For families in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, the end of the NAKISAWA Project marks more than the conclusion of a humanitarian intervention. It marks the beginning of a new chapter, one where clean water, food, dignity and opportunity are helping families build more resilient lives.

For 43-year-old Nyiramugisha Nsabimana, a mother of ten and community leader in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, the memory of searching for water is one she will not easily forget.

For years, getting water meant a dangerous journey to Lake Nakivale. Families risked encounters with crocodiles and venomous snakes, while the water they returned with exposed them to the threat of waterborne diseases.

“We often suffered from dysentery, stomach infections, and malaria,” Nyiramugisha recalls. “But now, our children can fetch clean water safely, and they’re healthier. They even attend school regularly.”

Nyiramugisha’s story captures the difference that access to safe water can make in a community where displacement has already brought uncertainty and hardship.

Today, the sound of water flowing from taps is a reminder of how much life can change when one of the most basic human needs is finally within reach.

At the centre of that change is the Misera Water Treatment Plant, constructed by the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) with support from Austrian Development Cooperation, through the Austrian Red Cross.

The plant was one of the major achievements of the NAKISAWA Project, an initiative designed to improve living conditions for newly resettled refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and host communities in Nakivale.

The project combined investments in water, sanitation and hygiene with livelihood support, environmental conservation, gender empowerment and community resilience.

The Misera Water Treatment Plant, with its improved water intake, treatment and filtration infrastructure and solar-powered pumping system, represents a long-term investment in the health and well-being of communities in the settlement. The infrastructure was designed to strengthen reliable access to safe water while reducing dependence on conventional energy sources.

“The completion of the Misera Water Treatment Plant is a transformative moment for this community,” says Project Manager Eng. Jimmy Otim. “This isn’t just about infrastructure, it’s about restoring dignity, improving health, and creating opportunity.”

For Nyiramugisha, that opportunity is visible in her own compound.

Having arrived in Nakivale in 2007, she now uses the water for cooking, cleaning and bathing, and for nurturing her vegetable garden.

“We’ve been taught to boil the water to make it even safer. This has helped us keep our children healthy,” she says. “I grow vegetables year-round, and sometimes I sell them to buy essentials like school supplies.”

Her garden is more than a source of food. It is a reflection of what happens when access to water is combined with knowledge and opportunity.

Across the project area, families were supported to strengthen food security through vegetable production, kitchen gardens and improved farming practices. Forty Food Security and Livelihood groups representing 1,200 households established vegetable nurseries, helping communities build skills that can continue to support household nutrition and resilience beyond the project’s lifespan.

But the story of NAKISAWA is not only about water. It is also about what families can do when they are given the means to build their own futures.

In Kyeibare B Village, 31-year-old Jackline Ndagisanayo, a mother of five, received four hens through the project’s livelihood support initiative.

For Jackline, the chickens were a small beginning that gradually opened a bigger door.

 

“When the hens started laying eggs, our lives changed,” she says. “We now enjoy a more balanced diet, and by selling some eggs, I was able to save enough money to buy a goat.”

The poultry support was part of an initiative that provided 100 members of Income Generating Activity groups with improved Sasso chicks and complementary poultry inputs.

The intervention was designed to diversify household incomes while improving food security and resilience. For Jackline, the impact went beyond the eggs.

With the income she earned, she joined a local savings group, contributing UGX 6,000 every week. She became the first beneficiary of the group’s savings pool, enabling her to purchase a goat, another asset that now contributes to her family’s resilience.

But Jackline is quick to acknowledge that building a livelihood is not without challenges.

“Feeding the hens is expensive, and sometimes I have to sell eggs just to afford feed, leaving me with little to save,” she explains.

Still, she remains optimistic about what could be possible if families like hers had access to more poultry.

“If we had more hens, we could grow our income even further. Perhaps one day, we could afford a cow to provide milk for our children.”

For Jackline, the greatest change has been the independence that has come with having an income of her own.

“I no longer rely entirely on my husband for basic needs. Now, I can buy essentials like salt, soap, and food on my own. This empowerment has been life-changing.”

Her experience reflects one of the central lessons of the NAKISAWA Project: that humanitarian support can be most powerful when it helps people move beyond immediate needs and strengthens their ability to shape their own future.

The project reached beyond water and livelihoods to address the everyday realities that affect dignity and safety.

A total of 175 women and girls received menstrual hygiene support, while community leaders, volunteers, Village Health Teams and Water User Committees were trained on Protection, Gender and Inclusion and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.

Five solar streetlights were installed at selected water points to improve safety and accessibility, particularly for women and girls who collect water in the early morning or evening.

At household level, 279 Lorena energy-saving stoves were constructed, reducing dependence on firewood, while 1,200 households received tree seedlings as part of efforts to promote environmental conservation and climate resilience.

These interventions may appear different on the surface, water infrastructure, poultry, vegetable gardens, energy-saving stoves, tree seedlings and menstrual hygiene support. Together, however, they tell one story: the story of communities becoming better equipped to withstand the challenges of displacement and build more secure lives.

The NAKISAWA Project has now come to an end, but its work does not end with the closing of project activities.

Its legacy lives in the water infrastructure that continues to serve communities, in the vegetables growing in household gardens, in the chickens that provide eggs and income, in the goat that represents a family’s growing assets, and in the community structures trained to carry forward the knowledge and practices gained through the project.

The project also invested in the people and community structures needed to sustain its impact beyond its implementation period. Water User Committees, Village Health Teams and Income Generating Activity groups were strengthened to take ownership of key interventions, while collaboration with UNHCR, the Office of the Prime Minister, district local governments and other humanitarian partners helped create a strong foundation for continuity and community-led resilience.

For Nyiramugisha, the change is deeply personal.

“Leaving my home country was difficult, but here, access to clean water has given my family a better life. I’m truly grateful to the Uganda Red Cross Society for making this possible.”

For Jackline, it is the confidence that comes from knowing she can contribute to her family’s needs.

And for the wider community, it is the promise that the gains made through the project can continue to grow. The story of NAKISAWA, therefore, is not simply about what was delivered.

It is about what people have been able to do with the opportunities created.

A mother can grow vegetables and earn money for her children’s school needs.

A family can turn four hens into eggs, savings and a goat.

A community can replace a dangerous journey to the lake with safer access to treated water.

And, slowly, families who arrived in Nakivale carrying the weight of displacement can begin to imagine a future shaped not only by what they have lost, but by what they can build.

The project may have ended. But in Nakivale, its story continues, one drop of water, one egg, one harvest and one hopeful family at a time.