With support from Community Chest of Korea, Save the Children is reaching 3,300 refugees and host communities in Palabek Refugee Settlement, Lamwo district by strengthening food security through nutri-cash in Palabek Refugee Settlement. The project seeks to have an improvement in the Food consumption Score of households targeting children, expectant and lactating mothers, elderly caregivers, female headed & child headed households and persons living with disabilities.
The food security situation in Palabek Refugee Settlement and Lamwo the host district is characterized by a heavy reliance on humanitarian assistance, limited livelihood opportunities, and high vulnerability to external shocks. Data from the Food Security and Nutrition Assessment (FSNA), (UBOS, 2024) reaffirms this as the average Food Consumption Score (FCS) in Palabek is at 32.9% with 10.3% households having a poor FCS more than twice the national average of 4.8% and superseding the West Nile regional average of 6.1%. This picture is anticipated to worsen from the recently concluded FSNA 2025 data collected, indicating an overall decline of acceptable food consumption score from 50% to 37%. This means that more than half of the population are not meeting their minimum dietary needs, with others in severe food distress. To break this down further, 56% households in Palabek are in the borderline FCS, and only 33.7 within the adequate. Lamwo, the host district, also holds a low FCS of 40.6%.
To cope with the gap in food security, households are employing strategies that erode their future resilience. According to the Uganda Refugee Emergency Response Dashboard, over 75% of households reported using crisis or emergency coping strategies These include reducing portion sizes (62%), reducing the number of meals per day (55%), and prioritizing feeding children over adults (48%). A significant minority report selling productive assets (15%) or taking on debilitating debt (18%) to buy food (REACH, 2025). Recent WFP/UNHCR assessments on the impact of prioritization indicate that over 75% of refugee households are employing emergency or crisis-level food-based coping strategies, such as reducing meal portions or the number of meals per day (WFP, 2024). This situation is particularly dire for children, pregnant and lactating women (PLW), and female-headed households, leading to high risks of malnutrition and negative long-term development outcomes. This project there proposes emergency cash distribution for improved food security and overall improvement of nutrition status of pregnant and lactating women together with children under two years.
With support from Community Chest of Korea, Save the Children is reaching 3,300 refugees and host communities in Palabek Refugee Settlement, Lamwo district by strengthening food security through nutri-cash. The project seeks to have an improvement in the Food consumption Score of households targeting children, expectant and lactating mothers, elderly caregivers, female headed & child headed households and persons living with disabilities. The project will provide unconditional cash to the most vulnerable households to directly address their food consumption gaps and reduce reliance on harmful coping strategies that affect their food security score. The initiative will also combine cash transfers with targeted nutrition education, male engagement and referral of cases to health facilities. This is to ensure that increased purchasing power translates into improved dietary diversity and nutritional outcomes, especially for children and PLWD thus a contribution to future FCS.
