A coalition of non-governmental organizations, spearheaded by Woord en Daad, has initiated a transformative five-year project focused on equipping refugees and their host communities with essential skills.
The ambitious initiative, dubbed the Local Empowerment and Development for Refugee and Host Communities (LEAD), boasts a budget of €7.4 million (approximately shs28 billion shillings) and is set to climax in March 2029.
Funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the project will be executed in various refugee settlements, including Kiryandongo, Palabek, Rhino Camp, Bidibidi, Nakivale, and Kyaka II, alongside the surrounding host communities.
During the project’s launch on Thursday at Fairway Hotel in Kampala, the Dutch Ambassador to Uganda, Frederieke Quispel, praised the initiative, emphasizing the Netherlands’ unwavering commitment to supporting Uganda.
Julius Onen, the Country Representative for Woord en Daad said the project aims at empowering refugees and their host communities.
“The LEAD project aims to enhance the capacity of local partners, enable direct funding to implement education and skilling, economic empowerment, job opportunity initiatives, and to facilitate meaningful participation of refugees in local, national and international policy influencing,” Onen said.
He said that in line with the organization’s philosophy of local empowerment for sustainable development, the project will be implemented by 12 local and national partners that include refugee led organizations and women led or rights organizations in the 6 settlements and host communities.
He added “We believe that everybody has knowledge and skills that need to be harnessed in this global environment for sustainable development. We want to ensure refugees contribute to the development of the country through gaining skills so that when they decide to go back to their home areas, they have skills they can employ.”
On his part ,Dickson Biryomumaisho the Executive Director for The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation (TUNADO) stated that s they will be working in refugee hosting communities as well as refugees.
He added that refugees and host communities will be gaining employable skills so that they are self-reliant while others will be equipped with advocacy skills to prioritise issues affecting refugees.
Eng. Hillary Onek, the Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, expressed his support during the project’s launch, stating that this initiative will promote self-reliance among refugees.
“The support and funding from donors for refugee programs has been going down throughout the years yet the number of refugees continues to swell. This project has come at the right time since it will help refugees to become self-reliant by getting skills that will ensure they can make their own money,” he said.
