65+ years of Humanitarian work
As part of membership servicing, we visited our member Danish Refugee Council(DRC) yesterday and had an interaction with the Country Director, Head of Support Services and the Human Resource Director.
This is a humanitarian NGO established in 1956 in Denmark and apparently works in more than 35 countries worldwide. DRC has been present in Uganda since 1997 currently implementing projects in West Nile, Northern Uganda, Western Uganda and South Western Uganda – has one Main office and 16 field offices with a total of 307 staff.
The contribution of DRC in Uganda is done thru;
- Protection– general protection support to refugees so as to contribute to reduction of vulnerabilities through multi-sectoral approaches and building community self-protection amongst refugees, asylum seekers and host communities.
- Livelihood, IGAs & cash assistance – Displacement presents an acute threat to the economic well-being of the displaced and so DRC focuses on 4 areas to cause economic recovery i.e emergency response, household food security, income generation and market systems.
- Shelter & Infrastructure – DRC uses a mixed strategy to ensure proper balance between immediate protection needs and solution interventions involving locally procuring of construction materials and using local contractors alongside labor intensive approach.
- Rural Infrastructure & Water resources management– this is done under the Northern Uganda Resilience Initiative whose objective is to enhance resilience and equitable economic development in Northern Uganda for refugees and refugee-hosting communities.
- Water, sanitation & hygiene – this includes provision of emergency water supplies, sanitary latrines, hygiene items, water points, wells, water storage and purification facilities. They also conduct information campaigns to promote good hygiene and prevent the spread of infections and diseases.
This Organisation has incredible experience that other humanitarian organizations especially the local Organizations can learn from looking at the work they have done over the last 65 years and still counting.
Uganda currently hosts an unprecedented number of refugees and asylum seekers, with more than 1.42 million recorded as of March 2020, a majority of whom are South Sudanese and Congolese – (Source DRC-Uganda) and DRC ensures their projects follow a 50:50 principle, equally benefiting both refugees and their host communities and forging peaceful coexistence
