A trans-scalar approach to peacebuilding and transitional justice: Insights from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Drawing on qualitative data from more than a year of research in the DRC, I argue that while a trans-scalar approach was taken to end violence, it was not applied to transitional justice initiatives. The result was a negative, rather than a positive peace. By showing the high, but still untapped, potential of trans-scalarity, the article makes three contributions. First, it advances the debate on the local turn by adding empirical insights on trans-scalarity and further developing the concept’s theoretical foundations. Second, it provides novel empirical insights on the transitional justice process in the DRC. Third, it links scholarship on peacebuilding and transitional justice, which have often remained disconnected.

Determining the acceptability of a novel One Health vaccine for Rift Valley Fever prior to phase II/III clinical trials in Uganda

Several vaccine candidates for Rift Valley Fever (RVF) are in development for use in humans. A promising candidate, ChAdOx1 RVF vaccine, has been developed for use in both humans and animals, and has undergone field trials in livestock in Kenya. We conducted a qualitative study to explore the acceptability of this novel One Health vaccine for Rift Valley Fever prior to phase II/III trials, in two rural Ugandan cohorts between January to June 2020.

Understanding Factors that Shape Exposure to Zoonotic and Food-Borne Diseases Across Wild Meat Trade Chains.

Focusing on hunters, village-level consumers, transporters, market traders and urban consumers, we highlight specific practices that expose different actors involved in the trade chain to wild meat related health risks, including exposure to food borne illnesses from contaminated meat and zoonotic pathogens through direct contact with wild animals, and the local practices in place to reduce the same. We discuss interventions that could help prevent and mitigate zoonotic and food borne disease risks associated with wild meat trade chains.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural Uganda: A mixed methods study

COVID-19 vaccination is the latest preventive intervention strategy in an attempt to control the global pandemic. Its efficacy has come under scrutiny because of break through infections among the vaccinated and need for booster doses. Besides, although health workers were prioritized for COVID-19 vaccine in most countries, anecdotal evidence points to high levels of reluctance to take the vaccine among health workers. We assessed COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in Dokolo district, northern Uganda.

Exploring the effects of COVID-19 on family planning: results from a qualitative study in rural Uganda following COVID-19 lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic has likely affected the already high unmet need for family planning in low- and middle-income countries. This qualitative study used Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Service Use as a theoretical framework to explore the possible ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic, including the impact of a 3-month government mandated lockdown, might affect family planning outcomes in rural Uganda. A secondary aim was to elicit recommendations to improve family planning service delivery in the context of COVID-19.

Mixed-methods findings from the Ngutulu Kagwero (agents of change) participatory comic pilot study on post-rape clinical care and sexual violence prevention with refugee youth in a humanitarian setting in Uganda

There is a dearth of evidence-based post-rape clinical care interventions tailored for refugee adolescents and youth in low-income humanitarian settings. Comics, a low-cost, low-literacy and youth-friendly method, integrate visual images with text to spark emotion and share health-promoting information.

Him Leaving Me – That is My Fear Now: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Relationship Dissolution Between Ugandan Pregnant and Postpartum Women Living with HIV and Their Male Partners

High rates of relationship dissolution among pregnant women living with HIV (PWLHIV) and their male partners might increase mothers’ and children’s vulnerability to financial hardship and poor health outcomes. This mixed methods analysis identified factors associated with separation between PWLHIV and their male partners.

Intensified inequities: Young people’s experiences of Covid-19 and school closures in Uganda.

Uganda had the longest period of school closures worldwide as a response measure during the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative data from the Contexts of Violence in Adolescence Cohort Study (CoVAC) (2018–2023), we examine how this has affected the lives of adolescents in Uganda. Our analysis showcases how intersecting inequities based on socioeconomic circumstances, gender and location have intensified, with detrimental effects on young people’s educational paths and life circumstances.

Psychosocial health in adolescent unmarried motherhood in rural Uganda: Implications for community-based collaborative mental health education, and empowerment strategies in the prevention of depression and suicide

Using co-produced Open Space and ethnographic methods, we examined the psychosocial impact of unmarried motherhood on girls and their communities, and explored problem-solving with key local stakeholders. Findings indicate that girls experience extreme stress, social exclusion and rejection by their families, and experience bereavement from school expulsion and the loss of their career aspirations.

Humanitarian Needs Overview: South Sudan 2022

This document is consolidated by OCHA on behalf of the Humanitarian Country Team and partners. It provides a shared understanding of the crisis in South Sudan in early 2022, including the most pressing humanitarian need and the estimated number of people who needed assistance at the time. It represents a consolidated evidence base and helps inform joint strategic response planning.

