JRS has been working in the Ugandan capital since 1998, responding to the urgent, unmet needs of newly arrived asylum seekers and refugees in vulnerable circumstances. For refugees fleeing conflict, civil unrest or oppressive political circumstances, the JRS Urban Emergency Programme provides information, food and non-food items, rent and medical assistance, transport and psychosocial support.
In addition to the advocacy work on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers, English language lessons and vocational training courses are offered to help displaced persons become self-sufficient.
According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), as of January 2012, there were nearly 150,000 refugees and asylum seekers residing in Uganda. More than 40,000 live in Kampala and hail from countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and Eritrea.
Most arrive without any means of survival or source of income. Waiting for asylum applications to be processed can take up to one year, and in the interim many refugees are in dire need of support. During 2011, JRS supported more than 3,400 asylum seekers and refugees.
The project is currently funded through donors from the Jesuit mission office in Switzerland, JRS Singapore, the Catholic missionary agencies in Ireland and Germany Misean Cara and Missio, the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) and the NGO Signs of Hope.
Eastern Africa
Regional Office
easternafrica@jrs.net
+254 20 3874152
http://www.jrsea.org
Eastern Africa is one of 10 geographic regions of the Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic organisation founded by the Society of Jesus.
In eastern Africa JRS is currently implementing 13 projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, reaching out to over 105,000 refugees, internally displaced persons and returnees. JRS Eastern Africa provides education, psychosocial support, pastoral care, peace-education, livelihoods services and emergency relief and is involved in human rights protection and advocacy activities on different levels.
Altogether, there are over eight million refugees and internally displaced persons in the whole region, including Somalia.
JRS started working in Africa in the early 1980s. One of the earliest commitments was in Ethiopia, providing food, shelter and medical aid to thousands of people displaced within their own country by war and famine.
In the early 1990s the JRS Eastern Africa region was established with the regional office based in Nairobi, Kenya.
In 1992 one of the biggest and longest serving JRS projects was set up in Adjumani, northern Uganda, assisting Sudanese refugees mainly through education and pastoral care. It was closed in 2008, after 75 schools were handed over to the government and most of the refugees were repatriated to Southern Sudan, now helping to rebuild their country, with the skills they gained during their exile in Adjumani.
Today, JRS's biggest operations in eastern Africa are in Southern Sudan, providing support in education, peace-building and pastoral accompaniment.
Uganda: taking care of more than the educational needs of refugees
Kampala, 21 October 2011 – In late September what at first glance seemed like a routine trip to the zoo, went a long way to bringing normality and as such important psychosocial benefits to refugee students in the JRS English class in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
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Uganda: Taking care of more than the educational needs of refugees
Kampala, 21 October 2011 – In late September what at first glance seemed like a routine trip to the zoo, went a long way to bringing normality and as such important psychosocial benefits to refugee students in the JRS English class in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
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Uganda: Spreading environmental awareness among refugees
Kampala, 13 June 2011 – Forty refugees and asylum seekers had the opportunity to learn more about environmental protection during an information session organised by JRS on the occasion of the UN Environmental Day, celebrated on June 5.
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Uganda: raising environmental awareness among refugees
Kampala, 13 June 2011 – Forty refugees and asylum seekers had the opportunity to learn more about environmental protection during an information session organised by JRS on the occasion of UN Environmental Day, celebrated on June 5.
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Uganda: urban refugees learn skills in arts and crafts
Kampala, 14 April 2011 – As part of a new initiative to help urban refugees become more self-reliant, JRS has started a new course training refugees in the production of arts and handicrafts in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
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Uganda: new class provides path to self-sufficiency
(Kampala) April 13, 2011 - As part of a new initiative to help urban refugees become more self-reliant, Jesuit Refugee Service has started a new course: training refugees in the production of arts and handicrafts in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
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Uganda: Urban refugees learn skills in arts and crafts
Kampala, 4 April 2011 – As part of a new initiative to help urban refugees become more self-reliant, JRS has started a new course, training refugees in the production of arts and handicrafts in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
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Uganda: sponsored refugee child, best in the school
Kampala, 30 March 2011 – This academic year, JRS-sponsored student, Landry Kalembo, fulfilled a promise to himself by receiving the highest grade in the school.
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Uganda: Congolese primary student scores highest
Kampala, 31 March 2011 – This academic year, a JRS-sponsored Congolese primary four student, fulfilled a promise to himself by scoring the highest grade in his class.
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Uganda: JRS offers new training opportunities for refugees
Kampala, 16 April 2010 - On January 22, 2010, JRS announced that it will soon start providing skills training for refugees and asylum seekers in Kampala. “JRS has made arrangements with several schools in and around Kampala to train selected refugees in catering, computer, driving and hairdressing,” said Stephen Kuteesa, Coordinator of the Urban Emergency Programme (UEP) at the annual meeting with 150 beneficiaries of JRS services in Kampala, Uganda
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Uganda: Refugees celebrate achievements of displaced women
Kampala, 5 March 2010 — JRS celebrated International Women’s Day on March 5 with over 230 refugees and partners in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
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Uganda: Refugees learn about their rights
Kampala, 7 November 2009 – From November 5-6, 2009, JRS organised a workshop on refugee protection in cooperation with a number of refugee groups and organisations in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The event, facilitated by Mr Godwin Buwa, a lawyer from the partner organisation, the Refugee Law Project, offered 30 refugee leaders, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Eritrea and Ethiopia, the opportunity to learn more about their rights and obligations.
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Uganda: Influx of Congolese refugees assisted in Kampala
Kampala, 29 May 2009 — An increased number of new arrivals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been assisted by the JRS Urban Programme in Kampala during the past few weeks. Some of these asylum seekers are not new arrivals as they entered Uganda at the end of 2008 due to ethnic clashes and the joint Rwandan offensive against the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR). Now, as their coping strategies begin to fail they start registering at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and at JRS which grants support to vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees for three months after arriving in Uganda. But the majority entered the country between February and April, and are now searching for three months of food, rent and medical assistance from JRS. Among others, refugees give tribal conflicts as well as the activity of different rebel groups and government soldiers as reasons for their flight from DRC.
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Uganda: Enthusiastic opening for JRS English classes
Kampala, 20 February 2009 — The JRS language classes motto, “Language for integration, language for life!” seems to have been vindicated as the year 2009 started with great enthusiasm. For the first time in five years, total effective enrollment hit the record figure of 100 students by the end of January alone.
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