Refugee-led organisations play important but neglected roles in providing protection and assistance to other refugees and host communities. Now they are on the front line of the COVID-19 response in camps and cities around the world as other organisations withdraw. Refugees distribute food and non-food items, provide information, serve as community health workers, take part in tracking and monitoring, and influence behavioural norms. As formal humanitarian governance struggles to respond to the direct and indirect consequences of the coronavirus in both camps and urban areas, their work is more vital than ever. In Arua, a bustling town now surrounded by three refugee camps, urban refugees also face severe food shortages. The restrictions on movement have not only affected their livelihoods but their ability to go back to the refugee camps where they are registered to receive the monthly food rations on which they depend.