Pragmatic Mobilities and Uncertain Lives: Agency and the Everyday Mobility of South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda

This article investigates the pragmatic, everyday journeys of South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda’s Palabek Refugee Settlement through a mobilities-focused analytical lens. Despite the repatriation of vast numbers of refugees, little is known about the diversity of refugees’ later movements. Recognition of this complexity is important. We define these refugees’ ‘pragmatic mobilities’ as ‘the experience and practice of multiple, distinct yet interconnected mobilities, despite trying times and unknowable circumstances’, thereby attending to the fractured (dis)junctures between these journeys as well as to their full temporal and geographical scope. By setting the practice and experience of South Sudanese refugees’ ongoing and everyday mobilities within wider personal and regional historical perspectives, we argue the diversities within these refugees’ ‘pragmatic mobility’ practices demonstrate powerful manifestations of agency. We consequently understand these movements to be essential elements within everyday—yet crucial—practices to gain and maintain personal and collective control in otherwise uncertain contexts.

Patchwork States: The Localization of State Territoriality on the South Sudan–Uganda Border, 1914–2014

This paper takes a localized conflict over a non-demarcated stretch of the Uganda–South Sudan boundary in 2014 as a starting point for examining the history of territorial state formation on either side of this border since its colonial creation in 1914. It argues that the conflict was an outcome of the long-term constitution of local government territories as patches of the state, making the international border simultaneously a boundary of the local state.

The humanitarian protectorate of South Sudan? Understanding insecurity for humanitarians in a political economy of aid

This paper contributes to debates about humanitarian governance and insecurity in post-conflict situations. Taking the case of South Sudan, it explores relations between humanitarian agencies, the international community, and local authorities, and how international and local forms of power become interrelated and contested. The paper is based on ethnographic research in various locations in South Sudan between 2011 and 2013, in which experiences with and approaches to insecurity among humanitarian aid actors were studied. The research found many security threats can be understood in relation to everyday practices of negotiating and maintaining humanitarian access. Perceiving this insecurity as violation of a moral and practical humanitarianism neglects how humanitarian aid in practice was embedded in broader state building processes. This paper posits instead that much insecurity for humanitarian actors is a symptom of the blurring of international and local forms of power,

The effects of conflict and displacement on violence against adolescent girls in South Sudan: the case of adolescent girls in the Protection of Civilian sites in Juba

There is a paucity of data on violence against women and girls (VAWG) during conflict in general and even less specifically on violence against adolescent girls. Based on secondary analysis of a larger study in South Sudan, this article highlights the specific experience of conflict-affected adolescent girls resident in the Juba Protection of Civilian sites. Quantitative data from a cross-sectional household survey shows the prevalence of non-partner sexual violence and intimate partner violence was high among a cohort of adolescent girls during the 2013 crisis. Quantitative and qualitative data also showed that patriarchal practices, compounded by poverty and unequal power relationships within the home, remain some of the primary drivers of VAWG even in conflict-affected settings. Prevention activities need to consider these wider underlying drivers of VAWG during times of armed conflict, as they remain key factors affecting violence against adolescent girls.

Sensing Sleeping Sickness: Local Symptom-Making in South Sudan

Programs for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as sleeping sickness increasingly involve patients and community workers in syndromic case detection with little exploration of patient understandings of symptoms. Drawing on concepts from sensorial anthropology, I investigate peoples’ experiences of sleeping sickness in South Sudan. People here sense the disease through discourses about four symptoms (pain, sleepiness, confusion and hunger) using biomedical and ethnophysiological concepts and sensations of risk in the post-conflict environment. When identified together, the symptoms interlock as a complete disease, prompting people to seek hospital-based care. Such local forms of sense-making enable diagnosis and help control programs function.

Rethinking access to land and violence in post-war cities: reflections from Juba, Southern Sudan

It is often assumed that violence diminishes after civil war. In fact, urban areas can turn highly violent. The new forms of violence that can emerge are widespread but poorly understood and have been attributed to a range of factors including rapid urbanization, lack of economic development, continuing ethnic tensions and poverty. This paper examines urban violence in Juba, the “new” capital of Southern Sudan, through the lens of informal urban land access. The city experienced rapid population growth and an increase in land-associated violence after open hostilities with the north of Sudan ended in 2005. While the literature emphasizes the role of such actors as (ex-)combatants and unemployed and disenchanted urban youth in urban violence after war, the analysis presented here demonstrates the complexity of the underlying causes of land violence and the opportunism of a range of civilian and military actors seeking to benefit from the post-war context.

Protection and well-being of adolescent refugees in the context of a humanitarian crisis: Perceptions from South Sudanese refugees in Uganda

Improved understanding of refugees’ perceptions of provision of humanitarian support is important to improve design and delivery of humanitarian assistance. Refugee adolescents face a range of adversities, while the phase of displacement likely influences risk factors for adolescent refugees. However, evidence is sparse concerning perceptions of the impact of these factors on health and well-being of adolescent refugees. We conducted a qualitative study in November 2016, in two refugee settlements in Uganda experiencing a major influx of new refugees from South Sudan. We sought to explore one potential influence on adolescent well-being: the impact of the new influx of refugees from South Sudan on protection risks and well-being of adolescents already settled in Uganda. Themes that emerged indicate that caregivers and adolescents perceived the influx as directly impacting access to basic needs, which had direct and indirect impacts on adolescent psychosocial well-being.

Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study from a Cohort of HIV Clients in Uganda.

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens the food security of people in low-income countries. This is important for people living with HIV (PLWH) because HIV medication should be taken with food to avoid side-effects. We used survey data (n = 314) and qualitative interviews (n = 95) to longitudinally explore how the pandemic impacted food insecurity among PLWH in Kampala, Uganda. Prior to March 2020, 19.7% of respondents were food insecure. Our regression models estimate that food insecurity rose by 9.1 percentage points in our first round of surveys (June–September 2020; p < 0.05; t = 2.17), increasing to 17.2 percentage points in the second round of surveys (July–November 2021; p < 0.05; t = 2.32). Qualitative interviews reveal that employment loss and deteriorating support systems led to reduced meals and purchasing of cheaper foods.

Motorcycle Taxis, Extended Lockdown and Inequality at Work in Kampala, Uganda

In this article, we draw on in-depth qualitative data from interviews with riders, carried out at different stages of the pandemic, to show how the composition of labour within the sector has been reworked by a series of ‘selective exits’ and ‘substitution effects’ over the past two years. In exploring the nature and nuances of these parallel movements, our analysis not only reveals considerable socio-economic unevenness within the city’s motorcycle taxi sector itself but also sheds light on a new, broader configuration of urban inequality in the making.

A Perturbed Peace: Applying Complexity Theory to UN Peacekeeping

Drawing on experience working and conducting fieldwork in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this article argues that UN peacekeeping operations should view themselves as actors within the complex conflict ecosystem, looking to enable transformational change from within, rather than impose liberal Western models from without.

All I was Thinking About was Shattered: Women’s Experiences Transitioning Out of Anti-Trafficking Shelters During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Uganda

The long-term harms to survivors’ physical, psychological and social wellbeing are profound and well documented, and yet there are few studies exploring how to best promote resilience and holistic healing. This is especially true within shelter programs (where the majority of anti-trafficking services are provided) and during the transition out of residential shelter care, which is often a sensitive and challenging process. The current study begins to address this gap by centering the lived experiences of six women residing in a trafficking-specific shelter in Uganda as they unexpectedly transitioned back to their home communities due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

Diverging Discourses: Animal Health Challenges and Veterinary Care in Northern Uganda

This paper draws on policy documents guiding the veterinary sector, interviews with faculty staff at Makerere University and with veterinarians and paraprofessionals in northern Uganda, and ethnographic fieldwork in smallholder communities. The aims of this study were to contribute to an understanding of the structure of veterinary support and its dominant development narratives in policy and veterinary education and of the way in which dominant discourses and practices affect smallholders’ ability to treat sick animals.

Lakes as Rebellious Landscapes: From ‘Fishing Rebels’ to ‘Fishy State Officials’ in DR Congo

This article discusses the frictions that emerge when the management of Virunga National Park in eastern DR Congo tries to retake control of Lake Edward through infrastructural and military interventions. These interventions not only encounter resistance from multiple rebel groups that hold various fishing villages along the shores of Lake Edward, but also from other state authorities present in the area—‘fishing rebels’ and ‘fishy state officials’.

Is translocality a hidden solution to overcome protracted displacement in the DR Congo?

Policy makers and practitioners usually focus on three durable solutions for IDPs to overcome protracted displacement; return, resettlement and local integration. Based on empirical realities, this paper asks to what extent translocality can be seen as another solution. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data from the city of Bukavu in eastern DRC, we explore how translocality is shaped in practice and how it helps people to overcome protracted displacement.

‘When the World Turns Upside Down, Live Like a Bat!’ Idioms of Suffering, Coping, and Resilience among Elderly Female Zande Refugees in Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, Uganda (2019-20)

This paper draws on ethnographic research with South Sudanese Zande refugees in Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, Uganda, to show a different and often overlooked perspective; that of elderly refugee women. Having lived through decades of war and displacement, these women have developed a rich body of knowledge about suffering, coping, and resilience.

Peace Starts with Peace of Mind: Study of the Intersection between Postconflict Trauma, Peacebuilding and Economic Development in Northern Uganda

This study examines an intervention implemented by TPO Uganda in northern Uganda addressing mental health challenges, conflict mediation and economic empowerment. The research consisted of 23 individual in-depth interviews and 16 focus group discussions, supported by a quantitative questionnaire completed by people who had participated in the intervention. There were strong indications that psychosocial support interventions for traumatic experiences and postconflict difficulties are essential for peacebuilding and economic development.

“Tokowa po ya ekolo”: The Military Body Within the Congolese Army

This article explores the conceptualization of the body among former Congolese soldiers living as refugees in Johannesburg. The article draws on extensive fieldwork in Johannesburg, South Africa and employs the concept of deterritorialization and reterritorialization to explain the bodies of those who have decided to join the Congolese Army.

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