Community members of the Ngomante Hill, Rutana province in Burundi, dance to celebrate the launch of a water project.

Background

Between 2013 and 2014 over 45,500 Burundian migrants (51% women, 49% men), who, had never regularized their stay in Tanzania, were deported by the Tanzanian authorities after enactment of a new immigration law. Because of the rapid expulsion of Burundian migrants from Tanzania to Burundi, many left without belongings or in some cases, without even their spouses.

They returned to an environment, in particular communes with high rates of returns (55% of the expelled migrants alone are from the commune of Giharo in the Rutana province) where resources were already stretched. Expelled migrants are often not able to avail of the most basic services such as: medical services, potable water, livelihoods or education. For instance, according to an IOM survey, out of 14,880 children surveyed (of which 14,202 were expelled migrant children) only 49% of children of school going age actually attended school.

IOM has engaged in several programs to assist the expelled migrants and was appointed by the Government of Burundi as the lead agency to coordinate the humanitarian response to the expelled Burundians.

With generous support from the Government of Japan, IOM implemented the project Assistance to Vulnerable Burundian Migrants and Host Community in Burundi with the aim of promoting durable solutions for the most vulnerable migrants and members of host communities, which were the most impacted by these population movements. The project was implemented in 4 provinces, namely Rutana, Makamba, Ruyigi and Muyinga and achieved three following outcomes:

  • Returning Burundians have been provided with life-saving humanitarian assistance at entry points, transit centres and in host communities;
  • Most vulnerable, returnees (particularly female, children, elderly, or disabled-headed households) and host communities, now have access to appropriate reintegration services to empower families to integrate successfully;
  • Vulnerable communities have improved social infrastructure and are engaging in peaceful cooperation in the management of those structures.

In the framework of this project, IOM set up 177 local associations. Beneficiaries were introduced to the concept of ‘savings and loans’ (micro-credit), meaning association members had to contribute financially to their association to constitute a fund.

This has proven to be a successful approach as it reinforced the cohesion among the association members. On the other hand, the associations were assisted with income generating activities. Over 270 projects were funded through these associations including: livestock development (pigs husbandry, goats breeding, chicken rearing) milling, agriculture and palm oil trade.

 

My name is Patricie Ndikumana, president of the Twizigiranire Association.

I was expelled from Tanzania in June 2013.

When I arrived in Burundi, I was accompanied by IOM (International Organization for Migration) who helped me return to my local area of Ngomante, in the commune of Giharo, Rutana province.

When I arrived back in Burundi, IOM did not abandon me or the others that were expelled along with me. Thanks to the organization, I together with other returnees, were provided with non-food items such as mosquito nets, blankets, a kitchen set, jerry cans, clothing for children, mats and other essential goods. I had left all my belongings in Tanzania and therefore I desperately needed all this help.

“IOM is pleased to see that, thanks to the support of the People of Japan, successful community stabilization, through income generating activities is essential for communities such as these in Burundi to thrive and prosper. This level of cooperation within the community encourages a lasting connection with the land, community and people which effectively enhances reintegration opportunities for the future. More of similar initiatives, in the future, will be critical to ensure a more comprehensive reintegration of returnee and expelled migrants, especially those living in the border areas.” –  Kristina Mejo, Chief of Mission, IOM Burundi

IOM staff came several times to follow up on us and monitor our needs for an effective reintegration.

To ensure that we could also better help ourselves, IOM helped us create representative associations.

The association that I am the president of, has 25 members, all like me, expelled from Tanzania.

We meet every Thursday with several objectives, as recommended by our support team from IOM.

These include setting aside weekly savings of 200 Burundian francs from each member into a common fund and after 8 weeks of savings, we started allocating loans to the association members for them to start individual small projects.

Through the members’ contributions, we had saved 186,000 Burundian francs by July 2015. Most of this money is currently loaned out to the association’s members to carry out small projects of their choice. Every member who receives a loan starts repaying after one month with a 10 % interest rate.

Being members of the association has enabled us to learn the importance of working together to achieve social cohesion and solidarity in local community.

IOM has helped us with income generating activities and provided our association with 20 goats and one hectare of land to grow groundnuts. I am pleased to say that after the latest peanut harvest, we stored 150 kg in the communal barn.

Patricie Ndikumana

“Japan commends the achievements of IOM and especially members of each community for the stabilization and reintegration, despite difficulties they confronted. The communities and the people are now at the starting point toward stabilization and development. It was our great pleasure to support the efforts made by Burundian people and IOM, and Japan encourages a continuation of this laudable process toward the future of the country. Keep in mind Japan is always on the side of Burundi.” – Tomio Sakamoto, Charge d’Affaires ad interim, Embassy of Japan in Burundi

We are very thankful to IOM for encouraging, motivating and indeed pushing us to form this association. In our association, nobody is threatened by the lack of access to health services, the community approach has brought us closer and the more often we meet around a collective activity, the more we rely on each other and the more we help each other as if we were brothers and sisters.

We came back to Burundi under very tough and unpleasant circumstances and a lot of us lost everything when we were expelled from Tanzania. Our collective and individual income generating activities not only allow us to promote development in our local community but we can collectively deal with any challenges more effectively and we can rely on each other for sound advice.

Now, we feel we are more stable economically and socially.