Mahama refugee camp in Eastern Province
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of US$5.5 million from the United States (through USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance) to provide cash transfers to refugees living in all five camps in Rwanda. This funding is in addition to an earlier contribution of US$4 million.
Thanks to the generosity of the United States, WFP will provide 114,153 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi with critical nutrition support in the form of cash transfers. WFP uses cash transfers to empower people with choice to address their essential needs by purchasing goods from the local markets, while also helping to boost these markets.
“We are thankful for this generous and timely contribution from the Government and the American people,” said Edith Heines, WFP Representative and Country Director. “This contribution will enable WFP to continue providing life-saving food assistance and social and behaviour change communication activities which promote positive nutrition behaviours amongst refugees.”
However, despite this new funding, WFP is still not able to provide full rations to meet the minimum food requirements for refugees. Following chronic funding shortfalls, WFP introduced a prioritisation scheme in May 2021 – a system under which refugees are given rations according to their levels of vulnerability.
Under this scheme, the most vulnerable refugees receive 92 percent of a full ration and those deemed moderately vulnerable receive 46 percent of a full ration. This ensures that the most vulnerable refugees are prioritized for general nutrition assistance while more self-reliant refugees are supported to graduate from external support.
WFP requires an additional US$9.8 million to provide full rations to all registered refugees living in camps in Rwanda until December 2022.
