A resource map of Twajiji village in Bidi Bidi Parish – Ramogi Sub County, Yumbe District. The study among others seeks to assess the sustainability of Uganda’s land policy for refugees. Drawing by Gemma Ahaibwe & Miriam Katunze
The Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) has successfully carried out fieldwork activities in line with an ongoing study on land tenure and use in the refugee hosting districts of Arua, Yumbe, Adjumani and Lamwo, in northern Uganda.
Uganda is currently home to about 1.3 million refugees and majority (about 75 percent) hail from South Sudan.
The Uganda refugee policy provides for allocation of land to refugees in order to promote self-reliance and less dependency on food aid among others. However, evidence on the extent to which land allocation has been able to support self-reliance among refugees remains anecdotal.
The Centre through its team of committed staff set out to answer the following questions;
- What are the livelihood patterns among refugees and their hosts?
- Is the land allocated productive enough to support agricultural production and productivity? What is the extent of land use among refugees and host communities?
- Has the policy on land allocation achieved its objective of promoting self-reliance?
- Is the land policy for refugees effective and sustainable?
- Some of the settlements visited were Bidibidi settlement in Yumbe district – currently the largest settlement in the world hosting about 285,000 refugees.
Other old settlements visited were Rhino Camp, Alere and Mungula in Adjumani and relatively new ones like Nvempi, in Arua and Palabek in Lamwo.
The study field activities ended in November 2017 and the findings will be released soon.