Building resilience among refugees and host communities in Uganda: A culturally sensitive approach

Uganda is now host to over 1.2 million refugees and this number is increasing on a daily basis (UNHCR, 2017). Refugee settlements in Uganda give food, water, a plot of land, education and the chance to work for every refugee who decides to seek refuge on this country. Many of these services are not even accessible to locals. Uganda is a developing country still struggling to recover from the effects of war while hosting a growing population of refugees. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the national refugee policy can impact the relationship between refugees and host community, particularly the role that culture plays on tension development among the different cultural groups. The focus would be on the social impact of the refugee population in Uganda, and the possible approach to prevent conflict among refugees and locals from a cultural integration perspective.