Uganda Refugee News - August 2026

Sector specific:

EDUCATION

• East African Journal of Education Studies - Understanding Equity in Ugandan Refugee STEM Education Through the Eyes of Secondary School Teachers

• Eye Radio - Refugee children in Rhino camp skip school for funerals in search of food

• IIASA - When Uganda’s refugee policy meets children’s everyday lives

• International Journal of Educational Development in Africa - Correlates of Girls’ Transition to Lower Secondary School for Scholarship-Supported Education in Refugee-Hosting Districts in Uganda

• Monitor - Refugee mothers enrolling for school alongside their kids

• New Vision -

  • FCA Uganda boosts refugee education

  • ECCE enhances refugee children learning in Palorinya 

• PLOS One - Increasing school attendance and retention in refugee settings: Participatory development of the SchoolLinks intervention

• Rotary 5040 - Education for Vulnerable Refugee Women in Uganda

• Routledge - Schooling Experiences of Refugee Children in Uganda - Rethinking Integration Policies

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

• Energy Nexus - An assessment of the Water-Energy-Food nexus in Bidibidi refugee

  settlement towards the design of sustainable energy technologies

• Eyit TV - (video) - Planting Tress in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Isingiro

• Phil Papers - Green Charcoal Uptake as a Source of Sustainable Livelihood in Refugee Settlements in Northern Uganda

• U-Learn Uganda, REACH Uganda - Climate Hazard Assessment –

  • Kikuube District

  • Kiryandongo

  • Kiboko District

  • Lamwo District

  • Kyegegwa District

  • Terego District

  • Obongi District

  • Madi Okollo

  • Lamwo District

 HEALTH

•  All Africa - Sudan: Trauma Healing Workshop Supports 41 Sudanese Refugee Women and Youth in Uganda

• BMJ - Access, barriers and health outcomes of abortion and postabortion care in humanitarian and fragile settings in Africa: a systematic review

• City Voices - Together We Transform: My Work in Nakivale Refugee Settlement

• Conflict and Health -

  • Humanitarian and government support and mental health among refugees in Ugandan settlements, 2021

  • Disclosure and help-seeking experiences of childhood sexual violence survivors in refugee settings of Ethiopia and Uganda

  • Humanitarian and government support and mental health among refugees in Ugandan

    settlements, 2021

• Health Science Reports - Addressing Menstrual Health Inequities Among Teenage Mothers in Refugee Settlements in Northern Uganda

• International Health - Associations between extreme weather, resource insecurities and mobility with HIV risks among Ugandan refugee youth

• IRC - Transitioning Refugee Health Services in East Africa: Lessons from Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan

• Monitor -

  • Refugees struggle to cope with mental health burden

  • Leaders cite poverty, cultural norms as drivers of teenage pregnancy in refugee communities

• Oz Arab Media - Workshop Supports Sudanese Refugee Women and Youth in Uganda

• PLOS Global Health - Mental health and psychosocial support among refugee children and adolescents with HIV in West Nile Uganda: An exploratory study

• Research Square - Paradox of Iron Deficiency Anemia Despite Adequate Iron Intake Among Women of Childbearing Age in Adjumani Refugee Settlement, Northern Uganda

• UNICEF - The village health worker who became a mother - "We give the children on outpatient therapeutic care RUTF for one week, and they always come back for review or further screening to see how they are progressing on the programme."

• UN SDG - Uganda: Working Together to Address Nutrition Challenges Among Refugees and Host Communities

LIVELIHOODS & RESILIENCE

• ADRA - Palabek Refugee Settlement Marked World Refugee Day with Food Security Innovation

• The Borgen Project - Mobile Banking in Uganda Is Expanding Economic Opportunity

• Care International - Turning Waste into Hope: Feeding Refugee Children Through Biogas Innovation.

• DAI - Market Facilitation with Local Partners: Lessons from SMILES’ Partnership with Okeba

• DevDiscourse - Shrinking Aid Pushes Uganda Toward Energy-Driven Refugee Self-Reliance

• Happy EcoNews - FOLONA Hub Grows Refugee-Led Permaculture Education in Uganda from Nakivale Settlement

• Makerere University -

  • The effect of climate-smart agriculture adoption on crop production among refugees in Uganda

  • The institutional and socioeconomic determinants of household food security among refugees in Uganda

• MDPI - Local Integration as a Pathway to Sustainable Livelihoods: Attractions and Dilemmas of Home-Brewed Alcohol Production Among Refugees and Host Communities in Rural Bidibidi in Uganda

• Monitor - Why should refugees lose the right to earn a living?

• New Vision - Magyezi lauds refugees for embracing agriculture

• NRC - Ready to work: De Facto Barriers and Opportunities to Refugees’ Right to Work in Uganda August 2026

• Ripple Effect - How refugees in Uganda are building economic empowerment through entrepreneurship

• Taslef - No work permit required: The High Court affirms the refugees' right to work in Uganda

• TRT Afrika - Refugees are often seen as helpless. But a new study published in Uganda shows they are starting businesses and creating jobs across Africa.

• U-Learn - Private Sector Engagement Case Study – SWISSCONTACT and Home Harvest Partnership - Enhancing access to quality inputs, knowledge, and market opportunities Nakivale, Isingiro

• WFP - South Sudan's refugees escaped war and other dangers – then came funding cuts -

  WFP and other humanitarians warn that refugees and asylum seekers in South Sudan, many of them fleeing conflict in neighbouring Sudan, face severe hunger – as shrinking contributions threaten a vital food and nutrition lifeline and threaten progress in building self-reliance.

