Lead researcher: Resty Naiga
Duration: December – September 2024
Country: Uganda
Uganda has become the third-largest refugee recipient country worldwide, with over 1.5 million refugees. Uganda was a pilot country of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and is one of eight African countries that agreed to apply the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework concepts. In contrast to many other refugee-receiving countries, Uganda’s policies allow refugees a plot of land and significant freedom of movement to work, establish businesses, trade within refugee settlements and elsewhere, and access public services such as education and health. Uganda is considered a model and is often cited as the country leading in the local integration of refugee communities, having implemented refugee self-reliance approaches since 1999.
Most recent evidence indicates that Uganda’s welcoming open-door policy is on the verge of collapse because of resource-based conflicts between refugee and host communities due to environmental and resource-sharing concerns as a result of limited access to natural resources, the unclear terms of use of land by the refugees, increasing poverty and lack of viable livelihoods for refugees and host communities. The conflicts are further intensified by lack of quality social services such as water, education, health care, and housing, as well as gender-based inequitable distribution of resources and services across refugee and host communities.
This study therefore aims to contribute towards bridging these knowledge gaps regarding the lived experiences of water and land insecurity and women’s participation in management and decision-making. To this end, this study aims to (a) explore natural resource-related conflicts and the implications on women and girls (b) establish the status and contribution of women’s participation in natural resources management including conflict mitigation in refugee settings (c) suggest ways of enhancing women’s participation in water and land management in refugee settings.
A transdisciplinary cross-sectional research design will be used because it focuses on solving real-world problems with particular emphasis on involving those affected by the problem in all the stages of the research process and in the co-production of knowledge.
This project is one of several focused on women and girls in cross-border conflict contexts. The main output will be a research manuscript for submission for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or as an XCEPT research report.
For more information regarding this research, contact [email protected]