Humanitarian response for Sahrawi refugee children and their families
UNICEF works as part of the United Nations Sahrawi Refugee Response Plan
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Progress and challenges
Since 1975 Algeria has sheltered tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees who have fled their homes in Western Sahara during one of the world’s longest-standing refugee crises.1 Today, an estimated 173,600 refugees live in five camps in Tindouf in the southwest of Algeria, near the Algeria/Mauritania border.
The refugees are dependent on humanitarian assistance for their survival and their lives have become more even precarious following the COVID-19 pandemic, the global rise in fuel and food prices, and increasing water scarcity and food shortages as well as extreme weather, including sandstorms and floods, which with climate change, is likely to worsen.
In March 2022, a nutrition survey showed an alarming malnutrition trend compared to previous years. Acute malnutrition among children between 6 and 59 months old increased from 7.6 per cent in 2019 to 10.7 per cent in 2022. Some 54.2 per cent of children aged between 6 and 59 months old were anemic and 28.8 per cent of them were suffering from stunted growth[1] which has irreversible negative effects on a range of children’s development outcomes, including learning. The survey also showed that only one in three children receive the minimum diverse diet they need to grow and develop healthily. The situation has probably become even more critical as humanitarian assistance has been reduced.
Sahrawi health workers, including midwives and community health workers, are playing an important role in improving maternal and child health. Midwives have had their skills upgraded, which have included internships in the capital, Algiers. Community health workers have also benefitted from training, particularly in young child health and referrals, and play a vital role in monitoring pregnant women, newborns and young children’s health, including immunization and preventing malnutrition.
[1] Nutrition Survey, Saharawi Refugee Camps, Tindouf, Algeria February 2022
In 2023, 40,050 children aged 3-16 years were enrolled in 89 schools and care centres in the Sahrawi refugee camps. This included more than 5,000 children under the age of 5 in pre-primary education and 320 children with disabilities in special education centres. A further 7,000 adolescents are enrolled as boarders in secondary and tertiary schools outside the camps, totally taken care of by the Government of Algeria. Global school enrolments indicate an almost perfect gender parity although slight disparities are observed in pre-primary in favour of boys and in primary and lower secondary in favour of girls. Over 75 per cent of the nearly 20,000 children enrolled in primary schools passed to the next academic level in 2022 but only 50 per cent of those who were tested at the end of primary education in 2022 met the locally-established threshold for minimum learning competencies. The education sector in the camps is community-based and is entirely operated by refugees. Teachers and others education personnel number 1,800 of whom 82 per cent are women.
In 2021, the Education Coordination Group, led by UNICEF and co-led by UNHCR, adopted a five-year education strategy, following extensive consultations with Sahrawi education authorities at all levels. This strategy has since guided interventions in the education sector. Notable results include increased funding for incentive payments by 40 per cent for teachers and other education personnel following UNICEF’s leadership on resource mobilization and its strategic partnership with the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection (ECHO), the Spanish Agency for International Development (AECID) and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). Teacher retention improved and candidates with better qualifications than before applied for vacant teaching positions. Also, new constructions and rehabilitation have enhanced the quality of the children’s learning environment and better funding for the provision of basic learning materials has improved the quality and quantity of items distributed.
A system is in place to cater to the education of children with disabilities with nine special education centres designated for them although conditions and teaching in these centres need to be improved.
Overall, much more needs to be done to support the Sahrawi refugees. There is a need to expand access to schooling and to improve learning as too many children fail to reach their educational potential and many children, especially young children, adolescents and those with disabilities, are missing out altogether on education. More needs to be done to improve the healthcare and nutrition of the population, particularly infants during the first 1,000 days of life.
UNICEF‘s support
“In the wake of the global crises, it is becoming increasingly challenging to meet the current needs of Sahrawi children,”. “We need to urgently increase our support to the refugees, particularly the most vulnerable children who are facing challenges to access basic services including food, water, health and education.”
The main areas of support are: (i) ensuring quality maternal and child health services and full immunization coverage; (ii) increasing efforts to prevent malnutrition amongst young children; and
(iii) improving access to inclusive and quality education.
Key priorities for UNICEF’s humanitarian response:
Improving maternal and child health services – The focus is on technical assistance for maternal and child health care and strengthening primary health care and outreach, including working with community health workers. UNICEF supports the training of healthcare workers on neonatal and maternal care through an internship programme in the capital, Algiers, and also community health activities, including house-to-house visits. In addition, UNICEF supports the training of health workers in neonatal and maternal care through a practical internship programme in northern Algeria (Algiers, Sétif and Oran) as well as community health activities, including home visits. In addition, UNICEF supports a capacity-building programme in the prevention and control of PCI infections and cold chain management which, in 2022, reached 222 Saharawi health professionals in Tindouf. UNICEF purchases all the vaccines for vaccination in the camps, as well as cold chain equipment.
Preventing and responding to malnutrition – UNICEF supports malnutrition prevention programmes with a focus on a child’s first 1,000 days of life, children under the age of 5 and pregnant and lactating women. This includes promoting exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and improving infant and young child feeding. For older children, UNICEF is supporting school health programmes, particularly preventing obesity and chronic diseases through the promotion of healthy diets and physically active lifestyles.
Ensuring inclusive access to safe and quality education – The focus is on access to safe and inclusive learning environments for Sahrawi children and youth, improving the quality of learning at all levels (preschool, primary and secondary), and strengthening the education system through improved planning and decision-making. As the lead agency in the Education Coordination Group, UNICEF provides leadership and technical expertise to ensure a predictable, relevant and effective education response.
UNICEF supports a functional Educational Management and Information System (EMIS) for quality needs assessments and response.
UNICEF procures and distributes basic school supplies to cover the needs of all schoolchildren and supports needs-based training of teachers and other pedagogical staff with a focus on didactics of mathematics and language and improving teachers’ communication skills for trauma-affected children.
UNICEF also supports inclusive education and social behaviour change among school communities to improve hygiene and safety in schools and the mental health and psychosocial skills of school children. It implements an accelerated education pilot programme for out-of-school children and collaborates with UNHCR, and other partners to support sport activities run by trained coaches to improve health and mental wellbeing of school-age refugees with a focus on encouraging girls to participate as they are traditionally not given the opportunity to participate in sports activities.
Building an inclusive environment to ensure inclusive humanitarian action – Local authorities (health, social affairs and education) work together under a memorandum of understanding on sharing roles in childcare, learning disabilities and preventing the onset of preventable disabilities during the child's early childhood. Quarterly intersectoral community meetings are organized to monitor the progress of the action.
Supporting disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness and response. UNICEF works with partners to improve the resilience of livelihoods in the face of challenges, such as climate change and environmental sustainability.
Main partners
The Government of Algeria hosts the refugees and around 28 humanitarian partners work in the camps. UNICEF works with local authorities, the host Government, the Algerian Red Crescent, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), international and national NGOs and young people and children.