Women's Soccer Event Held for World Refugee Day! ~ Hope away from home

On 17 June 2023, in proportion to World Refugee Day on 20 June, JICA Uganda hosted girls-football Event in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in cooperation with Office of the Prime Minister, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), SOLTILO Bright Stars Football Club（SBS）, a member of the Uganda Premier League and NGOs.
Uganda hosts approximately 1.54 million refugees (As of May 2023) from neighboring countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.
Rwamwanja in particular has hosted over 90,000 refugees from the DRC.

The theme for this year's World Refugee Day is "Hope away from home”. The football event was held in the hope that it would promote peaceful coexistence between refugees and host communities and girls’ empowerment through sports.

Sixty female football players from refugees and host communities, mainly between 16 and 19 years old, participated in a football lesson led by SBS actively participated in the classes, together with their new friends and professional football players.
The football lesson was filled with the meticulous ingenuity of professional football players, which brings refugees and host communities to get to know each other without discrimination.
In the afternoon, the participants enjoyed football games and cheered each other while playing. Also spectators from the local community came to watch the games. The players enjoyed the games with smiles on their faces with lots of support.
Since this event was targeted at girls, a local NGO called TPO gave lectures on menstrual hygiene and women's empowerment. At the end of the event, sanitary products and soap were distributed to participants to aid their sanitation and hygiene.
At the closing ceremony, Mr. Fukuhara Ichiro, Senior Representative of JICA Uganda Office, said, "Everyone was shining today. Please believe in the power of sports and keep your dreams and hopes alive. If you do so, your hopes and dreams will surely come true one day.”

The participants commented that
“The important thing is to face people as human beings, rather than as refugees or host communities."
“My family places more importance on religion than sports, so I do not have much time to play football, however, I want to be a professional football player in the future, and I also want to do business in the future”
“I want to become a nurse and help people living in refugee settlements who are sick and in need.”

In addition to Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement, JICA has hosted football events for refugees and host communities living in refugee settlements in northern Uganda and city areas. As a result, for example, the mixed refugee/host community team established at last year's JICA event is now recognized in the refugee settlement as a role model for peaceful coexistence efforts.
JICA will continue to actively implement activities that promote peaceful coexistence and women's empowerment of refugees and host communities, in cooperation with Japan and overseas partners.