By Shelly Dick, independent consultant
Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit
UNHCR's Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit (EPAU) is committed to the systematic examination and assessment of UNHCR policies, programmes, projects and practices. EPAU also promotes rigorous research on issues related to the work of UNHCR and encourages an active exchange of ideas and information between humanitarian practitioners, policymakers and the research community. All of these activities are undertaken with the purpose of strengthening UNHCR's operational effectiveness, thereby enhancing the organization's capacity to fulfil its mandate on behalf of refugees and other displaced people. The work of the unit is guided by the principles of transparency, independence, consultation, relevance and integrity.
Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland
Tel: (41 22) 739 8249
Fax: (41 22) 739 7344
e-mail: hqep00@unhcr.ch
internet: www.unhcr.ch/epau
All EPAU evaluation reports are placed in the public domain. Electronic versions are posted on the UNHCR website and hard copies can be obtained by contacting EPAU. They may be quoted, cited and copied, provided that the source is acknowledged. The views expressed in EPAU publications are not necessarily those of UNHCR. The designations and maps used do not imply the expression of any opinion or recognition on the part of UNHCR concerning the legal status of a territory or of its authorities.
Contents
Summary
Introduct
Refugees in Tanzania
CORD's community services programmes in Tanzania
Refugee perceptions of community services
Community services: an approach or a sector?
Highlighting some challenges
Conclusions
Recommendations
Annex 1 Participants in focus group discussions
Annex 2 Key informants
Annex 3 Survey questionnaire
Annex 4 Vulnerable refugees
Annex 5 Survey measuring effectiveness of assistance, Lugufu
Annex 6 Bibliography
Annex 7 Abbreviations and acronyms
Summary
This review details the findings of an evaluation of CORD Community Service programmes that took place from 14 June to 17 July 2002 in Nyarugusu and Lugufu camps in Kasulu District, Kigoma Region, Tanzania. The first half of the review is more descriptive in nature. Background information pertinent to the study will outline the context in which CORD operates. In addition, a look at the activities that CORD co-ordinates will detail some of CORD's successes plus reveal the difficulties that have arisen in operationalising Community Services.
Following that, the focus of the review shifts to refugee perceptions of Community Services. Evaluation findings indicate that the majority of refugees expect direct assistance from UNHCR and NGOs making it difficult for CORD to facilitate community initiatives without encountering expectations for handouts. Significant attention was given to a comparison of CORD and UNHCR approaches from the perspective of refugees. The review concludes by analysing the challenges CORD faces in implementing its development approach and offers suggestions for how improvements could be made in assisting Congolese refugees.
Introduction
1. The history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a Belgian colony formerly called Zaire, is rife with internal conflict and turmoil. In late 1996 and early 1997, Congolese refugees began arriving in Western Tanzania from the Eastern part of the DRC, also called the Congo, where political instability had led to the overthrow of the Mobutu Seseseko regime by Laurent Desire-Kabila. Nyarugusu camp was established in December 1996 and Lugufu camp was established in February 1997 to accommodate this influx of refugees.
2. Then, in June 1998, the situation
in the Congo appeared to be stabilising and a large voluntary repatriation
process began, reducing the population of Nyarugusu camp to 28,000 and
Lugufu camp to 10,000. However, around this time, wars in Rwanda
and Burundi spilled over into the Congo causing further unrest. The
renewal of fighting in the DRC led UNHCR to stop facilitating the repatriation
of Congolese refugees by September 1998, and a new influx of Congolese
refugees entered into Tanzania. It is reported that over 90 percent
of the refugees who had repatriated were caught up in the second crisis
and returned to Tanzania as asylum seekers for the second time (WFP and
UNHCR 2000, p 4).
3. Because of these events, the population
in Nyarugusu camp rose back up to 50,000 in 1999 but has remained stable
for the last two years at the maximum capacity of approximately 53,000.
Lugufu camp reached its capacity of 50,000 in May 1999 (later reviewed
at 53,000), and Lugufu II, which had already been earmarked as a contingency
site to accommodate new refugees, was opened in October 2000. As
of July 2002, the population of Lugufu II was estimated at 23,730 with
new arrivals still coming. Within this context, a British based NGO
called Christian Outreach Relief and Development, or CORD, has gained more
than five years experience working as a UNHCR implementing partner to address
the social and economic needs of Congolese refugees by co-ordinating Community
Services among them.
Background to CORD in Tanzania
4. CORD's approach to refugee assistance has evolved over the past thirty years as the agency gained experience working in refugee communities in Asia and Africa. In 1986, CORD started community development programmes among Eritrean refugees in Sudan in response to the refugees' request. Then, when the Rwandan crisis broke out in 1994, CORD responded by implementing what are now called 'Community Services' in two of the Kagera region's refugee camps in Tanzania.
