Refugees don't need only aid.
They need income, skill, and voice.
YAREN Organisation Ltd is a youth-led, refugee-founded organisation walking alongside displaced and vulnerable communities in Nakivale, Uganda, turning displacement into dignity, and vulnerability into skill, voice, and hope.
Born inside the community. Led by those who live it.
YAREN Organisation Ltd is a youth-led organisation registered as a company limited by guarantee, incorporated under Uganda's Companies Act 2012, with an operational hub in Ziranumbu, Makindye Ssabagabo, Kampala. Its work is rooted in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement and the surrounding communities.
Action des Jeunes Pour le Développement
Founder Muganzi Mushongole Adonis began this work in 2014 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, starting Youth Action for the Development, an initiative promoting peaceful coexistence by connecting communities with international experts to address local conflict in Bibokoboko, Baraka, and the Fizi Territory of South Kivu, Eastern DRC.
Fleeing to Uganda as a Refugee
Escalating violence in eastern DRC forced Adonis to flee and relocate to Uganda. He continued his work there with vulnerable populations, particularly women and youth refugees, focusing on resilience, empowerment, and social cohesion.
From Lived Experience to Organisation
This experience led directly to founding YAREN Organisation Ltd in 2017 (formerly the Young African Refugees Entrepreneurs Network), grounded in a commitment to human dignity, protection, and community transformation.
YAREN's organisational identity centres on socio-economic empowerment, with Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Education, and Mental Health as integrated subthemes, not siloed programme areas, but a single, connected approach to building human and community capital.
An entrepreneur receiving business mentorship simultaneously receives psychosocial support. A teen mother trained in tailoring is supported in emotional well-being. A WASH dialogue builds community cohesion while delivering clean water access. The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts.
What we're working toward
We are creating a better society by improving self-resilience among refugees and vulnerable populations.
We train and empower refugees and vulnerable populations with skills that enable them to become self-reliant.
Our Core Values
Integrity
Honest, accountable work with every community we serve; full transparency in finances and impact reporting.
Community
The community is not our beneficiary. It is our partner, our leader, and our reason for existing: refugees and host communities alike, stronger together.
Dignity
Every person is met with respect, never as a statistic. Every refugee is a person of enormous worth.
Resilience
Refugees have survived the unimaginable. We build the capacity to withstand and recover from hardship, channeling that strength into sustainable futures.
Hope
Displacement is temporary. Human potential is not. We hold a vision of a better future, even in displacement.
Faith
A steady belief in people's capacity to rebuild and thrive, given the right conditions.
The forces behind lasting change
Every YAREN programme is architected around three forces that create lasting change: income, capability, and stability.
Income Generation
Vocational training in tailoring, crafts, agriculture, entrepreneurship, and digital skills, each connected directly to employment and enterprise creation in the community.
Capability Building
Business literacy, financial management, entrepreneurship, and leadership training with mentorship, so participants don't just find work; they build futures and lead others.
Community Stability
Clean water access, psychosocial support, health outreach, and safe spaces for women, because economic growth is impossible without safety and dignity.
YAREN's model is simple but rare: train people in real skills, connect them to real markets, and let the community own the result.
From a small refugee initiative to transforming thousands of lives
In 2017, YAREN Organisation began as a small initiative led by refugees determined to create change within their own communities. What started with simple community actions in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement has grown into a movement empowering refugees and vulnerable communities through education, entrepreneurship, health, and humanitarian support.
Figures reflect cumulative milestones reported on YAREN's Impact page; the 13,000+ figure cited elsewhere is the organisation's broader lifetime reach across all initiatives and partner communities.
YAREN's first interventions addressed the most pressing challenges faced by refugees, particularly women, youth, children, and vulnerable families. Health awareness programmes trained more than 200 women and adolescent mothers in reproductive health, the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, and personal well-being. Recognising education as a pathway out of poverty, YAREN provided school materials and mentorship to orphaned and vulnerable children, and ran English classes that opened doors to services and employment. Youth forums and peacebuilding dialogues turned young refugees into active contributors to their own communities.
Training on early marriage, reproductive health, and sexual health education reached more than 120 adolescent mothers, giving them knowledge, confidence, and hope for a better future. YAREN partnered with other organisations to provide media and storytelling training, so refugee youth could document and share their own experiences and amplify refugee voices. Understanding the challenge of youth unemployment, YAREN introduced entrepreneurship and employment-readiness initiatives to open real pathways to economic independence.
When COVID-19 threatened already vulnerable communities, YAREN worked alongside humanitarian partners to distribute hygiene supplies, protective equipment, and menstrual health products to thousands of people across refugee settlements.
- Sanitary pads for adolescent mothers, persons with disabilities, widows, and people living with albinism.
