What we do

Right to Quality Education

FCA Uganda improves the quality of learning in Education in Emergencies, Vocational Education and Education Sector Development. We promote the right to education in Kyaka II, Rwamwanja, Kyangwali, Nakivale, Oruchinga refugee settlements, Southwest Uganda and Palorinya, Adjumani refugee settlements, West Nile.  

Education in Emergencies
FCA Uganda is dedicated to facilitating continuous, high-quality education across various domains including early childhood development, primary, secondary, non-formal, and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Our efforts encompass the construction and rehabilitation of schools, provision of learning and teaching materials, alongside comprehensive physical, psychosocial, and cognitive support to learners. Our aim is to provide education that sustains and safeguards lives, particularly in crisis contexts.

Education Sector development
We support education sector development, particularly in fragile situations. Collaboration with Uganda’s Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES), relevant Ministries, and education authorities takes different forms ranging from capacity development to curricula development and supporting inclusive and equitable education policies. We are the education implementing partners for UNHCR in Southwest Uganda, and the co-lead for Education in Emergencies together with UNHCR and the Ministry of Education and Sports. In 2023, we seconded two Finnish education technical experts to support the Education Policy Review Commission as they drafter a new policy framework for education and sports in Uganda. 

Teacher Education
FCA Uganda prioritizes support to teacher education as teachers are the most important resource for realizing quality education. We draw from the Finnish experience of investing in teachers. We focus on effective teaching which utilizes learner-centered pedagogy, play based learning and inclusive teaching methods adapted to national and local contexts, and results in enhanced learning outcomes and teacher well-being.

Technical and Vocational Education, training, linking Learning to Earning
FCA Uganda actively enhances the quality of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) while fostering the transition to the professional world. We advocate for TVET to become a compelling choice, fostering functional partnerships with the private sector. Our focus is on ensuring inclusivity and equity in TVET access for youth in vulnerable situations, while also equipping TVET instructors with contemporary vocational pedagogical skills. FCA provides hands-on practical training to TVET beneficiaries, collaborating closely with the private sector and employers to facilitate employment opportunities upon program completion.

Innovative solutions to support Right to Quality Education

  • Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education for children and youths in vulnerable situations has a high priority in our programming.
  • FCA integrates child protection and psychosocial support in its education work.
  • We promote career guidance and counselling for students in order to support more concise career choices, equip students with learning skills, working life skills, decrease drop-out rates and ensure placement to Labor market or to further education.

Snapshot of our achievements

  • We support an average of 187,027 learners annually in five settlements.
  • We constructed over 800 classroom blocks, 200 teacher houses, 920 latrine stances, 190 other infrastructures (Laboratories, dormitories, libraries).
  • We constructed 3 fully fledged secondary schools in Kyaka Il, Rwamwanja and Bidibidi refugee settlements.
  • We constructed a school for children with special needs in Kyaka II refugee settlement supporting learners from Kyaka II and Rwamwanja refugee settlement.
  • We support over 2000 teachers with salaries and capacity building interventions.

A man poses with a camera.
Sadiki Sumili, 23, fled conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A graduate of FCA’s Creative Industries programme, he now runs a production studio, video hall, and stationery shop in Rwamwanja refugee settlement.

Right to Livelihood

FCA Uganda promotes the right to develop, secure and sustain livelihoods through employment, entrepreneurship and strengthened resilience.

The vision for FCA Uganda’s Right to Livelihood efforts is to strive for all people to:

  • live in dignity, to fulfil their everyday needs,
  • develop their wellbeing,
  • participate equitably, as active citizens, in social, economic, and political development of their societies.

FCA Uganda’s work in livelihoods is people centered and aimed at empowerment. We support primarily youth and women in their efforts to pursue a living and develop their wellbeing. We create livelihood opportunities through entrepreneurship training, By working for the Right to Livelihood, we want to ensure that everyone can live a dignified life.

Our objective is to reduce poverty by promoting inclusive sustainable economic development, particularly through the employment of women, youth, and refugees.

FCA trains youth in occupational digital skills, preparing them for the requirements of modern working life. Digital technologies provide access to information and job opportunities beyond traditional livelihoods, when work can be done remotely, unlimited by geographical borders, opening up new prospects for e.g. refugee youth.

