The arrival of thousands of South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda prompted DanChurchAid (DCA) and Save the Children to investigate the impact of the BidiBidi refugee camp on the local economy of households in Yumbe District. In February 2017, FEG provided technical support to a full HEA baseline assessment of the host community as well as a rapid HEA baseline assessment of refugees in the BidiBidi camp.
Subsequently, the impact on the host community of the poor harvest in 2016-2017, combined with rising staple food prices and the loss of cross-border labour and trade was analysed. Results showed that new trade and labour opportunities provided by the presence of the large BidiBidi refugee camp were allowing households to cope with crop losses. Nonetheless, different scenarios exploring the impact of even steeper staple food price rises show that the situation of the poor and very poor is very precarious with resources only just sufficient to cover emergency survival and livelihood protection thresholds.