Nakivale Refugee Settlement | |
|---|---|
  Nakivale Refugee Settlement | |
| Coordinates: 0°48′S30°54′E / 0.8°S 30.9°E | |
| Country | Uganda |
| District | Isingiro |
| Area | |
| • Total | 185 km2 (71 sq mi) |
| Population (2019) [1] | |
| • Total | 109,820 |
| • Density | 590/km2 (1,500/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Refugees |
Nakivale refugee settlement is a settlement located in Isingiro District near the Tanzania border in Southwest Uganda. [1] [2] [3]
Nakivale refugee settlement was established in 1958 and officially recognized as a refugee settlement in 1960 through the Uganda Gazette General Notice No. 19. [4] [5] Nakivale refugee settlement is the 8th largest refugee camp in the world. [6]
Nakivale refugee settlement, is approximately 200 km away from Kampala, Uganda's capital. [4] It is one of the oldest refugee settlements in the Uganda. [7] It is estimated at well beyond 180 square kilometres. [8] [9] This enormous area is geographically divided into three administrative zones – Base camp, Juru and Rubondo. These three zones, in turn, contain a total of 74 individual villages [8] and 51,132 households
It currently hosts 171,387 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. [7] Although many refugees in the area have been living there for several years, recent conflicts in nearby countries are increasing the number of arrivals per day. [7] [4] The majority of refugees in the settlement are Congolese although the population is largely heterogeneous with many cultures and groups from different nationalities. [4] The settlement is divided into 79 villages with an average of 800 to 1,000 people per village. [4]
It is same geographical size as the Indian city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). [6] It is the oldest refugee settlement in Africa, [10] [11] and benefits from what is oftenly lauded as the most progressive refugee policies in the world. [10]
Nakivale refugee settlement is located near the Tanzania border in Isingiro district, Southern Uganda. It is approximately 200 km away from Kampala city, which is the administrative capital of Uganda. [4] The Nakivale refugee settlement is six hours' drive from the capital, Kampala. [12] It stretches for 184 sq km (71 sq miles) and covers rolling hills, fertile fields, a lake and many streams. Dotted around the landscape are small brick or mud houses, some with corrugated irons roofs. [12]
The administration of Nakivale refugee settlement is managed by top level officers from The Office of the Prime Minister on-site settlement management team, led by the Ugandan Settlement Commander. [8] Each zone is officially represented by elected members from the refugee population, who form the settlement’s three Refugee Welfare Councils; refugee welfare council one, two and three. The election process is held after two years; this means that each leadership has two years time limit. This is the refugee leadership structure that helps the Office of the Prime Minister to lead refugees at village levels. Each refugee council is composed of 10 members. The chairperson who is in charge of the administration of the village is helped with the vice-chairperson who is most of time a woman. There are also the general secretary, the secretary of defense, the secretary of woman affairs, the secretary of youth, the secretary of extremely vulnerable individuals, the secretary of education, the secretary of hygiene and sanitation and the treasurer. Refugees in Nakivale are granted access to free land to build their shelter and are expected to use the rest for farming. [9] [7] Livelihood assistance is provided by UNHCR IPs, who as of 2013 include the American Refugee Committee, Nsamizi and Wakati Foundation a refugee led organization. [9]
There are a number of well-established organizations in the settlement working to promote self-reliance and as a result many of its refugees have well-established subsistence agriculture.
The camp had the following implementing partners as of December 2014: [6]
Settlement management, Coordination, and Security: Office of the Prime Minister
Protection: Alight: Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief
Community services: Alight: Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief, Every Shelter
Education: Windle Trust Uganda, Arise Nursery and Primary School
Health/Nutrition: Medical Teams International
Water/ Sanitation: Nsamizi: Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief
Livelihoods & Environment: Nsamizi
Shelter/ Logistics: African Initiative for Relief Development
Advocacy: People for Peace and Defence of Rights
Promotion of refugee artists, youth's and women: Tumaini for Refugee Women, Wakati Foundation
Operating Partners for 2014 include: [6]
Adult Education & Youth Leadership: Finish Refugee Council
Promoting youth's talents, skilling and construction : Best Future Club, PPDR Uganda, Wakati Foundation
Food: WFP through Samaritans’ Purse
GBV intervention: Tumaini for Refugee Women
Child Protection/Tracing: Uganda Red Cross Society
Psychosocial counseling: Tutapona Community
Services/sport: Right to Play and other refugee led organizations
The protection sector in Nakivale refugee settlement is involved in strengthening protection from crime and reducing or eliminating arbitrary detention, prevention and response to Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) as well as provision of child protection services to unaccompanied minors/separated children and children at risk. Support is given for durable solutions through individual protection case identification for resettlement and voluntary repatriation activities including information campaigns, "Go See and Come Tell visits" and escorting returning convoys. Nakivale receives an average of 2,000 new asylum seekers in its reception centre every month who await decisions on their refugee status by the Ugandan government Refugee Eligibility Committee which visits the settlement every 3 months. [4] [6]
