In May, 149 Rwandan refugees were repatriated in safety and dignity to their country of origin from North and South Kivu Provinces.  441 displaced and host households received core relief items, shelter kits and food assistance in Rutshuru, North Kivu Province  108 households affected by the floods of Lake Tanganyika received material kits and cash to reconstruct their own shelters in South Kivu Province.  UNHCR partner World Vision distributed water and sanitation kits to 5,250 CAR refugees in Nzakara, Sidi and Wenze development hubs, North and South Ubangi.

On 22 June, for the first time in two years since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNHCR and the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) of the Ministry of Interior, brought together refugees, host communities, government officials, members of the diplomatic community and humanitarian and development partners to celebrate the courage, talent and resilience of millions of Afghans exiled in the country. A photography exhibition showcasing Iran’s long history of hosting refugees, starting from the 16th century with Armenians to this date, was one of the main features of the event. A refugee handicraft bazaar also attracted large numbers of people to appreciate Afghan crafts, cuisine and music at the landmark Milad Tower.

World Bank Approves $180 Million to Step-Up Support for Refugees and Host Communities in Ethiopia: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved the second phase of the Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project in the Horn of Africa (DRDIP II) for $180 million in International Development Association (IDA*) financing to help Ethiopia improve access to basic social and economic services, expand livelihood opportunities, and enhance environmental management for refugees and their host communities.

Launch of the Refugee-Led Innovation Fund: The Refugee-Led Innovation Fund proposes a fundamental shift in programme architecture. It aims to ensure that refugees, stateless and other forcibly displaced communities are in a leadership role and can design and implement creative and innovative initiatives, with the support of UNHCR. The fund is currently accepting applications from organizations in the following pilot countries: Ecuador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Read more details here: https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/refugee-led-innovation-fund/

VoA - Refugees Gain Financial Inclusion in Kenya through Microlending Project by IRC. The IRC program is called Refugees in East Africa: Boosting Urban Innovations for Livelihoods Development, or Re:Build. It’s a 5-year project to empower 20,000 urban refugees with their own businesses in Nairobi and the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The IRC says the micro-loans have already helped 260 refugees in Nairobi to become their own bosses. Read more here: https://www.voanews.com/a/6622102.html

Quick wins aren’t the way to coherence between social protection and humanitarian assistance in Cameroon. Humanitarian actors have tended not to be very good at working together with state social protection systems in countries where they work. Although they are often doing the same thing – identifying those who badly need material help and giving them money every month – they still work in parallel worlds, with different languages, different ways of working and even different objectives. The good news is that this has been recognised as a problem. It leaves countries dependent on international aid, rather than using aid to build up the state’s own ability to meet its responsibilities. And it is hugely wasteful. Creating two systems of bureaucracy is bad enough, but the humanitarian system is typically several times more expensive to operate. Read more here: https://odi.org/en/insights/quick-wins-arent-the-way-to-coherence-between-social-protection-and-humanitarian-assistance-in-cameroon/

Meteorological and humanitarian agencies sound alert on East Africa: Meteorological agencies, including WMO, and humanitarian partners have issued a joint alert that the threat of starvation looms in East Africa after four failed rainy seasons and that the situation is set to worsen. A statement issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on behalf of 14 agencies said that the current extreme, widespread, and persistent multi-season drought affecting Somalia, the arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya, and Ethiopia’s Belg-receiving and eastern and southern pastoral areas, is unprecedented. Four consecutive rainy seasons have failed, a climatic event not seen in at least 40 years. Read the statement here: https://www.fao.org/3/cc0312en/cc0312en.pdf

World Bank - South Sudan Receives $70 million to Support Women’s Social and Economic Empowerment and Strengthen Institutional Capacity. The World Bank has approved a $70 million International Development Association (IDA*) grant to boost women’s social and economic empowerment in South Sudan. The South Sudan Women and Social and Economic Empowerment Project (SSWSEEP) aims to support female entrepreneurs in formalizing and scaling up their business activities and help survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) access vital services that will enable them to recover and rebuild their lives. Read more here: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/05/26/south-sudan-receives-70-million-to-support-women-s-social-and-economic-empowerment-and-strengthen-institutional-capacity?cid=WBW_AL_whatsnew_EN_EXT

RefugePoint Annual Report 2021 - RefugePoint envision a world where all refugees are able to live healthy and dignified lives. The 2021 Annual Report documents how RefugePoint moved towards making that vision a reality in 2021. Read the report here: https://annualreport2021.refugepoint.org/

Today UNHCR and the WB have launched two reports: the Urban Refugees Report and Comparison of urban and camp/settlement based refugees. These focus on urban socio-economic assessments in the three urban areas where refugees reside: Mombasa, Nakuru, and Kenya as well as a comparative exercise across different joint WB/HCR assessments in Kakuma, Kalobeyei. The report highlights that refugees are younger, households are more likely to be headed by women, and have higher dependency ratios than their host community households. The findings also reveal that access to financial services is limited for refugees. Only 10 percent of urban refugees own bank account and 78 percent have mobile banking accounts which are more likely to be shared, especially with Kenyans. Access to loans is mainly possible through relatives, with formal financing and community savings barely used. Only 42 percent of urban refugees were employed during the pandemic, with wage employment being the most common activity for urban refugees. Employment of refugees are hindered by limited employment opportunities and inadequate skills. For more details please see the two reports: Urban Kenya Report: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/89635. Comparison of urban and camp/settlement based refugees report: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37222