Publication: From a Humanitarian to Development Approach: Uganda’s Ground-Breaking Journey to Achieve Sustainable Provision of Water Services to Refugees and Host Communities
Loading...
Published
2023-06-20
ISSN
Date
2023-06-20
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The number of refugees in Africa reached 6.9 million in 2021, nearly tripling over the past 15 years. Uganda alone hosts 1.5 million refugees, making it the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa and third in the world. Uganda has progressive refugee management policies that have welcomed refugees into the country for more than 70 years, with the average length of stay being seven to eight years. The pressure on water resources and infrastructure arising from the massive inflow and protracted stay of refugees is high and cannot be sustained solely through humanitarian interventions. The provision of water services in the refugee settlements under the humanitarian context is fragmented, and the actors supporting the refugee response can no longer provide effective and quality services because of financial and capacity constraints. This paper outlines Uganda’s pioneering shift from a traditional humanitarian water service model, designed for short-term emergencies, to a holistic approach that integrates refugees and host communities in long-term national development planning. It illustrates how Ugandan policy makers, the World Bank, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have come together to collectively design interventions at the national and local levels that have advanced this transition. The critical analytics, tools, and road maps generated through those interventions anchored the policy dialogues, reforms, and financing mechanisms that supported the transfer of water systems and provision services from humanitarian partners to national utilities. As a result, US$57 million of donor funds were mobilized and 50 water systems have already been transferred to national water providers, serving approximately 12 percent of the refugees and their host communities. Sharing the lessons learned from Uganda’s experience with World Bank project teams, partners, and other countries managing forced displacement may be beneficial as they strive to improve provision of water services to refugees and hosting communities.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Huang, Ai-Ju; Njoroge, David Githiri; Otiego, Lilian; Danilenko, Alexander. 2023. From a Humanitarian to Development Approach: Uganda’s Ground-Breaking Journey to Achieve Sustainable Provision of Water Services to Refugees and Host Communities. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/39897 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication A Primer on Energy Efficiency for Municipal Water and Wastewater Utilities(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-02)This primer is concerned with energy use and efficiency of network-based water supply and wastewater treatment in urban areas. It focuses on the supply side of the municipal water cycle, including the extraction, treatment, and distribution of water, and collection and treatment of wastewater-activities which are directly managed by Water and Wastewater Utilities (WWUs). The main challenges to scaling up Energy Efficiency (EE) in municipal water and wastewater services stem from sector governance issues, knowledge gaps, and financing hurdles. Utility governance affects the overall performance of individual WWUs and influences decision making, incentives and actions for energy management. This is likely the most significant barrier to WWU EE in many developing countries. Addressing knowledge gaps requires efforts to systematize data collection, training, and capacity building at utilities, supported by local and national governments. Financing hurdles can be reduced by introducing dedicated EE funds to address large but disaggregated investment needs and by promoting third-party financing through energy/water savings performance contracts. This primer is part of Energy Efficient Cities Initiative's (EECI's) knowledge clearinghouse function to inform World Bank (WB) staff working in urban water supply and wastewater management, as well as in energy, about the opportunities and good practices for improving EE and reducing energy cost in municipal WWUs.Publication Political Economy and Forced Displacement : Guidance and Lessons from Nine Country Case Studies(Washington, DC, 2014-06-17)This report was produced for the Global Program on Forced Displacement and describes why and how to conduct political economy analysis (PEA) of forced displacement. It also illustrates how PEA may contribute to understanding forced displacement crises with nine case studies: Casamance (Senegal), Colombia, Cote dapos;Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, the Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Forced displacement is understood here as a situation where persons are forced to leave or flee their homes due to conflict, violence, or human rights violations. The key elements of forced displacement PEAs include: i) a review of the historical context and displacement characteristics; ii) durable solutions prospects; iii) environmental, geographic, social, political, and economic drivers, constraints and opportunities; (iv) needs of the displaced and hosts; v) existing policies, government/institutional context, and operations; and vi) recommendations. Recommendations on development policies and programs that result from a PEA characteristically fall into at least four categories, namely: i) improving access to land, housing and property; ii) reestablishment of livelihoods; iii) improving delivery of services; and iv) strengthening accountable and responsible governance. PEAs of forced displacement analyze the contestation and distribution of power and resources along with the development challenges associated with forced displacement crises. By nature of their marginalization and the frequently protracted nature of their exile, the forcibly displaced