Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID) is a refugee led non-profit organization in Kampala, Uganda. The mission of YARID is to empower refugees, asylum seekers and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to overcome the burdens of deprivation and vulnerability to become healthy, educated, self-sustaining and contributing members of society. While Uganda has set up many progressive programs for refugees to become self-reliant, these are primarily set in rural refugee settlements and fail to meet the needs of the increasing number of refugees that have spent their entire lives living in urban areas. As refugees leave their countries, adjusting to a new country, often in a new language, can be very difficult. In addition, people have often lost their farms, their shops, or any other work that had been their livelihoods for many years. Women who did not work before often find themselves without their husbands and having to work for the first time. Youth have often missed school and fallen behind. YARID offers a variety of programming to address some of these needs including: computer and social media classes, vocational skills trainings for women’s empowerment, English classes, soccer and baseball trainings, and business development.
