UNDP and the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) have jointly released a report on the status of livelihoods in northern Uganda, where people are returning home after years of displacement due to the civil war by the Lord’s Resistance Army.
The report, titled “Returning to Uncertainty? Addressing Vulnerabilities in Northern Uganda”, details the results of a livelihood survey undertaken earlier in 2007 as part of UNDP’s contribution to the various efforts to better understand the post-conflict livelihood needs and vulnerabilities in the war-torn region. It focuses on the plight of the people as they return home to restart their lives.
'While the people of northern Uganda may lack the means to sustain themselves after their long stay in camps under deplorable conditions, they are not lacking in resilience, hope and the will to recover the lost years,' said the Minister of State for Northern Uganda Rehabilitation, Mr. David Wakikona, at the launch ceremony in Kampala, 7 December.
The study, conducted in Acholi and Lango sub-regions in April-May 2007, is a follow-up to the UNDP-OPM 2005 Northern Uganda Internally Displaced Persons Profiling Study. It, therefore, represents an effort to better understand the challenges faced by the returning population both at household and community levels. The study provides a deeper understanding of the post-conflict livelihood needs and vulnerabilities, hence providing baseline information on which the government and development partners can base planning for support programmes.
The UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Theophane Nikyema, said the agency is working with government and other partners to reduce the regional imbalance in progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals through the creation of an enabling environment for peace and recovery of conflict affected communities in Northern Uganda.
'The findings show that although the scope of need varies from district to district, it is generally profound and, no matter where people are – whether in Acholi or in Lango sub-regions – they have returned, are returning or will return to almost nothing and continue to depend on humanitarian assistance because they have lost their productive, physical and financial capital,' Mr. Nikyema said, adding: 'At the same time, however, there is a lot of potential, goodwill and hope among the population for an improvement in the situation.'
Mr. Norbert Mao, chairman of the Local Government in Gulu district – one of those that have borne the brunt of the war – stressed the importance of livelihood in bringing about the desired improvement in northern Uganda and in lifting the region from its current predicament.
'The people of Northern Uganda do not want handouts, but want to engage in production and other livelihoods for a living,' Mr. Mao said. He cautioned, though, that that the current optimism in northern Uganda should not be misunderstood to mean that the situation in the region is now satisfactory.
The study was jointly conducted by UNDP, Fafo AIS (Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies, Oslo, Norway) and the Ugandan Bureau of Statistics (UBOS). The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) provided logistical support, while the Government of Norway funded the exercise.
UNDP has supported efforts of the OPM to enhance self-reliance of conflict affected populations towards more a sustainable development, and is the lead agency in coordination of the early recovery cluster, whose activities are categorized under governance, infrastructure and livelihood support to the returning populations through, among others, skills training and improving the capacity of the community and households to use and manage natural resources.
Watch Video
