Uganda hosts 1.4 million refugees, 81 percent of whom are women and children who are at high risk of gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against children (VAC), including sexual exploitation and abuse, rape, forced and child marriage, and intimate partner...
JDC Literature Review
Deconstructing borders: Mobility strategies of South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda
Uganda currently hosts more than 880,000 South Sudanese refugees, mostly in its northern districts. Refugees are permitted to work and move freely, and consequently there is interaction with surrounding host communities. Refugees are also free to settle independently...
Localising public health: Refugee-led organizations as first and last responders in COVID-19
Organizations created and led by refugees themselves (‘refugee-led organizations’, RLOs) play an important role in meeting community needs. In particular, refugee-led social protection (activities designed to reduce poverty, vulnerability, or risk), provided by...
Locked Down and Left Behind: The Impact of COVID-19 on Refugees’ Economic Inclusion
This paper examines the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on refugees in low- and middle-income hosting countries. It highlights the expected disproportionate effect of the pandemic on refugees in terms of employment and wider socio-economic outcomes. Key...
Refugees’ Engagement with Host Economies in Uganda
This article discusses research on refugees’ economic lives and their interaction with host communities across four sites in Uganda: established refugee settlements in Kyangwali and Nakivale; the relatively new settlement in Rwamwanja; and the capital city of Kampala....
Are Integrated Services a Step Towards Integration in Northern Uganda?
This study examines the longer-term implications of assistance that targets both South Sudanese refugees and their host communities in Northern Uganda. It examines current policy and practice in terms of shared services, social and economic implications of shared...
Refugee Economies in Uganda: What Difference Does the Self-Reliance Model Make?
Uganda’s refugee policies have been widely recognized as among the most progressive in the world. Its ‘self-reliance model’ permits refugees to work and choose their place of residence, allocates plots of land for refugees to cultivate, and encourages integrated...
Economic Impact of Giving Land to Refugees
The authors examine the impact of giving refugees access to cultivable land on refugee and host community welfare in Uganda. Cultivable land is allotted randomly to refugees when they arrive in refugee settlements, provided idle land is available at the time of their arrival. On average, refugee households received a plot roughly 0.5 hectares in size.
Thrive or Survive? Explaining Variation in Economic Outcomes for Refugees
The paper focuses on three questions: (1) what makes the economic lives of refugees distinctive from other populations; (2) what explains variation in refugees’ income levels; and (3) what role does entrepreneurship play in shaping refugees’ economic outcomes? In...
Informing the Refugee Policy Response in Uganda: Results from the Uganda Refugee and Host Communities 2018 Household Survey
Uganda hosts about 1.3 million refugees in 13 districts, the majority from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This report analyzes the socio-economic profile, poverty, and vulnerability of refugees and host communities in Uganda based on data from the...