Clean Water for Refugees through Austrian Support
Due to the precarious situation in South Sudan, many people are seeking refuge in Uganda. Austrian Development Agency (ADA) helps them to gain access to clean water and sanitary facilities.
Helping people to help themselves
With 2.45 million Euro in EU funding, ADA is joining hands with the Ugandan Ministry for Water and Environment (MWE) in order to build water supply systems and wastewater infrastructure. 70 000 people will directly benefit from this joint undertaking. “In this way, we are trying to help our partner country Uganda to shift from expensive emergency relief to sustainable infrastructure”, explains Günter Engelits, Head of ADA’s local office in Kampala. Other partners are managing the training and social service components of the programme. People who were forced to flee will have the opportunity to rebuild their lives in Uganda. “This is what most of them want. Especially the young refugees are eager to take care of themselves”, states Engelits.
Refuge in Uganda
“The 10 million Euro provided by the EUTF are urgently needed here!”, explains Engelits, “since last summer thousands of refugees from South Sudan are crossing into Uganda on a daily basis; so far the country has taken in more than one million refugees.” The situation is aggravated by the current drought: Roughly half of the people in Northern Uganda suffer from hunger. The Ugandan government has responded by providing free meals for schoolchildren in the affected areas.