UNHCR continued monitoring and providing technical support to legal reform processes in Angola, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia. In 2016, UNHCR included the Seychelles and Madagascar in its advocacy for legal reform processes in the region and while both countries have access to UNHCR´s technical support, the Seychelles has positively expressed its willingness to initiate the drafting of an asylum bill in 2017, while Madagascar has expressed the desire to establish an office for asylum-seekers, refugees and stateless people. Both countries are committed to contribute to a conference for the Indian Ocean Island in 2017 on accessions to international conventions. A profiling exercise in Botswana of the Namibian caseload was undertaken in the beginning of 2016 followed by profiling of other nationalities. The outcome will result in a comprehensive strategy for durable solutions in Botswana entailing local integration, resettlement and voluntary repatriation. The implementation of the strategy was initiated during the second half of 2016.
UNHCR continued to work with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to enhance cooperation through a new five-year strategic plan. This strategic plan includes a substantial review of a draft Common Regional Asylum and Refugee Management Policy Framework. The Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA) also supported UNHCR’s agenda on statelessness matters. The SADC Parliamentary Forum adopted a resolution on the prevention of statelessness and the protection of stateless people. A “Regional Civil Society Organizations Network on Statelessness” was launched in 2016. In addition, new partnerships, e.g. with the regional umbrella organization of labour unions SATUCC were forged.
Resettlement continues to be a key component of durable solutions strategies in the region, while ensuring that it is not seen or understood by states as only durable solution situations in the hosting countries. Voluntary repatriation of refugees remained limited, except for 4,639 Angolan refugees who repatriated from the DRC and Zambia. A regional strategy to respond to the challenges of mixed migration was developed by the Regional Representation in 2015.
Attention to child protection and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) is beginning to bear fruit. In South Africa, the Government took charge of the National Steering Committee on Unaccompanied Minors (a UNHCR initiated multi-stakeholder process) devising concrete actions on how to improve the protection of Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC). In Zambia, the South African “Isibindi” community-based child care and protection approach is being piloted and could prove to be a cost-effective model for governments in the region to solve their severe gap in social protection workforce and delivery. New evidence-based approaches to more effectively prevent and respond to invisible SGBV in camp-based operations are underway for testing.
Throughout the year, the Regional Representation continued working closely with operations in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe to support efforts in increasing compliance with the Minimum Criteria for Livelihoods Programming and consequently improve their livelihoods programmes. By the end of the year, Zimbabwe was close to reaching full compliance. It is expected that Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia will significantly improve compliance by end July 2017. The Regional Representation conducted livelihoods assessment missions to Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe and supported the latter two with design of the Graduation Approach, which will be implemented next year. Livelihoods strategies, including socio-economic assessments, were developed in Malawi and South Africa and market and value chain assessments were conducted in South Africa and Zambia.
All these efforts have resulted in a significant shift in program design to focus on market oriented interventions throughout the region. Increased access to reliable socio-economic data is informing targeting approaches, program planning and monitoring plans, while increased utilization of poverty indicators matched with refugee capacities is facilitating opportunities to fill gaps in local value chains rather than increase competition with local populations.
Progress was made in relation to the introduction of cash-based interventions (CBI) in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, while in Zambia this modality had already been used since 2014 and will soon be evaluated and reviewed to collect important lessons learnt for the way forward of CBI in the region as well as on the effectiveness of linking CBI with existing national social protection programmes.
The Regional Representation continued to advocate for the introduction of CBI approach in Namibia, where CBI is very much intertwined with livelihoods programming on targeting most vulnerable. The Regional Office re-assessed the feasibility of CBI in Mozambique in light of the developments risen from the humanitarian response to El Niño that have brought back cash transfers to the agenda of the Government. The study has revealed very favorable conditions to start the design and implementation of CBI in Maratane settlement, in conjunction with efforts to promote self-reliance through livelihoods programmes. In Zimbabwe, UNHCR is conducting a study on the market dynamics to better understand the impact of the monetization of the assistance in an economically volatile context. CBI and livelihood programming will reinforce each other, socio economic studies will also support targeting for CBIs, as well as to tailor better the assistance and the transfer amount. CBI will also be considered as safety nets that support beneficiaries while improving livelihoods strategies.
South Africa: To support the Government’s efforts in addressing xenophobia, UNHCR coordinated the UN emergency response plan following the violent attacks that occurred in 2015. As the Government’s early action to contain the attacks, an Inter-ministerial Committee was formed to address the situation and some perpetrators were arrested following early warning and advocacy by the Protection Working Group led by UNHCR. With support from other agencies and partners, the office conducted a comprehensive needs assessment and supported some 2,800 asylum-seekers and refugees displaced by the violence through legal/human rights interventions, counselling and social support to survivors. A total of 227 provincial disaster management officials were trained on protection and forced displacement, enhancing the national capacity to respond to xenophobia.