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European Union Announces New EUR 2 Million Assistance for Refugees, Host Communities in Uganda

Hoima, Kyegegwa and Moyo Districts – The European Union's Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department (ECHO) has confirmed fresh funding worth EUR 2 million to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to support refugees and host communities in western and north-western Uganda.

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, will use the funds to deliver life-saving interventions on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, as well as the host communities in Kyangwali settlement in Hoima district, Kyaka II settlement in Kyegegwa district, and Palorinya settlement in Moyo district.

The overarching objective of the project is to neutralize the risk of WASH-related diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera.

Since December 2017, thousands of Congolese asylum seekers have been streaming across the border into Uganda, fleeing ethnic clashes and human rights violations by armed militia in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. According to UNHCR, more than 80,300 Congolese have fled to Uganda since 1 January 2018 – many crossing Lake Albert in dangerous boats and canoes.

The latest EU project activities will benefit 82,700 direct beneficiaries, under a one-year project titled Strengthening Wash Service Delivery for Refugees and Host Communities in Uganda. The beneficiaries will include 14,700 Ugandan members of the communities hosting the refugee population.

This project brings European Union Humanitarian Aid commitments to IOM Uganda in the last 14 months to EUR 4 million. Already EU Humanitarian Aid has been funding IOM’s WASH Service Delivery to South Sudanese Refugees and Host Communities in Uganda – in Yumbe and Moyo districts.

The EU-funded activities in Moyo will complement another IOM Uganda WASH project, funded by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (UN-CERF), worth USD 1 million.

Speaking about the new EU funding, the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides said, “The escalation of the crisis in Congo since late last year has created a serious emergency in Uganda, with tens of thousands of vulnerable refugees at risk of deadly diseases. Therefore, the European Union has had to come in with these funds to support the life-saving interventions.”

IOM Director General William Lacy Swing, welcomed the European Union’s continued humanitarian support.

“When you have huge numbers of vulnerable asylum seekers in confined spaces, the support of the EU is particularly significant,” DG Swing said. “Because if you do not provide safe water and sanitation, if people are not helped to build latrines, then you run a risk of losing thousands of already vulnerable people. So, this European Union humanitarian aid is not simply assisting people, it is saving lives.”

KEY INTERVENTIONS

Among the key interventions, IOM will construct a piped water system in Kyaka II settlement, to deliver water to nearly 30,000 people. This water system was earlier designed by IOM under another project funded by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (UN-CERF). The system will be powered by mains electricity and a generator, with an automatic changeover function. In Kyangwali settlement, Hoima district, the project will motorize a borehole drilled earlier by UNHCR to deliver water in a sustained manner to at least 7,000 individuals.

The project will also build two 50 cubic metre rainwater-harvesting tanks to supply water specifically to schools and health centres not served by the piped water system in Kyangwali and Kyaka II.

It is projected that by bringing safe water closer to the populations, the interventions will also help reduce the incidence of gender-based violence in the two settlements and reduce over-reliance on the expensive and unsustainable trucking of water.

The project will also conduct and coordinate comprehensive hygiene promotion campaigns in Kyangwali and Palorinya settlements, provide hygiene kits and support the construction of household, communal and institutional latrines.

Additionally, IOM will support a range of related activities, including soap-making and recycling and bio-composting of waste to make manure and poultry feeds.

Summary of some of the key Interventions

LOCATION

INTERVENTIONS

Kyaka II settlement

  • Piped water system
  • Support establishment, training and equipping of water management board and user committees.
  • 50m3 water tanks
  • 152 latrines for persons with special needs
  • 8 blocks of institutional latrines
  • Solid waste disposal system
  • Medical waste disposal facility

Kyangwali Settlement

  • Piped water system
  • Support establishment, training and equipping of water management board and user committees.
  • 50m3 water tank
  • 4 institutional latrine blocks
  • 700 household latrines
  • 800 latrines for Persons with special needs
  • Solid waste disposal system
  • Medical waste disposal facility
  • Train, equip and deploy 20 hygiene promoters and 10 village health team members for Sebagoro

Palorinya settlement

  • 500 household latrines
  • 500 latrines for Persons with special needs
  • 4 blocks of institutional latrines
  • Solid waste disposal system
  • Medical waste disposal facility
  • Train, equip and deploy 10 hygiene promoters