve nutritional status among targeted pregnant and lactating women and other vulnerable groups.

The operation is fully aligned with WFP Strategic Plan (2008-2011) and will contribute to achieving the organization’s goals, mainly Strategic Objective 1 (“saving lives and protecting livelihoods in emergencies”), Strategic Objective 3 (“restore and rebuild lives and livelihoods”) and Strategic Objective 4 (“reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition”).

1 While the official name of the country is United Republic of Tanzania, “Tanzania” is used in this document for the sake of brevity.

Countries

Tanzania, United Republic Of

Situated on the Eastern Coast of Africa , Tanzania is one of Africa ’s politically stable countries. The country is categorised as a least developed and low-income food-deficit country, with almost 80 percent of its total population dependent on mainly subsistence agriculture for their livelihood....