GRG is announcing a new campaign today, “Thought for Food,” to help South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda and their host communities. Over 1 million refugees have fled war in South Sudan to northern Uganda in recent years, yet the World Food Programme announced that it is cutting food aid to the refugees down to 1 meal a day (1,380 calories) because of COVID-19 shortages. The aid could be cut even more.
The Grassroots Reconciliation Group is raising funds to help refugees survive through this crisis through sustainable livelihood projects. These livelihood projects provide tools & seeds to refugees in Palabek Refugee Settlement so that they can create independent, sustainable futures for themselves.
You can make a difference in the lives of refugees today. Every donation will go straight to the projects:
- $10 can provide 7 households with 1 bunch of mineral-rich sweet potato vines each – to supplement refugees’ food rations and provide food security due to its short harvest.
- $30 can provide 4 households with 1kg of okra seeds – to diversify food consumption with more vitamin-rich & balanced diets.
- $50 can provide 1 goat to a household – as well as goat medical treatment.
- $100 can provide one household with a Livelihoods Package: 1 goat; 4kg of tomato and pumpkin seeds; and goat rearing training – training on goat rearing ensures that they reproduce & provide the group with income in the future.
We believe that food insecurity is not simply an issue of ‘lacking supply’, but also of an over-reliance on short-term projects. To tackle this, we design sustainable livelihoods projects that work hand-in-hand with refugees, for a minimum of three years, and build upon their existing capacities.
In Palabek Refugee Settlement, over 54,000 refugees have settled after fleeing from the conflict in South Sudan. Just as the COVID lockdown hit, refugees received 30% cuts by the World Food Programme to their food rations, leaving them to live off of a meager 1,380 calories per day. Most refugees report eating just one meal every day.
Food rations only cover basic provisions (such as maize, beans and cooking oil) and most of the refugees in Palabek are consuming no meat, fish, milk or nutritious vegetables in their diet. Unsurprisingly, Palabek Settlement experiences the highest rate of malnutrition amongst settlements in northern Uganda.
To help, GRG has started distributed farming tools and seeds to refugee groups, which will increase agricultural output but also provide refugees with the vital diversity that they need in their diets.
Today, GRG’s grassroots initiatives reach over 2,500 refugees from South Sudan and their host communities. With your support, we can reach even more refugees, sexual assault survivors and war-affected communities. Thank you for your invaluable support.
Note – all donations will go to the Grassroots Reconciliation Group, a federal 501(c)3 nonprofit charity. All donations in the United States are tax deductible.
Photo credits: GRG.
GRG is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that has successfully run peacebuilding & livelihood projects to help refugees, former child soldiers, and communities in northern Uganda for 13 years.
Grassroots Reconciliation Group 