PROJECT KEY FINDINGS
RYVU research challenges established thinking on volunteering, identifying the diverse roles of refugee youth volunteers in urban and rural settings in Uganda and revealing its impacts on their employability and the inequalities they experience. The research provides new insights into the scale and complexity of refugee volunteering. In particular, findings are showing how:
Volunteering supports young refugees’ strategies for livelihoods and work by providing an income, but can lead to exploitation and inequality;
Refugees can develop skills and employability through volunteering, but refugees face barriers to participation that need to be addressed;
Volunteering helps young refugees make new friendships and connections when navigating new environments;
Volunteering can enable young refugees to contribute to the development of refugee and host communities and the relationships between them.
These key findings contribute new knowledge of relevance to research and practice in humanitarian and development settings, providing a unique evidence base for academics and policy-makers to improve practice when it comes to volunteering, particularly amongst refugees.
THEMATIC FINDINGS IN A SNAPSHOT
Volunteering is central to livelihood ecosystems among youth refugees in Uganda. It is not only seen as a pathway to work, but also as work by many. The remuneration that comes with some forms of volunteering means it can be a key source of income. Humanitarian and development organisations often rely on volunteers to deliver their services. This can risk young refugees being exploited, and the undermining of forms of volunteering that are not high status or financially rewarded.
Volunteering is often associated with building skills. But while volunteers often do develop skills through their voluntary labour, this process is more complex than usually assumed. Volunteers not only gain skills from volunteering but often also need particular skills for accessing volunteering activities. This is one of a number of barriers to participation in volunteering experienced by young refugees in Uganda.
Volunteering can provide opportunities for making new connections and friendships, particularly when people are learning how to navigate new environments. It can play a role in the coping strategies for young refugees in (re)building their lives and dealing with trauma. However, the ways these relationships can support livelihoods are also shaped by the wider inequalities young refugees face. Volunteering can both challenge and reproduce hierarchies such as those around refugee status and gender.
Volunteering is not separate from the challenges faced by young refugees in Uganda, but entangled in them. It can enable young people to contribute to the development of their own refugee community, including through fostering connection, resolving disputes and supporting community organisations and groups. But young refugees also volunteer with their host communities, supporting them and playing a role in shaping relationships between refugees and hosts.
Click below to see Photovoice highlights which cut across these key thematic findings and also reflect RYVU stakeholder engagement during co-analysis workshops.
KEY SURVEY FINDINGS
The research dataset indicates that the majority of young refugees in Uganda participate in some form of volunteering, and that half of those currently volunteering come from families whose incomes fall below the international poverty line. Refugee volunteering can take many forms, which can be unpaid (e.g. everyday peer-to-peer support in their communities) or for a per diem or other incentive (e.g. programmed activities managed by organisations).
Below you can see key highlights from the large-scale project survey conducted in 12 languages with young refugees in Uganda, which is believed to be the largest survey of its kind up to date.
