Refugees, host communities to benefit from skills training

The Young Refugee and Host Community Girls Being Briefed by ACAV and their Leaders at Arua City Mayor’s Gardens on Tuesday. PHOTO URN
Arua, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | 30 young refugees and host community girls in Arua are set to undergo a five-month residential skills development training. The training, which focuses on Catering, Tailoring/ Garment Cutting, hairdressing and Saloon, will be sponsored by Associazone Centro Aiuti Voluntare-ACAV.
15 of the girls chosen are from the host community in Arua, while 10 are from Sudan and South Sudan, and 5 slots have been allocated for young Congolese Refugee girls.
According to Ivan Sabo, the Senior Capacity Building Officer ACAV, the training which falls under Sustainable Urban Integration of Displaced Affected Communities-SUIDAC will address life challenges among total orphans, teen mothers, and school drop-outs.
Moses Batali, the Coordinator of the South Sudanese Refugees Association-SSURA in Arua, commended ACAV for the opportunity and urged the young girls to keep focused on the training, which he said will open for them a better way of living while in Uganda.
He also appeals to the supporting partners to offer more opportunities for the girls and also boys, adding that many more vulnerable girls are still struggling to survive due to a lack of adequate life-survival skills.
Meanwhile, Umar Farouk Erab, the Coordinator for Congolese Refugees-CORA in Arua City, speaking in Kiswahili, applauded ACAV for giving the Congolese young girls the opportunity to learn life skills for survival.
“We on our side as Congolese are happy for this program and we ask that after the girls have finished the training they should also skill the boys……….our children have grown here in Uganda since the war drove us and they cannot go back to start school, what they need is this training since do not have what to do and this will help them acquire skills to earn a better living”
However, Simon Enatu, the Male Youth Councillor of Arua City, said this is the first opportunity for an organization to involve the host communities in a refugee-led program in Arua City.
Out of the five months, the trainees will be taken through classwork for three months and thereafter get attached for internships in selected organizations for 2 months before they are passed out with startup capital and toolkits to start their own ventures.
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