Uganda’s refugee policy remains distinctive with its welcoming atmosphere for more than 1.7 million refugees, with opportunities, including the allocation of plots of lands for crop cultivation within the settlements, and the freedom of movements to the host communities to explore opportunities outside of their existing residences. This setting creates avenues for collaboration, social cohesion, and shared livelihoods, fostering mutual support and integration in the face of the global transition from general food assistance. However, the significant reduction of emergency responses, funding, and relief has led to limited access to resources, drowning both refugees and host communities in extreme poverty.
On 16th January 2025, the United Kingdom officially launched the Graduating to Economic Resilience project, a 2.3 million Euro initiative started in april 2024, in partnership with AVSI Foundation to support the refugee response in Uganda. This effort aims to empower and uplift 2,100 households, translating to 12,600 most economically fragile refugees and host community individuals residing in the Kyangwali and Kyaka II Refugee Settlements within Kikuube and Kyegegwa Districts in Western Uganda, steering them towards economic self-reliance and resilience by integrating a graduation model with a market systems development approach. These efforts directly feed into the support of Uganda’s pledge at the Global Refugee Forum, to empower refugees to secure their own livelihoods.
This partnership marks the first collaboration between the United Kingdom government and AVSI Foundation. By joining strengths, the United Kingdom and AVSI Foundation aim to combine expertise and resources to create lasting impact and transformative change in the lives of vulnerable populations in Uganda. The support will enable selected refugee households to graduate towards improved household economic status and enhanced self-efficacy. The 18-month project will equip participants with skills and resources, investing in sustainable livelihoods, championing the United Kingdom’s agenda in promoting market-led approaches and private sector engagements.

The Graduating to Economic Resilience project comes at a time when refugees are exiting general food assistance, making it timely to accelerate self-reliance and resilience while reducing dependence on handouts, which has been common practice among such vulnerable communities across refugee settlements and their hosts.
John Makoha, Country Representative, AVSI Foundation.
The AVSI Foundation-led programme symbolises a shared commitment to empowering vulnerable communities within Uganda’s refugee settlements and driving their transition from fragility to resilience. While there has been commendable progress, issues such as the insufficient knowledge of good nutritional practices, limited access to adequate food, inadequate skills for income generation, poor hygiene practices which compromise the health of people, the insignificant access to essential goods and services and unsustainable livelihoods, slow down the process of building resilience and fostering economic independence for refugees and their host communities.
Since its inception, in the past six months, AVSI Foundation has registered remarkable results with the formation of 84 Village Saving and Loans groups of 25 people for financial inclusion and linking them to markets to drive economic growth, and continues to provide technical skills training in agronomy and business management. 130 participants have so far accessed critical services such as referrals to medical care, and agro-input enterprises to ensure access to essential support amenities.

AVSI Foundation derives lessons from its successful Graduation Approach in the USAID-funded Graduating to Resilience Activity, which was implemented for seven years in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement, where 80 percent of the targeted population graduated from poverty, and achieved a 96 percent business diversification, leveraging on this experience to replicate the lessons in the UKAid-funded Graduating to Economic Resilience Initiative, to create agile responses to the needs of populations.
AVSI Foundation acknowledges the contribution the UKAid collaboration will bring towards development, and pledges that the successful results achieved through our past programmes will continue to be realised in this partnership, so that we can ensure that every person is a protagonist of their integral development, even in emergency contexts.
John Makoha, Country Representative, AVSI Foundation.
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