Entebbe — President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has received the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Mrs Cindy McCain, at State House Entebbe, where they discussed Uganda’s refugee situation and long-term solutions for sustainable support.
During the courtesy visit, President Museveni and Mrs. McCain addressed the need for reinforcing aid to the most vulnerable refugee populations, with a focus on children and mothers.
“We, among other issues, talked about the refugee situation in Uganda specifically on how they can reinforce support for the most vulnerable refugees like children and mothers as well as efforts to create self-reliance among the rest of the refugee groups through making use of available arable land to engage them in meaningful production,” President Museveni said in a statement on his official X (formerly Twitter) account.
The meeting comes when humanitarian funding for refugee operations is shrinking globally, and both the Government of Uganda and international partners are under pressure to find innovative ways to bridge gaps in food security and basic services.
In a groundbreaking move to support some of the most vulnerable members of refugee communities, the Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, launched a pilot project delivering cash transfers to elderly refugees in Bidibidi and Lobule settlements, located in Uganda’s West Nile region.
The initiative is being implemented with the support of international partners, including the World Food Programme Uganda (WFP) and the Embassy of Ireland in Uganda.
With global food aid cuts putting increased pressure on humanitarian support, the programme introduces direct cash support as an alternative to traditional food aid—an approach aimed at empowering elderly refugees to make choices that best suit their daily needs.
“Food keeps things stable,” tweeted WFP Uganda. “Take it away, and trouble starts fast. Cash transfers give the elderly the power to decide what they need most.”
Uganda hosts over 1.5 million refugees, primarily from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, making it one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in the world. Many of the elderly in these camps live alone, lack support systems, and have health complications that limit their mobility and access to food.