– I was not prepared at all for the food aid to suddenly disappear, says Nema Grace. She is actually from South Sudan, but is a refugee in Uganda for the seventh year. She has seen the news from both Ukraine and Sudan, but finds it difficult to accept that other crises are the explanation for why she and her family suddenly lost the support they depended on. Nema Grace also grows her own food, but it was not enough to feed everyone in the extended family. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom / news Major cuts in financial support This summer, the World Food Program implemented major cuts in food distribution in several places around the world. In Uganda, they chose to divide the refugee population into categories according to how vulnerable they are. This creates anxiety, because the vast majority of them need food support to get enough food on the table. Verda’s Food Program explains to news that several crises and more expensive food are the main reasons. An overview from the UN shows that the overall need for emergency aid in the world will continue to grow in 2023, but paradoxically, at the end of the year, it appears that financial aid has nevertheless decreased. The account may improve, because a lot of support comes in just before the New Year. But the tendency is still negative. Grace is one of several million people who fled the civil war in South Sudan seven years ago. It is still impossible for them to return. At the same time, it has always been the plan that they will actually return. As a result, the refugees have found themselves in a constant emergency situation, where they remain refugees while they wait for peace in their homeland. It is difficult to start a new life, when the plan all along is that you will move home again when there is peace. Makes shoes, clothes and soap Caritas Norway is one of several organizations working among the refugees in Uganda. They believe it is increasingly important to plan more long-term in crises. – Sometimes I go from situations that require acute life-saving emergency aid to situations that require long-term assistance. Then it’s about giving people the opportunity to create their own livelihood, says Tale Birkeland Hungnes, who is the international manager of Caritas Norway. Speech Birkeland Hungnes is afraid that Caritas Norway will lose support for the work they run in Northern Uganda. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom / news The organization has various projects where refugees receive training in everything from agriculture to soap production. When news is around the refugee camp in northwest Uganda, several groups of women show what they have learned. The production of shoes, clothes and soap contributes to income, but also to the fact that more women can make products that people in the local community will constantly need. Hungnes believes this type of project is useful in order to give refugees more legs to stand on, and it is especially important when the fight for the money hardens, Hungnes believes. – Now I am in a situation where many more crises require tools that lead to people being able to create their own livelihood. The monetary aid can be a conflict-reducer The refugee camp news visits is located in the middle of the refugees’ so-called “nearby area”. The proportion of refugees is enormous. About 200,000 refugees live around the town of Yumbe. The city basically has a population in line with Oslo, up to 800,000 people. But one has managed to avoid major conflicts. Yumbe, located in the north of Uganda, not far from South Sudan – We informed about the benefits the local community could gain from the arrival of refugees, says Rashid Kauuauua Godson. He is the village chief in Lori, one of the villages outside Yumbe. In other words, the refugee burden has also led to something positive for local communities, where there is a great lack of opportunities. – We knew that many organizations would help the refugees, and with the organizations here, the local community can also benefit from hosting refugees, says Godson. Rashid Kauuauua Godson sees advantages in hosting refugees. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom / news Struggle for funding There is widespread poverty in the Ugandan countryside. Ugandan authorities have agreed to accept refugees, but have clear expectations of international support. But with more and more major crises and more competition for funding, the fear is growing that it will not be possible to maintain the work that has been started in northern Uganda, where the refugee crisis has become a kind of normality after seven years. – Uganda’s good refugee model is completely dependent on the international community. Rich countries must provide the necessary support they have committed to. It must also be aimed at ensuring that these are not only acute crises, but also that long-term solutions are created, says Hungnes in Caritas. But Uganda’s refugee model refers to the arrangement where the local population lends land to the refugees, who then get help from organizations to grow and harvest food for their own consumption. In Uganda, refugees get access to land where they can go together in larger groups and grow food. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom / news This model has received a lot of attention in Uganda, and village manager Godson believes that the work that the South Sudanese refugees put into the fields also inspires the Ugandans. – It is a competition. When we see that the refugees have cultivated a hectare of land, it also motivates the local community to do the same, and to learn from what the refugees are doing, says Godson. Borrowing land When external aid organizations contribute with the development of infrastructure, equipment for farming, spreading knowledge and emergency aid, the burden on the local population is reduced. The local population in Lori has voluntarily lent land to refugees. – My own experiences of being a refugee have given me a heart of gold when dealing with people on the run. I want to keep them as careful as an egg, and live peacefully with them and help them so that it also helps me, says Amaka Ratib. Suraya Keji is one of the refugees who has learned agriculture after fleeing from South Sudan to Uganda. Here in the field right outside the house. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom / news He is one of the landowners who lends his land. And they too benefit from the assistance from outside, and get access to equipment, seeds and knowledge, just like the refugees. In 2022, Norway gave NOK 382.3 million in aid to Uganda, for a wide selection of projects. This is shown by figures from Norad. In addition to Caritas, the Atlas Alliance, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children Norway were among the largest recipients.
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More and more refugee crises in an ever-increasing cash crunch – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
