Using Land to Promote Refugee Self-Reliance in Uganda

Timothy Berke and Larissa Larsen
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Timothy Berke: Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, 2000 Bonisteel Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2069, USA
Larissa Larsen: Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, 2000 Bonisteel Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2069, USA

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: Around the world, the number of people displaced from their homes continues to increase due to political conflict and climate change. The Ugandan government’s policy for settling refugees shifts the focus from seeing refugees as humanitarian obligations to recognizing that refugee settlements bring improved services and infrastructure that can serve both refugees and residents of the host communities. A key aspect of this policy is to provide refugees with land use rights, so they are able to achieve “self-reliance”. This research investigates (1) the role of planning in establishing the physical layout of Bidi Bidi, Uganda’s largest integrated settlement, (2) the host community’s rationale for allowing refugees access to their land, and (3) how refugees used this land. Based on interviews, participant observation, GIS analysis, and document analysis, we learned how refugees altered the settlement’s layout to better meet their needs, the unintended consequences of large- scale deforestation on the most vulnerable, and the limitations of the land-based approach to achieve self-reliance. These findings suggest expanding the avenues to achieve self-reliance, improving “integration” of service provision between refugees and residents of the host community, and protecting the area’s environment to maintain needed resources.

Keywords: refugee; land use; integration; self-reliance; host community; Uganda (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:3:p:410-:d:768940

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