Hope Health Action East Africa (HHA EA), Uganda

Transforming the Lives of South Sudanese Refugees with Disabilities

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"The HHA East Africa team is absolutely delighted to have been awarded this prestigious award. For our work to be recognised in this way is a true honour and a celebration of the incredible impact delivered by our passionate team every day.”

Isaac Taban Programme Manager, HHA East Africa

What the Judges said

In the context of refugees” the judges said “HHA EA is doing incredible work, often one-to-one in a project led by people with their own experiences of forced displacement.” They noted HHA EA’s innovations included the involvement of whole households, teaching skills for running businesses, agricultural self-reliance and evidence of community effectiveness that is commendably community-based and holistic.

What they say in the Field

“HHA’s nutrition project enables me to engage directly with people living with disabilities who, in many instances, are left out in community projects. I am proud of creating confidence and courage for people living with disability to provide independent livelihoods for themselves. ” – Ogwang Robert Rapsy – HHA EA Nutritional Officer

“Before this project started many children in my area were malnourished, and they used to eat once in a day and at times sleep hungry without food. They had no other means of generating household income for themselves. I used to be thin and less energetic but now I’m strong and able to do farm work by myself to produce adequate food for consumption and sales.” – Kenyi Simon, HHA Nutrition Project Beneficiary

‘He couldn’t walk, we had to carry him everywhere and he couldn’t go to school. When we came to the HHA rehabilitation centre, we started gaining hope. We are finally ok. We know he is a boy with a bright future!’ Parents of five-year-old Ibrahim, recipient of a prosthetic leg at the HHA rehabilitation centre, BidiBidi

“I am passionate about serving humanity and grateful to put smiles on the marginalised population, especially the disabled.” – Nakitto Benah, Occupational Therapist, HHA Rehabilitation Centre, BidiBidi

“Since the car accident in 2016, I have been feeling out of place and have lost my smile. Now I have a new leg I will beat the stigma and this will make me more happy.” – Rashid, HHA mobile clinic beneficiary and recipient of a prosthetic leg in the Palorinya refugee settlement.

Ockenden International’s four cash prizes recognise and reward innovative projects that deliver evidential self-reliance to refugees and/or displaced people, the hallmark of Ockenden International since its inception in 1951. The four annual prizes are open to projects or programmes focused on Internally Displaced People (IDP)/refugee self-reliance anywhere in the world. The other eleven 2023 finalists (with the other three winners italicised) are:

Asylum Access, Malaysia, for its project ‘Realizing Rights and Self-Representation for Refugee Workers’, which in partnership with refugees is operating a successful employment disputes’ programme focused on mediation, strategic litigation, community empowerment and advocacy in Malaysia.
Fundacion Dialogo Diverso, for its programme ‘My Home Away from Home’ which works for the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community of Venezuela and Ecuador through its Reference and Comprehensive Care Centers in Quito and Cuenca.
Give Your Best, UK, ‘Give Your Best Development’ aims to restore autonomy and empowerment to refugee women & children through their innovative online platform, where the public can donate clothes so refugees and those seeking asylum can shop for free with the choice and dignity they deserve.
HIAS Refugee Trust of Kenya, for a project titled ‘Increasing protection, resilience, self-reliance and empowerment of the most vulnerable refugees and host community members, particularly women, adolescent girls and LGBTIQ+ population in Nairobi’, which is working to ensure refugees meet their own basic needs by building the resilience required to become self-reliant through food security, access to savings and credit, entrepreneurship support and empowerment.
Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights, a German NGO that promotes the physical rehabilitation, mental well-being and social reintegration of survivors and their family members by providing them with medical treatment, psychotherapeutic support and socio-legal counselling in northern Iraq. Project name: ‘Strengthening mental health and social cohesion in Northern Iraq – Trauma Therapy, Peace-Building and Civil Society’.
L'Auberge Des Migrants The ‘Calais Common Initiative’ is an inter-organisation consortium led by L'Auberge des Migrants. It integrates the complementary work of five grassroots organisations supporting displaced people stuck at the France-UK border to meet their vital needs: access to water, distribution of food, firewood, tents and clothing as well as defending fundamental rights by provision of outreach work, legal support and assistance of unaccompanied minors, women and families.
MedAcross Onlus, the Italian NGO provides health assistance to isolated migrant and displaced populations in Myanmar, Thailand and Somaliland. The shortlisted project ‘Healthcare and Labor Rights for Burmese Migrants’ is active in Ranong Province, Thailand, where it works with Myanmar migrants with an emphasis on mobile clinics and community health volunteers.
Otros Dreams en Ación, Mexico, for ‘A Dignified Return for the Deported and Forcibly Returned Community in Mexico’, which the judges praised for its focus on deportees forcibly displaced by the state.
Refugee Aid Serbia provides a safe space and educational hub for refugees and Asylum seekers in Belgrade and beyond. Its project, ‘The Workshop: Education’, is a small refugee-led education initiative in Belgrade and camps elsewhere in Serbia working with refugees predominantly from Afghanistan, Burundi and Iran.
Shanti Volunteer Association, Japan for its enterprising library project ‘Assisting returnees’ integration and stable settlement through improving access to information and learning along the Thai-Myanmar Border’, one of the world’s most challenging geopolitical hotspots.
SINA (Social Innovation Academy), Uganda, nominated by Zimbabwe’s Transformation Innovation Hub (TiH) was awarded one of the coveted Prizes for a training project that’s manifestly inspiring young business entrepreneurs by implementing their principle of ‘Freesponsibility’ – combining ‘freedom’ with ‘responsibility’ – and the co-creation of ‘Self-organized Learning Spaces’.