Isingiro: Nakivale is one of the largest refugee settlements in Uganda exerting high pressure on available services including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
Located in Isingiro district, south-western Uganda, Nakivale accounts for about 9.3% of the country’s total population of about 1.5 million refugees.
The camp commandant, David Mugenyi, says it hosts over 140,000 refugees from different countries, sprawls over 71sqmi or 185sqkm and is shared by five sub-counties. Some politicians say if the camp were to be gazetted into a local administration, it would make up two districts the size of Ntoroko, whose population is 67,005, according to the National Population and Housing Census of 2014.
Mugenyi says the refugees include Congolese, South Sudanese, Somalis, Rwandan and Burundian nationals. Malteser International extends clean and safe water to over 140,000 refugees
Constraints
Mugenyi says the influx refugees has become a big constraint to the services despite the interventions of government and development partners. “Despite support from government and development partners, the gap in service delivery keeps widening as the numbers keep on going up and down depending on the security situation in our neighbouring countries,” said Mugenyi. The camp has over the years attracted many partners, the current ones including Malteser International, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Oxfam and the World Food Programme (WFP), all coordinated by the Office of the Prime Minister. Mugenyi says the increasing numbers have particularly impacted on water and hygiene. “By international standards, each human being is entitled to at least 20 litres of water daily but here we provide 15 – 17 litres,” he says. According to Mugenyi, some of the refugees have to trek several kilometers to fetch water from Lake Nakivale.
But he notes that the lake water is unsafe for human consumption because it has a lot of iron and requires treatment. “The refugees also been congesting at the water taps that we have been able to put up,” he said. Pit latrine coverage has also been a challenge at the resettlement. David Mugenyi, Nakivale Refugee Settlement Commandant “Despite support from government and development partners, the gap in service delivery keeps widening as the numbers keep on going up and down depending on the security situation in our neighbouring countries,” said Mugenyi. Refugees from different countries of the country’s total population of about 1.5 million refugees. Malteser International extends clean and safe water to over 140,000 refugees | 25 Wash Journal 2O21 Malteser International moves in Against this background, Mugenyi is optimistic that with the presence of Malteser International, some of the woes in the camp will soon become history. In September last year, the humanitarian agency, based in Cologne, Germany, launched a three-year intervention primarily aimed at promoting WASH in the districts of Isingiro, Kasese, Bundibugyo and Ntoroko.
The Project Manager in charge of south-western Uganda and Rwenzori region, Amon Aruho, says Malteser has engaged various organisations in the south west to expedite the interventions. These organisation include Nsamizi Training Institute for Social Development (NTISD) to manage hygiene-related activities in the camp. Interventions include pit latrine constriction, modeling pit latrine slabs, distributing handwashing facilities at household and community levels as well as constructing drying racks for kitchen utensils. Malteser has catered for persons with disabilities by providing them with user-friendly handwashing facilities and pit latrines. “We have also repaired water sources, excavated others and connected several 10,000-litre water tanks to ensure safe and reliable water for the refugees,” Aruho says. Aruho tells WASH Journal that the water tanks are connected to four-tap outlets that can concurrently and rapidly fill four 20-litre jerrycans at ago. Coverage.
We have so far reached more than 87,000 beneficiaries in these districts,” says Aruho. According to Aruho, the interventions, which have so far consumed about 500,000 Euros (about Sh2.070b) since last year, include provision of direct and indirect services. Malteser International also supports Bubukwanga refugee transit centre in Bundibugyo town, where, according to the camp commandant, Leo Mugabe Asiimwe, the demand for water is still overwhelming, owing to the constant refugee influx from neighbouring DR Congo. Delivering WASH interventions through the Care for Forced Immigrants (CAFOMI), Malteser International focuses on the refugees in Bubukwanga Refugee Transit Camp in Bundibugyo and in Ntoroko district. According to the CAFOMI WASH project officer there, Jonan Luwum, 1,780 people in 375 households were in March last year displaced when Lake Albert flooded and submerged Ntoroko Town Council. “We moved into Bubukwanga to respond to the very high need for water supply that the Congolese refugee influx created in the camp,” Luwum says. “When they moved in around May, there was completely no water supply in the transit camp,” Luwum adds. He says part of the response has been the installation of three 10,000-litre water tanks and a 6,000 litre tank to serve the kitchen. He also says CAFOMI also responded to the water shortage in Mirambi sub-county when landslides and floods hit the area.
The organisation has started on the renovation Janan Luwum, the Kasese, Bundibugyo, Ntoroko and Kikube WASH officer One of the IDPs in Ntoroko Town Council 16 year-old Jovia Biira at a hand-washing facility installed by CAFOMI under Malteser International Support. of water springs to serve two villages in the sub-county. “Under Malteser International, we also constructed one 10,000-litre tank to serve the community,” Luwum adds. To support adherence to the COVID-19 standard operating standards (SOPs) and stem potential Ebola and cholera among the mingling refugees and host communities, the orgnaisation procured 20 hand-washing facilities, placing 10 at Bubukwanga and four at the IDP camp in Ntoroko district.
To ensure adherence, WASH volunteers have been trained in hygiene maintenance and sanitation in the four districts. CAFOMI also supports the IDPS who fled to Ntoroko Seed Secondary school after fleeing their homes flooded by Lake Albert in Ntoroko District. To save the IDPs, numbering 375 households, from consuming unsafe water from Lake Albert, CAFOMI extended two tap stands and provided aqua tablets. Luwum, however, reported several challenges which included dwindling budget amidst the growing demand among the refugees and IDPs. “The refugees need relocation because they are currently congested,” he says. According to the Bubukwanga camp commandant, Leo Mugabe Asiimwe, there were 633 refugees. “Every day, we receive about 80 Congolese refugees here,” Asiimwe says. Luwum hopes that Malteser, which has so far injected 10,699,951 Euros, into WASH activities in Bundibugyo, Kasese, Kikuube and Ntoroko districts, extends support to CAFOMI.