OPM stands for Office of the Prime Minister. In Uganda, this is the agency responsible for all of the country’s refugee settlements. They secure each settlement, making sure that residents feel safe (we’ve heard from so many refugees how safe they feel in Uganda). And they ensure that all the organizations working with refugees coordinate closely with one another to best meet the needs of settlement residents.
Right now, OPM is stretched like never before. In the last 12 months, refugees have been flowing into Uganda in unprecedented numbers from neighboring countries – particularly South Sudan. Today, Uganda hosts more than 1 million refugees. With so many people in their care and without a proportionate increase in its budget, OPM is in a challenge.
We wanted to do a little something to give the OPM team in Kyangwali refugee settlement a boost. So we put together a stationery care package complete with paper, pens, highlighters, rulers, stamp pads and more – the kind of things that might get the knife in budget cuts but are so critical for day-to-day operations.
For OPM, paper is particularly critical. OPM puts out a lot of official documents – from declarations of land ownership to referral letters for vulnerable individuals. So a strong supply of paper is always important.
“Many people think stationery is nothing to OPM, but pen and paper can save a life,” a representative from OPM explained. “We are going to use this gift in the most effective way to see referrals and other services extended to our residents of Kyangwali.”
To be honest, organizations like ARC rely heavily on OPM to do our own work on a daily basis. So, by supplying a close partner with some things they need, we ensure that we’re able to serve refugees in a timely, coordinated manner.
This change made possible by Atomic Data.
