Building resilience through climate-smart agriculture, environment, and energy interventions for refugees and host communities in Adjumani — strengthening livelihoods, protecting natural resources, and reducing vulnerability to climate shocks.
Adjumani district hosts one of Uganda's largest and longest-established refugee populations — a community that has lived through decades of displacement and whose relationship with the surrounding environment reflects both the pressures of that history and the resilience built through it. The land that refugees and host communities depend on for food, fuel, and income is under increasing stress. Deforestation, soil degradation, and unpredictable rainfall driven by climate change are reducing agricultural yields, shrinking the natural resource base, and deepening the vulnerability of households already living close to the edge.
The Uganda Refugee Resilience Initiative — URRI — responds to this challenge through an integrated livelihoods approach. Led by Save the Children, with YSAT as an implementing partner in 2025, the project works across three thematic areas: climate-smart agriculture, environment, and energy. Together these three tracks address the interconnected pressures facing communities in Adjumani — building the productive capacity of households, protecting and restoring the natural resource base, and reducing dependence on firewood and charcoal through access to cleaner energy alternatives.
YSAT's involvement in URRI reflects its growing operational footprint beyond Rhino Camp and its recognised capacity as a refugee-led organisation with the field presence, community trust, and technical expertise to deliver complex livelihoods programming in displacement-affected areas. The project has already reached 841 people across its different intervention tracks, with results spanning improved agricultural practices, environmental restoration, and expanded energy access.
YSAT supports refugee and host community farmers in Adjumani with climate-smart agricultural practices that improve yields, build soil health, and reduce vulnerability to rainfall variability. Farmers receive training in improved agronomic techniques adapted to the local climate context, enabling them to produce more food on the same land while building the long-term resilience of their productive assets against increasingly unpredictable weather patterns.
The environment component of URRI addresses the degradation of the natural resource base on which communities in Adjumani depend. Activities focus on reforestation, tree planting, and sustainable land management — restoring ecosystem services, improving access to wood fuel through managed woodlots, and building community stewardship of the shared environment that supports agricultural productivity and long-term food security.
The energy track reduces household dependence on firewood and charcoal by promoting access to cleaner, more efficient energy alternatives. Activities include the promotion and distribution of fuel-efficient cooking technologies that lower fuel consumption, reduce indoor air pollution, and cut household energy costs. Reduced pressure on forest resources from cooking fuel demand directly complements the environmental restoration work being carried out in the same communities.
Across all three thematic tracks, YSAT delivers structured training to build the skills and knowledge of community members. Training covers climate-resilient farming methods, environmental stewardship practices, and energy-efficient technologies — equipping participants with the practical understanding needed to sustain and build on the project's investments independently after direct implementation support concludes.
URRI is implemented through a nexus approach — integrating humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding considerations across all three thematic areas. Community engagement ensures that programming responds to locally identified needs, that refugee and host community members are involved in design and implementation, and that the project contributes to social cohesion as well as livelihood outcomes across Adjumani's displacement-affected communities.
People reached across climate-smart agriculture, environment, and energy interventions
Thematic areas — climate-smart agriculture, environment, and energy
Year of implementation in Adjumani under Save the Children
District — expanding YSAT's reach beyond Rhino Camp to Adjumani