Mapping of Urban Refugees' Access to Essential Services in Rwanda

Since January 2015 Church World Service (CWS) and Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) Rwanda piloted the “Strengthening Urban Refugee Self-Reliance Project”, mapping out potential livelihoods opportunities for urban refugees in Rwanda. The pilot phase focused mainly on the city of Kigali, and sought to improve access to livelihoods by urban refugees. The project preliminary findings informed that there were both challenges and opportunities for urban refugees to meeting essential services. The situation prompted CWS and YWCA, in collaboration with UNHCR, to carry out an assessment of gaps and challenges as far as essential services for urban refugees were concerned, with a particular emphasis on recently arrived refugees fleeing into Rwanda from Burundi.

The mapping exercise was designed to: (1) provide information on needs and gaps in essential services and protection, among urban refugees living in Kigali and Huye, with an emphasis on recent refugee arrivals from Burundi; and (2) facilitate urban refugees’ access to information about existing services and livelihood opportunities in their areas of residence. The focus was on essential sectors, namely: Health, Education, Housing, Protection and Livelihoods. The mapping considered two components: urban
refugee households, and community service providers.

Through in-depth structured interviews with 601 refugee respondents in City of Kigali and 300 in Huye district, relevant data have been obtained on the current situation both on the side of urban refugees and the side of community service providers. The data gives insight into respondents’ perception of their access and affordability to essential services. The same data enable to draw some conclusions and formulate recommendations in comparison to availability and affordability of essential services. The report is structured in three sections:

• The first section gives a background to the mapping exercise, data collection and methodology
• The second section focuses of the findings and their corresponding analysis
• And finally the third section contains recommendations