We all can imagine what it means to leave a place we have called home and have become at ease with for decades, a condition which may be more difficult for vulnerable people to cope with. This is the story of 300 critically vulnerable families in Uganda that AVSI is working with to help them remain resilient and start a sustainable life in new locations.
AVSI’s focus is among the 6,177 total involved in the expropriation process - to identify the most vulnerable households living in the Right of Way spread in the eleven high-densely populated slums of Kampala including Kasokoso, Kireka D, Namataba, Kito A, Kito B, Namataba villages and prepare them for relocation.
Thanks to the No One Worse Off project funded by European Union through Cities Alliance and the efforts of AVSI social workers who continue to visit these families amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to develop realistic plans for their relocation needs and future. AVSI is aware of the resources and the six month’s timeline within which families have to leave their homes to give way for urban development.
“I hope to buy cheaper land in Nakifuma (a village 20 kilometers away from Kampala) where I can build a better house for my children. We are worried about starting a life in an unfamiliar village – my children will lose their friends” says Gladys Auma, 65, resident of Kasokoso slum.
Bernard Twijukye, 41, sells potatoes in his Kireka D neighbourhood but he is worried that once he leaves, he may have no source of livelihood to take care of his four children and wife.
Gladys and Bernard are among the households who have been registered by the No One Worse Off project to receive a three installment cash support worth 81 US dollars. The cash is intended to help them salvage materials, transport belongings, pay for house rent, buy food and other household items. AVSI Foundation will continue to monitor and carry out home visits, to provide psychosocial support for the restoration of livelihoods of the 300 families in their new locations so that they are not left worse off after the relocations.
The 18 months project will clear the Right of Way for construction of the Kampala-Jinja Expressway while affected targeted households and businesses in the project areas will receive support services to help them acquire better sources of livelihoods, security of tenure and housing for longer term market and neighbourhood incremental upgrading.