Refugee communities to get internet connection 

Refugee communities in Uganda are set to receive internet connection to their camps as part of the World Bank digital transformation programme.

According to Dr Amina Zawedde, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, this will help provide various asylum seekers with the necessary infrastructure to educate them, teach them new languages, acquire various skills for employment, and eventually improve their livelihoods.

The Universal Digital Acceleration Program, a project supported by the World Bank in partnership with the Ugandan government, is slated to start in the new Financial Year 2023/2024 and is expected to last five years.

"It has a number of components that include improving and extending the country’s internet connectivity to the last mile communities. This means that when the internet gets to a hospital, a school, government offices, or any facility, the laboratories and the administrative offices are connected so that those people get to use the internet better," Dr Zawedde said.

She added that Uganda has one of the world's youngest populations, so government needs to develop programmes that support them, create an environment that allows them to innovate and explore their potential.

Dr Zawedde made the remarks on Saturday during an event where MTN Uganda, Uganda Small Scale Industries Association, and Centenary Technologies Limited teamed up to help a refugee home in Kampala with Shs15 million to expand its computer laboratory.

Refugee and Hope in Kansanga, Kampala, empowers urban asylum seekers with entrepreneurial skills and professional knowledge, teaches them different languages, preserves their culture and ultimately provides counselling to those who have experienced traumatic events in their home countries.

The refugee home received five computers with one year of free internet, vinyl billboard material for the construction of refugee shelters and fabrics for tailoring businesses.

"We believe that our contribution will not only help Refuge and Hope International create 2,000 tarps for the vulnerable community in the camps, but it will also help protect the environment, grow their business ventures, and immensely contribute to the social and economic transformation of the youths, their families, and communities," the MTN  Uganda CEO, Ms Sylivia Mulinge, said.

Uganda has already laid 4,717 kilometres of optical fibre to support its ambitious digital transformation program, despite the high cost of internet-connecting enablers such as smartphones, laptops and routers.

United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates  that Uganda hosts about 1.5 million people who have fled their homes mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia among others.

The government is in charge of registering refugees, while the UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) mostly provide food and other humanitarian aid.

However, the country's integrity in the refugee response took a major hit in 2018, when thousands of fake refugees were discovered in registration records in northern Uganda. A joint investigation by the government and United Nations agencies found 300,000 ghost refugees in the country.