"I am now able to send my children to school"

“I am now able to send my children to school,” says Joseph Taban, a South-Sudanese refugee living in a settlement in Adjumani district in Northern Uganda. Joseph is a member of the Angoo farmers, one of the 24 farmer groups formed and supported by the EU Trust Fund for Africa with quality farm tools and training.

Joseph arrived from South-Sudan 3 years ago. After acquiring land from a Ugandan landowner in 2017, he and other refugees within the settlements were mobilized, sensitized and supported by the Support Programme to the Refugee Settlements and Host Communities in Northern Uganda (SPRS-NU) to organize themselves in groups of 25 members. The farmers were trained in basic agronomy, enterprise selection and Village Saving and Lending Association (VSLA), and given quality farm tools to start agricultural production for both food and sales. Joseph is now proud to have expanded his agricultural activities: “With the profits of my vegetable sales I repaired my motorcycle and bought some goats and chickens.”

He recalls the metaphor of crossing a river, used during training: “We are on one side of the river but want to get to the other side by building a bridge of success. We think of what knowledge and resources we need and make an action plan with small steps.“ CEFORD, the implementing agency for this component, uses these Enabling Rural Innovation (ERI) and Participatory Agro Enterprise Development (PAED) approaches to make farmers self–reliant while paying attention to environmental concerns.

CEFORD is part of the NGO Consortium of the Support Programme for Refugee Settlements and Host Communities in Northern Uganda (SPRS-NU), focusing on Livelihoods, Conflict Management, Educational and Knowledge components together with Save the Children, ZOA & the Danish Refugee Council. Funding for the consortium four year interventions is provided through the European Union Trust Fund (EUTF) and targets Adjumani, Arua, Yumbe and Kyriadongo districts.