Grant Amount: 120,000,000 Euros
Duration: January 2025- March 2028
Coverage: Palabek refugee settlement ( zones 7, 8 and 9) and Palabek Kal sub-county in the Host community.
Target: 250 Households (0r 2000 individuals)
About LEAD
LEAD Uganda is a collaborative initiative supported by Woord en Daad, in partnership with 12 other local organisations and funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (through the programme grant migration and displacement). LEAD envisions a Uganda where local actors are empowered to deliver essential services to refugees and host communities, creating opportunities for education, employment, and social inclusion. It fosters peaceful coexistence, gender equality, and community resilience, with a focus on building local capacity and ensuring meaningful participation in decision-making processes.
LEAD achieves this through
1) Capacity strengthening- local organisations are equipped to support each other through peer-to-peer training, tailored mentorship, Training and skills development, enhancing partners’ financial and operational capacities and direct funding so that these partners can confidently move forward in their mission.
Throughout the process, LEAD ensures that
a) resources reach those who know their communities best;
b) in-country partners to take the lead in implementing projects, giving them control over how resources are utilized;
c) there is transparency and accountability with clear reporting structures and continuous monitoring;
d) there is Meaningful participation of the refugees and host communities in shaping every project;
e) Innovation and flexibility by integrating digital tools, market access strategies, and climate-resilient practices to allow for adaptation to evolving needs.
Our Role in LEAD program
Under the broader LEAD framework, CoWF is funded under an arrangement called Self Reliance and Resilience Project (SRR-LEAD) will contribute to the building of Self-reliance and resilience capacities of at least 2000 individual refugee and host community households in Lamwo district by end of October 2028.
SRR-LEAD
1) provides access to both formal and non-formal education and training for at least 2000 refugee youth and host communities from Lamwo district by end of October 2028 and
2) creates viable and sustainable Economic development activities and job opportunities for at least 1000 refugee and host community Households by end of October 2028 on top of improving its own internal capacity to deliver services to refugees and host communities in Lamwo district.
For every refugee and host community household enrolled into SRR-LEAD project, they receive program capacity support to:
1) Access Vocational education for their youthful and out of school members;
2) access Functional adult Literacy and Numeracy services for the household heads or caregivers;
3) produce food for consumption and the market and
4) diversify their income.
For Vocational and Technical training, SRR-LEAD will identify out-of-School youth from within the households and enroll them as apprentices in thriving businesses for as the avenue of modular learning. They will be examined and certified by the Directorate of Industrial training in Uganda (DIT) to enable them seek for or create own employment after graduation.
The older members of targeted households will be empowered by literacy and numeracy skills among others to enable them function and participate normally in community affairs.
In agriculture, COWF will provide training in food production, apiary, animal husbandry, and environmental conservation to mitigate risks and ensure sustainability. Households will receive training in food cultivation for home consumption and market use, with ongoing support from local agricultural extension workers. They will be connected to businesses supplying quality seeds and livestock, enabling reinvestment in farming.
To diversify incomes, the program supports market-oriented production, savings and lending participation, skill-building for the youth, and enterprise development. Households are linked to financial institutions for better access to financial services. These initiatives equip families with sustainable financial stability and self-resilience.