[{"bbox": [96, 164, 1134, 538], "category": "Text", "text": "This is particularly evident in Arua, the largest city and economic centre of the northern West Nile sub-region. Due to its close proximity to neighbouring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the city is already attracting many refugees and is also experiencing high population growth. Many people arriving in Arua are hoping for improved employment opportunities and improved infrastructure. This poses a challenge for the provision of basic services: The existing water and sanitation infrastructure is already inadequate to meet the high demand. In addition, surface water resources fail for several months a year, and the existing boreholes for groundwater resources cannot cover the shortfall. Water scarcity is becoming a growing problem for the city and surrounding areas, as it is already evident that groundwater resources will not be sufficient in the long term to ensure a supply of drinking water for the people. More frequent and prolonged droughts as a result of climate change will increasingly threaten existing surface resources. Additional challenges for the city arise from the lack of a waste management system as well as the lack of a surface water drainage. Heavy rains often cause flooding, clogged sewers and pollution to the surrounding nature and existing water resources. This poses a great threat to the environment as well as to the health situation of the population as well as ability of the city to attract investments for improved employment creation."}, {"bbox": [96, 548, 1134, 789], "category": "Text", "text": "The proposed Action is integrated in a wider programme approach which aims with in a first effort to respond to short term needs to improve the supply situation of the population as quickly as possible in the areas of drinking water supply, basic sanitation, but also, surface water drainage, regulated waste disposal, and detailed urban planning in selected parts of the city. With the investments of phase 1 approximately 255,000 people are directly targeted for service level improvement out of which about 30,000 are refugees. The Action shall finance measures under Phase 1 and it will benefit both refugees and the Ugandan population. In addition, the capacities of the city administration to implement improved infrastructure planning are to be strengthened, taking into account diverse concerns in view of the growing number of people, increasing number of refugees in the city as well as the expected challenges in the wake of climate change and the urgency to design the urban space accordingly."}, {"bbox": [96, 799, 1134, 1040], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action will promote operationalising of the humanitarian-development-peace Nexus as the responsibility for the development, management and governance of these water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, including solid waste management, is transitioned from humanitarian institutions to local stakeholders / state institutions (e. g. Ministry of Water and Environment, private service providers and/or public utilities such as the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, NWSC), thus fostering a longer-term, sustainable approach to basic services in line with the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework, CRRF. A special focus will be on social inclusion and protection of the population. To maximize complementarities, the ongoing Greening Uganda's Urbanisation and Industrialisation project, which targets several secondary cities facing challenges in dealing with high influxes of refugees, will also inform the design of the Action."}, {"bbox": [96, 1050, 1134, 1105], "category": "Text", "text": "The action will contribute to the realisation of the EU Gender Action Plan 2021-2025 GAP III, in particular to its thematic area of engagement \"Strengthening economic and social rights and empowering girls and women\""}, {"bbox": [85, 1132, 324, 1166], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [85, 1198, 235, 1227], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [96, 1256, 1134, 1445], "category": "Text", "text": "After two years of turmoil following the 2021 elections and Covid-19, the high population growth, pressure on natural resources, and the lack of prospects for youth remain key challenges. Vulnerabilities have further increased with the global surge in food and fuel prices. This has exacerbated the already vulnerable situation of women and other marginalized groups increasing food insecurity, family malnutrition and risk behaviors (sexual and physical violence). Moreover, the World Bank approximates that 28.3% of Ugandan households are led by women due to a high number of single, widowed, and divorced mothers.¹ Meaning that nearly one-third of households are especially vulnerable to the issues associated with food insecurity for women."}, {"bbox": [96, 1455, 1134, 1589], "category": "Text", "text": "Shrinking civic space, weakening public confidence in elections and a disenfranchised youth population have raised fears of a disorderly transition in 2026. Despite an extensive government apparatus, weak capacity, underfunding of public services and corruption hamper effective implementation of public policies. While the economic situation is improving, with growth for FY 2022/23 forecasted at 5.1% (up from 3.9% in FY 2021/22, the fiscal space has narrowed and public debt has seen a sharp rise, reaching a debt-to-GDP ratio of 52.9%). The"}, {"bbox": [85, 1620, 817, 1647], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹ WB. Gender Data portal. https://genderdata.worldbank.org/indicators/sp-hou-fema-zs/"}, {"bbox": [1037, 1681, 1142, 1707], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 4 of 21"}]