Refugee Can Be invests across the years and transitions that shape a refugee girl’s future. Beginning in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement and continuing through secondary education and beyond, our work creates the continuity that allows opportunity to grow with her.

For refugee girls in Rwamwanja, displacement intersects with poverty, gender inequality, and limited access to education, restricting the choices available to them.

Food insecurity places a girl’s education in competition with her family’s immediate survival. Unpaid care and household responsibilities fall heavily on girls. Gender expectations shape whose education is prioritized, while early marriage and pregnancy can end a girl’s education before primary school is complete. For those who graduate, another barrier emerges: Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement is home to roughly 90,000 people and has one secondary school.

Sustained investment in refugee girls remains limited. Immediate needs receive immediate responses, while sustained investment in education, independence, and economic opportunity remains insufficient.

Underinvestment carries consequences beyond school completion. When the world underinvests in refugee girls, it underinvests in the intelligence, leadership, and ideas they carry- and in the contributions they can make to their families, communities, and the world.

Success at Home invests in the conditions surrounding a girl’s primary education in Rwamwanja. Monthly food provision reduces the economic pressure that places education in competition with a family’s immediate needs. Parents become allies in their daughters’ education and advocates for girls’ education within their communities. Biweekly mentorship connects girls in Rwamwanja with students in Los Angeles, extending their relationships and perspectives beyond the settlement.

New Horizons is Refugee Can Be’s six-year secondary education program in Kampala. Girls attend secondary school and live in a Refugee Can Be residential home. There, education is surrounded by the relationships and resources that sustain it—from academic support, health and well-being, and nutritious meals to biweekly mentorship with students in Los Angeles, family connection, safety, and belonging.

Our commitment continues beyond secondary school. We are building the next pathway for young women to pursue university, vocational training, entrepreneurship, and meaningful careers according to their ambitions and the futures they choose for themselves.

Refugee Can Be does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, and ethnic origin and is committed to providing programs and a workplace free from racial discrimination.

Logo | Video | Website

Created by

Refugee Can Be, 2023 All Rights Reserved
info@refugeecanbe.org