NEBBI – Over 400 refugee students and the host communities from various refugee settlements in West Nile region have graduated in agro-business courses at Adraa Agricultural College.
The refugee students and host communities who completed, short courses in poultry keeping, catering, horticulture, hairdressing and piggery, were awarded certificates on Monday.
The six-week courses at Adraa Agricultural College are aimed at improving livelihoods of refugees and host communities with sustainable agricultural enterprises which is result-oriented in nature and also a winning tool in eradicating poverty among the refugees and the host communities.
Mr Bensua Adebo, the assistant settlement commandant for Rhino refugee settlement, said Adraa Agricultural College was recommended and approved by Refugees Welfare Council in the settlement to train refugees and the host communities as a way of improving their livelihoods through sustainable agro-business enterprises.
Uganda is currently home to more than 1,310,000 refugees, of whom approximately 835,000 come from South Sudan, 365,000 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the remainder from other countries.
Many of the South Sudanese refugees live in the Rhino Camp area, which is divided into six zones: Ocea, Siripi, Eden, Tika, Odubu, and Ofua. Originally established in 1980, Rhino Camp has expanded with the influx of refugees from recent conflicts and now also includes the Omugo Extension area, which is considered to effectively be the seventh zone, with Omugo overall now being the fourth largest refugee camp in Uganda.