are especially vulnerable as power and resources are disputed. The purpose of conducting a PEA on forced displacement is to inform policy dialogue and operations so that the interests of vulnerable forcibly displaced populations and their hosts are effectively accommodated in resource allocation decision-making and in poverty alleviation initiatives. From the earliest design phase to dissemination of the results, the PEA is essentially an exercise in effectively collecting relevant data, analyzing these, and then marketing the analysis and its operational implications to the right stakeholders. This report is intended to be an aid in navigating these decision points and activities and to encourage more frequent and better use of political economy analysis in evaluating and addressing forced displacement.Publication Impact of Migration on Economic and Social Development : A Review of Evidence and Emerging Issues(2011-02-01)This paper provides a review of the literature on the development impact of migration and remittances on origin countries and on destination countries in the South. International migration is an ever-growing phenomenon that has important development implications for both sending and receiving countries. For a sending country, migration and the resulting remittances lead to increased incomes and poverty reduction, and improved health and educational outcomes, and promote economic development. Yet these gains might come at substantial social costs to the migrants and their families. Since many developing countries are also large recipients of international migrants, they face challenges of integration of immigrants, job competition between migrant and native workers, and fiscal costs associated with provision of social services to the migrants. This paper also summarizes incipient discussions on the impacts of migration on climate change, democratic values, demographics, national identity, and security. In conclusion, the paper highlights a few policy recommendations calling for better integration of migration in development policies in the South and the North, improving data collection on migration and remittance flows, leveraging remittances for improving access to finance of recipient households and countries, improving recruitment mechanisms, and facilitating international labor mobility through safe and legal channels.Publication Regional Initiative in Support of the Horn of Africa(Washington, DC, 2014-10-23)The Horn of Africa (HoA) region has many security and development challenges whose origins and consequences go well beyond the borders of individual countries. It is also a region with many human assets and resource endowments, and some of the most dynamic economies in the world. Despite its numerous challenges, the Horn of Africa offers significant potential to address cross-border issues that can help transform its countries and the region. This paper describes a World Bank Group (WBG) initiative to address some of the key drivers of instability in the HoA and promote development in the area. The initiative is intended to build on and complement the large country and regional programs the WBG and other partners are already supporting in the HoA, bringing value by addressing a number of issues which demand cross-border collaborative solutions to reducing fragility and instability. The central rationale to this initiative is that WBG cannot effectively support the elimination of extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in the region without engaging more intensively and creatively in addressing very difficult development problems, including those linked to insecurity and vulnerability. The WBG package totals $1.8 billion to be committed over approximately 24 months, with about $600 million investments from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and an estimated $200 million in guarantees from the Multilateral Guarantee Investment Agency (MIGA). The initiative builds on two previous programs aimed at similar issues in the Great Lakes Region (May 2013) and the Sahel (November 2013), efforts that recognize the link between security and development, and the importance of giving hope to vulnerable citizens, including women and children, that they can overcome poverty and deprivation.Publication Forced Displacement(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-12)This note discusses the development dimensions of forced displacement, and the potential role of the World Bank to address these dimensions and contribute to durable solutions for group's who have returned from or are in displacement situations. For the purposes of this note, forced displacement refers to the situation of persons who are forced to leave or flee their homes due to conflict, violence, and human rights violations.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Ten Steps to a Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System : A Handbook for Development Practitioners(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004)An effective state is essential to achieving socio-economic and sustainable development. With the advent of globalization, there are growing pressures on governments and organizations around the world to be more responsive to the demands of internal and external stakeholders for good governance, accountability and transparency, greater development effectiveness, and delivery of tangible results. Governments, parliaments, citizens, the private sector, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), civil society, international organizations, and donors are among the stakeholders interested in better performance. As demands for greater accountability and real results have increased, there is an attendant need for enhanced results-based monitoring and evaluation of policies, programs, and projects. This handbook provides a comprehensive ten-step model that will help guide development practitioners through the process of designing and building a results-based monitoring and evaluation system. These steps begin with a 'readiness