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The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has received $11m from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to support refugees in Uganda.

The additional funding brings the total support for refugees in Uganda to nearly $83m since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2023.

“This contribution is undoubtedly a relief for the most vulnerable households in the refugee settlements,” said Abdirahman Meygag, WFP’s Country Director in Uganda.

Close to 40,000 newly arrived refugees have been registered in Uganda since the beginning of 2024.

Most of them are women, children, and older persons from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.

From 2014, the number of refugees in Uganda has quadrupled from 390,000 to 1.6 million, the highest number in any African country.

Many of the newly arriving refugees are fleeing conflict in South Sudan, DRC, Somalia, and Sudan, reaching the border on foot or by bus.

According to WFP, despite a progressive asylum refugee support policy, refugees in Uganda have limited livelihood opportunities to sustain themselves.

They continue to depend on humanitarian assistance, yet the gap between the needs and funding availability has grown steadily.

Currently, WFP supports 1.3 million out of 1.6 million refugees in Uganda with monthly food and cash assistance.

But, in the face of limited resources, WFP is now prioritising the most vulnerable refugees for food assistance.

Refugee households categorised as extremely vulnerable receive 60 percent of a standard food ration.

The less vulnerable families receive 30 percent, while those who are categorised as not vulnerable have been weaned off food assistance and connected to long-term livelihood opportunities.

On the other hand, all new arrivals receive a 100 percent food ration for the first three months.

“We are committed to supporting refugees in Uganda through emergency food assistance,” said Daniele Nyirandutiye, USAID Mission Director in Uganda.

“As part of our response, we are pleased to partner with WFP to assist the Government of Uganda’s refugee response efforts and will continue to support both urgent relief and longer-term resilience-building efforts,” he said on Tuesday April 19, in a statement. 

USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance has already contributed over $300 million to WFP from 2020 to 2023 to support refugees with food and cash transfers and building smallholder farmers’ resilience through agriculture market support.

However, WFP urgently needs an additional $110m to support and sustain its emergency operations in Uganda up to the end of the year.