Food and livelihoods in the Bidibidi refugee settlement of northwestern Uganda

Food security in rural refugee, migrant, or internally displaced person’s livelihoods continue to challenge every effort to achieve sustainable livelihood. Over the years, scholars have developed different frameworks to analyze the resources necessary, that influence livelihood outcomes, for example, the assets, strategies, and institutions which can later be used to design and implement appropriate programme interventions. Others mention that livelihood approaches emerge out of food security perspectives but are based on the fact that food is only one important basic need among many, and availability of sufficient food does not justify a livelihood. This paper used the Sustainable Rural Livelihood as an analytical framework, by focusing on understanding the assets that the poor and vulnerable people can use or should employ strategies they employ on making a living, focusing on the requirements of livelihoods but it also includes the question of sustainability within a particular setting, for example, a refugee settlement. The analysis shows (1) an understanding of the food system within the settlement and analyzes the major barriers to of food security and sustainable livelihoods of the refugees in Bidibidi settlement and (2) it assesses the different strategies in place to achieve sustainable livelihood among the refugees and the host communities without interfering with the livelihood resources (natural, human, economic or financial and social capital). The study informs that a food system can only make sense if it is sustainable, guarantees food security while taking into consideration the sustainability of the livelihood resources. It is from this that the concept of food security became the dominant point of discussion and immediately linked with a sustainable livelihood.