WE PROMOTE:

  • Resilience on individual, community, and institutional level
  • Inclusivity in poverty reduction and economic development and growth
  • Empowerment and respect for local and national ownership
  • Economic, social and environmental sustainability

We encourage innovation in our work to address social and economic development in novel and better valuing local knowledge.

FCA’s Linking Learning to Earning (LL2E) approach enables youth and young adults to become economically self-reliant and contribute positively to social cohesion. We offer paths from vocational education to gainful employment and entrepreneurship to both young women and men.

We work in close collaboration with training providers, policy makers and employers to ensure both educational quality and market relevance of skillsets acquired.

Kyaka II and Rwamwanja Vocational Training Centres

FCA Uganda has established Business Technical Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) centres in Kyaka II and Rwamwanja refugee settlements in Southwestern Uganda. In 2024 alone, more than 1500 youth underwent business and vocational training.

Women’s Empowerment

FCA Uganda projects focus on vulnerable and underprivileged women and girls with the aim to improve the status and livelihoods of women.

We:

  • Support women and marginalised families to establish and operate small scale businesses to diversify income sources through establishment of women’ groups and cooperatives.
  • Establish market linkages for the women’s groups and cooperatives to foster their businesses/enterprises.
  • Strengthen women’s leadership capacity and influence in society.
A smiling woman holds a chicken
Married with eight children, Deborah’s life changed when she joined a project supported by Women’s Bank Finland

Right to Peace

FCA Uganda advances consolidated peace by linking conflict transformation and peace building.

Our overall vision is to achieve inclusive, just, and sustainable peace by empowering people in fragile contexts. We also advance impact-oriented collaboration among peace focused actors.

How do we do our work?
The pillars of FCA Programming are rights related to peace, education, and livelihood, as combining the three has the potential for a wide reaching, sustainable impact.

In our peace work we:

  • Facilitate horizontal and vertical dialogue for peace between right-holders and
  • duty-bearers.
  • Promote the role of women, youth, and traditional and religious leaders in peace processes.
  • Facilitate peace and reconciliation training and enable communities to prevent conflicts.
  • Engage with international processes for global impact and link them to local efforts.

Who do we work with?
FCA Uganda works with youth, women, people on the move, as well as traditional and religious actors. We partner with duty bearers and support their capacities for more inclusive governance and decision making.

We work with young peacebuilders and support youth- led and -owned initiatives to bring about change in their societies.

We seek to address the barriers to women’s participation in peacebuilding by leveraging their leadership and agency in dialogue processes and decision-making at all levels.

Networks and partners
In our Right to Peace work, we have partnerships at all levels; we work together with civil society and community level actors, governments, and other public sector actors, as well as with the private sector.

Inspiring new civic leaders
We work with Prospect – formerly the Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum (UMYDF) – to contribute to a peaceful Uganda by strengthening individual and community resilience to Violence and violent extremism through increasing access to employment opportunities among at risk youth, enhancing their capacity to engage positive y with authorities and increasing their access to conflict sensitive information.

We integrate peace education in our teaching and learning processes. We support over 500 peace clubs in Kampala and Yumbe districts.

Advocacy
Advocacy is an integral element of Right to Peace efforts. We act as an enabler of local community/civil society advocacy efforts and collaborate with others on shared advocacy aims. We also do advocacy independently. We train youth in citizen responsibilities and duties, community service, volunteerism, youth civic leadership and advocacy among others.

Supporting peace work in local communities
FCA Uganda supports local communities by training religious and traditional leaders in becoming effective peace builders, helping communities to create conflict-solving mechanisms and Initiatives, and supporting communities influencing national and international peace processes.

Complementary Pathways

FCA is the implementing partner for UNHCR’s Complementary Pathways initiative in Uganda’s refugee settlements and Kampala. This initiative offers safe and regulated avenues for refugees, complementing traditional resettlement by ensuring their international protection needs are met in third countries while leveraging the talents and skills of the large population of skilled and educated forcibly displaced persons.

The project focuses on three main components:

Education Pathways: These facilitate refugees in accessing scholarship opportunities in third countries.

Labour Mobility: FCA collaborates with UNHCR and Talent Beyond Boundaries to identify skilled refugees in Uganda and connect them to employment opportunities in third countries.

Family Reunification: FCA, together with UNHCR, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), provides crucial assistance to refugees in accessing family reunification procedures. Family reunification is essential as it enables refugees to rebuild their support networks and stability, further enhancing their ability to integrate and contribute to their host communities.