Background

The African Great Lakes region (Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo) is characterized by frequent population movements due to ethnic conflicts and ethnic tensions. The escalation of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2012 reinforced this phenomenon and led many Congolese to flee to neighboring countries, including Burundi and Rwanda.

Burundi, a poor state where over 80% of the population lives on less than $ 1.25 per day, is fragile and emerging from conflict, is home to more than 37,000 refugees and 10,000 asylum-seekers in 2013, mostly from the DRC. Added to this population are more than 80,000 internally displaced persons, as a result of a decade-long civil war (1993-2002) and a complicated transition. The country has three major camps including Camp Bwagiriza, which was extended in 2012. In 2013, the UN Refugee Agency envisaged the creation of a new camp with the agreement of the government.

The population flows to Rwanda have increased considerably in 2012, with more than 20,000 new refugees from DRC. In total, Rwanda now hosts more than 68,000 refugees. The vast majority of these people live in three camps: Gihembe Kiziba and Nyabiheke. The construction of a new camp at Kigeme began in 2012.

The program

LWB began implementing the Ideas Box the African Great Lakes region in February 2014. Three Ideas Box have been deployed since in partnership with UNHCR in Congolese Refugee camps in Burundi: in Musasa, Kavumu and Bwagiriza and one mobile Ideas Box is shared between two communities where returnees have settled in Makamba, with support of the UNDP.

Six months after, the first results are extremely positive! With over 24,000 visits in three months and nearly 3,300 registered users, the first two Ideas Box deployed to refugee camps in Burundi (Kavumu and Musasa) have proven hugely successful.

Community ownership of the device, its decisive support of education and the protection of children is already a certainty. Already, a fifth Ideas Box deployment is foreseen, and preparatory tasks for the expansion of the program to the DRC and Kenya took place in 2014.

Impact studies