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Paper short abstract

This paper explores the challenges of the provision of safe, affordable and sustainable water for both refugees and host communities in Uganda, a context that promotes the user pays principle and is experimenting with prepayment systems, with little to no active engagement of water service users.

Paper long abstract

While some countries erect fences and prevent refugees from crossing international boundaries, Uganda has been praised for its progressive policies towards refugees. This agenda was strengthened with the 2016 Refugee and Host Comprehensive Empowerment (ReHoPE) strategy which seeks to treat refugees as nationals with the same responsibilities.

In terms of access to water, host rural communities are subject to the Demand Response Approach: communities demand the level of service they want and thereafter will be financially responsible for its maintenance. They are given no meaningful choice over the technology nor its post-construction management.

Similarly, within refugee settlements, water service levels are determined by NGOs who must adhere to UNHCR approved standards. Not only does this means that refugees often receive a higher service level than host communities, with the risk of damaging relations, but in a context of declining humanitarian support and in-line with ReHoPE these piped water systems are not sustainable. A construct and leave mentality is similarly rife in the humanitarian sector where constructed infrastructure is routinely branded by NGOs for upward donor accountability. There is no downwards accountability to refugees who will be asked to contribute to the maintenance of costly systems they were never consulted over.

Drawing on 12 years of research within both humanitarian and development settings, this paper explores the challenges that refugees and host communities in Uganda face for safe, affordable and sustainable water in a context that promotes the user pays principle with no active engagement of water service users.