UGANDA
The East African state of Uganda has been hosting high numbers of refugees since the 1960s. The number of refugees has, however, increased dramatically in the last three years as hundreds of thousands of people from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo have fled to Uganda.
Uganda is one of the largest host countries of refugees
(Source: UNHCR)
From fragile conditions to a new environment
Finnish Refugee Council’s activities in Uganda
The majority of refugees in Uganda live in dedicated refugee settlements, but an increasing number of refugees choose to remain in cities. FRC has operated in Uganda since 1997, and currently supports refugees in 12 different settlements in the northern and western regions of the country, as well as urban refugees in Uganda’s capital Kampala.
Finnish Refugee Council is the only international organisation in Uganda specialising in adult education for refugees. Having learnt the benefits of literacy and education, it is also easier for adults to understand and support the education of the rest of their family members.
In Uganda FRC has an agreement with the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), the Ugandan Government body in charge of refugee matters and works as an Operational Partner to UNHCR since the year 1998. FRC’s programme contributes to the Uganda National Action Plan for implementation of Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) and UNHCR Uganda Protection and Durable Solutions Strategy (PDSS) as it enhances refugee’s and host communities’ self-reliance and resilience.
The training supported and implemented by FRC provides refugees with the means and skills to manage their own lives and regain their personal agency, as well as raise their income levels immediately. In addition to refugees, training is also provided to locals so as not to create conflicts within the community. FRC’s operations in Uganda can be divided into three categories:
Project Summary
Adult Education in Refugee Settlements and in Urban Kampala, Uganda
The project goal is; Through acquisition and use of functional literacy and language skills the adult – especially women – and youth refugees and Ugandans living nearby settlements have improved their self-reliance and resilience. This contributes to the improvement of the resilience of and social cohesion within and between the most vulnerable groups in protracted refugee crises.
Project is located in 12 refugee settlements in the South West and North, and Kampala capital city area namely in Ayilo I, Ayilo II, Nyumanzi, Pagirinya, Boroli, Olua I and II in Adjumani District, Palabek in Lamwo District, Nakivale in Isingiro District, Kyaka II in Kyeggegwa District, Kyangwali in Hoima District.
The project targets to have 18,100 literacy and 12,000 language learners and to certify their acquisition of both technical (reading, writing, counting, speaking in foreign language) and functional skills in literacy or in a language other than their own. Target of women participants is 70% and people with disability 5 %. Additionally, about 800 trained, individual instructors.
Budget: 2,842,000 Euros
Duration: 4 years
Start date: 1.1.2018
Type/Sector: Development cooperation / Functional Adult Literacy
Donor: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland – Unit for Civil Society
Livelihood and Small Business Training in Refugee Settlements and in Urban Kampala, Uganda
The project goal is to strengthen the resilience capacities of adults and the youth from refugee and host communities to cope better with current obstacles and to become less vulnerable in future, by improving their livelihood skills and access to resources.
Project is located in 6 areas; Kampala Urban in central Uganda, Refugee settlements of Nakivale in Isingiro District south west of Uganda and Ayilo I, Ayilo II, Nyumanzi and Pagirinya settlements of Adjumani District in northern Uganda.
The project targets 7,560 persons – about 5,500 business learners and 1,900 VSLA group members and provide them skills to increase livelihoods and employment / self-employment opportunities. Additionally, there are 160 individual facilitators.
Budget: 649,500 Euros
Duration: 4 years
Start date: 1.1.2018
Type/Sector: Development cooperation / Livelihood
Donor: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland – Unit for Civil Society
Scale-Up of Financial Literacy Trainings for Refugees in Uganda
The project aims at providing refugee learners with basic financial management skills thus enhancing their technical capacity to handle the cash-based transfer (CBT) Delivery Mechanism adopted by the World Food Programme (WFP).
This nation-wide project covers all the refugee settlements – in Adjumani district, Impevi, Kiryandongo, Kyaka II, Kyangwali, Nakivale, Oruchinga Palorinya, Rhino Camp and Rwamanja – where WFP provides food assistance to through cash-based transfers and targets 90% of refugees in Uganda benefitting from WFP food assistance through CBT i.e. 141,010 households; two participants from each of targeted households, of whom at least one must be a woman, will attend the financial literacy trainings.
Budget: USD 1,300,000 (the exact figure to be confirmed next week)
Duration: 1 year
Start date: 16.10.2020
Type/Sector: Humanitarian assistance/livelihoods and Functional Adult Literacy
Donor: World Food Programme

