Mar 20 20
Helping millions of refugees getting access to critical knowledge about COVID-19
While the world is reeling from the impact of the novel coronavirus, the work of REFUNITE to inform, empower and assist refugees and displaced people in off-grid areas continues unabated. It’s an apt time for us to reveal a new project of ours, RELAY, which focuses on providing trusted information in times of crisis to refugees across Africa. As we’ll detail here, defeating the spread and impact of the coronavirus, and other threats, depends on credible information reaching people in a trusted and timely manner in some of the hardest to reach areas on the planet. RELAY as a project has identified and…
Nov 29 19
Community Leadership Network enables local leaders to exchange experiences
The REFUNITE’s Community Leadership Network is a network on our platform enabling more than 7,000 leaders to communicate with more than 5 million constituents, many of whom are off-grid, illiterate or a combination thereof. It allows for community leaders to easily engage with their communities and share vital and, at times, life-saving- information, e.g. on the recent Ebola outbreak in the DRC, natural disasters, and conflict that triggers displacement. It also provides exchanging of information among leaders, allowing them to share experiences, discuss common challenges and together find a solution. The leaders in Goma, DRC, are currently preparing a meeting…
Jul 8 19
How simply downloading an app can transform a refugee’s life
At REFUNITE, we never stop looking for new solutions to help improve the lives of refugees and displaced people. Our mission, first and foremost, is to empower these people. Our family tracing platform allows refugees to take the search for missing loved ones into their own hands, using only their mobile phone or computer. However, we wondered what other daily needs these people had and if there was anything we could do to help. Many of the refugees and host community members we speak to mention difficulties surrounding employment. In a new place, with no official paperwork or legal recognition,…
Mar 14 19
“We can tell them there is hope as long as REFUNITE can enable them to search for their families”
REFUNITE’s community network building project is tackling is how to reach offline, illiterate, and disenfranchised refugee populations with life-enhancing information. Women, elderly, and other vulnerable groups are often hard to reach with messages and information that could transform their lives. REFUNITE’s community network building project sets out to change this imbalance. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a community leader is someone with high status within a local society. The population looks up to their leader and consults with him or her to get solutions to their problems of any kind: conflicts, health, marriage, education, finances, and even spiritual challenges.…
Feb 20 19
“REFUNITE helped me save the lives of my people through its Community Leader Network”
Community members receiving messages via REFUNITE’s Community Leader Network and connected SMS platform REFUNITE’s Community Leader Network is a peer-to-peer network that tackles how to reach offline, illiterate, and disenfranchised refugee populations with life-enhancing information. Today, REFUNITE’s Community Leader Network is a network of more than 4000 tribal community leaders spread across 100 refugee communities worldwide that REFUNITE works with to communicate with and mobilize last-mile populations. Using online and offline channels and the power of this community-based network, REFUNITE is able to reach more than 2.4 million people with information. In a country as vast as the Democratic Republic…
Feb 15 19
REFUNITE’s Community Leader Network saves albino child’s life
Gilbert, Mariam and their children on their wedding day. Building on a base of more than 1 million users looking for missing family members through REFUNITE’s platform, REFUNITE has identified and partnered with more than 4000 local community leaders to help reach offline refugees in highly disconnected and illiterate communities. Through these leaders, that are highly respected in their local societies, REFUNITE has a reach to more than 100 refugee communities and a combined reach to more than 2.4 million people. This allows REFUNITE to support communication around things that are locally relevant and often life-altering; and around issues that…
Feb 13 19
The lost boy from Kenya
John’s picture, which was sent to his parents In December 2018, when most families were preparing to celebrate Christmas, John was thinking about his way out of a tough situation. Separated from his mother and father, he was living with distant family members. However, being subject to abuse by his relatives, his living situation had gotten unbearable and John wished for nothing but a safe place to live. John met a truck driver who was willing to help him get as far away from the abusive family members as possible. Hidden inside the truck, John ended up crossing the border…
Apr 4 18
After Years Apart Mother And Son Reconnect Across Continents
After Years Apart Mother And Son Reconnect Across Continents Tino* was born in 1992 in Kisangani, in the north-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tino and his five siblings had a happy childhood and close-knit family. When Tino was 16, his parents divorced and his father moved to Goma in North Kivu with the children. In eastern Congo this was a time of turmoil and violence. In 2013 conflict broke out and Tino fled to neighbouring Uganda. He lost contact with his siblings and with his mother Nadine*. Years passed. Nadine was now working in Kinshasa and…
Mar 27 18
Bonheur And Mireille: Hope And Connection After Ten Years Apart
Bonheur And Mireille: Hope And Connection After Ten Years Apart Bonheur was born in a refugee camp. Before the war, his parents lived in Sud-Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1998, unrest and violence forced them from their home. They crossed lake Tanganyika on a boat and fled to Lugufu refugee camp in western Tanzania. This was the place where Bonheur was born. By the time Bonheur was starting school, the situation in eastern Congo had seemingly gone back to normal. Bonheur’s parents decided to return to South-Kivu and be closer to the rest of the family.…
Mar 13 18
Marie And Pauline: Congolese Sisters Reconnected After Years Of Separation
Marie And Pauline: Congolese Sisters Reconnected After Years Of Separation Marie grew up in Goma, North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), surrounded by her nine siblings. She remembers the day when her youngest sister, Pauline, moved to Canada with her husband. Pauline had the chance to start afresh in a new country, different and far away from her own. Pauline missed her family and treasured the long phone calls with her sister Marie, during which the two sisters talked about their respective lives, their daily hardships, and their dreams and hopes for the future. In 2012, armed…
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