The Issue
Uganda hosts 1.7 million refugees, mainly from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), creating pressure on natural resources and social services. Refugees and host communities in West Nile face significant challenges, including degraded environments, limited access to financial services, and low agricultural productivity, worsened by climate change.
Women, youth, and smallholder farmers are disproportionately affected due to systemic barriers such as land inaccessibility and gender inequality. Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall exacerbate food insecurity, while poor land management accelerates environmental degradation. Refugee-hosting areas like Yumbe, Obongi, and Madi Okollo have some of the lowest adaptive capacities in Uganda.
The Project
The Uganda Refugee Resilience Initiative (URRI) is a five-year integrated program aimed at enhancing climate resilience and promoting inclusive development for 28,125 refugee and host community farmers in West Nile. The intervention combines regenerative climate-smart agriculture, ecosystem restoration, and gender equality. Activities include establishing farmer field schools, supporting access to markets and finance, promoting sustainable land and water management, and empowering women and youth in decision-making.
The project uses a blended extension model with public, private, and community actors. It emphasizes the landscape and household levels for long-term resilience.
The Change
The project will transform vulnerable refugees and host communities by restoring degraded landscapes, improving agricultural productivity, and increasing incomes. Through training in Climate Smart Agriculture and regenerative practices, farmers will adopt sustainable methods that improve soil health, water retention, and crop diversity.
Women and youth will gain leadership roles, improving their access to land, finance, and technology, while reducing gender-based violence and decision-making gaps. Access to markets will be enhanced through private sector linkages and digital tools, while the integration of village savings and loans associations will increase financial resilience. Ecosystem restoration, including agroforestry and water harvesting, will regenerate critical watersheds and reduce flood/drought cycles.
Communities will become more self-reliant, cohesive, and prepared to face climate shocks. Local governments will be equipped to mainstream resilience and environmental protection into development planning, ensuring institutional sustainability.
The program supports Uganda’s National Adaptation Plan and Denmark’s green and refugee response priorities. Long-term, the intervention will foster peaceful co-existence, equitable resource use, and inclusive growth in refugee-affected areas.
The Partners
The project is implemented by a consortium led by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC). The consortium also includes the following local partners:
CEFORD
Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD) is a Ugandan NGO working to provide capacity development services that builds the resilience of disadvantaged women, men, youth, children and their groups of organizations so that they are able to realize their rights and improve their wellbeing. The organization has been working in Uganda since 2000.
PALM Corps
PALM Corps is an indigenous Ugandan NGO delivering services to vulnerable communities through the thematic areas of livelihoods, public health, education and environment. The organization envisions a world where the poorest and most vulnerable communities live a dignified, healthy, peaceful and productive life while taking care of the environment.
PICOT
Partners in Development and Center for Holistic Transformation (PICOT) is an indigenous NGO operating in six districts in the West Nile region of Uganda. Founded in 2005 by a group of progressive youth who felt concerned about the development needs and challenges affecting the youth, women and the general communities their district, PICOT works to enhance citizens’ participation in their own development to improve livelihoods, community governance and service delivery.
About the project
Title: Uganda Refugee Resilience Initiative (URRI)
Period: September 2024 – December 2028
International Partner: Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
National Partners: CEFORD, PALM Corps & PICOT
Funding: DKK 39,768,209.57
Donor: Danida
