Refugee-Run Organizations Deserve More Money

A refugee himself, Hakiza fled the Democratic Republic of Congo for Uganda in 2008, where he set up Young African Refugees for Integral Development ( YARID ). To help some of Kampala’s 80,000 refugees who were struggling to put food on the table as the local economy ground to a halt under COVID-19 restrictions, Hakiza began fundraising over WhatsApp before turning to GoFundMe. He soon raised around $7,000. But it wasn’t nearly enough to help all the refugees and poor locals who he knew were in need.

Within days of the Ugandan government announcing a lockdown in April last year, Robert Hakiza woke up one morning to find women from Kampala’s refugee community outside his home. “Would you help us? We don’t have anything to eat,” he recalled them saying.

Within days of the Ugandan government announcing a lockdown in April last year, Robert Hakiza woke up one morning to find women from Kampala’s refugee community outside his home. “Would you help us? We don’t have anything to eat,” he recalled them saying.

A refugee himself, Hakiza fled the Democratic Republic of Congo for Uganda in 2008, where he set up Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID). To help some of Kampala’s 80,000 refugees who were struggling to put food on the table as the local economy ground to a halt under COVID-19 restrictions, Hakiza began fundraising over WhatsApp before turning to GoFundMe. He soon raised around $7,000. But it wasn’t nearly enough to help all the refugees and poor locals who he knew were in need.

Organizations run by refugees like Hakiza have long plugged gaps in humanitarian work, working in parallel to and often largely ignored by the formal system. They have never received significant funding from donors.