Uganda: Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement Project

Project Objectives:

• Provide drugs to Burundian refugees in Uganda at Nakivale Refugee Settlement.
• Provide school fees and scholastic materials for all Kenyan, Sudanese and all refugee school children at the camp, at the beginning of the term.
• Provide funding to facilitate candidates taking their national exams in Masindi. This facilitation includes transport to and from, accommodation, feeding, and the allowance for the teachers who take care of the students in Masindi.
• Continued maintenance of RMF office compound at the camp, for use by RMF staff in Kiryandongo Resettlement Camp
• Provide other support as needed/budgeted to the Kiryandongo schools, and community as a whole.
• Maintenance and repair of the water taps at the health center, and repair of some boreholes at the camp, as needed.
• Maintain adequate medicine and medical supplies to the Panyadoli Health Centre III. Research the upgrade of Panyadoli Health Centre III to hospital level.
• Support service delivery through employing medical personnel.
• Support and maintain the security of the health centres through employing security guards.
• Reach communities with health services through community outreaches.
• Raise health service awareness through health promoters and community health teams.
• Support the Health Management Information System maintenance (staff and petrol supply)
• Promote hygiene through recruitment of more ward and compound cleaners.
• Provide funding to facilitate fieldwork for students studying geography.
• Support renovation of hair dressing class (rebuilding and painting) and tailoring class.
• Funding 10 tailors to create tailoring businesses within Uganda, paying their one-year rent and providing training in new skills.
• Support of RMF Uganda office
• Support of Panyadoli Vocational Training Institute with fuel for running the generator to support the gadgets in the hair dressing classes and sewing machines in the tailoring classes
• Running Panyadoli Vocational Training Institute. For the last intake, we increased the number of candidates for both tailoring and hair dressing. This has given a chance to more refugee youth and host community to acquire livelihood skills. New courses — carpentry and bricklaying — were put in place through JICA funding.
• Financial and scholastic material support to schools within the settlement. This has helped to keep schools operating smoothly amidst continued influx of refugees from South Sudan.
• Contributing funds towards celebration of important events within the settlement namely, orientation of all IP and OP staffs. This has promoted solidarity between RMF and other partners within the settlement and was a major contributing factor towards becoming UNHCR health implementing partner. 
• Facilitation to attend UNHCR and partners’ coordinating meetings, both in the settlement and regional offices; this has helped to promote cohesiveness in operations. 

Summary of RMF/WCF-sponsored activities carried out during the reporting period under each project objective (note any changes from original plans):
 
School Support
Second term school fees in all sponsored schools were paid.
 
5,373 children, pupils, and students in total are supported by RMF/WCF funding in Nursery, Primary, and Secondary schools:
 

• Arnold Primary School, we support 1,968 students
• Panyadoli Self Help Secondary School, 4 students
• Can Rom Primary School, we support 2,750 pupils
• Beth Cole Nursery School, we support 651 children

 
In summary:
 
Beth Cole Nursery School                                   651
Can Rom and Arnold Primary Schools                4,718
Panyadoli Self Help Secondary School               4
Total Children Supported                                            5,373
 

 
Medicine delivery
RMF/WCF, local government, and UNHCR equipped the health center with pharmaceuticals this reporting period. The last resupply was on 13^th June, 2015.
The number of patients remained high and medicine demand continued at a high level as well because of the influx of South Sudanese refugees that have entered Kiryandongo as a result of the crisis in South Sudan that started in mid-December 2013.
 
Vocational Training Institute
Continued financial support and guidance for the RMF Tailoring and Hairdressing Vocational Training Institute; a total of 117 students were admitted this intake. These students were in four different courses that is carpentry and joinery, brick laying and concrete practice, tailoring and garment cutting, hair dressing and beauty therapy. Many people still show much interest in skills training at the Institute though are still restrained by the absence of other courses and funds in particular to facilitate those courses.  All went through interview processes and the selection criteria were upon passing interviews. All partners implementing their activities in the settlement were invited but only the RMF area coordinator, and Panyadoli vocational training teachers attended the interviews as other partners were absent with communication. We interviewed 233 applicants but only 157 managed to pass the interviews.  All the materials for the second intake under the JICA initiative were procured. Windle Trust Uganda managed to bring on 56 students under their scholarship initiative who were admitted at the Institute; 46 students ended up turning up for the opportunity adding up to 163 in total students at the Institute.

