Palladium
Overview of the Uganda CSJ Programme
The Climate Smart Jobs (CSJ) is a 4-year program funded by the UK’s International Climate Fund and is building on the previous UK-funded Northern Uganda Program dubbed ‘NUTEC’-Transforming the Economy through Climate Smart Agriculture. The CSJ component one consists of two sub-components: 1A, which is a market systems development intervention, and Component 1B, which will run a challenge fund called the “Uganda Climate Innovation Fund.” The program (CSJ) will be implemented and delivered through a market development approach that involves partnerships with the private sector. The objective of CSJ component one is to support large-scale job creation in the agri-business sector, aiming to improve productivity and/or incomes in agriculture. The component is focusing on innovative sustainable solutions for smallholder farmers especially women, refugees, and host communities to address the impacts of climate change and contribute to incomes and jobs.
Note, CSJ is starting with pilot settlements: Kiryandongo, Adjumani and Rhino Camp, so this research needs to focus in these 3 areas.
Background
CSJ inception research identified that refugees and host community members rely on off-farm and on-farm income through businesses for a signficant amount of their income (19% (R) and 24% (H) according to CSJ surveys). This economic reality, coupled with the understanding that refugees often face constraints regarding land access, led CSJ to conclude that developing an innovation that focuses on the growth and expansion of existing businesses owned by refugees and host members would be a valuable approach in improving economic opportunities for these populations.
Palladium’s undertook research in 2020 for the CRRF in Uganda and determined that businesses located within the hosting areas were more likely to indicate a lack of finance and limited market for their goods as key constraints to increased engagement in the settlement areas.This reflected their challenge of growth, which makes sense as these businesses are typically smaller in size.
CSJ incept research found that refugee businesses are typically smaller than hosts, with many having begun started because of NGO involvement. However, these businesses have little inputs or support to growth, as NGO involvement is typically at the starting point only, and government services are minimal. Many of the refugee companies we spoke with were group-owned and run.
These local businesses are small and informal, employing few people. These are both refugee and host small or micro businesses; most refugee business are trading basic grains or other supplies. Host businesses appear to be much more sophisticated, but many are related to the agriculture sector, such as input providers, traders, equipment providers. There is a lack of growth and expansion of these small businesses. These businesses are often not registered, and are small, and these are mostly remote and far from government services, they often do not get support either through financing, registration or business fundamentals – all critical elements that businesses need to grow. They suffer from a lack of knowledge on business fundamentals (financial management, marketing, operations) as well as access to finance, which is not dissimilar to other small business owners’ needs.
We believe the main opportunitiy for CSJ is to grow existing businesses, not start-up new businesses. In fact, the start-up work that many NGOs have done in the settlements and host communities has contributed to businesses existing in these areas. What we have learnt from our research is that these busiensses are not getting the support to grow.
We have undertaken a quick scan of entrepreneurship programmes targeting refugees or hosts and have found a few that have appear to have some successes:
The Refugee Investment and Matchmaking Platform (RIMP) is a project by the World Bank Group aimed at mobilising the private sector to support refugees and host communities, initially focused on Jordan. The project is financed by the World Bank Group’s SDG Trust Fund and UK Aid and operates in partnership with the Government of Jordan. RIMP initiatives have led to considerable investments and sales, resulting in the creation of 1,930 new jobs, including for a significant number of Jordanians, refugees, and women. RIMP may expand into Djibouti, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.- Livelihoods Innovation through Food Entrepreneurship (LIFE) project. This initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, focuses on creating and expanding enterprise opportunities in the food sector for both refugees and host communities. It includes entrepreneur incubation programs, mentorship, and support services, leveraging food as a medium for cross-cultural exchange and understanding. This food business incubator programme for refugees and host communities in Istanbul and Mersin has graduated 162 food entrepreneurs to date. Participants in this program have shown increased income and business success, with many establishing registered businesses or becoming self-employed entrepreneurship as a powerful tool for unleashing their economic potential and talents1
- Entrepreneurship Programme for Refugees implemented by the African Entrepreneur Collective, focusing on business development and grants/lending for refugees. AEC has made 6,452 investments in refugee businesses: 52% of these women. Their model of social incubation and local innovation, focused on solving problems identified by the community itself, emphasises local ownership and participation. AEC made a significant commitment at the Global Refugee Forum in 2019 to support 35,000 refugee and host community entrepreneurs in five countries by 2024.
- Kiva Refugee Investment Fund (KRIF) is a lending facility set up by Kiva, an international nonprofit, with the mission to expand financial access to underserved communities. The KRIF focuses on scaling microfinance around the world to support refugee entrepreneurs. To date, Kiva has mobilized philanthropic lenders through its crowdfunding platform to provide over $13 million to more than 15,000 refugee entrepreneurs.
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