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Inter-Agency Livelihood Assessment Targeting Refugees and Host Communities in IMVEPI and Rhino Camp Settlements - Arua District, Northern Uganda

Countries
Uganda
+ 1 more
Sources
World Vision
Publication date
Origin
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KEY FINDINGS

• The majority of the refugees rely on food assistance for their livelihood. In total, 58% are not participating in any economic activity while 24% are engaged in farming activities by renting out land from the host communities. Meanwhile, 75% of the host communities depend on agricultural production as their primary economic activity, and 10% are involved in petty trade. Most people lack access to capital to expand businesses.

• Food scarcity among the refugees and the host communities are driving prices of essential food items. Both communities have resulted in reducing meals and relying on less expensive foods to cope with the situation.

• Refugees are mainly concerned about the reduction in the quantity of food distributed by World Food Programme (WFP) while the host communities are particularly worried about the scarcity of food in the markets causing inflation of prices of staple food such as cassava flour which doubled in price since December 2016.

• Though the markets in the refugee and host community settlements are functional and providing the essential household items, there are few economic activities undertaken in comparison to their potential. Cash injection through cash-based programming is needed to spur growth.

• Both the host communities and refugees are mainly relying on firewood for cooking, creating competition and pressure on this shared resource.

• In total, 81% of the refugees and 79% of the host communities stated they were already concerned about the availability of fuel.

• Only 4% of refugees and 5% of host communities are using fuel-efficient stoves (Lorena)

• Most of the refugees and host communities (44% and 51% respectively) have a primary level of education only with 25% of the refugees and 6% host communities being illiterate/semi-literate.

• Most employment opportunities accessible to the majority is mainly casual labour for 0 to 2 days per week earning an income of between 0 to 10,000 UGX.

• Most people are unskilled and unable to take advantage of economic activities on offer. The skills most demanded of men were building, followed by brick laying. Meanwhile, for women, the skill most demanded was hairdressing followed by tailoring.

• Savings groups were identified as the most available and preferred lenders of money at 32%, followed by friends and relatives at 23% and 21% respectively. Commercial banks and MFIs were least accessible to communities with only 1% of the respondents benefiting from their loans.