Results and/or accomplishments achieved during this reporting period:
 

• The Day of the African Child and World Refugee Day were celebrated.
• The healthcare situation for the Burundian refugees into Nakivale Refugee Settlement has improved as medicines and medical supplies were donated by RMF.
• Several official OPM and UNHCR meetings were attended and functions celebrated.
• New staff, medical and non-medical, was recruited under the collaboration of RMF with the Government of Uganda and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
  01 Programme Officer, 01 Medical Doctor/Officer; 01 Head of Finance and Administration, 01Finance and Administrative Officer, 03 Clinical Officers; 01 Senior HIV/AIDS Counselor, 01 HIV/AIDS Counselor, 01 Pediatric HIV/AIDS Counselor, 01 Health Assistant, 04 Nurses; 03 Midwives; 01 Lab Technician and 02 Lab Assistants; 01 Pharmacy Assistant, 02 Data Clerks; 03 Guards; 02 Ward Cleaners; 03 Compound Cleaners, 02 Drivers.
• HIV/AIDS Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) continued to be provided in the Panyadoli Health Center III by RMF staff. ART clinics have been conducted every Wednesday; condoms have been distributed and opportunistic infections properly managed with patients having been assisted and supported. Communities have been sensitized on prevention, care and guarding against discrimination and the risk of engaging in risky lifestyles that lead to the spread of HIV/AIDS. These services are conducted both at the static units and outreaches. The recruitment of our HIV/AIDS counselor has helped build confidence among the clients in need of HCT services at the health facility and outreach sessions.
• The recruitment of additional HIV/AIDS staff in May 2015 gave an additional boost to HIV/AIDS support services at Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement.
• Availability of skilled midwives continued to increase ANC services at both health facilities.
• Preventive community based health services were enriched with conducting outreaches through static units (i.e. Reception Center Clinic) and enhanced by outreach for communities with limited access to the existing health units or located over 5km from the health facility as per the Ministry of Health access standard.
• RMF takes an integrated outreach approach with services covering immunization, HCT, ANC, deworming, condom distribution, health education including vital information on issues like gender based violence, since the community is reached with various medical services in consideration of time and cost implications. Our new Health Assistant and university students doing internships at the settlement have also contributed greatly.
• Our outreaches have been performed on a very regular basis to the established sites by an integrated team of qualified staff with a clear work plan.
• Community Health Promoters were trained on disease surveillance and prevention, and on their roles. An assessment on the training needs for the Health Unit Management Committee members has been undertaken; their training will be conducted in the next quarter. Sensitization campaigns were conducted at Can Rom Primary School on topics such as chicken pox and jigger prevention and response, while a community campaign on Ebola was also done during the reporting period.
• Because of the improved health care services that RMF/WCF has facilitated, the community is less sick and thus engages in more productive activities, especially farming. A number of families are producing food, vegetables to supplement the food rations provided by WFP.
• RMF continued its partnership with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and the Government of South Sudan. In this partnership, new staffs have been recruited, additional courses of carpentry and joinery, and bricklaying and concrete practice were introduced.
• 163 students reported for vocational training for the second intake May to August 2015.
• Continued financial support for the running of the Vocational Training Institute for courses in Tailoring and Hairdressing as well as Carpentry and Bricklaying was provided including paying of instructor salaries and purchase of supplies.
• All the materials for the first semester were bought in plenty.
• RMF/WCF’s support for running the vocational training has helped to empower the youth with livelihood skills and this has promoted self-reliance amongst the youth community. A number of youth who have undergone through training in the Vocational Centre now own shops in different trading centers. Others are employed. The Vocational Training Institute has also helped to reduce alcohol and substance abuse, unwanted pregnancies, and loitering in the settlement.
• Continued support of the 10 tailors who started tailoring businesses within Uganda with RMF funding and are progressing in the field.
• The RMF/WCF office at the camp was maintained.
• Several meetings were attended and functions celebrated.
• A total of 5,373 school children were supported for the second term of 2015, including Kenyan, South/Sudanese, Rwandan, Burundian, Ugandan IDP, and Congolese children/students.
• The financial and scholastic support to schools has helped to keep a huge number of children in the schools.