Integration of city-centric approaches into national policy processes: Kampala’s case

This case study examines how Kampala, Uganda's capital, is integrating city-centric approaches into national policy to manage climate-related human mobility. As one of Africa's fastest-growing cities, Kampala hosts over 157,000 refugees and asylum seekers alongside large numbers of rural-urban migrants displaced by climate-related livelihood losses. The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has adopted a holistic, resilience-focused approach built around four pillars: climate-smart livelihoods, inclusive service provision, urban planning and climate adaptation, and policy and institutional development.

Despite governance progress, Kampala faces persistent challenges including limited affordable housing, frequent flooding, competition for informal jobs, and tensions between refugee and host communities. While the KCCA has developed frameworks such as the Kampala City Emergency Response Plan 2025–2030 and is establishing Refugee Management Desks across city divisions, a key learning emerges: enhanced urban support systems can attract additional migration driven not by vulnerability but by the benefits of city life, complicating efforts to balance service provision with sustainable migration management. Funding remains dependent on own-source revenue, central government transfers, and external aid from institutions such as the World Bank and Africa Development Bank.