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Evaluating the Short- and Longterm effects of Natural Disasters in Uganda

Countries
Uganda
Sources
CRS
Publication date

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Gaps in information management in Uganda makes it difficult to confidently and holistically show the number of people affected by disasters since January 2021, their priority needs, and the remaining gaps in assistance required to meet their basic needs. At the request of the United States Agency for International Development Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID BHA), with funding from the East and Central Africa Rapid Response Fund, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and partners conducted a needs assessment targeting districts reporting a natural disaster event within the last three months, along with the reported continued impact of disasters within their community. Assessment results would help clarify for BHA and the greater humanitarian community how many households continue to be affected by recent disaster events and whether a humanitarian response would be appropriate.

The assessment began with a desk review, comprised of 13 exploratory interviews with national level key informants from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), USAID/BHA, European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), Caritas Uganda, the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS), and other key humanitarian partners that form part of the OPM-led national Disaster Management Platform , to understand the current disaster management context and various initiatives being undertaken. The desk review focused on secondary data from IOM and the URCS dating to November 2019, triangulated with news reports and sitreps from various sources in order to establish a list of 41 regularly affected districts (Figure 1). The criteria used to select the districts for the first round of district-level data collection (Phase I) were the number and timeframe of disasters reported in a given district, with priority given to districts with the largest reported number of affected and displaced people with disaster events reported before September 2021.
In Phase I, CRS focused on 17 of the most affected districts, identified during desk review: Amolatar, Bududa, Bukedea, Buliisa, Butaleja, Dokolo, Kagadi, Kapchorwa, Kapelebyong, Kasese, Katakwi, Kibaale, Kwania, Kween, Manafwa, Mbale and Sironko. The list of affected districts and their underlying data is presented in Annex A. For Phase II, CRS combined data from Phase I and the desk review, narrowing the 17 districts to 10 that had the most reliable data on the lasting impact of disasters. Amolatar, Bududa, Buliisa, Dokolo, Kagadi, Kapchorwa, Kapelebyong, Kasese, Katakwi, and Manafwa, were selected for a more detailed, sub-county-level data verification and observational visits as part of Phase II.2 See Annex B for a map of sub-regions and the assessed districts, by Phase.