About Us

CAFOMI is a leading local humanitarian organization in Uganda, founded and led by experienced returnee diaspora humanitarian, human rights and development professionals.

CAFOMI is an NGOsource Certified Public Charity organization for U.S. grantmakers. The organization blends experience, knowledge and expertise with a team of professionals and volunteers to develop and implement innovative emergency humanitarian assistance and post emergency durable solution programs with full participation of persons of concern.

WHY FORCED MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES

Almost every Ugandan has a story with refugees. Uganda has a long history of hosting refugees and asylum seekers dating back to the 1940s. In the years 1942-1944, over 7000 Polish refugees mainly women and children fleeing World War II were received and settled by Ugandan government in Masindi and Mukono district.

Uganda’s refugee laws have evolved over the years and are now regarded among the most progressive in the world. Our policies promote refugee integration with local communities and support refugee self-reliance. This has created a favorable environment for development          -oriented planning for refugees and host communities.

The refugee response in Uganda has traditionally been largely led by foreign international organizations with local organization only playing a supporting role. The birth of CAFOMI has changed this dynamic.

More so, Uganda is prone to natural hazards such as floods, droughts, earthquakes, landslides, strong winds, lightning and their secondary impacts of diseases and epidemics. Floods and landslides/ slope failures are the most frequent. The region is equally prone to man-made disasters such as water pollution.

According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Uganda had a total number of 130,000 new forced displacements in 2019 due to disaster, This greatly impacted on the affected communities to access safe water and dignified sanitation facilities, as well as their livelihood.  In response to disaster, CAFOMI and Partners have supported in improving access to clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene in these affected communities.

Through the seven years of its existence, CAFOMI has significantly grown from an  implementing partner of Humanitarian Initiative Just Relief Aid (HIJRA) to become a strategic partner with government of Uganda, UN Systems, and private sector companies, local and international organizations to address the prevailing humanitarian–development-peace nexus challenges. We have now become a strategic partner of leading humanitarian agencies including the UNHCR and Government of Uganda – Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Africa Humanitarian Action (AHA), Malteser International (MI) and the UN World Food Program (WFP). These partnerships have enabled us to deliver programs in various districts, in refugee transit centers and settlements.

CAFOMI has also been able to strategically form partnership with other non-traditional humanitarian actors like Rotary International, Friends of Bamboo, Refugee Law Project, Makerere University and other training institutions to implement innovative solutions and programs.

CAFOMI partnered with Water Governance Institute (WGI) to introduce Aquaponics as an innovative livelihood enhancement in peri urban Kampala, Wakiso and Adjumani district.

CAFOMI is a leader in championing the localization agenda and therefore co-chairs the Steering Committee of Humanitarian Platform for Local and National Organizations which brings together all national organizations, including the Uganda Red Cross, in the humanitarian sector; represents national NGOs on the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) – Steering Group (SG) and the Refugee Donor Partners Group (RDPG); a member of the Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR); member of Uganda National NGO Forum; as well as an active member of the Protection, WASH, Livelihoods, Energy and Environment working groups in the Uganda Refugee Response.