Paper details

Paper authors	Jessica Hawkins
In panel on	Resilience: Blurring the Humanitarian and Development Boundary
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

This paper explores the development-humanitarian nexus in northern Uganda based upon recent research in the field. It argues that despite Uganda being one of the busiest destinations for global development NGOs, anecdotal evidence from the north demonstrates that as post-conflict humanitarian response has reduced, development NGOs are not filling the gap. Northern Uganda has been a place of humanitarian response since the early stages of the Lord’s Resistance Army conflict in the 1980s. Mass displacement, along with violence and child abductions over a twenty year period impacted social and economic development in a region which had historically been disadvantaged since the advent of colonial Uganda. This paper shows that during the war humanitarian aid in this region has been a predominantly government controlled affair in contrast to other sub-Saharan African conflicts and as it reached its close, the north became an attractive post for hundreds of NGOs with a humanitarian focus. Twelve years since the end of the conflict, humanitarian organisations are withdrawing as they see their projects and funding come to a close. In its place, according to general humanitarian scholarship and practice in the field, the development NGOs should step in to help the region transition to prosperity in the long-term. However, in reality a strange humanitarian and development black hole is emerging as most development NGOs continue to focus their attentions on established projects in other (arguably more prosperous) regions of Uganda. The paper argues that a new form of post-conflict resilience is emerging as northern Ugandans forge their own development in the absence of INGOs, whilst demonstrating the continued distinct boundaries between humanitarianism and development.

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