Displaced by war, Poni Grace, a 23-year-old South Sudanese refugee living in Imvempi Refugee Settlement in Terego district in Uganda, experienced a journey of hardship and displacement, followed by possibility. Her story is a testament to the unwavering strength found within refugee communities and the transformative power of opportunity.

Forced to flee her hometown of Yei in South Sudan at just 16 years old, Poni, left behind everything she knew and loved. Upon arriving in Imvempi, Poni found herself confronted with the harsh realities of refugee life. Basic needs were scarce, and opportunities seemed elusive. “Life was difficult” Poni says, “my family lacked basic needs. We had no source of livelihood. Imvempi is rocky and even when one engages in farming the yields are very poor”.

A year after arriving, and at the tender age of 17, Poni decided to get married, hoping for stability and support from her husband. Yet fate had other plans as her husband later abandoned her, leaving her to fend for herself and their two young children, now aged 6 and 3.5 years.

However, Poni has defied the odds and refused to be deterred. In 2022, she embraced the opportunity offered by UN Women’s partner Peace Winds Japan for second chance education skills training. Choosing to defy traditional gender roles, Poni enrolled in bricklaying and concrete practice; a trade traditionally considered to be for men. While some in the community questioned her choice, Poni knew this path could lead to a brighter future for her family. “I chose bricklaying and concrete practice because it earns more money than the other opportunities” she says.

Today, two years on, Poni is one of the few refugee women working on construction sites as a mason. Her workmanship is valued, and she is held in high regard because of her skills, hard work, and punctuality.

With funding from the Government of Japan in 2022, UN Women supported over 100 girls to attend various courses ranging from bricklaying and concrete practice to electrical installation, tailoring, and catering, among others. The training has proved to be a turning point for these refugee women and girls, providing them an opportunity to earn a living.

Poni now earns about USD 6 a day which has provided her a sense of security she’d never known before. The first paycheck brought tears of joy. Finally, she could afford nutritious meals and new clothes for her children and join a Village Savings and Loans group where she saves at least 7 USD every week, fostering financial independence and building a safety net for her and her children.

Poni envisions living in her own house and offering quality education to her children. Poni’s journey of transformation is testament that training programs like the one offered by UN Women empower refugee women and girls with the skills they need to rebuild their lives. By investing in refugee communities, we invest in their dreams, fostering self-reliance and paving the way for a brighter future, not just for them, but for the societies they rebuild.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN Women – Africa.

Responding to the Congolese Ministry of the Environment’s total suspension of Metssa Congo’s operations until further notice because of the major risk its recycling plant poses to health and the environment, Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, said:

“We welcome the decision to suspend Metssa Congo’s operations following the publication of our 4 June report detailing their potential effect on the environment and health of local communities. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Amnesty International.

Drones delivering blood have revolutionised medical care for women giving birth at Rwanda’s largest refugee camp who no longer need to travel for hours to receive specialist care, Save the Children said.

This life-saving initiative came after Save the Children renovated the medical centre at Mahama Refugee Camp in eastern Rwanda near the Tanzania border last year and partnered with US drone company Zipline to enable quick delivery of blood and other medical supplies.

The drones are used to replenish the health centre’s small blood bank, which was established as part of the 2023 revamp. In an emergency, the drones can deliver blood from a medical warehouse to the centre within half an hour. Each drone is fully autonomous and can travel at 70mph, carrying up to two 400ml blood bags in ice to keep the blood at the right temperature.  

Previously, all patients needing blood transfusions, including women suffering from postpartum hemorrhaging, were taken to Kirehe District Hospital about 24 miles (38 km) away, a journey which takes about two hours by road. Now referrals to Kirehe Hospital have halved in the last year, while births at the camp’s medical centre have doubled to 1,256 between April 2023 and March 2024 compared to 672 the previous year.

