The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The World Food Programme – WFP has said it is recording more refugees in Uganda opting for cash assistance instead of food. WFP currently transfers 31,000 shillings each month to each refugee to help them meet basic needs.
As of June 2019, WFP Uganda provided cash transfers to around 360,000 refugees in eight settlements that include; Adjumani, Rhino, Kiryandongo, Lobule, Kyaka II, Rwamwanja, Kyangwali and Nakivale.
In Adjumani alone, between 2,000 and 5,000 people make the change from food to cash each month. WFP indicates that they are providing money to about 131,000 out of over 240,000 refugees.
Adao Chol, a resident of Block B in Ayilo II Refugee Settlement Camp in Adjumani district notes that the money helps to address immediate beneficiary needs more cost-effective than food assistance.
Another resident Tabban Thomas James notes more people are embracing cash because its flexibility and gives the beneficiary greater decision-making power.
But Jacqueline Naito Joseph, a mother of 10 argues that WFP lowered their cash transfers from initial 45,000 to 31,000 shillings per head which is not enough to meet the ever increasing cost of living.
Petroc Wilton, the WFP Uganda Communications Officer disclosed that WFP expects to reach up to 500,000 refugees with cash by the end of 2019.
WFP established the current cash transfer value in 2017. The transfer value is equivalent to the average market prices of the commodities that make up the in-kind food basket in different settlements across the country, including cereals, beans, oil and salt.
The West Nile as well as Acholi sub-regions host over 60 percent of Uganda’s 1.3 million refugees who mostly hail from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Through a mix of food, nutritional and cash support for programmes such as school feeding, WFP reaches nearly 600,000 refugees monthly across both regions.
The region also hosts a 30,000 metric-ton capacity regional warehouse in Gulu, which is key to WFP operations in South Sudan.
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