 By late 2017, more than 685,000 Congolese refugees sought international protection in neighbouring countries, including Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Rwanda, the Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as in countries in Southern Africa and beyond. In 2018, the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) deteriorated, spreading to previously unaffected areas. Since August 30, 2017, Zambia received refugees fleeing conflict in Pweto and Moba areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who were first settled temporarily in Chiengi district.  By September 2017 the number of arrivals had exceeded 1,000 and Kenani transit centre in Nchelenge district was opened, to which all refugees were relocated. As the number of refugees increased to over 6,000, Kenani could no longer accommodate new arrivals.  Mantapala, approximately 36 km southeast of Nchelenge and spanning - 8,000 hectares, was opened in early 2018. All refugees residing at Kenani, were then relocated to the new settlement. Ever since the 2018 elections in DRC, arrivals have reduced to a steady trickle of refugees seeking international protection or family reunification.  During the emergency refugee operation, the Government of Zambia, through the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees in the Ministry of Home Affairs, collaborated closely with UNHCR, UN agencies and other partners. It coordinated and led the emergency response to address the most urgent protection needs of refugees such as food, shelter, water and sanitation, core relief items, and health services, and provided livelihood support and basic education for refugees to promote peaceful co-existence with local community and contribute to local economic development.  Today, the collaboration of Government with UNHCR, UN agencies and other partners is aimed at providing sustainable solutions for refugees and the host community, inculcating a sense of self-reliance and ownership in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Seventh National Development Plan (SNDP).  Considerable gains have been made regarding the construction of permanent infrastructure, the next focus will be to enhance the multi-stakeholder approach to equip structures such as health and education facilities to improve human potential and to support the inclusion of refugees in national systems in line with the Global Compact on Refugees of which the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) is apart.

Over 41,700 Lebanese and Syrian nationals benefited from completed community support projects

44,000 individuals received psychosocial support

18,000 refugees received hygiene and baby kits

• WHO and MOH launched the National Mental Health and Substance Use Action Plan (2018-2021), the launching event took place in 17th April and was under the patronage of HRH Princess Muna Al Hussein.

• WFP rolled out the iris-scan payment system in Azraq camp during the month of April. The pilot operations are now running successfully in KAP and Azraq camp. During April, WFP reached 2,997 households (14,020 individuals) through the iris-scan payment system in Azraq camp for a total value of 280,787 JOD (396,591 USD) in beneficiary voucher transactions

• WFP continued distributing dry ration parcels along with ready-to-eat parcels throughout April, assisting stranded Syrian refugees at the berm with fresh fruit and vegetables. During the reporting period, WFP dispatched 58,788 RTE parcels

• WFP and partner REACH completed the first round of Food Security Outcome Monitoring data collection.

• The Protection WG started to plan having a thematic discussion on a different topics of concern and interest to the members. Agenda for the thematic discussion has been finalized in April and agencies lead were assigned for each theme. • During April PWG meeting, UNHCR gave a detailed presentation on the new Amnesty was announced by the GOJ(criteria and updates). The amnesty will continue until 27 Sep 2018. After five weeks of the start of the amnesty, around 9,000 families registered for an appointment to rectify their situation. Data segregated by age and gender will be shared with PWG later on.