Restoring Hope: Emergency Response for Congolese Refugees in Nakivale

At the beginning of 2025, the M23 rebel group intensified its fights in the Eastern DRC, which saw the group capture and take control of the major capitals of Goma and Bukavu. Some areas like Goma already had internally displaced people living in camps around the city. After the capture of these cities, people were forced to go back to their villages, which had already been destroyed and had no trace of infrastructure or social networks.

This situation forced the Congolese from the eastern DRC to flee to the neighbouring countries, including Uganda, for asylum. From January to date, Nakivale has received 26,316 refugees; of these, 70% are women and children. This has put pressure on the already limited resources due to the high population and the reduction in funding due to the US government's sanctions on aid that have seen many organisations closing out or reducing their response services to the refugees. 

There has been a significant cut in the food and cash rations, limited access to water, limited psychosocial services, and significant setbacks in the general response to protection issues, including child protection and gender- based violence. Refugees, especially those with multiple vulnerabilities, continue to face challenges in accessing decent accommodation, sexual and reproductive health services, and mental health services.

With funding from the ACT Alliance through the Emergency Response to DRC Conflict project, LWF has been able to reach out to the new arrival communities in Juru and Rubondo zones with psychosocial first aid services, WASH, Shelter construction, GBV awareness, Psychosocial mobile clinics, and GBV prevention and response services.

Through the dedicated team in Nakivale, LWF has reached out to 4,000 new arrivals through Music, dance, and drama awareness sessions on mental heath issues. This is aimed at providing a platform for psychological and emotional healing as we build the community's capacity to become resilient and settle in the new environment.

40 Women with high levels of distress due to the psychological, physical, and sexual harassment experienced during flight from DRC have been grouped into 2 groups comprising 20 members and facilitated to heal through a group therapy model known as Self-help plus (SH+). These women have been undergoing two sessions of SH+ per week, and this has improved their emotional well-being. Testimonies of hope and reduction in suicidal thoughts have been registered, thus building resilience amongst new arrival women

205 vulnerable persons especially those with mental illnesses have been reached out through MHPSS mobile clinics where LWF is facilitating the medical team and the psychiatric clinical officers to conduct community outreach clinics known as the mobile clinics to reach out to new arrival communities who do not know where to find services and yet they are located far away from the general health care providing health facilities.

With the community-based approach, LWF has identified potential community structures (Parasocial counsellors, role model men and peer educators) among the new arrivals and trained them in community-based psychosocial support (CBPS), Psychological First Aid (PFA) and GBV prevention and response. These structures are now supporting in case identification, basic counselling, referral, and follow-up of psychosocial and GBV cases in their communities. So far, these structures have reached out to 1,652 community members through the provision of basic counselling, case identification, referrals, and follow-ups.

While the humanitarian response in Nakivale faces immense hurdles, the resilience of the refugee community continues to shine through. Support structures are growing, and innovative interventions are offering much-needed relief, yet the need remains vast. Without sustained funding and increased support, many vulnerable individuals risk falling through the cracks.

The journey for these refugees is far from over, but through collective effort, a future of dignity, healing, and hope remains possible.