The proposed research work supports the activities of the Austrian Red Cross (ARC) and the Ugandan Red Cross (URC) in the Imvepi refugee camp in the West-Nile Region of Northern Uganda, which hosts 55.000 refugees within the scope of the Contract for Services between TU Wien and Austrian Red Cross. The camp has been set-up after the outbreak of a civil war in the country of South Sudan 2015 and the thereby caused inflow of refugees from the country to Uganda. The ARC, together with URC, have launched a 2.5 years project called “Improved living conditions of refugees and host communities in Imvepi settlement with regard to health, economic integration and environmental resilience” (LIFT project, planned project end: June 2020). This project aims to contribute to a sustainable development and successful integration of refugees in the West-Nile Region of Northern Uganda). The focus is on establishing a sound sanitation, appropriate solid waste management infrastructure, creating knowledge to manage the infrastructure and thereby creating and maintaining a safe environment for the local population.

The proposed activities by TU Wien support the establishment of a community-based waste collection system, and a human and solid waste management center (WMC) in the Imvepi settlement. TU Wien activities will support the work of the ARC and a local consultancy. The local consultancy will conduct an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), propose possible low-cost design options for the WMC (including costs), facilitate the selection of proposed sites for the WMC and will draw an environmental and social management plan (to identify cost-effective measures to reduce significant negative impacts) including parameters/indicators for monitoring environmental and social aspects. TU Wien will accompany the planning and construction phase and will particularly focus on reviewing the implemented waste management measures (operation phase) in order to facilitate a long-term waste management planning.