Graduation Compendium: Building a Common understanding of Graduation Programmes in the Uganda Refugee Response

This practical compendium is designed to inform the dialogue of humanitarian and development actors around the graduation concept applied in the refugee response in Uganda.

Policy documents and implemented interventions vary in how they define graduation, selfreliance, and resilience which hinders a shared understanding of the concepts.

The ongoing work led by Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Ministry of Gender Labour & Social Developmen (MGLSD), Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) and the Livelihoods and Self Reliance Working Group to standardise measurement and interventions for self-reliance in the refugee response is a critical exercise and opportunity for partners to learn from one another. More specifically, there are plans to establish a minimum livelihoods investment package to support households achieve self-reliance and a harmonised measurement framework, both of which will be critical guidance for graduation programmes.

How we choose to talk about these concepts matters: it shapes the expectations, objectives, and approaches of all stakeholders in the refugee response system, including practitioners, policymakers, researchers, funders, governments, and refugees themselves. The aim of this paper is to encourage reflection and build a common understanding of the graduation approaches in Uganda as well as present an exhaustive list of graduation interventions implemented in the country.

Furthermore, to support this reflection, U-Learn produced an Overview of the 2022 National Strategy for Sustainable Graduation in Rwanda(1). U-Learn, in collaboation with the LRSWG, also produced resources on sustainable livelihoods(2) and financial inclusion(3).

1. Brief available here: https://ulearn-uganda.org/rwanda-strategy-for-sustainable-graduation-an-overview and full Rwanda National Graduation Strategy accessible here: [*https://www.minaloc.gov.rw/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=57400&token=ebdc71608f1687253826e20e38990beebefe5c85*](https://www.minaloc.gov.rw/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=57400&token=ebdc71608f1687253826e20e38990beebefe5c85)
2. An overview of those resources can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MllLGWcoQPmXvxksm0VpIqhib4AWRceB
3. An overview of those resources can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aUCPW3262r3bHtyhHNsfP12J-TpcnLUR