Navigating migration challenges in Uganda’s West Nile borderlands: policy, practice, and governance

Abstract Refugee integration in Uganda’s West Nile borderlands reveals how progressive national policy frameworks encounter systematic implementation constraints when deployed in complex territorial contexts. This study examines the gap between Uganda’s acclaimed refugee policies and localized realities in Yumbe and Nebbi districts along borders with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, investigating how three intersecting dynamics complicate integration: hybrid governance arrangements combining state and customary authority, infrastructural fragmentation in resource-constrained contexts, and refugee agency operating alongside formal policy structures. Through qualitative fieldwork incorporating stakeholder interviews, ethnographic observation, and secondary data analysis, the research reveals significant disjunctures between policy aspirations and implementation capacities. Findings demonstrate how initial hospitality dynamics transform into resource competition as local infrastructure becomes strained, while formal state institutions coexist with customary governance structures where traditional authorities wield substantial influence over land allocation and conflict mediation. These hybrid arrangements both facilitate and complicate integration as documented refugees, undocumented migrants, and cross-border communities compete for water, healthcare, education, and housing. The study highlights gendered displacement vulnerabilities, with women migrants facing heightened exploitation risks. This analysis contributes to forced migration scholarship by demonstrating the limitations of state-centric governance approaches in borderland contexts, where spatial specificities and institutional layering fundamentally reshape policy implementation. Policy implications emphasize strengthening coordination between governmental and traditional institutions, formalizing land tenure rights, and transitioning toward sustainable development investments that recognize refugees’ economic contributions to borderland economies.