Attachments
Operational Updates
• Suspension of international NGOs: On 27 September 2018, the government of Burundi announced the suspension of all international NonGovernmental Organisations (INGOs) from operating in Burundi. The government justified the decision on the non-alignment of INGOs with the law that regulates NGO activities in the country. The resumption of INGO activities is conditioned to the submission of four documents. These include: a cooperation agreement, a memorandum on the implementation of the 2017 law on foreign NGOs and the National Development Plan, an agreement with the Ministry of Finance that they will respect banking regulations including financial articles of the new NGO law, and a plan to progressively rectify ethnic quota (60 percent Hutu and 40 percent Tutsi) in the staffing within three years.
• The three-month suspension has directly impacted WFP operations as INGOs represent more than 50 percent of WFP cooperating partners. WFP is looking into options to contract local NGOs to ensure continued assistance wherever possible.
• WFP provided assistance in form of cash and inkind food transfers to 43,000 Congolese refugees in Burundi, 10,000 Burundian refugees returning from Tanzania, 52,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), and host communities (mainly in Rumonge and Bujumbura provinces). This has facilitated their access to diversified and nutritious foods.
• WFP together with implementing partner – CARITAS Burundi organised a trade fair in the refugee camps which brought together local traders. Through this, over USD 430,000 was invested in the local market.