Uganda Refugee News - December 2025

Sector specific:

EDUCATION

• Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis. Studia Politologica - Literacy and Laboratory: exploring science education in Upper secondary schools in refugee settlements: Case of Nakivale refugee settlement in Uganda

• East African Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies - ICT Skills and Refugees' Immigration Rights: A Study of the International Organisation of Migration, Uganda

• GoU/UNHCR -  Uganda Refugee Response Plan (RRP) 2024 - 2025, Education Dashboard - Quarter 3, January - September 2025

• Long Bridge - Uganda program funded by Education Cannot Wait helps refugee children with disabilities access quality education.

• Makerere University -

  • Lived experiences of young student mothers in rhino refugee settlement, Madi Okollo District, West Nile Region, Uganda

  • Facilitating Access and Participation through Higher Education Access Programmes and Connected Education for Students with Refugee Backgrounds: A Global South Delphi Study

• Monitor -

  • Language barrier hinders refugees’ children in Ugandan schools, teachers warn

  • How refugee graduates turn education into community change in Uganda

• PML Daily - Digital education key to boosting higher education numbers, say experts

• PR Newswire -

  • Teaching is Not a One-Person Job

  • Learning to Lead

  • Empowered Through Learning: Santina's Story

• UNFPA - When girls rise, communities rise

• UNICEF -

  • From hardship to hope: Cash plus skilling programme supports young refugees - Cash, skills and mentors shaping education and futures

  • Back to the classroom - Empowering adolescent girls, child mothers and refugee learners through courage, compassion and community support

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

• African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences - Customary Land Acquisition and Tenure Security in Refugee-Host Communities: An Impact Assessment in Northern Uganda.

• GoU/UNHCR - Uganda Refugee Response Plan (RRP) 2024 - 2025, Environment & Energy Dashboard - Quarter 3, July - September 2025

• The Independent - Improving forest cover in refugee hosting districts

• Journal of Refugee Studies - Land for refugees: sharing and exchanging in Northern Uganda

• Mercy Corp - Reaching the Last Mile - Innovative Financing and Distribution for Energy Solutions in Displacement Settings

• Monitor - Adjumani steps up efforts to restore degraded forests

• Nile Post - Uganda Boosts Forest Cover in Refugee-Hosting Districts Through Agroforestry Project

• Makerere University - Assessing the socioeconomic benefits of landscape restoration measures in refugee settlements: a case of Palabek Refugee Settlement in Northern Uganda

• PML Daily - Catholic Relief Services implements agroforestry project in refugee-hosting districts

HEALTH

• Cabi Digital Library - Inclusion of Refugee Communities in Zoonotic Disease Prevention and Control: A One Health Case Study in Uganda of Selected Conservation Areas

• Clinic Research Online - Assessing Health Facility Capacity for Neglected Tropical Diseases in a Refugee Settlement in Uganda

• DovePress - Factors Associated with Repeat Teenage Pregnancy in Refugee Settlements in Uganda

• GoU/UNHCR - Uganda Refugee Response Plan (RRP) 2024 - 2025, Health & Nutrition Dashboard - Quarter 3 2025

• International Journal of Community Well-Being - Mindfulness, Social Capital, and Happiness of Refugees in Uganda: the Mediating Role of Assertiveness

• IPAS - Abortion in humanitarian settings: What new data from Uganda and Kenya reveal

• JMIR Publications - Digital Health Literacy and Its Role in Awareness of and Access to Sexual Health Products and Services Among Displaced Youth in Uganda’s Informal Urban Settlements: Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

• JSTOR - Accountability for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Humanitarian and Disaster Situations

• The Lancet - HIV care cascades among refugees and host communities in Uganda: findings from two population-based surveys

• Makerere University - Prevalence and factors associated with risky sexual behaviors among youth refugees in Makerere University

• Malaria Journal - A retail audit of mosquito control products in Bidibidi refugee settlement, northwestern Uganda

• Open Access Pub - Uptake of Cervical Cancer Screening and Its Determinants among Refugee Women in Uganda: Insights from the Uganda Refugee Population-based HIV Impact Assessment

• Pediatric Health, Medicine and Therapeutics - Factors Associated with Repeat Teenage Pregnancy in Refugee Settlements in Uganda

• PLOS Global Public Health - “…I feel like I am just staying here waiting for death”: A qualitative study of the lived experiences of people with advanced illness in refugee settlements in Uganda

