Uganda: Project Activities Restart with Preventive Corona Measures

Berlin / Kampala, 29 May 2020

According to official figures, 281 people in Uganda tested positive for coronavirus by 28 May 2020. The Kikuube district is the Western part of Uganda and remains in lockdown due to increasing case numbers. The Government has restricted movements on all districts on the border points. ACORD, a partner organisation of Johanniter, is working in Kikuube district in the Kyangwali refugee settlement which hosts more than 118.000 refugees mainly from Democratic Republic of the Congo.  ACORD was allowed to continue with activities, especially COVID-19 prevention within the community.

In coordination with the camp coordination, non-governmental organisations, UNHCR and local Office of Prime Minister (OPM), measures were agreed upon to prevent corona cases within the settlement. To this end, ACORD has trained Community Based Facilitators on aspects of COVID-19 preventive and response mechanisms. The community facilitators carry out visits on household level to create awareness and promote frequent hand washing, social distancing, avoiding gatherings and putting on face masks. They encourage families to report people with symptoms to prevent further spreading at an early stage. In addition, the provision of hygiene promotion items like soap and hand washing stations has begun for a total of 750 households.

The Corona prevention measures are embedded in an ongoing project between Johanniter and ACORD that supports 1080 persons in Kyangwali with special needs. People with HIV infection or with a disability have been supported since the end of 2019 to start income-generating measures. 300 of them are given the opportunity to receive vocational training in order to gain additional skills for independent income generation.
Vegetable gardens are supported on the plots of land of the beneficiaries to increase access to adequate, safe and balanced local food. The activities were temporarily suspended due to Coronavirus. ACORD received permission from the authorities to resume project activities under preventive measures arrangements. The project is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

What we do against Corona worldwide

We are adapting our current project activities to respond to the worldwide corona pandemic.