February to July 2023

General Information

1.1 Context Information

The continuous conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the protracted humanitarian situation in South Sudan, and the effects of climate change throughout the region continue to force people to seek safety in Uganda, with more than 17,000 people arriving in the country since the start of 2023, alone. Nearly 1.5 million refugees, most of them from the DRC and South Sudan, live in Uganda, making it the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa and the third largest globally.

Since 2021, the MHPSS project has continued to benefit DRC refugee children and their caregivers in Nakivale refugee settlement. The project offers PSS to over 500 children through stort-telling sessions with support of  trained grandparents, as well as through recreation games and play therapy, focusing and drawings, offered by trained community facilitators. The project also aims to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of children, while bridging the intergenerational gap among children and elderly people, through provision of appropriate support, encouraging regular communication and creating opportunities for intergenerational interactions can lead to meaningful connections and understanding between different generations and restoring the lost values in culture among the current generation.

The MHPSS project integrates positive discipline for children and positive parenting for their carers to provide an environment for children that nurtures them into responsible and productive adults. The report provides an update of the progress of implementation of the project between February and July 2023.

1.2 Unique beneficiaries for the period

The project enrolled a total of 527 children (refugee boys:244, refugee girls:281, host boys:1, host girls:1), between February to July 2023. These were supported by 6 refugee grandparents (men:2; women:4), and 3 community volunteers (men:2, women:1).

Main Activities

2.1 Recruitment of volunteers, identification of grandparents and Trainings

The project has been supported by four volunteers and 10 grandparents since February 2023. The grandparents and facilitators were trained on the MHPSS project including the story-telling and positive discipline approaches, roles and responsibilities, child safeguarding and referral. For the past period, grand parents and facilitators have used the skills to improve the behavioural and emotional wellbeing of children through story-telling, positive discipline, drawings and play therapy. Monthly refection meetings have been held to review the progress, challenges and next steps in implementation. There has also been continuous mentorship of the facilitators which helped them to increases their capacity to support to children

2.2 Enrolment and grouping of children and Weekly Sessions

From March 2023, a total of 527 children (refugee boys: 244, refugee girls: 281, host boys:1, host girls:1) have received MHPSS support under the MHPSS project. The model of implementation included offering PSS through focused story-telling sessions and focusing facilitated by grandparents and/or community based facilitators. Sessions begin with a simple opening routine to bring every child to focus, the story-reading or telling, a quick exercise to help children reflect on the story and a final evaluation by children. The session takes 45 minutes to one hour. Positive discipline is integrated with sessions/activities involving children and facilitators setting ground rules at the start of the group sessions, setting simple, friendly but consistent penalties for non-adherence to rules, reviewing adherence to the rules, as well as determining rewards for good discipline. Simple plays, but consistent to cause positive outcomes on children’s psychosocial wellbeing are offered especially after the main sessions. Drawings are also done to rehabilitate children and enable children focus on their current issues, but also look ahead to what they want to be in future, demystifying the current challenges they face. A combination of moderate play and drawing exercises are good for improving children’s wellbeing and building their resilience.

PSS Outcomes:

Feedback sessions were held with children, grandparents to establish what has changed in the lives of children. Children noted that their behavioral issues emanate from the hardships they face, noting the traumatic experiences the face when they remember how they were displaced from their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Uganda, living in a refugee settlement, with limited opportunities to study, feed. They also stated that in Nakivale, they face hunger, and when they are sent to look for firewood and water and don’t find food at their return, they develop violent behaviors due to franstration and hunder. They also noted that they are not guided by parents. Parents do not have time for theor children, due to pressures to fend for them, which limits the guidance of parents. It was also noted that many children were idle and reduandant so, they would engage in illicit behaviors. It is evident that the project has empowered children through positively influencing their behaviors, build their confidence and enabled them to easly associate with others, reduced fighting and violent behaviors, improved relations at home and in community, and ultimately increased their resilience. The outcomes of the MHPSS project are outlines.

Children’s Feedback:

• ‘’I had bad peers who influenced me to do bad things. When I joined the BW4KIDS group, I learnt about good behavior and the conequences of bad peers, from the stories that I listened to. We were also taught by grand parents and facilitators how to behave well and my behaviors have greatly improved. I have good friends I obtained from the MHPSS groups and my parents are happy with my current good behaviors’’.
• ‘’I was so direspectiful to my parents. I was violent to elders in the community and parents at home. I learnt how to conduct myself during the group sessions and I have discovered how good behavior can impact on my social life. I have also acquired good conduct which will help me in future’’.
• ‘’I live with my grandmother and I was disrespecting her before I joined the MHPSS groups. When I started the sessions, I discovered that I was behaving badly towards my grandmother and I changed, based on the knowledge I acquired from the stories’’.
• ‘’I thank ICSF for the MHPSS project. I was highly bad behaved and I couldn’t respect my parents. I acquired good behavoiur when I joined the BW4KIDS project. The project has shaped me and my parents are now proud of me’’.
• ‘’I will use the knowledge and skills I have acquired to help my friends who did not participate in the group activities, in my village and at school’’.
• ‘’I am able to maintain and control my bad emtions. I will ensure that I use the skills to continue imptoving my character’’.
• ‘’I have learnt to forgive. I will use the knowledge to support others with anger, to help them not pay bad for bad’’.
• ‘’I have shared the good stories with my siblings at home. The stories are very educative and empowering’’.
• ‘’Positive discipline helps us to focus on what is important and persue our goals, to become important in our families and society’’.