This support includes distribution of non-food items, construction of shelters to persons with specific needs and psychosocial support to vulnerable refugees. Vulnerable groups supported by this sector include the elderly, people with disabilities, single parents, unaccompanied/separated children, as well as other men, elderly persons, women at risk, persons with medical conditions, children at risk and more generally women and children in the settlement. It is also involved in the capacity building of refugee leaders, and mobilising of communities for community works such as building houses, classrooms, water point maintenance and community roads. The sector is also responsible for mobilization for other sector activities including health and WASH and the community mobilization and sensitisation for the celebration of international days such as International Women’s Day, World Refugee Day and 16 days of activism. [6]
By December 2014, there were 9 primary schools and 27 Early Childhood Development Centres in Nakivale along with 1 secondary school and 1 vocational school. Windle Trust Uganda (WTU) also implements the German-funded DAFI scholarship programme which supports tertiary education. Children requiring special needs education are supported in 2 schools outside the refugee settlement. The Vocational Training Centre (VTC) provides skills training for asylum seekers, refugees and Ugandan nationals to give them the skills necessary for informal employment opportunities and small scale entrepreneurship. Nakivale also hosts a Community Technology Access (CTA) Centre which consists of a training area where students enroll and are trained in basic computer courses and an internet café. Finnish Refugee Council (FRC) provides training in Adult Literacy, English for Adults and related life skills through 36 learning centres across the settlement. [6]
Health services provided include Out-Patient Department services, community outreach activities such as immunization, sensitization and mobilization for antenatal care (ANC) and systems strengthening. There are 4 health centres in Nakivale (one grade III and three grade II H/Cs). Main referral point is Mbarara RRH and Rwekubo H/C IV. MTI intervenes and also supports awareness messages on HIV/AIDS, other communicable diseases, health promotion campaigns, and capacity building of Community Health Workers. As a result there has been an improvement in ANC attendances, maternal child health and family planning response. All indicators in morbidity and mortality are also within standard. Most common diseases within the settlement are Malaria and Respiratory Tract Infections. The Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) for Nakivale in 2013 was 2.9% (with critical being more than 15%) and Severe Acute Malnutrition rate was negligible (critical = 5%). [6]
There is an estimated population of over 35,000 nationals surrounding the Refugee Settlement who directly benefit from water, education, health and nutrition programmes in the settlement. [4] UNHCR and the government of Uganda fund and monitor the implementation of sub-projects activities and interfaces with implementing partners involved in providing social service like Windle International Uganda for education. [8] The settlement hosts communities from Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.
Refugees in Nakivale settlement receive both underground water (through boreholes and shallow wells) and surface water pumped from Lake Nakivale and treated at one of 3 water plants in the settlement (Base camp, Misiera and Kabazaana). There are 50 hand pumps and 318 water taps in the settlement. Water trucking (in schools and health centres) is also used during the dry season and rain water harvesting during the wet season. The sanitation sector is involved in hygiene promotion in communities and institutions. Latrine coverage in 2013 was 87%. [6]
The main livelihood activities include food crop production (including mushroom growing inside houses), crop post-harvest handling (mainly for maize), livestock husbandry, small businesses and vocational skills (tailoring, soap making, bakery and crafts/sandal making), making energy efficient stoves that use less firewood and making charcoal out of household waste. A total of 2,590 energy saving stoves have been constructed in the settlement through community participation led by a refugee led organization: WAKATI Foundation.
WAKATI Foundation as part of promoting and supporting small holder associations, beneficiary households have also been organized refugees into groups/associations. In order to promote conservation and stop deforestation tree-planting and energy saving technologies have been introduced. [6]
Nakivale is the main settlement for resettlement cases due to its size and the length of stay of many of its refugees. The focus is on individual protection cases and Congolese refugees for durable solutions. Additionally, follow-up and counseling is provided for the Somali refugees whose cases were submitted between 2009 and 2011 and still pending. In 2013, UNHCR referred 999 individuals from Nakivale and 1,763 individuals departed. In 2013, resettlement submissions from Nakivale are expected to continue increasing significantly with a main focus on Congolese refugees. [6]
An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee.
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced people. Usually, refugees seek asylum after they have escaped war in their home countries, but some camps also house environmental and economic migrants. Camps with over a hundred thousand people are common, but as of 2012, the average-sized camp housed around 11,400. They are usually built and run by a government, the United Nations, international organizations, or non-governmental organization. Unofficial refugee camps, such as Idomeni in Greece or the Calais jungle in France, are where refugees are largely left without the support of governments or international organizations.
Mbarara District is a district in South Western Uganda. In 2019, the Ugandan Cabinet approved part of Mbarara District, the then-Mbarara municipality, to be upgraded to city status effective July 2020.