• UN -

  • EU, WFP and GIZ launch energy and self-reliance programme to strengthen livelihoods in Uganda’s West Nile

  • She arrived hungry. Now she feeds Uganda's new refugees

PROTECTION

• Child Indicators - Impact of Cash Transfers on Child Poverty Among School-aged Refugee Children: Evidence from Uganda

• Conflict and Health - Determinants of physical intimate partner violence among refugee women in Uganda’s Bidibidi Refugee Settlement: a mixed-methods study

• IDS - Between Silence and Invisibility: Experiences of Male South Sudanese Refugee Survivors of Rape in Uganda

• NRC - Protection Under Pressure: Sudanese and South Sudanese Refugee Experiences in Kampala and Kiryandongo, Uganda July 2026

• Plan International - Parenting Under Pressure: Adapting the positive parenting approach for young mothers (14–24 years) and their partners in Uganda’s refugee settlements

• Social Science and Humanities - Pathways to Scale, Sustainability, and Equity of School-Based Screening for Sexual Violence Against Children in Uganda’s Refugee Settings

Other:

• ADRA Uganda - Palabek Refugee Settlement Marked World Refugee Day with Food Security Innovation

• African Journal of Legal Research - Legal framework for the protection of climate change-forcibly displaced persons in Africa: A policy paper

• All Africa -

  • MPs Pledge Stronger Laws to Support Uganda's Refugee Response

  • Government Condemns Violent Protests At Terego Refugee Settlement

  • More South Sudanese Refugees Arrested Over Imvepi Riots

• BTPM - (video) - Uganda's refugee policy under strain as conflicts intensify

• Chimp Report - High Court to Conduct Criminal Sessions Targeting Refugees, Asylum Seekers

• Eastleigh Voice - 150 Sudanese refugees return home as Uganda repatriation begins

• EU Observer - September meeting aims to seal five EU-country deal on Uganda migrant return hub

• Eye Radio - Uganda urges refugees to consider voluntary return as funding declines

• Eurekalert - When Uganda’s refugee policy meets children’s everyday lives

• GoU -

• GoU/UNHCR

  •  Overview of Refugees and Asylum Seekers - July 2026

  • Population Dashboard

    • Annex I - Refugee Statistics July 2026 - Active Population by Settlement

    • Annex II - Refugee Statistics July 2026 - Map - Refugee and Asylum Seekers

    • Annex III - Refugee Statistics July 2026 - Settlement Profiles

• Kenya Social Science Forum - From Outsider to the Other: Refugee Identity, Citizenship, and Development in Nakivale, Uganda, 1969-2022

• Immigration Policy Lab - Beyond Encampment? Understanding Attitudes Toward Refugee Integration 

• International Policy Digest - How USAID Cuts Are Creating the Security Crisis Washington Fears

• Journal of Border Studies - Border Breathing and the Governance of Refugee Presence in Uganda’s West Nile

• Journal on Migrations and Human Security - Between Voice and Constraint: Refugee Leadership and Humanitarian Governance in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda

• Journal of Refugee Studies - Love in a “hopeless” place? Courtship, intimacy, and romance in displacement

• Mjengo Hub - Uganda Selected to Host AU Humanitarian Agency Headquarters in Kampala

• Monitor -

  • 150 refugees repatriated as peace returns to Sudan

  • Darfur governor to Sudanese refugees: Respect Ugandan laws, avoid crime 

  • Minister Engola urges refugees to return home as aid dwindles

• New Vision -

  • MPs urged to defend refugee support amid global funding cuts

  • Govt appeals for more refugee funding

  • Museveni, WFP officials discuss agric solutions for refugees

  • Govt moves refugee registration to NIRA unveils central portal on migration

• Olympics - Uganda hosts first ever refugee athletes’ pre-selection meet for Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics

• Oxfam - Emergency Response Fund Agility: Evaluating a locally led humanitarian funding model - Lessons from Bangladesh, Puerto Rico, and Uganda

  • Full report

  • Research Brief

• PML Daily - UNFPA calls for sustained funding for humanitarian services as Uganda hosts 2 million refugees

• Radio Tamzuj - Opinion| When the call for refugees’ voluntary return involves another risk!

• Scielo - Defining Climate Displacement in Africa: Legal Implications in Light of the African Guiding Principles on the Human Rights of All Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

• Social Sciences & Humanities Open - Refugee integration versus encampment approach; A synthesis of their applicability and adoption in developing countries

• Sudan Horizon - Sudanese Minister of Social Welfare Discusses Voluntary Return Arrangements in Uganda

• Ug Diplomat - ‘True Pan-African Leadership’: Darfur Governor Minnawi Praises Museveni’s Sudan Refugee Policy

• UNHCR - UNHCR Regional Bureau for Eastern and Southern Africa:

  • Regional Dashboard RBESA:

    • Refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons in the EAC region - 31 July 2026

    • Refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons in the IGAD region - 31 July 2026

• Uganda Martyrs University - Humanitarian leadership and national security: An analysis of Uganda's open-door refugee policy in Nakivale Refugee Settlement

• UNICEF - UNICEF Uganda Annual Report 2025 - Building on Progress for Children in Uganda

• University of Reading - Violent conflict, interventions, and behaviour: incentivised experiments in refugee settlements

• World Beyond War - Organizing for Peace in a Refugee Community in Uganda