Uganda

New arrivals from Sudan, who access national health services on par with nationals, have put additional strain on the already overstretched health care services, which require long-term development investments in support of Uganda’s Government-led Health Sector Integrated Refugee Response Plan (HSIRRP) 2019-2024 to ensure access to quality health services and support the transition of health facilities in Kiryandongo to full government management. 

There has been a reduction in the level of services, which can be attributed to the increased number of new arrivals without a match in infrastructure development. The per capita water consumption rate stands at 17 liters per person per day, on average with some pockets of the settlement - especially where new arrivals are settled - receiving as low as 11 liters per person per day. Expanding the infrastructure requires additional investment. 

To include over 12,000 school-age Sudanese children in the national education system and ensure that both host community and refugee children have access to quality education, requires additional development investments in support of the Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES) Second Education Response Plan for Refugees and Host Communities (ERPII). 

There is an opportunity to support the Government’s Global Refugee Forum (GRF) pledge to create 300,000 economic opportunities by 2027 by investing in agricultural value chains and agribusinesses and facilitate private sector investments and job creation initiatives for refuges and host communities in Uganda, including in Kiryandongo district. There is also a plan to adopt a ‘hub approach’ to boost economic transformation in refugee hosting districts by improving access to integrated services within proximity and freeing up more land for pursuing economic activities at scale. The economic hub will entail creation of common user facilities including one stop business facilitation centers, business incubation centers and improve connectivity through infrastructural development (e.g. roads, access to national gridline and off-grid energy sources). This will require additional development investments including socio-economic data analysis and skills profiling to inform livelihoods interventions. Efforts will also need to continue to engage with Government authorities to facilitate the ease of access to work permits by refugees, as well as the interoperability between the refugee ID system and the national systems including the banking system and the Credit Reference Bureau to advance the financial inclusion of refugees in line with Uganda’s Financial Inclusion Strategy 2023-2028. 

Such planning approaches pursued in areas receiving new arrivals will guide systematic plot demarcation and allocation of specific uses such as shelter and kitchen gardens, farming for subsistence and surplus production, woodlots, protected areas, roads, WASH facilities and other physical infrastructure, and are expected to contribute significantly to more efficient and sustainable use of development resources.