With a population of 49 million, Uganda hosts over 1.5 million refugees (57% of whom are children), providing access to opportunities in the education system and labour markets. Refugee children study the Ugandan curriculum and earn formal school-leaving certificates. While the formal curriculum focuses on traditional subjects (e.g. math, science, social studies, English, etc.), for children whose lives have been disrupted by armed conflict, war, and natural disasters, engagement in the arts is essential to further strengthen individual and communal resilience and to help mitigate trauma. Arts provide both short- and long-term benefits, including positive and lifelong contributions to physical and mental health and well-being.

The goal of the Ubumwe 2.0: Integrating Arts Education and Psychosocial Support with Children and Youth Affected Affected by Displacement in Uganda project is to integrate culturally and contextually relevant arts education in schools for children and youth affected by displacement, and to support teachers in the uptake of arts-based practices that meaningfully support children. The Ubumwe project, based on a Kinyabwisha term meaning “togetherness,” builds on an initial pilot that developed and tested an integrated arts-focused curriculum in a community school in the Kyangwali refugee settlement in southwestern Uganda, home to over 135,000 refugees coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and South Sudan.

For Ubumwe 2.0, researchers, educators and artists from the U.S. and Uganda, will work together to further develop and expand the arts curriculum for children in 3-4 primary schools in the Kyangwali settlement, collaborating closely with national Ugandan authorities responsible for curriculum development. Teachers and school leaders will participate in teacher professional development on arts education and psychosocial support, led by local teaching artists and mental health practitioners. The project will contribute to understanding the impact of the arts and to advocate for broader integration of the arts into school programming for refugee children as well as learners across Uganda through alignment with the national curriculum.

The project will result in improved education outcomes and mental health well-being, socialization skills, coping strategies, resilience and connectedness to community among learners, and improved pedagogical content knowledge and resilience among teachers. In addition, the project will contribute to the field of education in humanitarian settings, increasing understanding of the contributions that arts can make to the well-being of children and youth affected by displacement.

In partnership with:

• The AfriChild Centre
• Artolution
• Arts Ignite 
• Hopelink Action Foundation