From food aid to farming: how refugees in Africa are building food security - Uganda

World Refugee Day on 20 June spotlights how the World Food Programme (WFP) is helping refugees in Africa shift from aid dependency toward farming-led food security. In Uganda, WFP highlights its “self reliance model” in the Navikale settlement in the country’s southwest, pairing refugees with host communities on Government-provided land. The approach combines skills training, financial inclusion and social protection, aiming to move nearly 2 million refugees off humanitarian support. Funding cuts have forced WFP to end help for nearly 1 million refugees and reduce rations by 60% for the remaining 784,000. Daforoza, a Burundian refugee there for 13 years, describes joining savings groups and learning vegetable growing, fish farming and pig raising to build resilience. Similar farming integration efforts are cited in Rwanda’s Mushishito marshland.