“Hope was restored, I raised a new wall and bought bundles of grass. Soon I will have my roof back.” Those were the words of one woman who has been receiving cash support from a DCA Uganda lead consortium since a storm and torrential rains wreaked havoc in her community in March 2022.
“Hope was restored, I raised a new wall and bought bundles of grass. Soon I will have my roof back.”Those were the words of one woman who has been receiving cash support from a DCA Uganda lead consortium
Schools, homes, and clinics collapsed, crops washed away, and roads and other infrastructure was damaged in Obongi district in Northern Uganda in the storm – and left many residents without shelter, food, or access to education and medical care.
3 out of 4 residents in Obongi district are refugees and many are vulnerable – so the DCA led consortium identified more than 2,000 of the most vulnerable individuals and offered them monthly cash grants for three months to help them regain their footing.
Just under 60M Uganda shillings (€14,800) have been disbursed to 438 households in April, May and June, giving each household roughly 137,000 Uganda shillings (€34) per month in support.
The so-called multipurpose cash grants that have been disbursed promote dignity by enabling affected households to make their own decisions, based on own needs, on how to best spend the cash.
8 out of 10 recipients say they have spent the cash on ensuring a proper roof over their heads and 1 in 5 said they spent most of the cash on food thereby minimizing stress on the family to find food. One woman even indicated that the money ensured a loving environment at home and said that “(..) me and my husband have since been the best of friends.”
The support is part of a project funded by European Union Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) to facilitate effective and timely Disaster Preparedness & Response actions within the West Nile and Acholi sub-regions of Uganda. DCA is leading the consortium that includes Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS), Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD) and Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG).
