ReliefWeb

Overview

The sector aims for comprehensive settlement planning to ensure a conducive environment for socio-economic transformation and resilience in all refugee settlements and hosting communities. This is done through construction of roads, upgrading of reception facilities, rehabilitating and maintaining projects through a project management approach as well as developing comprehensive physical plans and demarcating land for shelter, livelihood, institutional use, common spaces and buffer zones.

Despite restrictions on border entry due to COVID-19, the sector ensured that all refugees received appropriate and timely assistance in line with the sector strategy. This included shelter kits to enable them to construct their emergency shelter (which they can later turn into semi-permanent shelter) and non-food item (NFI) support in line with the minimum agreed standards for Uganda. The sector, through direct labour and technical support, also ensured that semi-permanent shelters were constructed for persons with specific needs using market and community-based approaches. Ongoing repair and maintenance of communal shelters at operational transit facilities and reception centers has continued in order to meet the desired living conditions while taking into consideration facilities needed to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.

A key objective for the sector is to ensure that shelter options blend in with host communities, as such it continues to push for the implementation of a revised shelter strategy that takes into account more environmentally sustainable, culturally sensitive and flexible designs. In addition, a key approach throughout the settlements is the continued establishment of settlement planning guidelines following the Master Plan approach, which aims to improve site planning and contribute to land use optimisation.