Uganda, April 9 -- Imagine that one day a natural disaster or an attack overwhelms your town, leaving you with nowhere to flee. How would you respond? How would you endure?

That is the plight of almost all the more than 1.6 million refugees in Uganda, majority from restive nearby countries severely damaged by protracted conflicts for instance in South Sudan, war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and recently Sudan.

They currently reside in at least 13 refugee settlements across Uganda, which are managed and overseen by Settlement Commandants (SCs), who have some degree of autonomy.

But scenes in these camps are visibly concerning.

In the Kiryandongo settlement, which is managed by the United Nations High Commission for Refug...