The Gordian Knot

This article is a preliminary critical assessment of Uganda’s current refugee policy, ReHOPE, in the north-western part of the country. The research was based on quantitative and qualitative data gathered over six weeks in 2018 and 2019. The article is centred on national efforts to implement the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goal #5, “gender equity and empower all women and girls”. Here the focus is on the policy as it relates to formal education, technical training and livelihood improvements and the empowerment of female South Sudan refugees in two settlements in Adjumani District. ReHOPE is a very complex, ambitious and costly programme. The data from this study seems to indicate that the goals of refugee female empowerment and improved livelihoods are not being widely realised in the two Adjumani settlements accessed. However, it is suggested that future studies of ReHOPE policies should be more extensive than the present one and researchers, employing mixed methodologies, should spend more time on the ground than a few weeks.