Category: Blogs
-
Voices from the Ground: Papa Banamazembe – The Man Who Refused to Wait for Help.
In this third episode of Voices from the Ground, I return to Rwamwanja refugee settlement. If you ask almost any refugee in Rwamwanja about “Banamazembe,” you will see a smile. They know the name. Behind it is Gustave Shambui; a man with a walking stick, a ready laugh, and an unshakable belief in the power…
-
Participation is Not the Path to Inclusion
This is the first blog in a series examining the participation and inclusion of displacement-affected communities in the humanitarian sector. In the humanitarian sector, participation has become a performance. INGOs and other intermediaries use it as proof of accountability and legitimacy to donors, but the way it is structured reveals a system built to preserve…
-
Voices from the Ground: What a Refugee Barber Told Me That No Donor Ever Has
In this second episode of Voices from the Ground, I return to Nakivale refugee settlement; not with a survey tool, but with curiosity, time, and a willingness to listen. What I encountered wasn’t in reports or logframes, but in quiet, unfiltered conversations with refugees. I had returned to Nakivale in Isingiro District, Western Uganda, as…
-
Voices from the Ground: When Visibility Replaces Value
In this episode of Voices from the Ground, I explore what it really means to be close to the community; and how trust-building and human relationships can reveal truths that reports and project metrics often miss. Recently, I spent time with a group of refugee women leaders in Rwamwanja settlement. I didn’t go with an…
-
The Crisis of Humanitarian Partnerships
Lately, I have found myself in countless conversations and sector convenings where the same question keeps surfacing: “Why are partnerships with refugee-led organisations (RLOs) still tokenistic and only pursued when INGOs face funding cuts or operational challenges?” Across the humanitarian sector, the narrative is becoming familiar: RLOs are called upon only when costs need to…
-
« De Réfugiée à Voix Active
Parlant de mon histoire, je suis née en République Démocratique du Congo, un pays riche de culture, de beauté mais aussi marqué par des instabilités profondes. Comme beaucoup, j’ai été contrainte de fuir, non pas parce que je le voulais, mais parce que la vie m’y oblige. Me retrouver en Ouganda comme réfugiée, c’était porter…
-
Why Donor-Led Agendas Are Failing Communities
For years, donors in the humanitarian sector, have relied on the concept of risk aversion and capacity gaps to justify rigid, restricted and time-bound grants when funding actors in the Global South. To access this funding, organisations are expected to construct robust logframes, articulate detailed theories of change, and commit to predetermined outcomes, often within…
-
Refugee-Led Innovation in Education
How RLOs in Kakuma Are Reimagining Learning In the heart of Turkana County, in Kakuma refugee camp, where survival is shaped by scarcity and resilience, a quiet but radical transformation is underway. It isn’t led by international agencies or headquartered strategies. It’s being shaped by Refugee-Led Organisations (RLOs) that are not waiting for permission to…
-
Bringing refugee leadership from the margins to the centre to advance early years education in crisis contexts
Co-authored by Cohere, Global Schools Forum, Ki4Bli (Kenya) and YIDA (Uganda) Early childhood is a critical window for shaping lifelong outcomes in learning, health, and wellbeing. Research shows that high-quality, birth- to-five early childhood programs for disadvantaged children, yields a 13% return on investment per child, per annum through better education, economic, health, and social…
-
Why Partnerships Matter: YETA
In the refugee-hosting regions of northern Uganda, Youth Empowerment to Act Peace and Disability Initiative (YETA), based in Imvepi, Terego district, has worked closely with Cohere for many years. Throughout the partnership, they have demonstrated that when local expertise gets effectively resourced, real and sustainable solutions can flourish. Cohere shares YETA’s belief that the most…