Dear Blog Readers, A few days ago I received a blog written jointly by Frehiwot (our program assistant) and Bingo, one of our faithful long-term researchers in the Kiryandongo refugee settlement. The blog introduces Bingo and sheds some light on his life and work and his experiences as a refugee. Frankly, I was not sure […]
Mekdes Hailegiorgis: First Trip to Uganda for the Refugee Finance Project in Kiryandongo
A few months back, I was lucky enough to find myself on the way to Uganda, ready for the first fieldwork outside my country, Ethiopia. A two-hour plane ride and one and a half hours of marvelous driving later, me and my colleague, Frehiwot arrived in Kampala to plan our trip to Nakivale and Kiryandongo […]
What is the Reality of the Lockdown for Refugees in Uganda?
Living life under lockdown is a new and unpleasant experience for many around the world. We tried to investigate what it means to live under the lock-down as a refugee by asking questions about their day-to-day activities under lock-down and the problems they observed since the lock-down began. This survey included 152 refugees from Nakivale […]
Seizing Opportunities – Jean Paul, Entrepreneur in Thies, Senegal
Jean Paul, who is responsible for L-IFT’s Corner Shop project in Senegal, is an entrepreneur. He’s been producing and selling ice cream since 2015. He started selling ice cream at a local school but when the school began to sell food to the students, Jean Paul was considered a competitor and was asked to stop his activity […]
What is the Food Situation Under the Lockdown Among Refugees?
Refugees are in normal times a vulnerable group facing many challenges, such as poor health, less access to work, and other sources of income. For this reason, refugees in the entire Horn of Africa receive monthly a basic quota of food, thought to be just enough to survive. In Uganda, this is still distributed primarily […]
COVID-19 and the Hrishipara Diarists: Was April the Cruelest Month?
The story so far The first blog in this series was written just after an anti-corona virus lock-down was enforced in Bangladesh on 26th March 2020. We showed how the shock was dealt with at the time by the 60 low-income households in central Bangladesh who volunteer as ‘diarists’ in our daily financial diary project. In this […]
Are COVID-19 Awareness Campaigns Working?
In Uganda, there have been many efforts to raise awareness about COVID-19 to halt the spread of the virus. But, how much information has reached refugees about protecting themselves and others from the virus? And to what extent has false information taken root?To check the level of awareness about COVID-19 among refugees, L-IFT asked 149 […]
Lives vs Livelihood: Refugees in Uganda – Part 3
In the previous two articles (Lives vs Livelihood: Refugees in Uganda – Part 1 and Part 2), we discussed the effect of the lock-down on business and employment. This article will be about agricultural activities and whether there have been any impacts by the lock-down. Agricultural activities include crop agriculture, horticulture, and livestock. According to the baseline, 63 […]
Lives vs Livelihood: Refugees in Uganda – Part 2
In the last article (https://l-ift.com/lives-vs-livelihood-refugees-in-uganda-part-1/), we presented findings on the implications of the lock-down on employment of the refugees in Uganda. In this article, we will discuss the effects of the lock-down on business. In the RISE diaries study in Nakivale and Kiryandongo refugee settlements, according to the baseline, 52 percent had some form of […]
The Life of a Refugee Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ngendakumana John Baptist is a refugee from Burundi and now lives with his family in the Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda. He started several businesses but did not see results fast enough. Through L-IFT’s diaries research, he can now track that his business is slowly growing, which gives him confidence and helps him persevere. Our […]