5. Through its involvement in these camps, CORD has developed an approach to refugee assistance that is based primarily upon the ideals of community development. The approach has been summarised to include the following four broad objectives that guide CORD Community Service activities in Tanzania.
- To enable the refugee community to identify
and find solutions to the problems that they face.
- To enable the refugee community to take
care of their own vulnerable people.
- To facilitate the building of community
self-reliance.
- To sensitise the community on various important issues including the care of the environment, disability rights and issues of rape and domestic violence.
7. Having gained significant experience in facilitating Community Services to refugees in Kagera, a number of expatriate and national staff were re-deployed to Nyarugusu and Muyovosi camps in Kasulu District in December 1996. In January 1999, CORD was also invited to revive Community Services in Lugufu camp in anticipation of a new influx of refugees coming to Kigoma region. Previously, another NGO called RUSERP had co-ordinated Community Services in Lugufu, but CORD was asked to take over from them in order to provide continuity between programmes in both Congolese camps.
8. While CORD no longer works in Muyovosi, a camp for Burundian refugees, the agency did play a significant role in setting up Community Services in this camp with the intention of building local capacity to take over responsibility for programmes. CORD did this by assisting the Anglican Diocese of Western Tanganyika Refugee Department (DWTRD) to implement Community Services in Muyovosi for a period of two years, beginning in April 1997. CORD and the Diocese jointly identified staff members, and when CORD handed over all responsibilities to DWTRD in July 1999, DWTRD staff carried on their duties without interruption. Since then, DWTRD has been registered as a separate NGO called Samaritans Enterprise Keepers Organisation (SEKO), which carries on the work DWTRD began in Muyovosi.
Terms of reference and methodology
9. This review was conducted in conjunction with a similar review of CORD's Community Service programmes in Zambia among Angolan refugees. Both studies were commissioned by UNHCR as supplements to a wider worldwide study of UNHCR Community Services being conducted at the same time.
10. The focus of the evaluation centred on the following five main issues.
- Policy and operational challenges CORD has faced
- CORD's experience working with UNHCR and other NGOs
- Government policy and its effect on CORD's work
- Refugee perceptions of and participation in Community Services
- CORD's interaction with refugee leadership and community representation
12. Because special attention was given to refugee perceptions of Community Services, this is reflected in the methodology used. Information was gathered first in Nyarugusu and then in Lugufu with nine working days spent in each camp. Most of that time was spent talking with refugees. To assist in the evaluation process, six English speaking Congolese refugees were chosen to serve as research assistants. They helped to lead focus group discussions, to conduct a survey and to analyse data collected. Three of the research assistants were from Nyarugusu and three were from Lugufu. It was considered important to hire research assistants who were non-CORD staff to enhance the objectivity of the evaluation.
13. In each camp, various groups were identified and invited to the CORD compound for semi-structured focus group discussions. Groups included the CORD Tanzanian staff, CORD Congolese staff, refugees who are involved in Community Service activities, refugee elected leaders, refugee traditional leaders and refugee religious leaders (see Annex 1). In addition, informal interviews were conducted with several key informants, which included CORD staff, UNHCR staff, and representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for the government of Tanzania (see Annex 2).
14. In order to assess the views of refugees
in the wider camp community outside the umbrella of the CORD compound,
the evaluator spent time walking through the camps, meeting artisans, business
people, and individuals at their daily work. Informal discussions
with these people helped to provide a broader perspective of CORD's work
and issues of concern to refugees.
15. In addition, the research assistants
conducted a survey to assess the wider community's level of awareness of
CORD and the degree to which they are involved in CORD activities (see
Annex 3). For the survey, fifty refugees were interviewed in Nyarugusu
and fifty refugees were interviewed in Lugufu using a purposive sampling
technique. In each camp, research assistants talked with 25 males
and 25 females. And of those, the following categories of people were interviewed:
20 children or youths, 20 elderly people, 20 disabled people, and 40 other
adults. About half of the interviews were conducted at the shared
market and the rest were conducted in areas of the camp several minutes
walk away from the CORD compound. It should be noted that focus group
discussions with refugee leaders also made it possible to assess refugee
views outside of CORD staff and refugees who have directly benefited from
CORD activities.
16. At the conclusion of the evaluation, one hundred people (primarily refugees) in both camps came to a workshop to hear the evaluation findings and to offer feedback. In these workshops, the evaluator sought to reflect the perspectives of all stakeholders so that the refugees could understand the complexity of the problems that concern them. As well as providing a forum to discuss evaluation findings, the workshop became an opportunity to discuss refugee perceptions and misconceptions of UNHCR, the Tanzanian government's refugee policy and the purpose of Community Services.
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