assessment' and take the practitioner through the design, management, and importantly, the sustainability of such systems. The handbook describes each step in detail, the tasks needed to complete each one, and the tools available to help along the way.Publication Botswana Mining Investment and Governance Review(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-08)The Botswana Mining Investment and Governance Review (MInGov) collects and shares information on mining sector governance, its attractiveness to investors and how its activities affect national development. It reviews sector performance from the perspective of three main stakeholder groups – government, investors in the mining value chain and civil society – and identifies gaps between declared and actual government policy and practice. The reviews findings are: Performance across the minerals value chain is better in the latter stages related to investment, accumulation, and expenditure of mineral revenue. The mining policy and legal framework are largely sound. The environmental protection legislation is quite current and mostly based on ‘good practice’ except for access to Environmental Impact Assessments. Land use issues, including resettlement and compensation, require a more inclusive process and stronger legislated framework. A local content policy for the mining industry should be developed with mining sector participation to ensure that both the needs of government and industry are met. Institutions are for the most part staffed with trained, qualified people although sometimes there are not sufficient numbers of staff with the required experience. The top shared priority by all three stakeholder groups is Sector Management and Intragovernmental Coordination. MInGov’s methodology focuses on the status of governance and investment conditions in the mining sector from the perspective of stakeholders, and as reportedin primary and secondary sources.Publication Rural-Urban Migration in Developing Countries(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05)This paper reviews the recent literature on rural-urban migration in developing countries, focusing on three key questions: What motivates or forces people to migrate? What costs do migrants face? What are the impacts of migration on migrants and the economy? The literature paints a complex picture whereby rural-urban migration is driven by many factors and the returns to migration as well as the costs are very high. The evidence supports the notion that migration barriers hinder labor market adjustment and are likely to be welfare reducing. The review concludes by identifying gaps in current research and data needs.Publication World Development Report 1984(New York: Oxford University Press, 1984)Long-term needs and sustained effort are underlying themes in this year's report. As with most of its predecessors, it is divided into two parts. The first looks at economic performance, past and prospective. The second part is this year devoted to population - the causes and consequences of rapid population growth, its link to development, why it has slowed down in some developing countries. The two parts mirror each other: economic policy and performance in the next decade will matter for population growth in the developing countries for several decades beyond. Population policy and change in the rest of this century will set the terms for the whole of development strategy in the next. In both cases, policy changes will not yield immediate benefits, but delay will reduce the room for maneuver that policy makers will have in years to come.Publication Wealth Sharing for Conflict Prevention and Economic Growth : Botswana Case Study of Natural Resource Utilization for Peace and Development(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-12)There are countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and even a few such countries in Africa that are using non-renewable resources to drive development and have not experienced conflict. South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia are such typical cases in Africa. Instead, the presence of significant minerals in Botswana is associated with economic development and democracy as well as peace. This paper applies the "resource curse", thesis to the case of Botswana, a country that is rich in minerals, yet it has realized positive development thus avoiding conflict and 'the resource curse'. The focus of this study is to examine the experience of Botswana in using natural resources to promote equitable development and thereby avoid conflict which often results from selfish private or ethnic group interests that elsewhere have used natural resources to the exclusion of other groups in society. This study specifically looks at the conditions and factors that facilitated the absence of internal conflict in the extraction of natural resources in Botswana. The key questions answered are: what contextual conditions and factors facilitated the peaceful extraction of natural resources in Botswana?; and were these factors unique to Botswana or can they be replicated elsewhere?. The first chapter gives introduction. The second chapter deals with the socio-political setting of the chiefs' rule during the pre-colonial and colonial periods. The third chapter discusses Botswana's democracy and how it has evolved not only to democratize society but also to become a management culture of good governance for defining how the natural resources will be utilized for the country's development. Chapter four outlines the mineral resource base of Botswana and the policies and strategies used by government in ensuring that such resources were used for public good rather than the self-interest of either the leaders or mining houses. Chapter five focuses attention on cases of local conflicts relating to mineral and other natural resources around different parts of the country. Chapter six brings the issues together to explain Botswana's democratic and mineral dividends in attaining a high development success rate. Chapter seven presents conclusion.