Changing Human Security: Recovery from Armed Conflict in Northern Uganda

project summary

Northern Uganda has been an arena for armed conflict for 22 years; over a million people have been living camps as internal refugees for over a generation. Recently great strides have been made towards peace. However, decades of neglect make resettlement a fraught process for individuals, families and communities. Gulu University was established by the Ugandan government in 2002 as part of a strategy for peace and sustainable development in the North. The university offers advanced education in the region and is committed to community service through education and research. As noted in the Visitation Report by the committee that recently evaluated all Ugandan institutions of higher learning, Gulu University is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to development issues, drawing on ‘the best elements from interrelated and complementary disciplines’ (2007:25). This project advances knowledge on human security by enhancing both research capacity and interdisciplinary cooperation at GU. It will collaborate with five faculties - Agriculture & Environment, Business & Development Studies; Medicine; Science Education, Science - as well as the Institute for Peace & Strategic Studies. At a time when needs are great and resources scarce Gulu University's strategy for research enhancement stresses training but also collaboration. Our project focus on human security complements this strategy. Training in the disciplinary fields and faculties will be combined with specially developed courses and research exercises in order to develop the interdisciplinary skills and experience. The project’s first phase will last four years. This phase concentrates on three principal components: 1) upgrading university staff qualifications by supporting them to undertake PhD and MA/MSc programmes; 2) enhancing post-graduate research training through planning and co-teaching in Masters programmes and cross-disciplinary, collaborative courses on research methodology, and; 3) designing and initiating collaborative research, of which a central pillar will be a Demographic Surveillance System (DSS) that will trace the resettlement process in detail and will serve as a continuing central context for disciplinary and collaborative research.