Staying and Moving: Refugee Adaptations to Cuts in Humanitarian Support

Executive summary

Deep cuts to humanitarian aid in 2025 mean that refugees must adapt to radically different situations, where livelihoods and hopes for the future are challenged in new ways. How they respond is shaped by the conditions in which they have found refuge. This report explores the adaptive practices of South Sudanese refugees in Kenya and Uganda. Comparing refugee life on the ground in these two neighbour-ing countries allows appreciation of commonalities under current circumstances. It also provides a clear picture of how different conditions create different possibilities for adaptation. Policy, geography, and the history of social relations contrast in consequential ways. As support disappears, refugees are re-sponding in two modes: either stay in the camps and try to survive through multiple adjusted practices; or move in the hope of food security. 

This report presents the findings of the study ‘Navigating life after aid cuts: Decision-making, economic adaptation and mobility by encamped South Sudanese refugees in Uganda and Kenya’. It was funded by the World Bank Group (WBG) through the PROSPECTS Partnership Programme, administered by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Forced Displacement. The study was implemented by the Participatory Research Team on Community-led Action (PARTOCA), a collaboration between Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and University of Copenhagen.