Rolf Lienekogel

Name: Rolf Lienekogel
Function: Senior Cash Transfers Specialist
Team: WFP Uganda

SENIOR CASH TRANSFERS SPECIALIST
WFP Uganda
Assignment period: July 2024 - July 2025

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

  • Commercial training and work experience in China in the mid-1990s
  • Studied business administration at the University of Bamberg
  • Twelve years in controlling in the materials science division of Bayer in Germany and Asia
  • Studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science
  • 2017 Started humanitarian work in Iraq, Myanmar, and Jordan, including with WFP 
     

As Senior Cash Transfers Specialist, I was responsible for...

adjusting benefits for refugees using a ‘categorization model’. We tried to identify the people most in need of help and protection, such as orphaned children, the elderly, the sick, or people with disabilities who cannot support themselves, to ensure that they receive monthly food aid. There are almost 1.9 million refugees living in Uganda. They were forcibly displaced from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among other places, and are dependent on support.
 

My biggest challenge: 

Until April 2025, the WFP was still supporting 1.6 million refugees with cash or food. However, funding cuts meant that programs had to be scaled back. Since then, only just under 660,000 people have been receiving aid. We therefore had to restructure the monthly food aid program. I led the WFP's efforts in this area, bringing the teams together, coordinating their work, and acting as a driving force. The circumstances were difficult: the funds for monthly aid to refugees were always quickly used up, new funds were no longer coming in, and the time pressure was extremely high. We worked out this difficult restructuring with UNHCR and coordinated closely with the Ugandan government and donors. Transparent communication with the refugees and their elected representatives was of central importance throughout. 
 

How were you able to make a difference on the ground?

As a seconded expert, I had the opportunity to focus intensively on strategic processes and to advance them under time pressure with the relevant partners. I benefited from (a) my technical expertise and experience from previous humanitarian missions and (b) my rapid familiarization with the local context. This is because the best possible solutions are always tailored to the specific, current challenges of a country and ensure that the most vulnerable people are reached with the resources available. 
 

What will you take away from your deployment in Uganda?

What touched me most were the conversations with the refugees and how they cope with their everyday lives despite great adversity. They want nothing more than a life in safety.