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Uganda + 4 more

IASC Snapshot: Uganda's New Way of Working

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Country Context

Uganda is particularly vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters and the impacts of climate change. Uganda is currently experiencing a prolonged period of crop failure. Nearly 30 per cent of the population (7-10 million) are currently facing increasing levels of food insecurity, adding to underlying vulnerabilities of poverty, youth unemployment, poor access to social services, high levels of gender based violence and high levels of new HIV/AIDS infections. Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with 78% of the population being under 30. Out of a total of 112 districts in Uganda, 12 districts, with a total population of approximately 4 million, hosting more than 1 million refugees and asylum-seekers (as of end January 2017). Several refugee-hosting districts are particularly affected by the deterioration in the food security situation and limited basic social services: water, health, education and infrastructures.

Uganda has as direct neighbors DRC, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, and shares the Lake Victoria with the last three. Uganda is also affected by the broader regional political and economic dynamics, including the Horn of Africa and Central Africa. According to the 2015 census Uganda has 36.6 million inhabitants, currently projected to be close to 40 million, and is now currently hosts more refugees than at any time in its history due to the cycles of violence and instability with no expected resolution in the near future. During the course of 2016, the number of refugees in Uganda roughly doubled. Uganda is expected to receive at least 380,000 additional refugees in 2017, including more than 300,000 refugees from South Sudan. Other countries with large refugee populations include DRC, Burundi and Somalia. These unprecedented numbers and increasing vulnerabilities demand accelerated efforts and support to the refugee hosting communities.

Harmonization of the humanitarian and development response in Uganda builds upon the SDGs-informed National Development Plan II and the 2016-2020 UN Development Assistance Framework. The NDPII, and the UNDAF, with Governance, Human Capital Development and Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Development as strategic priorities, inform coordination, delivery and resource mobilization priorities.

Despite rapidly increasing relief needs, humanitarian and development response programmes in Uganda are chronically and severely underfunded: the South Sudan 2016 Refugee Response Plan was only 36 per cent funded at the end of 2016, and the UNDAF faces a funding gap of approximately 100 million USD annually over the next four years. Uganda is investing significant domestic resources in the protection, management and integration of refugees, through the provision of land, social services, and security. In order for the Ugandan open-door policy to be sustainable and maintained, the response must contribute to building resilience and self-reliance of both refugees and host communities. This requires significant additional international support.

The United Nations footprint in Uganda includes 18 agencies, funds and programs operating as part of the UN Country Team as well as a UN base in Entebbe hosting the Regional Service Center run by DFSS and the MONUSCO base run by DPKO. Uganda is one of the three countries in Africa hosting an OHCHR country office. The benefit of this presence is that humanitarian and development plans, strategies and programmes benefit from human rights mainstreaming. OHCHR also supports the UNCT in implementing the Human Rights Up Front initiative.