| Overview : A. Background UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in 177 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations This Request for Proposal (RFP) is specifically related to the UNDP’s project “Emergency Response and Resilience Strategy for Refugees and Host Communities” through UNDP’s 3x6 approach. It aims to provide opportunities for community based emergency employment and income generation through the Cash for Work modality, while promoting individual savings and engaging emerging entrepreneurs in economic ventures based on compulsory savings, promoting social cohesion by encouraging members of the community to organize themselves into addressing host community basic needs through the improvement of social and economic infrastructure, and creating ownership at both individual and community levels. All interventions will be implemented through communities in a participatory manner, with a view to promote social cohesion at the local level. Context & Situation Since the outbreak of civil war in South Sudan in 2013, Uganda has been experiencing increasing numbers of refugees, especially in Adjumani and Yumbe districts of Northern Uganda. According to UNHCR, the registered number of refugees from South Sudan has reached 779,622 (86% women and children), accounting for over 76% of the more than one million refugees Uganda is hosting. In light of the deteriorating security situation in South Sudan, further influx of refugees to Uganda is expected. Bidibidi settlement, in Yumbe district, was opened in August 2016 to reduce the strain on settlements in Adjumani. Bidibidi has now also reached its maximum capacity, hosting more than 272,000 refugees. Due to the protracted nature of the crisis in South Sudan, there is a need for a shift in the traditional ‘care and maintenance’ approach to one that enables both refugees and their host communities to build resilience and improve self-reliance. Moreover, the South Sudanese influx presents increasing social, economic and environmental pressures on host communities that, unless addressed through innovative and targeted support, could result in conflict and instability thereby undermining Uganda’s international-recognized refugee hosting model. In response, the UNDP Emergency Response and Resilience Strategy for Refugees and Host Communities project, based on the Refugee and Host Population Empowerment (ReHoPE) framework and in line with Uganda’s second National Development Plan and related Settlement Transformation Agenda, seeks to strengthen the resilience of refugees, host community members, district local government and relevant national institutions to cope with and recover from the impact of the large influx of South Sudanese refugees. The aim is to provide emergency support, while investing in existing national and local systems to ensure they can adequately serve both host and refugee communities. Specifically, the project focuses on: emergency livelihoods and economic recovery: disaster risk and climate change sensitive jobs and livelihoods for refugees and host communities, focusing on women and youth (including cash for work, small grants, vocational and business skills training and value chain development); protection: legal aid, access to justice and psycho-social support for survivors of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV); and strengthen core government functions: strengthening of relevant national and local level government capacity to cope with and respond to influx of the refugees and to ensure a resilience based development approach is mainstream across the overall response from the start. UNDP Uganda plans to implement this emergency employment project in Bidibidi settlement, Yumbe District. |