• Population Council -

  • Baobab Research Programme Consortium: Generating Evidence to Enhance SRHR in Refugee Settings

  • From Data to Dignity: Scaling SRHR and FP Innovations for Refugee Communities in Africa

• Research Square - Attempted Suicide: Lived Experiences of Refugees in Rhino Camp, West Nile Uganda

• SSM Mental Health - Psychosocial stressors related to extreme weather events and multiple resource insecurities: qualitative insights from refugee youth in a Ugandan humanitarian setting

• Student Journal of Health Research Africa - Effect of problem-focused coping mechanisms on resilience among refugees with ptsd symptoms in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Yumbe District–Uganda: A cross-sectional study.

• Women's Health - Examining factors associated with post-abortion family planning among women in refugee settings in Uganda

LIVELIHOODS & RESILIENCE

• The Africhild Centre - Nurturing Children and Strengthening Livelihoods in Refugee and Host Communities in Uganda

• AVSI - The contribution of enterprises to rural households in Western Uganda

• BMJ - Supporting self-reliance for displaced and host populations: insights from the Self-Reliance Index across 16 countries

• Business Perspective Review - Mobile Money and the Dynamics of Income - Inequality: Evidence from Arua City, Uganda

• Centre for Climate Safety - Paid misinformation, global inequality and permaculture progress in Africa

• The Cooperator - Refugees in Kiryandongo find stability and nutrition through FAO’s poultry farming initiative

• Gardens of Hope - Rose’s Story: Gardens of Hope

• GoU/UNHCR - Uganda Refugee Response Plan (RRP) 2024 - 2025,

  • Cash Voucher Assistance (CVA) - Quarter 3, July - September 2025

  • Food Security Dashboard - Quarter 3, July - September 2025

  • Livelihoods and Resilience dashboard - Quarter 3, July - September 2025

• ILO - Uganda takes a leap into immersive learning through ILO-ITC’s Workverse initiative

• Impact Initiatives - 

  • Policy Brief - Building Resilience: Addressing the Impacts of Climate-related hazards on Livelihoods and Unpaid Household Labour in Uganda’s Refugee-Hosting Districts

  • Exploring Climate Resilient Livelihoods Among Refugees and Host Communities in Kenya and Uganda - An Evidence Synthesis Report

• International Journal of Academic Research in Business, Arts & Science - Examining the Livelihood of Self-Settled Refugees in Uganda: The Prospects and Challenges 

• International Journal of Social Science Exceptional Research - Building Self-Reliant Refugees: East Africa as a Model

• IRC - Re:BUILD Cost Effectiveness Brief (Uganda) - Cost Effectiveness of Microenterprise Development (2023)

• Journal of Policy and Development Studies - Dynamics of transition to self-sufficiency for refugees in Swinga, Zone 2, Bidibidi settlement in Yumbe District, Uganda

• Makerere University -

  • Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices for improving the livelihoods of refugees in northern Uganda.

  • Access to livelihood assets, adaptive strategies and livelihood outcomes among refugees in Bidibidi Settlement- Uganda

• NPR - To 'graduate' from poverty, they can borrow to build a business. So why aren't they?

• NTV - (video) - Transforming refugee livelihoods, insights into the REAL project

• NPR -  Funding cuts hit a program in Uganda that helped pull people out of poverty

• Observer -

  • Incubation program supports 25,000 young women entrepreneurs

  • JICA road networks changing livelihoods in West Nile region

• Research Gate - Examining the Livelihood of Self-Settled Refugees in Uganda: The Prospects and Challenges

• Studies in Educational Evaluation - Policy brief - Building resilience: Addressing the impacts of climate-related hazards on livelihoods and unpaid household labour in Uganda’s refugee-hosting districts

• Taylor Francis - Innovative Traits of Refugee Entrepreneurs in Africa

• U-Learn

  • Summary of the Uganda Self-Reliance Index (UG-SRI) User Guide

  • Uganda Self-Reliance Index (UG-SRI) For Refugees and Host-Communities – User Guide

• WashU - Refugees living outside camps make significant gains in self-reliance - Largest cross-country study comes as 117 million are displaced worldwide

PROTECTION

• Danish Development Research Network - Study Reveals How COVID-19 Made Young People in Northern Uganda More Vulnerable

• DiVA - Examining suicidality and associated risk factors among refugee children and adolescents in Uganda

