For the 125,000 refugees living in Palorinya Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda, home is not something they can take for granted. Most have fled conflict in South Sudan and are trying to rebuild their lives in difficult conditions. Many households in the settlement are headed by children, as caregivers leave in search of food or work, often exposing children to rights violations.

To address these challenges, ChildFund Uganda with support from ChildFund Korea and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)  implemented a humanitarian project “Building Resilience and Protection Systems for the Well-being of Children in Palorinya Refugee settlement and Host Communities in Obongi District”. The project aimed at improving the protection of children in refugee and host communities in Palorinya Refugee Settlement, Obongi District. The project focused on Strengthening community-based child protection mechanisms through addressing key child protection concerns and risks that children in Palorinya refugee settlement continue to face while in the care of their parents, caregivers and household members – including physical, emotional, and social and other forms of violence in addition to trauma-related mental health issues. 

Among other interventions, the project supported children through Child-Friendly Spaces, where they participated in age-appropriate activities designed to offer psychosocial support. These efforts were complemented by community-based child protection interventions, including dialogue sessions, awareness-raising on violence against girls, boys, women, and men, as well as referrals and linkages for child protection case management.

The objectives of this project were to:

• • Strengthen effective and safe community-based child protection mechanisms to prevent and respond to child protection risks.
  • Improve psychosocial well-being of children participating in group based activities in child-friendly spaces.

Learn more at  https://www.koica.go.kr/sites/koica_en/index.do

Learn more at https://www.childfund.or.kr/eng/main.do

• Children in Community-based Child Protection Child Friendly Spaces
• Caregivers/parents
• Male Action Groups
• Refugee Welfare Councils
• Child Protection committees

• Obongi

• 3,089 children reached with Child Friendly Spaces-based PSS interventions.
• 221 Community Based Child Protection structures oriented on Violence Against Children and adults prevention and response.
• 12,503 reached with messages on Violence Against Children, women and men prevention and response.
• 512  parents and caregivers engaged in parenting sessions.