The government has rolled up training for refugees and host communities about new ways to market products using digital platforms.
This training is targeting the most poor with an intention of bringing them to the money economy but also connecting them directly to the buyers without interfacing middlemen.
Due to their vulnerability and lack of access to national and international markets, refugees have always faced challenges of marketing their products and services which has seen the majority of them fall in the racket of middlemen for them to access money.
This isn't any different to the host communities.
To reverse the trend however, government through the World Bank-funded 'Development Response to Displacement Impact Project' programme (DRDIP), has enrolled a digital marketing trainings in all the 10 refugee resettlements and hosting communities teaching refugees on new ways on how they can market their products using various digital platforms.
The trainings are being implemented by Savara international ltd.
"We are supporting them through digital marketing under our platform Webfarm to enable refugees and host communities access markets beyond their areas of jurisdiction," said Geral Muwonge, the team lead at Savara International Ltd.
Savara designed an App and a website dubbed, 'Webfarm', where refugees and host communities upload their products or services or even those seeking for employment to enable potential buyers see them. Accessing this system if free of charge.
"We are targeting the most poor communities and we want to bring them into the money economy which is in line with the president's vision to see people shift from subsistence to commercial activities," Muwonge added.
According to the trainers, the system intends to throw away middlemen who have been exploiting refugees by cutting down the prices for their commodities.
Muwonge says, they want to connect the buyers and the sellers on site and all the transactions will be done between the two.
Besides, the accessibility of this platform doesn't necessitate one to have a smart phone or internet.
"This system is holistic. It captures both people that are on internet and those who are not. We have also created a USSD model which is *284*25# which doesn't require internet and can be applied even for those with Kabiriti phones," Muwonge said.
The selected trainees will be required to train other refugees and the host communities to quickly scale up the project.
These have also been boosted with smart phones to aid their training.
Some of the trainees applauded government for this timely intervention.
"We have been facing the challenge of lack of markets for our products. We are now happy that this system will take us miles," said Evelyn Katwesigye, one of the beneficiaries.
This enrollment of this program comes at a time when refugees are facing cuts in money given to them as food ratios by the world food programme.
Officials say this is now an encouragement that they should do farming extensively since government has come up to help them access both local and international markets.