Oruchinga Refugee Settlement
Oruchinga Refugee Settlement is a refugee camp in Isingiro District in Southern Uganda.
History
Oruchinga opened in 1959 as a transit centre for refugees from Rwanda and was officially recognised in 1961 through Uganda Gazette General Notice No. 1433. In 2016, Uganda’s Office of the Prime Minister, with partners, supported high-resolution mapping of the settlement to strengthen land-use planning and risk-informed development.Population
The Oruchinga refugee settlement is presently hosting more than 6,800 refugees from Burundi, DRC and Rwanda.According to the current statistics the settlement is not receiving new refugees, apart from family reunification, referrals, and protection cases.
A July 2021 settlement profile produced from OPM/UNHCR registration statistics reported a total population of 8,261 and 1,898 households, with 8,259 refugees and 2 asylum-seekers. The same profile listed country-of-origin totals as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
Location and administration
The settlement covers about 8 km2 in Isingiro District and sits near the Uganda–Tanzania border. The settlement was described in 2016 as comprising at least 15 villages spread across the settlement area.Refugee management in Uganda is led by the Office of the Prime Minister, which receives, documents and settles refugees and coordinates stakeholders involved in the refugee response.
A 2019 UNHCR factsheet described the settlement as hosting refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and reported limited new arrivals aside from family reunification, referrals and protection cases.
Economic activities
According to the UNDP in 2018, a number of refugees in Oruchinga Refugee Settlement were engaged in greenhouse farming.The Oruchinga refugee settlement hosts a number of education facilities such as Kayenje Primary School and Kajaho Primary School.
Social Services
A 2016 assessment reported good accessibility to primary and secondary schools and described healthcare accessibility as fair, based on spatial analysis and mapping of services and infrastructure. The Office of the Prime Minister reported solar systems installed in schools across several south western settlements, including Oruchinga, as part of wider energy access support in refugee-hosting areas.Livelihoods
An OPM-supported assessment reported agriculture as the dominant land use in Oruchinga, with refugee households allocated land for crop production. It listed major crops as maize, beans, bananas and sorghum.UNDP reported greenhouse farming initiatives in the settlement as part of efforts to improve production and income for participating refugees.