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A promise of livelihoods for young refugees in Uganda

By ForAfrika

Members of Happy Poultry Group posing outside their poultry house, built with support from ForAfrika. Photo by Allan Kauta/ForAfrika.

Mornings in Palorinya Refugee Settlement begin with the weight of uncertainty. Days are marked by limited opportunities, shrinking food rations, and the constant question of how to survive. But in Zone 1 of the settlement, a group of young people refused to let hardship define them. Instead, they chose to work together. That choice led to the founding of the Happy Poultry Group, a youth-led enterprise that is now turning struggle into income.

The group was formed in 2024 by 30 young community members displaced by the conflict from South Sudan, 14 men and 16 women, who shared a simple desire to change their lives for the better. With determination to raise money, the group took on casual work in the community including digging gardens for host community members and fellow community members and saving every shilling they earned. The process was slow, painful, but they kept going. In time, they saved enough to build a small poultry house and buy 200 one-month-old broiler chicks.

Using the little knowledge they had, they began rearing the birds and later sold them at an average price of UGX 35,000 (approximately USD 9.5) each. They did not stop there. They reinvested the money into the business and continued with more cycles, first 300 birds, then 250. With each round, they learned through experience.

When ForAfrika met the group in May 2025, it found young people who had already shown extraordinary commitment but were still fighting an uphill battle. Their biggest challenge was lack of sufficient capital and the technical knowledge needed to grow sustainably. Some birds had been lost to disease in earlier cycles, and those losses were discouraging.

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“We were very determined to grow our business, but we were limited by the small capital to expand it.”

- Monika Wayet, one of the group members.

For Sokiri Francis, the chairperson, those losses were more than a setback to the business. They were a reminder of how fragile progress can be when people are trying to build with so little.

In August 2025, ForAfrika supported the group to put up a modern poultry unit with capacity of more than 1,000 birds, 500 one-month-old chicks, feed, vaccination support, and practical training in poultry management. This was the group’s turning point.

With improved skills and stronger systems in place, the group successfully managed the 500 birds and recorded a mortality rate of just 10 per cent, far lower than before. After four months of rearing, the birds were sold at five months old, bringing in UGX 13,750,000 (USD 3,709). Out of this, UGX 5,700,000 (USD 1,537) was shared among all 30 members, with each receiving UGX 170,000 (USD 46) for their labour. The rest was reinvested to buy another 500 birds so the business could continue growing.

Jane Guo, a group member, used her share to rent an acre of land, bought birds for rearing at home, and prepared her groundnut garden.

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“I decided to reinvest my share into farming to grow my money.”

- Jane Guo, a group member.

Today, the group is looking ahead with renewed hope. They aim to run at least two production cycles each year, raise 1,000 birds per cycle, and continue growing the business into a reliable source of income. What started as a small initiative for survival is now becoming a promising livelihood.

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