Environmental Awareness for Refugees and Internally Displaced in Northern Uganda

"Real People, Real Needs"   On 20 June 2009, Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) joins the rest of the world in observing the world refugee day by highlighting its efforts to support refugees in Pader, Gulu, Amuru, and Kitgum districts of northern Uganda.

Pader is a new district that used to be a part of Kitgum District and has a long history of hosting refugees. One dynamic that has been specific to Pader District is the presence of Sudanese refugees living in Achol-Pii Refugee Settlement. These refugees fled a protracted civil war in their own country where violence had become a lived reality.

ACORD’s programme in Uganda for 2009 is addressing the impact of internally displaced persons and refugee settlement in northern Uganda on the proper use of environment and natural resources.

Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the warring groups in Sudan in January 2005, some refugee camps have been closed. According to the UN High Commission for Refugees, an estimated 420,000 people were still in IDP camps at the end of last year, down from over one million when the Sudan war broke out.

In areas where the security situation has improved, IDPs are able to access gardens and engage in subsistence production, petty trade, firewood collection, grass-cutting and casual labour. However, the increased pressure on the environment and natural resource base has caused considerable concern.

ACORD’s Uganda programme intends to build the capacity of 12 community based organisations on sustainable environment and natural resource management. Among these organisations, 8 are located in Acholi Sub-region
and 4 are in West Nile Sub-region. These CBOs can thereafter be well positioned to directly engage local communities on a daily basis. This approach also reflects the theme of this year’s World Refugees Day of
‘Real People, Real Needs’.

In early 2009, an environmental awareness among refugees was set up as a pilot activity by ACORD. In West Nile sub-region, ACORD has conducted needs assessment of both targeted populations and organisations. An ongoing mapping exercise will inform the prequalification of the community based organisations or groups to become partners to implement the environmental component in Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum and Pader districts.

As the processes continue, the communities are also being prepared psychologically through radio programmes to embrace environmental awareness during the transition from war to peace.

ACORD’s objective is to strengthen the capacity of the IDPs, returnees and other vulnerable communities in northern Uganda and south western Uganda to secure sustainable livelihoods and food security. This work is funded by the European Commission and Oxfam Novib.

More information about ACORD programmes in Uganda is also available online at:

http://www.acordinternational.org/index.php/base/uganda