• GoU/UNHCR

  • Uganda Refugee Response Plan (RRP) 2024 - 2025,

    • Protection Dashboard - Quarter 3, January - September 2025

    • Gender-based Violence (GBV) dashboard - Quarter 3 2025

    • Child Protection Dashboard - Quarter 3, January - September 2025

• International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services - Gender-Based Violence Typology Associated with Depression, and Anxiety in Informal Settlements in Uganda

• Journal of International Humanitarian Action - Screening for sexual violence against children in humanitarian settings: a feasibility study of a para-social worker-led intervention in Uganda

• Monitor - Refugees with disabilities decry exclusion in education, healthcare

• Nile Post - Sudanese Women Appeal to Great Lakes Leaders as Sexual Violence Surges Amid Escalating Conflict

• Refugee Law Project - Healing in the Shadows: Holistic Support for Survivors of Sexual Violence and Reproductive Health Rights in Uganda’s Refugee Settlements

• Research Square - An Analysis of Gaps in Sexual and Gender-based Violence Interventions in Refugee Communities: The Case of Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda

• UNICEF -

  • Uganda leads regional effort to strengthen refugee-Inclusive child protection systems

  • Humanitarian Action for Children - Protecting children amid overlapping crises in the Great Lakes

WASH

• GoU/UNHCR - Uganda Refugee Response Plan (RRP) 2024 - 2025, WASH Dashboard - Quarter 3, July - September 2025

• IWMI - How to create lasting impact for refugees and community members - Circular bio-economy solutions offer a sustainable path to empowering displaced communities.

• University Initiatives on Climate Change Education and Research - An Assessment of Groundwater Available Potential for Migrants and Displaced People Using GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques a Case of West Nile, Uganda

Other:

• Africa Human Mobility Review - Gaps in the Implementation of the Non-Prima Facie Refugee Status Determination in Uganda

• Africa Intelligence - Kampala quietly reopens doors to Eritrean, Somali and Ethiopian refugees

• African Journal of Computing, Data Science and Informatics - An analysis of Biometric de-duplication as an integrated e-governance system in Uganda’s Refugee Food Assistance program for Rwamwanja refugee settlement

• CEPR - Conflict, forced displacement, and growth: Evidence from Uganda

• Channel Africa -

  • Uganda continue to host more refugees than any other African countries

  • Uganda’s refugee system under strain as arrivals near two million

• CGIAR - The Political Impact of Refugees in Africa

• Comparative Migration Studies - Navigating migration challenges in Uganda’s West Nile borderlands: policy, practice, and governance

• DCA - Reducing the vulnerability of refugees - An emergency response to the influx of refugees from DR Congo

• Egmont Institute - Will Uganda’s ‘Open-Door’ Refugee Policy Hold? Aid Cuts and Rising Anti-Immigration Sentiments

• Flying for Life podcast - Supporting child refugees in Uganda - Ep. 13

• Geneva Solutions - Refugee pact faces harsh reality check as refugee actors warn of system under strain

• Global Issues - Refugees Forced to Fill Gaps as Funding, Power and Legal Recognition Move Out of Reach

• GoU

  • Population dashboard

    • Annex I - Active population by settlement 30-Nov-2025

    • Annex II - Map - Refugees and Asylum Seekers (30-Nov-2025)

    • Annex III - Settlement Profiles 30 Nov 2025

    • Annex VI - refugee Statistics November 2025 - PSN Dashboard

• GoU/UNHCR

  • Uganda Country Refugee Response Plan (UCRRP 2024-25)

    • Mbarara Sub-Office Performance Snapshot - Quarter 3, 2025

    • Arua Sub-Office Q3 2025 UCRRP Settlement Performance Snapshot

    • Adjumani Sub-Office Q3 2025 UCRRP Settlement Performance Snapshot

    • Q3 2025 Kampala Performance Snapshot

    • National Performance Snapshot - Quarter 3, 2025

    • Refugee Statistics November 2025

    • Partner Operational Presence Quarter 3 2025

    • Quarter 3 2025 Funding Update

    • Shelter and Settlements Dashboard - Quarter 3, January - September 2025

    • Uganda Operation - Weekly Critical Indicator Tracking Matrix - Nyumanzi reception Centre

