Attachments
HIGHLIGHTS
• Burundi experienced climate-change related disasters; hydric deficit in Kirundo and floods in Bubanza, Bujumbura Rural, Cibitoke, Makamba Nyanza-Lac and Rumonge provinces, damaging 56 classrooms, 534 hectares of food crops and displacing 180 households.
• In response to 16 suspected cholera cases during the reporting period, UNICEF reinforced its contingency stocks to respond to the risk of additional cases, and provided key hygiene messages to over 435,082 persons.
• 20,624 children and adolescents (10,519 girls and 10,105 boys) of which 16,956 are under 18 (8,741 girls and 8,215 boys) were reintegrated into the formal school system and continued to receive services helping them pursue their studies.
• UNICEF facilitated the treatment of 21,378 children aged 6 to 59 months with severe acute malnutrition with an 89.9 per cent cure rate.
FUNDING OVERVIEW AND PARTNERSHIPS
UNICEF’s appeal for Burundi stands at US$ 22 million to sustain the provision of life-saving services for women and children affected by a humanitarian crisis, for which only 10 per cent has been mobilised as of 30 June 2022. As such the gap remains significant although some key results were achieved and progress made using other resources. In particular, UNICEF was able to prepare for the seasonal floods, with thanks to the Global Thematic Humanitarian Funds received. These flexible funds have enabled Child Protection, Health and WASH to reinforce their interventions in displacement sites and strengthen community resilience through the establishment of solidarity groups. UNICEF has also received funds generously contributed by the Government of Japan to: i) prevent and respond to the aftermath of natural disasters and mitigate the risk of epidemics, through the provision of WASH and Health services; ii) strengthen community resilience by putting solidarity groups (SGs) at the center of awareness campaigns and behavior change communication. In addition, funding received from ECHO continues to support the most vulnerable children, particularly returnees and displaced children, with access to birth registration, and improved learning environments.
Humanitarian needs remain high in Burundi and the response to natural disasters remains largely underfunded. Considering the limited capacity of humanitarian actors to respond, coupled with increasing inflation and the cost of living crisis as a consequence of the Ukraine conflict, small shocks are expected to have devastating effects on children and their families. Timely and flexible funding is urgently needed in order to respond, particularly in the domains of WASH, Health, Social Protection and Child Protection. UNICEF expresses its sincere gratitude to all public and private donors for the contributions received in the first half of 2022.