Financial inclusion critical for safety of refugees

Last week during the launch of a report that analysed refugee related laws and policies in Uganda and their responsiveness to urban refugee needs, Kabwana Weteshi Jean- Pierre, a Congolese living in Kampala narrated an obstacle faced in registering a company.

‘‘I trained in solar installation at the Nakawa Vocational Institute,’’ he told the audience. ‘‘After my studies,  my friends and I set up a company to do solar repair and installation work, but I failed to get a TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number) from Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) using my refugee identification’’.

Weteshi’s experience is a case in point to illustrate the legal and policy obstacles refugees, especially those in urban areas like Kampala, face in their efforts to be economically productive and self-reliant.

Urban refugees in Uganda are by policy expected to be self-reliant as they do not get as much humanitarian assistance compared to their counterparts in settlements, mostly located in rural parts of the country. 

Refugees unable to live sustainably in Kampala are encouraged to relocate to the settlements to be able to get support. But does the regulatory framework support self-reliance for urban refugees?

The report identified policy and institutional gaps and offered recommendations for actors in the refugee-response in Uganda.

Gaps identified relate to inability of urban refugees to access financial services using their refugee identification, obstacles in accessing justice, steep barriers in accessing employment in the formal labour market, unawareness about refugee rights, and exclusion from social security and health insurance schemes.

Worldwide, cities are increasingly playing a prominent role in hosting refugees and asylum seekers. More than 60 percent of the world’s refugees and 80 percent of the internally displaced live in cities, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Kampala and Nairobi, for instance, have a refugee and asylum seeker population of 107,763 and 83,977, respectively (as of January 2022).

In these cities, most refugees live in low-income neighbourhoods prone to flooding and inadequate sanitary facilities. Climatic changes characterised by rising water levels and flooding pose a challenge to their health, wellbeing, and livelihoods.

The 2022 global theme for the World Refugee Day is on the right for refugees to seek safety ‘‘wherever they are, wherever they come from and whenever they are forced to flee’’.

The national event in Uganda was commemorated at Nakivali Refugee settlement in Southwestern Uganda under the theme; ‘‘The right to seek safety while protecting and conserving the environment’’.

The event for commemorating refugees in the urban areas took place at Old Kampala Secondary on June 29. 

 World Refugee Day is designated by the UN to honour refugees and recognize their resilience in building their life after displacement.

Financial inclusion is one of the ways in which refugees can be supported to rebuild their life. When they flee their homes, refugees carry along to their gracious host countries dreams, hope, skills, and ambition.

Host countries can tap into their potential for socio-economic development.  

For this to happen, hosts like Uganda should put in place a conducive regulatory environment that can trigger and support urban refugee productivity.

Key to this is appropriate documentation for refugees to access mobile money and bank services, expansion of access to humanitarian services for urban refugees with low levels of self-reliance, linking refugees to private sector actors and donors investing more to support urban refugee programming.

Ms Priscilla Dembetembe is the Programme Director of Refugees in East Africa: Boosting Urban Innovations for livelihoods Development