- Community-based mental health and trauma-healing sessions for youth leaders and vulnerable groups.
- Face shields and protective equipment to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
Safe water remains one of the greatest challenges facing refugee populations. YAREN distributed Sawyer water filters to schools, health facilities, and community institutions, cutting the risk of waterborne disease. Community research and surveys on water consumption patterns informed awareness campaigns and community-led solutions, as well as the distribution of soap and medical hygiene supplies for vulnerable households, children with disabilities, and orphaned children.
One of YAREN's most successful initiatives centred on liquid soap production, teaching participants both technical and entrepreneurial skills to build their own small businesses. Building on this, targeted programmes for adolescent mothers aged 13-17 offered training in tailoring and garment production, handicrafts and creative entrepreneurship, English language skills, reproductive health education, and mental health and psychosocial support. In total, 223 adolescent mothers gained valuable skills, improved their self-confidence, and strengthened their ability to support their families.
Through photography, filmmaking, and storytelling training, refugee youth built practical skills while sharing stories that raised awareness of refugee experiences and aspirations. Community libraries and learning programmes expanded access to education; together, these efforts have benefited more than 7,500 people. Water dialogues and advocacy forums have since brought women, youth, local leaders, and policymakers together around lasting solutions.
As programmes expanded, YAREN invested in its own institutional capacity: operational offices within refugee communities, stronger partnerships with national and international organisations, and improved governance and accountability systems, all built to sustain impact at scale.
"Jenga Jamaa," Kiswahili for "Building Family"
A three-year initiative to move entire communities from vulnerability to lasting self-reliance, building systems, not short-term relief. Jenga Jamaa empowers refugees and host communities across five intervention areas, targeting 5,000+ direct beneficiaries in refugee settlements and neighbouring communities.
Economic Empowerment
Vocational training, business mentorship, market linkage, and income-generation support.
Skills, Education & Innovation
English, French & Kiswahili instruction, computer literacy, entrepreneurship, and an AI Lab for refugees.
Youth & Women Leadership
Leadership development, gender-responsive programming, and GBV prevention.
Mental Health & Cohesion
Psychological First Aid, trauma-informed care, and community conflict mediation.
Climate Resilience & WASH
Water access, sanitation infrastructure, and hygiene promotion.
Launch
Skills, Education & Innovation.
Scale
Youth Leadership & Women's Empowerment.
Sustain
Mental Health, Peacebuilding & Social Cohesion; Climate Resilience & WASH.
Stories from the young mothers we walk with
Every intake form behind Jenga Jamaa carries a life. Shared with their permission, these are three of the young mothers currently supported through YAREN's programmes. Tap a reaction to send them encouragement.
Sekajango Bahati
17 · Nakivale SettlementSekajango lives in Nakivale with her parents and twelve siblings. She became a mother at 15, after being let down by someone who had promised to stand by her, a painful, lonely chapter for her and her son.
Rose Nyamutema
14 · Nakivale Base CampRose lives with her grandmother in Nakivale, while her parents remain outside the country. Things began to change when her mother stepped in to support her, and when she found YAREN Organisation.
Esther Matenda
17 · New HopeEsther is a Congolese refugee, the fourth of eight children, raised by her mother alone since they lost their father. She became a mother after being abandoned by someone who had promised to marry her.
These stories are shared with the consent of the individuals involved to illustrate the real gaps Jenga Jamaa is designed to close.
What makes us different
Community-Led
Founded and run by refugees. We understand the needs because we live them: no outside perspective, no assumptions.
Income-Focused
Every programme leads to economic independence. We measure success in earnings, businesses launched, and jobs created.
Dignity First
Our model is rooted in respect. Participants are entrepreneurs and leaders, not aid recipients to be managed.
Evidence-Based
We track outcomes rigorously. Every programme is evaluated and refined against real, measurable impact data.
Locally Rooted
Our trainers, mentors, and staff come from the communities we serve. We are inside the problem, not above it.
Sustainable Systems
We build capacities that outlast our programmes: cooperatives, networks, and skills the community owns permanently.
Partner with us
We welcome partnerships with NGOs, corporates, foundations, and governments who share our conviction that communities can solve their own problems when given the right support.
Programme Funding
Multi-year grants aligned to Jenga Jamaa and our core initiatives.
Technical Support
Skills, expertise, and mentorship for our team and participants.
Market Access
Connecting YAREN graduates to employment and purchasing networks.
Advocacy
Amplifying refugee voices and YAREN's work to wider audiences.
Every dollar goes directly to training, tools, and mentorship: no overhead bloat.
Give $25The most powerful change comes from within.
Join YAREN in building a world where every refugee community has the tools to write its own future with their own hands. Whether you volunteer, partner, or simply spread the word, every bit of support helps us build self-reliance, one household at a time.