From Refugees to Citizens: What Happens to Livelihoods? – A Study of How New Tanzanians Utilize Their Citizen Rights

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to find out how attaining citizenship had affected livelihood opportunities and strategies among the approximately 200,000 Burundian refugees who after more than 40 years in exile became Tanzanian citizens in late 2014. It is a case study of local integration and development, analysing the situation for new Tanzanian citizens through the sustainable livelihoods framework. The data was collected through qualitative interviews with new Tanzanians in Kaswa village in the Old Settlement in Ulyankulu, Tabora Region in February 2016. Key legal rights attained through citizenship were full freedom of movement, full access to employment and higher education, and the right to vote. A previous study had also suggested that citizenship could increase access to credit and fertilisers. This study found that the legal rights to move around freely and to vote were claimed to be highly accessible and utilized as livelihood strategies by the new Tanzanians. But the full access to employment and higher education stipulated by law had only partly improved the opportunity to access employment and higher education in reality. Lastly, citizenship was found to have only a very minor effect on increasing the access to credit, and no effect on accessing fertilisers.