Multi-billion cash transfer programme impacts 15,000 refugee families

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Refugees and members of host communities from the Kiryandongo Refugee settlements have exalted a sh66b cash transfer model that has impacted 15,000 families.

Three of the beneficiaries, of the four-year project run by Give Directly, a civil society organisation, shared their inspiring testimonies of rugs-to-riches.

Jurua from S.Sudan

Nancy Mary Jurua, a South Sudanese refugee who defied the odds after her husband was brutally murdered in a rebel attack in her home country, is among those singing praises of the programme.

Following her husband’s vicious demise, Jurua relocated to Uganda in Kiryandongo, during which time she received a cash grant worth sh3.7m ($1,000) that was sent to her in three portions. She has since transformed into a successful poultry farmer.

Jurua now employs her brother for whom she bought a boda boda that earns her sh50,000 per week. She also increasingly grew her chicken business from 100 birds to 200 and now boasts of 800 chickens which earned her sh16m. This has prompted her to open a branch in Adjumani.

As a result, Jurua says she has educated her family members and employees and is now worth over sh21m, which she got from chicken sales and has enabled her to buy land in Gulu.

Over 1,000 households with each hosting about five people which translates to about 5,000 refugees have been impacted. (Photo by Alfred Ochwo)

Two of her colleagues also shared equally inspiring tales of how they have transformed from poverty to employers and property owners.

Ishag from Dafur

Muhamed Ishag Ali originally from the Darfur region in Sudan says he has become a successful shoe dealer after enduring hardship after his elder brother was killed in armed conflict.

“I came to Uganda in 2017, after the war broke out in Darfur and forced me to flee my country, I transited through South Sudan,” he says, adding: “I did not manage to stay there because my brother was killed while there”.

He relocated to Uganda that same year and started out as an urban refugee residing in Kampala, then Konge, Kansanga and Old Kampala.

“When life became very hard, I decided to get an OPM transfer to go to Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement,” he said.

In 2022, he was compelled to drop out of the University at St Lawrence University and then later Bugema University due to financial hardships where he had enrolled on self-sponsorship, as he was working part-time as a broker (mediator) for Sudanese exporters.

“It was a lottery system with numbers from one to 24,” he said. “When I received the money, the first amount was sh500,000 in January 2022, I brought goods, shoes, socks and other food items,” he says.

From the proceeds of his business, he has now constructed a shop in Kiryandongo that cost sh8m.

Host community impact

Scovia Auma, a Ugandan teacher who is a member of the host community in Kiryandongo, now owns a primary school that accommodates 200 pupils from nursery to P3. Auma says she started the school using the sh3.7m ($1,000) cash injection she received from Give Directly in 2022.

“I come from Kiryandongo part of the host community and I'm one of the beneficiaries of Give Directly,” she told New Vision Online.  

According to Auma, she opened the school in 2022, and began with only five children, this population has since grown to 200 pupils.

“At first, I got sh500,000. After one month, I received another amount and the final instalment,” she says.

She says she now employs seven teachers. Auma, however, called for financial assistance to enable her to add an upper section to have a complete school.

“I also have the challenge of water shortage in the area and we pay a man to fetch it. A 20-litre jerrycan costs sh1,000,” she noted. “We don’t have a nearby water source.”

She appealed to her fellow residents to make an effort to reach out and touch the lives of those in need.

Empowering households

Ivan Ntwali, the country director at Give Directly Uganda said his organisation delivers large cash grants to people living in extreme poverty. He noted that they served over 1,000 households with each hosting about five people which translates to about 5,000 refugees being impacted.

Over 1,000 households with each hosting about five people which translates to about 5,000 refugees have been impacted. (Photo by Alfred Ochwo)

“The idea is to give them the means to invest in their livelihoods to become self-reliant and start their journey to participate in the economy,” Ntwali told this publication.

Ntwali stated that they gave each household the equivalent of sh3.7m ($1,000)

Joseph Agotre, the assistant settlement commandant from OPM from the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement commended the project saying the cash transfers have been very beneficial to the refugees.

“These people were selected in terms of arrival, from the 1980s until 2000,” Agotre stated. 

“But during implementation, some refugees were left out because of the arrival dates yet they also wanted to benefit from the support.”

He appealed to the development partners to also consider the new lot of refugees, especially those from Sudan who are over 40,000 from Khartoum and Darfur who relocated to Uganda from November 2023 to ensure that they also benefit.

Pelly Isabelle, the policy director at Give Directly, said today’s event was proof of the transformative impact that these large transfers can have.

“In such a flexible way according to people’s preferences, needs and ambitions, we had some amazing testimonies, from some of our recipients, some of whom have built incredibly successful businesses and employed multiple people and created opportunities for people within their neighbourhood,” Isabelle told New Vision.

She noted that the only challenge they face is how they are going to scale this work in order to reduce dependence on long-term aid.