Feedback From Grand Parents:

Grand parents noted that the children emotional and behavioral wellbeing have changed since they joined the groups. The children used not to listen, they used to fight, abusive, were disobedient and some would isolate themselves. Throuch sessions, children have been able to practice what they are taught and their behaviors and emtions have potively changed.

Grand parents identified opportunities for continued support of children, by engaging their caregivers. In the next period, grand parents will follow-up children with the parents and see how parents can further support their children to maintain their emtions and behaviors and continue improving their general psychosocial wellbeing.

Other outcomes

At the start of the project activities in February 95% of the enrolled children were out of school, with lack of interest to learning by children. By the end of this phase of implementation, 88% had gone back to school. There are impactful stories thank focus on the benefits of education that were told to children, which helped them to change their mindset. From the feedback session held, children indicated that the project has given them direction, in addition to improving their mental wellbeing. They also noted that the stories and games shared in groups are replicated in school and in the community during their free time.

2.3 Monthly meetings with grand parents and facilitators

Monthly supervision and metorship meetings were held with grand parents and facilitators. Grand parents exhibited their commiittmet to continue supporting their communities voluntarily and appreciated the funders and ICSF for the effort to ensure their children live happily. They noted that there was need to engage caregivers, whose children are in sessions to check if children’s behaviors and emtions  have changed, as children indicate in sessions.

Field Coordination and M&E

3.1 Coordination and AAP

ICSF through support from Focusing Initiatives International has been an active member and contributor to the Settlement and district level working groups. The key working groups included MHPSS, Protection and GBV. We have also maintained active presence in the inter-agency meetings at settlement level as well as District and Settlement taskforces. Collaboration with the line district departments and other local authorities has been key through the period and our visibility has increased. There was no significant coordination challenge noted in the reporting period.  ICSF will continue to participate in the different working groups and coordination meetings. We will also engage caregivers, children and teachers in feedback sessions to obtain their views regarding the services offered, to make necessary improvements.

3.2 Monitoring and Evaluation

Daily monitoring of the project is undertaken by the project team through quality visits. The team conducts onsite observation of sessions and identifies issues that are addressed through capacity building or provision of support, mentorship and coaching of the staff, teachers and volunteers.

ICSF/FII maintains a systematic and transparent reporting mechanism involving use of well laid daily, weekly and monthly reports from field offices for all activities conducted with the required desegregations (gender, age, nationality statuses). The monthly reports are generated based on the approved workplan, tracked using activity source documents.

The project has a single recipient database that is generated after enrolment of eligible recipients. The database entails detailed status for each recipient, and tracks inter activity and external referrals. The beneficiary database is being updated with new enrolments.

Implementation Support

4.1 Human resources and management capacities

Project implementation is supported by 4 full-time community-based facilitators recruited from the community locations with good knowledge of the context including languages, cultural and structural issues. The capacity of staff has been built through trainings, mentorship and coatching and support. Technical overshight is provided by the team leader and ICSF staff.

4.2 Equipment and goods

No equipment was procured by for the project. However, a motorbike, procured in the first phase of the project continues to support implementation. ICSF/FII contributes to this project through use of the available assets to support the project, incluing office space and computers.   ICSF though support from FII also procured major supplies for the story telling sessions including session kits, stationary, play materials and sitting materials.

4.3 Specific security constraints

Uganda was recently attachacked by the diafiant rabels, in the  south western part of the country, where school children were captured, tortured and killed. Some children were burnt in dormitories. This, however, was in another location, far from Nakivale.

4.4 Challenges and mitigation measures during the period

At the beginning of July, World Food Program rolled out their prioritisation plan, in consideration of dwindling resources that cannot enable them meet the food needs of refugees. The plan categorises refugees based on their inability or ability to take care of their food needs, based on the distribution data.

The ration cuts for refugees of level 1,2 and 3 has made many refugees to flee Nakivale to Kenya in the recent months. However, Kenya cannot host them because they are already registered in Uganda, and they have been returned. The dilemma has been that the refugee swho run to Kenya sell their belongings to raise resources, and when they are returned, they are more impoverished than they went. Those who stay and but their rations are cut cannot also eet their food requirements. This has left many refugees resorting to many negative copying mechanisms including: child labour, teenage prostitution, theft. It has also resulted into many children dropping out of school, gender-based violence, suicide attempts (and complete suicide) and general distress among refugees. Integration of livelihood, youth and caregiver skilling into the BW4KIDS project will be key in the next phases of this project.

As reported in the last update, an additional challenge in the refugee community is environmental degradation, resulting from cutting down trees due to the high need for firewood. Environment is a cross-cutting issue that Office of the Prime Minister and United Nations High Comission for Refugees have recommended for partners to integrate.

Plans

5.1 Plans for the next period

The following activities will be undertaken/continued from August:

• Enrolment of new children under new cohort (700 targeted)
• Screening of more grandparents and training
• Participation in settlement and district working group and interagency meetings
• Monthly meetings for grandparents and community facilitators.