The Gateway Protection Programme was a refugee resettlement scheme operated by the Government of the United Kingdom in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and co-funded by the European Union (EU), offering a legal route for a quota of UNHCR-identified refugees to be resettled in the UK. Following a proposal by the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, in October 2001, the legal basis was established by the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and the programme itself launched in March 2004. The programme enjoyed broad support from the UK's main political parties.
Ishasha border point is a border crossing station and customs post in the Kanungu District in the Western Region of Uganda. It is inset approximately 350 metres (1,150 ft) from the Ishasha River, which is the Uganda-Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) border locally, and is 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) from the town of Ishasha, Democratic Republic of the Congo, across the river in the DRC.
Africa Humanitarian Action (AHA) is a non-governmental organization that provides relief services to countries in Africa. It was founded by Dr. David Zawde in 1994 in response to the Rwandan genocide.
Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement is a refugee camp in Bweyale in Kiryandongo district Uganda.
Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement is a refugee camp in Kamwenge District in southwestern Uganda and is home to nearly 70,000 refugees.
Kyangwali Refugee Settlement is a refugee camp in the Kibuube District in western Uganda. April 2024, Kyangwali is home to 137,183 Refugees.
The Partnership for Refugees is a refugee public-private partnership established in June 2016 as the Partnership for Refugees by the Obama administration to facilitate President Barack Obama's commitment to creative solutions for the refugee crisis by engaging the private sector. The Partnership, an initiative established through collaboration between the State Department and USA for UNHCR with significant support from Accenture Federal Services, was established to facilitate private sector commitments in response to President Obama's June 30, 2016 Call to Action for Private Sector Engagement on the Global Refugee Crisis. On September 20, 2016, at the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations, President Obama announced that 51 companies from across the American economy have pledged to make new, measurable and significant commitments that will have a durable impact on refugees residing in countries on the front lines of the global refugee crisis and in countries of resettlement, like the United States.
Pagirinya Refugee Settlement is a refugee camp in Eastern Adjumani District in Northern Uganda.
Bidibidi Refugee Settlement is a refugee camp located in Yumbe District's West Nile sub-Region in Uganda. It is one of the world’s largest refugee settlements, housing approximately 285,000 refugees fleeing conflict in South Sudan as of late 2016. In 2017, and refugees from DR congo. it was described as the largest refugee settlement site in the world, and in 2023, it was labeled "Africa’s largest refugee camp" by The Guardian.
Nkusi Hydroelectric Power Station, also referred to as Nkusi Power Station, is a 9.6 MW (12,900 hp) hydroelectric power station in the Western Region of Uganda.
Uganda is one of the largest refugee-hosting nations in the world, with 1,529,904 refugees. The vast influx of refugees is due to several factors in Uganda's neighboring countries, especially war and violence in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and associated economic crisis and political instability in the region. Uganda has relatively 'friendly' policies that provide rights to the refugees, such as rights to education, work, private property, healthcare and other basic social services.
The Maaji refugee settlements are three refugee camps located in Adjumani District in the Northern Region of Uganda, established in 1997. In June 2018, there were 41,764 registered refugees, accounting for 10% of the district's total population. It has primarily admitted refugees from the Second Sudanese Civil War and the ongoing South Sudanese Civil War. The settlements have been attacked several times by the Lord's Resistance Army, along with other camps in the region such as the Baratuku refugee settlement.
Isingiro Water Supply and Sanitation Project (IWSSP), also Isingiro Water Supply and Sewerage System is a water intake, purification, distribution and waste water collection and disposal system in Isingiro District, in the Western Region of Uganda. The project is intended to meet the water supply and sanitation needs of 340,000 people of the 550,000 inhabitants of the district. The beneficiaries include the 100,000 occupants of Nakivale Refugee Settlement and the 32,000 occupants of Oruchinga Refugee Settlement. The work is to be carried out by the Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment through the parastatal utility company, National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC). Funding, have been provided by the French Development Agency and the European Union.
COBURWAS International Youth Organization to Transform Africa, commonly known as CIYOTA is a Ugandan not-for-profit refugee-education organisation. It was formed in 2005 by refugee youth and was the Africa finalists for the Nansen Refugee Award in 2013.
Sabuni Francoise Chikunda is a Congolese torture survivor, refugee, activist, teacher, and organisation founder, based in Uganda. She was the Africa regional winner of the Nansen Refugee Award in 2020.
Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID) is a community-based organization formed by refugees in Uganda that operates a number of programs that provide informal language instruction, Internet access, and vocational training to refugees in urban Kampala. The organization was founded in 2007 by Robert Hakiza a Congolese refugee living in Uganda.
Lake Nakivali, also known as Lake Nakivale, is a freshwater lake located in western Uganda's Isingiro District; it is part of the Lake Mburo-Nakivale wetland system. It is located about 40 kilometers south-east of Mbarara town.
13. Witnessing-change-in-a-refugee-settlement/ An Intern Sees the Important Role the Church Plays in Changing Lives. Samaritans Purse. Retrieved JANUARY 7, 2015, UGANDA