The U-Learn Program Launched!
The RIL built a consortium with the International Rescue Committee and Impact Initiatives to secured a 3-year FCDO (UK Aid) award for the U-Learn program (GBP 6 million). The program is designed to support improvements in the quality and accountability of protracted refugee crisis programming, in collaboration with a range of actors, institutions, and individuals across Uganda. The RIL is leading the overall consortium management, and responsible for the delivery of the Learning Hub (one of the three core program pillars of U-Learn). The Learning Hub supports and facilitates cross-sectoral learning within the Uganda refugee response to support the uptake of evidence. Amongst other things, the Learning Hub will foster learning by curating existing resources and making them more accessible, bringing people together to learn and increase collaboration, and by identifying and filling learning gaps.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U-Learn Consortium quickly pivoted to deliver a special COVID-19 adaptation program:
Helped the Ministry of Health revamp its information portal targeting responders (COVID-19 Response Information Hub).
Conducted a deep-dive assessment on the topic of COVID-19 Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE). The assessment aimed to strengthen the evidence base surrounding RCCE approaches in Uganda, exploring information accessibility, communication modalities, risk perceptions, and behavior changes in particular in refugee communities, to inform the successful delivery of RCCE.
A Good Practice study was conducted on the Refugee Engagement Forum (REF) which will be disseminated during Q2 of 2021. The REF, implemented by the Ugandan refugee response community, promotes Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) in line with The Grand Bargain commitments by including people who are receiving aid in the decisions affecting their lives. It enables 37 representatives of the refugee community from all settlements and Kampala to convene and discuss matters of the refugee response vital to them.
