Act church of Sweden restoring hope in Rhino camp refugee settlement

West Nile: Act church of Sweden in collaboration with the Alliance for Women Advocating for Change (AWAC) have restored the hope of a number of refugees in rhino camp refugee settlement.

Under the Six Agencies for Equity and Resilience in Health, Education, Economic, and Livelihoods (SAFER HEELs) consortium, the Project embodies a commitment to addressing the complex and interconnected challenges faced by Refugees,  Host Communities and  marginalized populations such as Adolescent Girls and Young women (AGYW) in transactional sex, Young mothers, AGYW with disabilities, GBV survivors and those with HIV through a comprehensive, multi spectoral, Community based,  and community led,     tailored  locally driven approaches.

By focusing on health, including Community Based Psychosocial Support and sexual and reproductive health (SRH), skilling, and economic empowerment and livelihoods; the project seeks to enhance overall well-being and resilience of refugees living at the periphery.

During a visit by visitors from Act Church of Sweden to Rhinocamp refugee settlement, rights holders who had lost hope could not hide their excitement and shared their joy over the safe space which is their center of empowerment as they use the safe space to conduct peer to peer support, CHLEG saving and loan financial services access, skilling and comprehensive health education.

Sylivia, a 22 year old single mother thanked the Act Church of Sweden through the Alliance of Women Advocating for Change who have managed to establish for them a safe space where they meet and discuss their health socioeconomic wellbeing issues and stakeholder engagement for norms shifting.

She says through the skills they attained in soap making, they have been able to sell and earn some income however she proposes for bigger space where to help more needy young refugee and host community women within the settlement since a number of them are in category three of the UNHCR – not getting support.

During the dialogue, Mary martin the former RWC 3 Chairperson said that the work AWAC has done in partnership with Act Church of Sweden has improved greatly the lives of the young girls in the refugee settlement.

She said some of the girls had lost hope to the extent of committing suicide but by now they are happily living after attaining various skills and learning on how to save money and take loans for their startup businesses.

She requested the funders to extend the helping hand to more of the girls in the settlement so that they improve their livelihood too.

Armitage Basikania the settlement commandant Rhinocamp refugee settlement said that the work the partners and donors are doing is helping on implementation of the government projects in both the refugee and the host communities.

He pledged to support the donors and partners who  are supporting and changing the livelihoods of the people in the refugee settlement.

He also pledged to offer land for AWAC so that they can establish a permanent structure for office and youth centre since where they operate they are just renting.

Macklean Kyomya the executive director AWAC Uganda said that they are committed to extending a helping hand with partners to the vulnerable community.

She said that those who have attained skills should put them into use so that it can help them change their livelihoods.

The SAFER HEELs project coordinator at AWAC, Resty Magezi emphasized that,“We extend our support to those whom society often deems undeserving including women who use drugs, sex workers, women with disabilities, and those with HIV. We have learned that some of these individuals are categorized under Level Three, meaning they are considered self-reliant and no longer in need of refugee assistance. However, such classifications often fail to capture the intersecting and compounding vulnerabilities that many of them face, pushing them into further vulnerabilities of unprotected sex for higher pay in transactional sex, and pushing some adolescent girls into sex work for survival. These layered realities make them key sub-populations requiring targeted attention and support. Our commitment is to ensure that truly, no one is left behind”.

Fredrik Jansson the programme manager Act Church of Sweden thanked AWAC Uganda for using the donations in the right way.

He promised to take back the message to the funders and also advocate for more funding.

Meanwhile the regional policy advisor Karin Elizabeth Hugsen also promised to advocate for more support to the refugees so that their livelihoods can be uplifted since they are amidst struggles of aid cut from UNHCR.

Rhinocamp refugee settlement currently has, as of august 2025 194,679 refugees with new entrants of which women and children constitute the highest number.

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