Recovery from Internal Displacement in Northern Uganda

Abstract

Northern Uganda has experienced violent conflict for more than fifteen years resulting in the internal displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Displacement due to violence and the threat of violence peaked in 2005 where over 1,800,000 Ugandans were living in IDP camps. In 2006 a cease fire agreement was reached between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army, the main perpetrator of violence. In the five years that followed nearly all of the displaced persons returned home. A growing body of research has emerged measuring the impact of displacement, however research on recovery from displacement is sparse. This paper will fill this gap by assessing the impact of returning home from displacement on household consumption, and household assets. Using the Living Standards Measurement Survey 2009/10, 2010/2011, and 2011/2012 coupled with the Ugandan National Panel Survey 2005/2006 allows for the difference in the growth of consumption to be estimated between returnee households and a comparison group of households constructed using propensity score matching.

Keywords: Civil War, Post-Conflict Recovery, Internal Displacement, Migration, Uganda, Refugees

JEL Classification: O12, O15, O55, E21