Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security Mr Dickson Matembo says taking care of refugees has changed from being basically humanitarian to creating an enabling environment that promotes economic activities in refugee settlements.
He said the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and hosting countries are supporting refugees but with increasing numbers triggered by many conflicts, resources are scarce hence the need to come up with other ways of sustaining the livelihoods of refugees.
Speaking on the margins of the round-table discussion on sustainable programming, which UNHCR co-hosted with the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Berlin from 22nd to 23rd July 2024, Mr Matembo said some refugees have skills and qualifications and that under the new model, an enabling environment was being created in refugee settlements to support agriculture, setting up processing companies, and upgrading schools and hospitals.
He cited Maheba refugee settlement as one example where upgrades on infrastructure and setting up of economic activities were being carried out to allow refugees to participate and contribute to national economic growth.
Mr Matembo said the meeting in Berlin was organised by the UNHCR and the Federal German government to develop mechanisms for sustainability programming of refugee inclusion to enable them become self reliant.
He said the meeting looked at four thematic areas with the first one being national ownership and leadership-enabling measures to strengthen partnerships and coordination. The second one was ‘Sustainability of responses: Promoting inclusion and self-reliance from the start while the third one was ‘Responsibility sharing and financing to ease the pressure on host countries. He said this thematic area enables refugees to contribute to economic development in their host countries through involvement in agriculture, business and other sectors. The fourth thematic area was Enabling policy regulatory frameworks.
Meanwhile, Prof Prosper Ng’andu who is the Commissioner for Refugees in Zambia said the UNHCR and other partners have realised that dealing with the humanitarian component only in the management of refugees was not yielding positive results.
He observed that the refugee problem was viewed in the past as a temporal problem after the second world war, but it has now been termed as a long term problem hence the need for sustainable solutions that should include refugees in various sectors that will help them to be self-reliant and not to be a burden to host countries and communities.
Prof Ng’andu said that the hosting of the round-table came at a time when Zambia has moved a step ahead after the New Dawn administration realised that management of refugees was not effective as the Refugees Act of 2017 had no policy framework that needed sustainable solutions to refugees and host communities.
He said government has since made progress and in January this year, Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Hon Jack Mwiimbu launched the first ever National Refugee policy that speaks to the various changes.
The Zambian delegation at the round-table meeting comprised Mr Dennis Chisenda, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and National Development, Mr Dickson Matembo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs And Internal Security, Ms Mavis Nkomeshya, Permanent Secretary, Resettlement, Office of the Vice President and Prof Prosper Ng’andu, Commissioner for Refugees.
In picture: The Zambian delegation pays a courtesy call on H.E Ambassador Chibesakunda