The Living Ain't Easy: Urban Refugees in Kampala

With support from the Department of State, Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration and in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Women’s Refugee Commission is conducting a one-year study to understand the economic coping strategies, protection concerns and local economic
environment of urban refugees. Through desk research, assessments in Kampala, New Delhi and Johannesburg, and in consultation with refugees about their own needs, the project will develop operational guidance aimed at enhancing the economic security and protection of urban refugees.

This report focuses on key findings from an October 2010 field assessment conducted in Kampala, in partnership with the Refugee Law Project (RLP), an autonomous community outreach division of the faculty of Makerere University. The RLP seeks to ensure fundamental human rights for all asylum seekers, refugees and internally displaced persons within Uganda. The purpose of the field assessment was to understand the economic coping strategies, related protection concerns and the local economic environment of urban refugees.