It was a remarkable week as VNG International joined the European Union, Cities Alliance, Koboko Municipal Council, ACAV, delegations from Kenya, Ethiopia, Somaliland and the Democratic Republic of Congo and other key stakeholders for the fifth peer learning event of CRRF: Inclusive Urban Development and Mobility – Regional Network and Dialogue from 6th to 8th June 2023 in Koboko Municipal Council. The Peer Learning Event and dialogue aimed to facilitate exchange of experiences, practices and networking among stakeholders and actors to strengthen policy development and collaborative action to promote greater social cohesion in the Horn of Africa. The theme of the event was "Moving towards inclusive and resilient cities in an Era of Rapid Urbanisation and mobility"

During the event and dialogue, the role of data and documentation of the situation of refugees and migrants featured prominently, arising from the urban refugee study that was conducted by VNG International in 2018, and the ongoing study “localized Analysis, review of the Legal and Regulatory environment on urban refugees and force migrants in Cities and other Urban settings in Northern Uganda: Case of Arua and Gulu Cities and Koboko District and Municipality”. VNG International was recorgnised and awarded a certificate of appreciation for the invaluable support towards documenting the plight of urban refugees and challenges for urban authorities in service delivery. The certificate that was signed by 6 Community Based Organisations that are part of the implementing partners in the “Technical assistance to Koboko Municipality to implement ‘CRRF: Inclusive Urban Development and Mobility’ Action” recorgnised and greatly appreciated the role of evidence based action that was made possible through the findings of the “Self-Settled Refugee Survey” in Koboko Municipal Council.

During the same event, Koboko Municipality, that is one of the targeted Local Governments within the SDLG Programme was recorgnised for best practices in refugee integration in the horn of Africa and was awarded the best secondary city for inclusion and mobility in the horn of Africa. VNG International supports Koboko Municipal Council within the Refugee and Migration Management theme in the SDLG Programme and will leverage on a number of the experiences of Koboko Municipality for peer learning and experience sharing.