Abstract
Uganda experienced a major influx of refugees in 2016, the majority of whom still reside in refugee settlements located in remote areas across Uganda. However, as the humanitarian assistance in these refugee settlements is reducing (e.g., the World Food Programme reduced its food aid by up to 70%), refugees are starting to migrate to urban areas. This migration is particularly pronounced for young refugees, due to the prospect of greater employment and educational opportunities in urban areas.
In this project, we cooperate with a humanitarian NGO that offers 9-month-long vocational training programs to young refugees and Ugandans, in order to help their social and labour market integration in urban areas. We aim to evaluate the program’s effectiveness, and identify the channels through which the program is effective.
With humanitarian funding likely to decrease in the future, more and more refugees are expected to migrate away from refugee settlements to urban areas. As such, there is an increasing need to understand what challenges refugee youths face, and how programs can effectively alleviate them.