When hundreds of thousands of refugees started to flee South Sudan in the summer of 2016 and settle in West Nile, a remote rural region of Uganda, the roads were in poor condition, there was limited access to electricity, and almost no connectivity. The place felt disconnected and abandoned from the rest, people felt disconnected and abandoned too, as if they just found themselves there and did not know what to do with that. <\/span><\/p>\n Recently, things have changed. Two years down the line, there is better infrastructure, roads, and access to the Internet. UNHCR recently published <\/span>this story<\/span><\/a> about how connectivity is changing the lives of the refugees across all the settlements and reshaping the area. Or perhaps, and more accurately, refugees are reshaping the landscape and bringing in resources and much-needed change. From an isolated and disconnected region to one where small businesses are slowly starting to emerge and the refugee and host communities can equally benefit from connectivity: how did we get here? The short answer is: <\/span>together<\/span><\/i>. For the longer one, read on. <\/span><\/p>\n In this piece, we would like to take a moment to go behind the scenes and look at how network coverage can (read: <\/span>should<\/span><\/i>) be extended to displaced populations. This is also a chance for us to reflect on a two-year journey that started with informal conversations and small-scale investments, the impact of which we are still seeing today.<\/span><\/p>\n