Fratelli Tutti and Social Media: Solidarity and Social Networks Among Locals and Urban Refugees in Kampala, Uganda

Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis’ social encyclical, exhorts all Christians and people of good will to cultivate a spirit of fraternity and solidarity with all people in need, regardless of socio-cultural or creedal or racial differences. He challenges us to broaden our perception of “neighbour” to even include those people whose plight we encounter via social media – our digital neighbours. This paper shows how the Association of Refugee Women in Uganda (AORW- U) has used social media to amplify the voices of urban refugees living in Kampala, thereby raising public awareness; attracting global and local partnerships; and creating healthy social networks between urban refugees and their local neighbours. Uganda hosts 1.7 million refugees, 8.7% (150,647) of whom are self-settled in Kampala where they compete with locals for already scarce resources. This directly threatens reliance on social networks as a coping mechanism to sustain refugee livelihoods in urban settings.