Anastase previously worked at Kirehe hospital and is now a midwife at Mahama’s medical centre, which is one of two facilities supporting more than 63,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the camp as well as people from local communities. The other facility provides basic treatment and facilities. Anastase said:  

“I worked at the district hospital in Kirehe, receiving mothers in need of the C-sections [from Mahama]. The mothers came with complications – haemorrhages, bleeding, loss of blood, uterine ruptures. Sometimes they fell into a coma. The transfer was very painful for them, very difficult. It was very hard to manage those cases because they had spent many hours on the road.” 

Since the 2023 renovation, Mahama’s medical centre can now perform surgeries, including caesareans. Beata*, 27, has been living at Mahama camp for the past two-and-a-half years, having fled conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  When Beata* gave birth to her first son Kevin*, she had to be taken to the hospital for a caesarean. She said: 

“I had no contractions, but I could feel that my baby was stressed. They transferred me to Kirehe [hospital] on the same day. The road was so rough. I thought that I might deliver on the way.” 

Supported by a team of trained midwives at the medical centre, Beata* gave birth by cesarean to her second child, a healthy boy called Beni* in Mahama. She said: 

“Travelling to Kirehe to deliver is stressful. There is no family to take care of you. You just stay with strangers. You are basically on your own. That’s why we are so happy about this, it’s comfortable to deliver our babies here.” 

San Francisco-based Zipline started delivering blood and medical products in Rwanda in 2016, as well as now working in Ghana, Nigeria, Cote’d’Ivoire, and Kenya. A study by researchers at the US’s Wharton School last year found Zipline’s deliveries had led to a 51% reduction in Rwanda of in-hospital maternal deaths due to postpartum hemorrhage.

Maggie Korde, Save the Children’s Country Director in Rwanda, said:   

“Access to maternal and newborn healthcare is an essential right for all women and mothers, including refugees, many of whom feel particularly vulnerable having already faced unthinkable trauma and displacement. With the renovated medical centre and the introduction of drones, people needing blood transfusions, including women experiencing post-partum hemorrhaging, can now be treated at Mahama Camp. These drones are quite simply lifesaving”.  

Save the Children has been providing midwife support and delivering health and nutrition services to refugees living in Mahama Refugee Camp since 2016, working with the Government of Rwanda, and the support of UNHCR, BPRM, UNFPA, Japan Embassy, and other partners.   

The child right’s organisation has been working in Rwanda since 1994 to promote a bright future for children, with experience working in all 30 districts of the country. The main areas of focus are education, child protection, child rights governance and health and nutrition in humanitarian and development contexts. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.

The Government of Côte d’Ivoire, through the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, launched the annual meeting of the Regional Forum of Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) of West Africa on June 10th, in Abidjan, on the theme: “Strengthening the synergy of actions to accelerate regional integration and sustainable development in West Africa in a context of multiple challenge”.

This meeting, which was held from June 10 -11 2024, was organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Sub-Regional Office for West Africa (UNECA-SRO-WA), in partnership with the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development of Côte d’Ivoire.

The objective of this Regional Forum was primarily to strengthen the partnership for sustainable development between the entities of the United Nations system represented by the ECA and the Office of the Resident Coordinator of the Ivory Coast on the one hand, and West African IGOs on the other.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Mr. Phillipe Lasmel, Director General of Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, stated that “despite the economic progress made by countries in  the sub-region, they will not be able to meet the 2030 SDGs targets”.

« It is therefore urgent to mobilize around all the levers capable of reversing this trend. In this regard, regional integration constitutes an essential lever for achieving the objectives of sustainable development and better responding to the aspirations for well-being of African populations,” says Mr. Philippe Lasmel.

For his part, the representative of the Director of the ECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, Mr. Amadou Diouf, affirmed that the sub-region needs concerted efforts from all stakeholders to achieve complete integration and sustainable development, as well as Agenda 2063.

According to Amadou Diouf, it is necessary to adopt an approach that allows for strengthening the synergy of interventions around four axes of convergence: i) development of rivers and basins for water management and access to energy; ii) information and data generation; iii) Financing facilities, promotion of a single currency, integrated payment systems, and strengthening of the macroeconomic framework; and iv) multisectoral and community interventions.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).