Education Amidst Displacement: Reimagining the Roles of Refugee-led Organizations Symposium
Navigating the Day: Agenda and Resource Guide
Symposium Agenda
Resource Guide: Reimagining the Roles of Refugee-led Organizations
Utilize this comprehensive resource guide to navigate and enrich discussions at the symposium, providing insights into the impactful role of Refugee-led Organizations across East Africa while offering actionable recommendations for meaningful engagement.
Meet Our Speakers
Keynote Address
Elias Jika, a member of the 2023-2024 Human Rights Advocates cohort at Columbia University's Institute of the Study of Human Rights, serves as a Program Coordinator for the International Accountability Project (IAP) in Malawi. Elias supports communities affected by development projects by providing training, workshops, research, information-sharing, guidance, and advocacy tools to local groups. His advocacy journey began in 2016 with Citizens for Justice (CFJ), collaborating with IAP to address human rights violations related to a dam development project in Malawi. Elias aims to continue his growth through training opportunities and capacity-building programs, with a goal of expanding support for the communities he serves. Additionally, he aspires to pursue a Master's program in Community Development in the coming years.
Panelists
Education Action in Crisis (EAC) is a youth-led national NGO in South Sudan. EAC works to create a lasting solution to the education crisis in South Sudan, especially for those affected by conflict and displacement. Their goal is to work with communities, government, and partners to bring the joy of education to the most vulnerable sector of our society. They implement programs that improve the quality of education, psycho-social support, peace building, governance and civic education, policy and advocacy for gender equality and human rights recognition (Education Action in Crisis, 2023).
Represented by: Mading Peter Angong 
Tomorrow Vijana is a refugee-led organization in the Rwamwanja refugee settlement in Kamwenge District in Uganda. The organization provides English lessons to both adults and refugees in the community which is primarily made up of Congolese refugees who speak Kiswahili and French. The organization has also created a community learning hub with a library that provides computer and language classes as well as other livelihood programming for refugees. The organization is also part of a consortium of refugee led organizations, Bright Futures, in Uganda which support refugees with disabilities. The consortium is supported by Cohere. In Kiswahili, “Tomorrow Vijana '' means “Tomorrow’s Youth”' (Cohere, 2018).
Represented by: Kubana Alexis
Youth Initiative for Development in Africa (YIDA) is a youth-led and community-Based organization that is formed to promote sustainable living by providing quality education and financial inclusion for youth and children in the Kyaka II refugee camp. YIDA provides early childhood education and primary education to refugee children and in the host communities, through the school construction and training of teachers. YIDA also offers soft skill training to entrepreneurial refugees and offers them startup capital in the refugee settlement and host communities to develop businesses, hence employment.
Represented by: James Ntakiruti Gihoma 