The Burden on Children: The Cost of Insufficient Post-Conflict Services and Pathways Forward
Summary
Fleeing the horrors of war, only to find yourself trapped in a system of inadequate services there to aid your survival as a refugee, often leaves vulnerable women and children in a paradox of despair. For South Sudanese and Congolese refugees in Uganda's West Nile Region, this is a daily reality. This talk highlights the urgent need to redesign better support services in these camps and surrounding communities, challenging us as designers to advocate, through our practice, real change in a broken development sector.
Key Insights
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Uganda hosts over 1.5 million refugees, 60% of whom are children, representing one of the largest child refugee crises globally.
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The 70/30 land and resource allocation policy, though progressive on paper, creates tensions due to chronic underfunding and perceived inequities between refugees and host communities.
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Redemptive design goes beyond human-centered and regenerative design by aiming to restore people, place, and time to their rightful future.
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Starting research from a community’s desired future—‘from the future to the future’—helps guide sustainable, hopeful design interventions.
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Social dynamics in refugee-host contexts often involve feelings of unfairness, justice, and dignity, complicated by external power systems like NGOs and government agencies controlling resources.
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Historical tribal conflicts brought from places like South Sudan continue to affect cohesion within refugee settlements and must be mapped to inform design.
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Facilitating hope is an active, structured process that includes embracing multiple knowledge systems and critical reflexivity about researcher positionality.
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The A, B, C, D model structures engagement by exploring the past (A), envisioning the future (B), bridging stakeholders (C), and re-initiating conversations (D).
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Engaging donors effectively requires personal dialogue and aligning their futures with those of communities served, often through informal settings like dinners.
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Sustainable systemic change requires horizontal design approaches combined with top-down legislation to stabilize and scale redemptive solutions.
Notable Quotes
"Will you become an advocate for the world’s most vulnerable voices muffled and unheard in complex systems?"
"Uganda is Africa’s largest refugee host nation with over 1.5 million refugees, 60% of whom are children—yet this crisis is often invisible in media."
"Redemptive design means to buy back or restore something or someone to its rightful place."
"You begin research from the end—from the future to the future—asking communities to share their envisioned future first."
"The tensions between host and refugee communities are more than poor service design; they point to chronic systemic issues rooted in resource allocation and social justice."
"Hope is not passive. Hope is very proactive and requires facilitation that helps people dream despite their harsh realities."
"Knowing your positionality and having native speakers and culturally sensitive methods is vital for authentic data gathering."
"We had conversations with donors over dinners and asked about their vision for innovation and future impact—it’s about asking the right questions."
"There’s never really conflicting futures—everyone wants to take care of the most vulnerable children; you just have to find the bridge between visions."
"Our job as innovation managers is to build the playgrounds where people play—designing the built environment to complement policy and sustain future generations."
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