The main partners of the UNHCR Burundi operation are the Government of Burundi (GoB) and other agencies present in the United Nations country team (UNCT), particularly WFP, IOM, UNICEF, FAO, UNFPA, UNDP and OCHA. UNHCR’s advocacy and coordination efforts, with these actors and with the Resident Coordinator, will remain consistent in order to ensure that returnees and refugees benefit from development programmes.
UNHCR’s consistent message and direct role in UN Reform will be visible in several areas. UNHCR’s contribution to the revised UNDAF 2019-2023 ensured that refugees in Burundi were granted special attention. The refugee population, as a result, is now an integral part of all UNDAF outputs aimed at strengthening the capacity of vulnerable people. Another example of UNHCR’s direct role is its current engagement with UNDP, developing a strategy to strengthen the nexus between humanitarian assistance and development activities for more than 100,000 Burundian returnees. Lastly, with the aim of UN Reform to share costs, UNHCR is also a member of the Burundi operations strategy (BOS) jointly put in place by all UN agencies under the leadership of WFP.
UNHCR will seek to enable adequate conditions for the reintegration of returnees and for a peaceful social co-existence between refugees, asylum-seekers and their host communities, both in areas of return and in areas surrounding refugee camps.
The Government and UNHCR partnership is strong, with the government maintaining its open-door policy towards refugees and asylum-seekers. The Government plays an important role in setting up and operating the camps, assuring the RSD process, and registering refugees.
Despite the many challenges on the economic level, the government of Burundi continues to support UNHCR by accepting refugees in its public services, including health and education. Burundi also cooperates with UNHCR in providing refugees and asylum-seekers with access to necessary civilian documentation on the administrative level.
The main goal for UNHCR in Burundi in 2021 will be to foster protection at all the levels of the humanitarian response, including through the provision of adequate training to staff and through the development of an effective protection action plan for the humanitarian country team (Équipe Humanitaire Pays, EHP) in Burundi. UNHCR Burundi will continue to assume the lead in the protection sector cluster within the inter-agency coordination framework. Other partners and UN agencies are already part of its technical committee. The close coordination with partners will be maintained, while UNHCR will also keep its co-lead in terms of camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) as well as the provision of shelter and non-food items (NFIs). UNHCR will keep participating in the inter-sectorial group led by OCHA, through a cooperation with the national platform of risk prevention and disaster management. Current contingency plans will be revised and updated periodically to ensure that UNHCR can respond adequately to emergencies when they arise.