World Bank maps social safety nets for refugees across East Africa

The World Bank has documented how social protection systems currently work — or don't work — for refugees in the Great Lakes region of East Africa, establishing a baseline of what exists today. This matters because it's the first systematic inventory of where refugees can actually access cash assistance, healthcare, and other survival support, which reveals gaps that donors and governments can now see clearly instead of guessing.

For decades, refugee assistance in this region has been fragmented and invisible — no one knew which countries offered what, which populations fell through cracks, or where money could actually move the needle. A detailed map of what exists changes what's fundable and fixable, because you can't redesign a system you can't see.