An assessment of the Water-Energy-Food nexus in Bidibidi refugee settlement towards the design of sustainable energy technologies

Refugee settlements experience interconnected water, energy, and food (WEF) resource insecurities that are increasingly intensified by climate change, environmental degradation, and declining humanitarian support. However, empirical bottom-up WEF nexus assessments in African refugee contexts remain limited. This study assessed the WEF nexus sustainability and vulnerability dynamics of Bidibidi refugee settlement in Uganda using an integrated bottom-up mixed-methods approach. Household survey data (128 respondents) were combined with 5 focus group discussions, 10 key informant interviews, and 10 in-depth interviews. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to quantify WEF nexus sustainability interlinkages, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity (ESAc) framework was used to evaluate vulnerability to WEF resource insecurities. The integrated WEF nexus index of 0.1690 classified Bidibidi as marginally sustainable, with strong inequalities across sectors. Water productivity in farming (0.2185) and biomass energy availability (0.1965) were the highest-performing indicators, whereas irrigation water accessibility (0.0238) and food preservation productivity (0.0249) were the weakest. ESAc analysis further revealed intermediate vulnerability across water (0.4996), energy (0.4983), and food (0.4909) insecurities, confirming that vulnerabilities operate as an interconnected system rather than isolated sectoral problems. Findings captured locally experienced resource interactions, coping mechanisms, and community priorities often overlooked in centralized humanitarian planning. Policy and practice should therefore prioritize decentralized solar-powered irrigation, affordable clean cooking systems, community-based briquette enterprises, post-harvest preservation technologies, and participatory governance mechanisms aligned with local capacities. Future research should incorporate longitudinal assessments, seasonal variability, and climate projections on a larger sample size to further strengthen WEF nexus planning and resilience in displacement contexts.