Refugees and host communities in Kyaka II face limited access to quality early childhood education, few livelihood opportunities, high unemployment among young people, environmental degradation, and the social and economic effects of displacement.

Local organisations are often closest to these problems but have the fewest resources to respond. YESRA exists to close part of that gap.

We run community-led programmes in six areas: early childhood development, youth skills training and empowerment, livelihoods, sports and psychosocial support, environmental conservation, and community engagement.

Parents, caregivers, young people, community members and volunteers help design and run these activities.

Refugees and vulnerable host-community members in and around Kyaka II Refugee Settlement. We pay particular attention to young children, youth, teenage girls, caregivers, women, and others who face barriers to education, work, or taking part in community life.

Communities where children have better chances to learn and develop, young people have practical skills and ways to earn a living, families are more economically resilient, and refugees and host communities live and work together peacefully.

We also want to strengthen local capacity so communities can keep responding to their own needs long after any single project ends.

Communities overcome these challenges more effectively when solutions are led from within and build on the skills, relationships and resources people already have.

By pairing practical services with skills development, community participation and stronger local systems, we expect individuals and communities to become better equipped to improve their own wellbeing.

Directly, through our community-based structures, ECD centres, trained staff, volunteers and community members. Our staff and volunteers work alongside parents, caregivers, youth, teachers and community leaders, and we keep every intervention practical and responsive to needs identified within the settlement.

Where a programme needs specialist expertise, we bring in technical volunteers and partner organisations with relevant experience.

We work in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement and the surrounding host communities in Kyegegwa District, Uganda.

Staying focused is deliberate. We would rather deepen our presence and impact in one settlement than spread limited resources thinly across many locations.

We work with UNHCR, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), other organisations operating in Kyaka II, community leaders and local stakeholders, and we take part in joint community activities across the settlement.

We place particular value on partnerships with other refugee-led organisations, because they strengthen locally led responses and community ownership.

We look for partners who bring technical expertise, resources, learning or new opportunities to the communities we serve. If that describes you, send us a message and tell us what you have in mind.