German Humanitarian Aid Abroad - Channel Research

the Congo and the Central African Republic. As a result of the improved security in Northern
Uganda, by January 2010 around 1.4 million of the 1.8 million IDPs had returned to their
home areas from camps in northern Uganda’s West Nile, Acholi and Lango sub-regions; over
400,000 returned in 2009 alone.
This trend continued in 2010 with growing confidence in the stability of the absence of
violence and very favourable rains across Northern Uganda. During project visits in Lango
sub-region, the evaluation team found the return process well on its way. Despite strong
disincentives to return such as lack of water, health, and education infrastructure, there
seems to be confidence in a better life outside of the camps, back in the former home
villages. The official closure of all IDP camps in the central and western parts of Northern
Uganda is foreseen for the second half of 2010.
As of June 2010, there are 295,000 IDPs in Northern Uganda (people in camps and people
in transit sites) 24 (see Annex 10 for recent IDP figures). This compares to 437,000 IDPs in
December 2009 and 710,000 IDPs in February 2009 (and 869,000 IDPs in November 2008
and 915,000 IDPs in October 2008). The remainder of the 1.8 million people who were
displaced by the conflict in northern Uganda have now returned to their home areas. Many of
these returnees have ongoing protection and assistance needs.
The situation in 2010 still presents areas of serious concern. Many of the IDPs remaining in
camps are extremely vulnerable individuals (EVIs), i.e., elderly, disabled, and sick people,
including people living with HIV/AIDS. IDPs who had returned to their villages of origin still
face significant challenges, and the sustainability of their life in the re-settled villages is by no
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means guaranteed. As available documents and discussions with many resource persons
during the evaluation indicate, the obstacles they face fall into four broad categories:
• The absence or inadequacy of basic services (clean water, sanitation, health care
and education). Schools in return areas continued to struggle with a lack of teachers,
classrooms, teachers’ housing, latrines, and water access points. The number of
pupils per classroom and teachers remained well above national standards.
• The limited opportunities to rebuild (economic) livelihoods are a serious threat to the
sustainability of return. Insufficient economic and physical access to seed and
fertiliser combined with poor weather monitoring and forecasting resulted in a 2009
harvest that was only half of what was expected. A food crisis arose across the north
due to the premature termination of general food assistance. In 2010, exceptionally
good rains and humanitarian agricultural interventions will lead to a bumper harvest,
partly restoring the resilience of resettled former IDPs to withstand the next drought.
• Disputes over land in return areas, and the weakness of mechanisms to resolve
them, exacerbated the vulnerability of returnees, including in particular widows, single
mothers, orphans, and former child soldiers.
• With the end of IDP camps and the departure of most international humanitarian
actors, very resource-poor families that re-start their lives in remote villages
‘disappear’ from the humanitarian radar. In effect and during the first two to four
24 These figures do not include IDPs in Karamoja or IDPs in urban areas outside the Acholi, Lango,
Teso and West Nile regions.
25 E.g., UN OCHA Consolidated Appeal 2010 and its mid-year revision (June 2010)
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