Since the onset of the conflicts in South Sudan in 2014, over 800,000 South Sudanese fled their homes to Uganda seeking safety from the fighting. Oxfam has been responding to the South Sudanese refugee influx since the onset of the conflicts in 2014, and with funding from agencies and affiliates like KLUB, Oxfam IBIS, Oxfam Hong Kong and Oxfam Belgium, we have been able to enroll youths-- both refugees and host community members in vocational skills training, bricklaying and concrete practice, tailoring, hairdressing, motor repairs, carpentry among others.

Besides the vocational skills, refugees have also been supported with agricultural inputs in form of vegetable seeds, beans, groundnuts, onions, as well as farm tools like hoes, garden forks among others. They have also been trained in general agronomy, group dynamics, farming as a business and post-harvest handling.

Read some of the stories from the benefactors of the Livelihoods project. 

Aisha is one of the Ugandan host community members in Bidibidi Refugee settlement that benefited from Oxfam’s livelihoods project. The project, funded by KLUB saw the training of over 90 people, both South Sudanese refugees and host community members, to receive training in tailoring/sewing for 3 months. This training is a tool aimed at empowering refugee and host communities with professional skills and promote their independence and financial self-sufficiency.

Read her story here.

"Using my hands and creating something beautiful earns me a living and it also calms me down. The lady and gentleman who teach the tailoring class were like parental figures for us, and I am grateful for that" Isaac Gereny, a 24-year-old refugee from South Sudan settled in Bidibidi.

Read more about Isaac here.

Kennedy received training in barber work and haircutting, after which he set up his business at the trading centre in Bidibidi and notes that he now feels empowered to support his mother and siblings, for whom he has bought clothing, change of diet, and hired land for farming. All this is through the salon business that earns him not less than 15,000 Uganda shillings daily.

Read Kennedy's story here.

After a three months training run by Oxfam to empower Youth in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, both Refugees and the host community, Samuel Towongo attained construction skills.

He first worked with NIKTECH, a local construction company on return from the training, where he prides in having put up a number of latrine structures within the settlement and in the neighbourhood.

Samuel has since taken on self-employment because of increased demand for his services. In a month, he earns about 300,000 shillings, a portion of which he saves and uses the rest to take care of himself and his family.

Inawayi Farmers’ group of 20 members is a representative of the 5 goat rearing groups that maximized the Oxfam’s income enhancement program. Each member was given a she-goat to breed, with the goal to alleviate poverty in their homes. The group was then given one he-goat to mate with all the female goats, and this has increased the number of goats owned by the group members.

To commence the kitchen gardening, Poni received training, tools like fork and garden hoes, and assorted seeds that included tomatoes, g-nuts, onions, and leafy vegetables like Okra. She is now happy that she can enhance the nutritional alternatives for her family and earn an additional income from the sale of surplus produce in the camp markets.
Load More
Tagged with
humanitarian KLUB OXFAM IBIS Oxfam Belgium Oxfam Hong Kong sustainable livelihoods Refugee resilience