Activities – Refugee and NFI Transportation, Construction & infrastructure, Warehouse Management, Management of transit centres

AIRD was established in Burundi at the start of 2021 to support the voluntary repatriation and return of Burundian refugees who had since fled into neighbouring countries.

The situation in Burundi

The UNHCR reports that as at 31st January 2021, there are an estimated 147,990 Burundian refugees settled in 3 camps in Tanzania including Nduta, Mtendeli and Nyarugusu. This number does not include 42,000 Burundian refugees who have been in Tanzania for decades and who no longer receive assistance. Many of the 147,000 are recent arrivals following a widespread human rights crisis after then-president Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a disputed third term in 2015. 

Many of those forcibly displaced to Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda are now returning to Burundi. In their thousands, they require a lot of assistance as they settle back in their home country.

In addition to safe transportation, AIRD will work towards the reintegration of returnees through the construction of shelters and other community infrastructure. AIRD will also take over responsibility of the management of UNHCR warehouses that will store the critical Non Food Items returnees will require as they rebuild their lives.