Community Lighting in Northern Uganda’s Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement Survey 2016

Located in rural northern Uganda, Rhino Camp is home to more than 80,000 refugees  – mostly South Sudanese who fled since July 2016. Other Rhino Camp residents come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, as well as the host Ugandan community. 74% of all heads of household are women, and Rhino Camp is one of a growing number of refugee settlements across nine UNHCR operations where solar street lamps are in use. Between April and June 2015 UNHCR installed some three dozen community lights in 50% of Rhino Camp’s 14 villages. As demand for community lighting far exceeded available funds, UNHCR worked with the refugee community and its partner the Danish Refugee Council to prioritize the strategic placement of lights within villages. The partners jointly selected locations where (1) refugees were prone to nighttime violence, theft or other safety risks, and (2) lights would promote constructive night-time activity.

Using a 72-question survey, researchers asked respondents what day- and night-time6 activities they and their children do, and whether they do these activities in lit or unlit locations. Researchers then asked respondents if they feared or had been victims of something bad while doing these activities. The phrase something bad is the English translation for the most commonly used expressions – in Nuer, Dinka, Bari, and Kiswahili – of being a victim of an aggressive act or encountering danger. Survey responses reveal that the bad experiences that respondents most commonly fear are sexual and physical violence, theft, verbal harassment, injury, and encounters with animals.

The scope of the survey includes:
1. Respondent demographic information
2. Household members
3. Sources of household lighting
4. Day-time respondent activities
5. Perceptions of fear during day-time activities
6. Night-time respondent activities
7. Perceptions of fear during night-time activities
8. Children’s night-time activities
9. Perceptions of night-time safety