Algeria (Sahrawi refugees)

Since 1975, Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, has been claimed by both Morocco and the Polisario Front. Between 1975 and 1976, to escape the conflict, a large part of the population has fled to southwest Algeria. Since the 1991 ceasefire, the UN has tried unsuccessfully to hold a self-determination referendum, but Western Sahara remains a "territory without administration". On the 13th November 2020, a group of Sahrawi protested at Guerguerat border post, in the extreme South of Western Sahara, asking for the organisation of the referendum. It triggered a Moroccan army forces military intervention. Considering the intervention as a violation of the 1991 ceasefire, The Polisario Front waged the “state of war”.

For more than 40 years, Sahrawi refugees - estimated by UNHCR at 173,600 people - have been living in isolated camps in Tinduf region, located in the Sahara desert, subjected to extreme climatic conditions, without natural resources and entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. The lockdown confinement decreed from mid-March to June 2020 in the camps in response to the Covid-19 pandemic led to the loss of many jobs and other sources of income for the refugees (UNHCR, Sahrawi refugees in COVID-19 lockdown hit by livestock epidemic, 1 September 2020).

TGH has been supporting Saharawi population since 2001 both with emergency interventions to improve immediate living conditions and sustainable solutions in order to empower the population and increase its resilience capacities. As long as no political solution is found to determine the Western Sahara’s administrative status, the Sahrawi refugees will remain dependent of the humanitarian assistance with no prospect of change in this context of political status quo. The current health situation exacerbated the living conditions and needs of the population. TGH operates in the following sectors:

Logistics:
The camps are supplied from Algiers: a 2,000 km journey on roads that severely challenge the vehicles. Since 2002, TGH has been in charge of the Rabouni central mechanical workshop, which ensures the maintenance of about sixty trucks, seventeen ambulances and many other vehicles and generators that ensures the transportation of food and sanitary equipment.

Health:
TGH supports the local health system by providing technical and material assistance to hospitals and auxiliary services (laboratories, radiology services and dental surgery), and by conducting regular HIV awareness and prevention campaigns.

Hygiene:
The difficult access to hygiene items in camps increases the risk of diseases transmission.
To reduce this sanitary risks, TGH ensures the functioning of 2 soap production workshops and one bleach unit production which are distributed to health institutions, schools, hospitals and individuals.

Disability:
People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable in refugee camps. TGH supports specialised centres and strengthens the management capacities of the Sahrawi Ministry of Social Affairs and Women Promotion.
TGH also set up in 2014 a team of professionals providing home care for the most vulnerable people with disabilities (children with cerebral palsy, bedridden elderly people, etc.).

Education:
In 2015 and 2016, floods caused extensive damages to homes and school and health infrastructures. TGH, in a coordinated response with other NGOs, participated to rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts to rebuild school institutions and one specialised centre. TGH focused on gender sensitive sanitation facilities central to ensuring a gender equitable learning environment with the installation of clean, safe, adapted and separated latrines.

Food Security and Livelihoods:
In a context of lack of natural resources, it is necessary to adopt innovative approaches to both food-related issues and economic activity. TGH, in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), has built in 2019 a fish farm. It contributes to food diversification and will ultimately induce the creation of sustainable jobs, once the local staff, will fully take over the management of the farm.

October 2019 / January 2021

Support for food diversification and nutrition in Sahrawi refugee camps

This project is part of a wider programme implemented by TGH for more than a year in the food security and livelihoods sector. With the financial support of the WFP, the association has supported the construction of a fish farm in a Sahrawi refugee camp, which is now operational.

CURRENT PROGRAMMES

Assistance to the most vulnerable groups of Saharawi refugees

Improve the school environment in the Sahrawi refugee camps in the Tindouf Region

Pilot project for tilapia fish farming in Sahrawi refugee camps, Tindouf Region

COMPLETED PROGRAMMES

October 2019 / January 2021

Support for food diversification and nutrition in Sahrawi refugee camps

January 2019 / December 2019

Assistance to the most vulnerable groups of Sahrawi refugees

December 2018 / December 2019

Improving the school environment for all Sahrawi refugee camps

January 2018 / December 2018

Tilapias fish farming pilot project in Sahrawi refugee camps, Tindouf Region

January 2018 / December 2018

Assistance to the most vulnerable groups of Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf Region

July 2017 / January 2018

Supporting the rehabilitation of educational facilities and sanitation systems / latrines

January 2017 / December 2017

Assistance to the most vulnerable groups of Sahrawi refugees living in the Tindouf area

March 2016 / August 2017

Assistance to vulnerable Sahrawi refugees living in the camps South of Tindouf

February 2016 / August 2016

Rehabilitation and reconstruction of the educational and health facilities

January 2016 / December 2016

Assistance to the most vulnerable groups of Sahrawi refugees living in the Tindouf area

November 2015 / September 2016

Emergency response and reconstruction for the Saharawi populations affected by the torrential rains

May 2014 / April 2015

Assistance programme to vulnerable Saharawi refugees living in the camps south of Tindouf

January 2014 / December 2014

Support to most vulnerable groups of Saharawi refugees

January 2013 / December 2013

Support to Saharawi refugees

May 2013 / April 2014

Assistance programme to disabled people in Saharawi refugee camps

January 2011 / February 2012

Improvement of the hygiene conditions of women and disabled people

January 2011 / December 2011

Support to Saharawi refugees

October 2010 / March 2011

Support to World Food Programme Schemes in Saharawi Refugee Camps

January 2009 / December 2009

Assistance to Saharawi Refugees

November 2008 / August 2009

Distribution of hygiene kits to Sahawari Women, Disabled or Elderly people

February 2008 / October 2009

Improve the Living Conditions and Restore Basic Livelihoods of Disabled People

September 2007 / September 2008

Purchase and distribution of hygiene kits for Saharawi women in the refugee camps

January 2008 / December 2008

Assistance to Saharawi Refugees

February 2007 / November 2007

Support to Elderly & Disabled People in Saharawi Refugee Camps

September 2006 / September 2007

Purchase and distribution of hygiene kits for Saharawi women in the refugee camps

April 2006 / January 2007

Rehabilitation of Health Structures Damaged by the February 2006 Floods

October 2005 / September 2006

Support to Elderly & Disabled People in Saharawi Refugee

November 2005 / July 2006

Purchase & Distribution of Hygiene Kits for Saharawi Women in Refugee Camps

March 2006 / April 2006

EMERGENCY RELIEF After the February 2006 floods

April 2004 / December 2004

Support to Care Structures for Disabled Peoples

December 2002 / January 2004

Creation of a Bakery

EMERGENCY RELIEF
After the February 2006 floods