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June 19-20 2020

Virtual Refugee Conference

New Name, New Face: Uganda – Redefining the Refugees' Role in Host Communities

20.06.2020, 8:30 PM CET

    Uganda • Host Communities • Refugees Role
Satellite Event

Speakers

  • Nsereko Vincent
  • Achieng Akena is a Kenyan lawyer and human rights and democracy practitioner with nineteen years of experience in varied regions and contexts, from Botswana to Afghanistan and has engaged extensively with Africa's regional system, and worked within both United Nations and African Union peacekeeping missions. She holds a Master of Studies in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University. She is currently the Executive Director for the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI), a not-for-profit organisation which aims at building a peaceful world where every person enjoys rights, security and dignity. IRRI has for the last 15 years, been working to promote and protect human rights in conflict and displacement, through research, advocacy and meaningful partnerships.
    Achieng AkenaExecutive Director for the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI)
  • Neolla Kabale Kalu is a young Female Refugee Entrepreneur, an African feminist 2019 cohort under the Uganda African Women leadership Institute (AWLI). She is an advocate against GBV (gender based violence) within urban refugee community with a special focus in the slums. She is the founder of Refugee Entrepreneurship Association Limited – REAL and a member of the Refugee-Led Network. Neolla runs a refugee women incubation platform that empowers refugees and host community with life skills. She has consistently supported various refugee serving organizations to mobilize and sensitize different refugee communities on issues related to gender based violence, health and livelihood. She aspires to build a society where women, men and young girls are treated with dignity, fairness and respect regardless of their status nor the vulnerable condition they found themselves in resulting from war, conflicts and Pandemics.
    Neolla Kabale Kalu Team Leader, Refugee Entrepreneurship Association
  • Kris is an accomplished angel investor and business leader with a 20-year plus track record of successful, strategic, and transformational leadership across Africa. As the Chair of Blackrock Capital, an investment company whose primary objective for the last 13 years has been angel investments in tech-based start-ups. Kris has passionately helped to grow many tech businesses and mentored many tech entrepreneurs in Africa. Kris is a distinguished fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Kenya Institute of Management. He holds an MBA in Strategic Management from Warwick Business School as well as an International Business Administration Degree, majoring in Marketing, from USIU – Africa. Kris is the Vice Chair of United States International University – Council, the Chair of the Governing Council at the Kenya Institute of Management, the Chair of the Pan African agency BTL Africa, headquartered in Ghana. He is also interim Chair for the financial solution provider of Craft Silicon and sits on the Advisory Board of (TBA) The Board Room Africa, a bold initiative that strives to accelerate the placement of female talent to boards across the African continent. More recently, he took up a cause that is close to his heart, a Board membership at the Amahoro Coalition, an African-led initiative of which he is also co-founder that is championing the economic inclusion of refugees on the continent, majorly by way of post-secondary education.
    Kris Senanu Chair, Blackrock Capital Investments
  • Ronald is a financial literacy coach, consultant, trainer and business development professional. Ronald has provided business management, financial literacy and financial management training to corporate, government and non-governmental institutions in for the last six years. Ronald is also the Director of Research, Innovation and Learning at Enterprise Uganda where he has worked for the last 10 years. Ronald has also facilitated several financial literacy and team building sessions specializing in empowering teams to increase productivity and cohesion. Some of Ronald’s clients include DFCU, KCCA, UNRA, NEMA, MTN Uganda, SWICO, Nile Breweries, World Vision, UN Sacco and several other institutions. Ronald is a certified public accountant (CPA)/FCCA and a lecturer at MAT Uganda. Ronald also holds a Master’s Degree in Development Management (London School of Economics and Political Science - LSE) and a Bachelors of Statistics (Makerere University). Previously, Ronald has also worked as an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers Uganda. Ronald is passionate about empowering people to fulfil their potential and often trains young people in financial literacy, business and financial management skills on a volunteer basis.
    Ronald Edward Mukasa Director of Research, Innovation and Learning at Enterprise Uganda
  • Simon Marot Touloung is a young male South Sudanese who arrived in Keri Transit camp on 9th September 2000 in Northern Uganda. He is a graduate of B.Sc. In Petroleum Geoscience and Production at Makerere University through an exclusive DAFI Scholarship. Marot is currently pursuing a MSc. in Energy Economics and Governance at Makerere University Business School- Kampala. As a Youth Leader, Marot Co-founded the South Sudan Science Club (SSSC) whose main focus is environmental protection and Climate Change. He is a co-founder and Team Lead for African Youth Action Network –AYAN based in Kiryandongo refugee settlement, Uganda and in South Sudan. AYAN is a youth initiative that advocates for peaceful coexistence, promotes the spirit of tolerance forgiveness and reconciliation amongst different South Sudanese Communities as well as among Host Communities in Uganda and South Sudan. Marot is a member of the UNHCR Global Youth Advisory Council, a body that advise UNHCR Operations on how to work with refugee youth. He was appointed on the 1st of November 2018 as a member of the African Union Youth Advisory Council assisting the AU Special Envoy on Youth by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission. He helped secondary high school students in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. He led the DAFI university Students’ Association of Makerere University in 2015 and was the Health Secretary for the Makerere University Southern Sudanese Students’ Association in 2012, he was the President of Naath Universities and Colleges Students’ Union in Uganda and the vice president for European Association of Geologists and Engineers (EAGE) Makerere University students-chapter from 2014-2015. Marot volunteered with the (African Institute for Children’s Studies) AICS - Uganda Chapter AICS to identify and send Children of Poor Families to School in 2016. He is an alumni of President Obama’s Initiative, the Young African Leader Initiative (YALI) Network. He runs a voluntary mentorship and coaching programs for youth and students in vacations. Simon Marot’s Dream is for an Africa, and a World where everyone has a place to sleep and food to eat, free of wars and conflict. Simon Marot loves reading, sports and has recently attempted to play football and Volley ball.
    Simon Marot Touloung Team Lead, African Youth Action Network –AYAN

In this session we seek to understand how the refugees can contribute to the growth in the host community and help economic recoveries of the host community. We discuss methods and measures that would be required for this to happen.

We will have a panel discussion with refugees, host community members,  representatives from refugee focused organisations.

The goal of our event is to shine refugees in a new light to enable them and host communities, to realise and harness the potential of the refugees so they can contribute to rebuilding the economy after COVID-19.

This session may be live-streamed and recorded. 

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