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Scattered Dreams, Broken Promises

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An Assessment of the Links between Girls’ Empowerment and Gender-based Violence in the Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, Uganda.

Executive Summary

The Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) conducted research in the Kyaka II Refugee Settlement in southwestern Uganda in October 2012 to explore the relationship between the empowerment of adolescent refugee girls and the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV). This was the final research mission in a three-country series of assessments; the first two were completed in Ethiopia and Tanzania.

The objective of the assessment in Uganda was to understand more about the protection and empowerment needs of, and opportunities for, refugee adolescent girls in Kyaka II as identified by girls themselves; to learn from existing programs that support refugee girls’ protection and empowerment; and to identify organizations that may be interested in piloting a program at Kyaka II focused on enhancing girls’ safety.

Through this work, the WRC hopes to bridge persistent gaps in programming for adolescent girls in crisis and displacement situations amid a growing recognition of the importance of working with girls in early adolescence to ensure their healthy development and the achievement of their full potential.

A guidance paper on the learning from the pilot programs as well as aggregate findings from the three research missions, will be produced in 2014. It will be aimed at humanitarian actors working with adolescent girls in emergencies in order to inform, support and guide their work with this vulnerable and often marginalized group.