DRDIP Uganda Updates

       The Newly Constructed DRDIP – Maternity Ward   DRDIP constructed a General Ward and 1 block of drainable latrines and 1 block of 4 stance bathing blocks.   Lobule Health Center III in Koboko District.   The Health Center serves a population of up to 15,000 Ugandans and refugees in Lobule Parish and receives up to 2000 patients per month with at least 10 admissions per day.   Most of the patients received at the OPD unit are women seeking prenatal, antenatal, and post-natal care. The staffing for the Health Center includes; 1 senior clinical officer, 1 enrolled nurse, 2 enrolled nurses provided through UNHCR, 2 midwives, 1 lab technician, 2 nursing assistants, and 1 records clerk.  Aya Nema is a 50-year-old Ugandan national, shared her experience at the Health Center: “ Before DRDIP came, we were attended to in a small maternity ward where both male and females shared the same small building with a small area reserved for maternity pati...

  In Hoima District, Baseruka S/C in the Nyakabingo Parish are three groups that benefited from the LSP (Livelihood Support Programme) of DRDIP.  The beneficiaries were selected through a community PRA (participatory rural appraisal) process led by community facilitators.  They were organized into CIG (Community Investment Groups) and trained on the five core principles of DRDIP; weekly savings, regular meetings, loaning and loan repayment as well as record keeping.  As well as business and financial management, co-responsibilities, etc.  After which they were awarded certificates of completion, established their group constitutions, and opened bank accounts. The community facilitators also continued holding sensitization meetings with the groups.  Lyato United Goat farmers group at first selected motorized fishing boats as their preferred project but had to reconsider their preference as the group is located far from the lake shores.  So they instea...

Under the DRDIP of SENRM – Kalgiri Forestry Sub-project received 45 million that benefited 76 beneficiaries in 2019 (40 women, 36 men).   The funds were used to plant 12.5 acres of various tree species that included; eucalyptus, white oak, musizi (lightwood), and fruit trees (avocadoes, papaws , oranges, guavas, etc.).  The project design allowed for intercropping with food crops like simsim and rice at the early stage.   The group also included a component of Apiary with 6 beehives that have so far produced 6 Kg of honey.   Apart from the income received from the honey, the bees also support cross-pollination. The 76 sub-project beneficiaries worked as a group for 54 days on the tree planting., then they were sub-divided into smaller savings and loans groups that adhered to the five core principles of DRDIP (meeting frequently, collective savings, borrowing for business, paying back, and record-keeping).  The goal was that they would graduate to Self-Help gro...

  One of the members of the group that was present at the DRDIP exhibit tent on World Refugee Day is Innocent a refugee from Burundi who fled to Uganda in 2012 due to conflicts at home.  When he arrived he went through an interview and screening process and was subsequently passed and granted refugee status.  He was allocated a plot of land to settle in within the Nakivale Settlement and where he could also do some cultivation for food and income.  Innocent shared his experience with Simon Kisaka;  “ Many organizations offered humanitarian assistance and I persisted with small income earning projects but they were not enough for our needs. In 2021 DRDIP came and guided us on how to form small groups in the villages for further support.  Unlike other projects, DRDIP came with a strategy of direct support where were given funds to invest in our own selected projects so as to earn profits so we can develop our communities and individual families. I thank ...

  During World Refugee Day on June 20 th, 2022, we met up with an outstanding young man who whom I will refer to only by his first name; “Gideon.” Gideon and his parents came to Uganda from Burundi in 2001 as refugees. They were given asylum and settled in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. He was just a toddler at the time so his entire life experience and all his memories are from within Uganda.  Fortuitously for Gideon, his parents were determined to give him a good education and so enrolled him in the Universal Primary Education (UPE) system at a primary school in Nakivale.   Gideon passed his Primary Leaving exams well and went on to Secondary School at Mbarara college.   Gideon who in his own words, was “a hardworking and bright student,” also loved public speaking and talking to people and excelled as a leader from S1 to S6.  He held various positions such as head monitor, school speaker, and chairman of the school council.  He states: “ I was...

IG Official addresses stakeholders during a meeting in Adjumani  DRDIP Project Implementation Support Team(PIST) conducted district-level engagement with key stakeholders (August, 22 to 26) in 15 districts of coverage as the initial critical step towards the resumption of work by Implementing Partners (IPs) following a recent lifting of their(IPs) suspension by the Inspectorate of Government (IG). The IPs who support activities under component II (Sustainable Environment and Natural Resource Management) of DRDIP were put on hold since December last year due to identified shortfalls in the expected standards and delivery of their services . Under the DRDIP implementation arrangement, the IG is charged with monitoring to ensure; value for money, accountability, transparency, and maximum stakeholder participation by the project implementers at all levels.   In a communication dated December 23, 2021, the IG in demonstrating their role, ordered the suspension of all IPs pend...