In June, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said a funding shortfall has compelled it to scale down its operations worldwide. The measure includes some 3,500 staff cuts.

In Malawi, where the UNHCR has been active since 1994, refugee camp supervisors and security personnel have since been laid off and the agency is selling off its vehicles, equipment and other assets.

The situation is dire at the country's largest camp for refugees and asylum seekers – Dzaleka. According to the UNHCR, several other NGOs involved in the overcrowded camp are also scaling down operations and halting community-based training and sensitization programs.

Dzaleka houses mostly people from Africa's Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa.

Civil society groups and activists are concerned for their welfare of those at Dzaleka and asking how the women and children among them especially will access the basic services.

"I think it is very disturbing, especially where women are particularly disadvantaged and you look at the services that are supposed to be provided which fulfill human rights and issues of gender. You look at health care services for example, and the fact that there are job cuts," said Jessie Chingoma, a gender and........

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