      • 02 October 2025

      • 09 October 2025

      • 16 October 2025

      • 23 October 2025

      • 30 October 2025

      • 06 November 2025

      • 13 November 2025

      • 20 November 2025

• Humanitarian Action - Uganda Country Refugee Response Plan 2026

• HPG - How to finance refugee leadership Navigating a humanitarian system at breaking point

• Intercultural Relations - Healing Borders: Ubuntu Philosophy as a Framework for Refugee Identity and Conflict Resolution in Uganda

• International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care - A grounded theory exploration of wellbeing and liveable space for Uganda-based forced migrant women, forcibly displaced due to conflict

• Internet Society - Learning to Build and Use the Internet in Rhino Refugee Camp

• IOM -

  • Navigating Climate, Conflict, and Migration: Insights from Ethiopia and the East and Horn of Africa (December 2025)

  • DTM Uganda Flow Monitoring Registry - Cross Border Movements, Report #4 (1 - 31 October 2025)

• IPS - Refugees Forced to Fill Gaps as Funding, Power and Legal Recognition Move Out of Reach

• KAS -

  • Regional Migration and Displacement Conference for the East and Horn of Africa - Changing Mobility Corridors, Shared Responsibility and Building Resilience

  • Assessing Uganda’s Progressive Refugee Policy Amidst Aid Cuts and an ongoing War in Sudan

• Le Monde - L’Ouganda, premier pays d’accueil des réfugiés en Afrique, commence à leur fermer la porte - Le système d’asile ougandais, l’un des plus progressistes du continent, commence à vaciller. Le pays, qui compte 1,93 million de réfugiés pour 50 millions d’habitants, a annoncé qu’il refuserait dorénavant de régulariser les Somaliens, Ethiopiens et Erythréens.

• LERRN - Refugee-Led Responses and Agency in East Africa, the Middle East, and South America

• Moatinoon - 990 Days of War: How Do Sudanese Refugees Mark Independence Day in Exile?

• Monitor -

  • Shrinking funds compel refugees to return home

  • Uganda receives Shs7.8b food aid for new refugee arrivals

  • Charities pool efforts to feed Kiryandongo refugees

• New Vision -

  • Refugees hosts in West Nile benefit from humanitarian development, peace initiative 

  • Kampala to host inaugoral refugee exhibition

  • Japan donates sh 7.7bn rice towards Uganda refugee response 

• Nile Post - Migrants’ Remittances Outshine Donor Funding in Uganda

• Nordic Journal of African Studies - Filling the Humanitarian Gap and a Plural Perspective on Humanitarianism: Communitarian Socio-Cultural Support Practices Among South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda

• The Observer - New Iceland–Unicef funding strengthens child and youth Services in Uganda

• Oxford University - Access to Justice for Refugee Women in the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement

• Radio Dbanga -

  • High costs delay repatriation of Sudanese refugees from Uganda

  • Ayadi: Uganda’s Kiriyandongo camp hosts 400 Sudanese refugees with disabilities

• Research Gate - Liberalizing Refugee Hosting Policies without Losing the Vote

• Research Square - Displacement and Resilience: A Comparative Study of Climate-Induced Migration in Uganda and Kenya

• SABC News - (video) - Uganda overwhelmed by hosting refugees

• UNHCR -

  • Uganda Elections 2026: UNHCR FAQ for Refugees and Forcibly Displaced Persons

  • Prioritization of the Uganda Country Refugee Response Plan (UCRRP) 2026

  • Mid-term Progress Review on the Uganda 2023 Global Refugee Forum pledges - December 2025

  • UNHCR Uganda Fact Sheet September - October 2024

  • South Sudan

    • UNHCR CORE South Sudan Situation - Displacement Overview as of 08 Dec 2025

    • South Sudan Regional RRP: Regional overview of the South Sudanese refugee population (as of 30 November 2025)

    •  UNHCR External Update #6 - November 2025

  • Sudan Situation:

    • UNHCR Monthly External Update #112 - October 2025

  • Regional Bureau for Eastern and Southern Africa -

    • Refugees and asylum seekers by country of asylum (as of 30 November 2025)

    • EAC Region | Population of Concern to UNHCR (as of 30 November 2025)

  • Eastern and Southern Africa Region | Regional Pledge Stocktaking Report 2024 - 2025

• UNHCR/WFP -  The UNHCR-WFP Joint Hub - Country Support Brief

• UNICEF - Inclusion only works when systems are strong - “A child without a legal identity is a child at risk. Registration is not paperwork; it is protection, dignity, and a pathway to services.”