The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the World Food Programme (WFP) are appealing for $266 million as they have been forced to cut food rations by up to 60 per cent.

The pandemic has been devastating for everyone, but for refugees even more so.

The situation is further compounded by COVID-19 lockdowns and containment measures, they said, which have reduced food stocks in markets in refugee camps, and limited refugees’ ability to support their families through casual jobs and small businesses.

Negative coping strategies

“The pandemic has been devastating for everyone, but for refugees even more so”, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, UNHCR’s Regional Bureau Director for the East, Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes.  The office covers 11 countries, home to some 4.7 million refugees, a staggering 72 per cent of whom face food cuts. 

“Unless more funds are made available, thousands of refugees including children will not have enough to eat.”

Ms. Nkweta-Salami said refugees have adopted negative coping strategies to meet their basic food needs, such as skipping or reducing meals, taking out high-interest loans, selling assets, child labour and increased domestic violence, adding “there is often a desperation and a feeling of no alternative.”

Difficult decisions ahead

Meanwhile, WFP has been forced to cut monthly assistance to refugees in six countries, ranging from 16 per cent to up to 60 per cent.

“We’ve never had such a terrible funding situation for refugees”, said Michael Dunford, Regional Director for Eastern Africa.

“We have a $266 million shortfall for the next six months for refugees’ minimum needs. We are deeply concerned that if cuts continue, they will be faced with a very difficult decision: stay in the camps where food and nutrition security is deteriorating, or consider risking going back when it is unsafe.”

‘Unprecedented’ cuts in Rwanda

WFP has slashed support in Rwanda by 60 per cent, describing the move as “unprecedented”.  Some 140,000 people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi have found refuge in the country. 

The agency assists some 138,000 refugees living in camps and 12,500 children from host communities, who attend the same schools as refugees and receive school meals.

Refugees in Rwanda mainly receive cash funding and WFP will require $11 million to provide them with full cash or food rations through August.

Reduction in calorie needs

WFP has reduced food rations for 147,000 refugees in Kenya by 40 per cent, and will need $61 million for operations there from March through August.  The agency is also seeking $17 million for 280,000 refugees in neighbouring Tanzania, where rations have been cut by 32 per cent of the minimum recommended calorie requirement.

Uganda is home to the largest refugee population on the continent. Last month, WFP had to cut food assistance to nearly 1.3 million people by 40 per cent of the basic survival ration.  To provide full rations, the agency will need $77 million through August.  An additional $82 million is needed to assist one million refugees in South Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Only refugees in Burundi and Sudan are receiving full rations, WFP added, where the agency requires $18 million through August.