ConnectRefugee launched in Nakivale Refugee Settlement on April 24, 2026. A free app in five languages giving refugees verified information directly from UNHCR, WFP, and organizations on the ground.
The day we stopped waiting for someone else to fix it
Munguzo has lived in Nakivale Refugee Settlement since 2017. One morning he woke up early, walked nearly an hour to check if food was being distributed that day, and found nothing. He turned around and walked back.
He did not tell that story at the launch of ConnectRefugee to get sympathy. He told it because almost everyone in that room had their own version of it.
Nakivale is home to hundreds of thousands of people from Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, and beyond. Dozens of organizations work inside the settlement every day. But for years, the information those organizations held never moved cleanly to the people who needed it. It scattered through WhatsApp chains, notice boards, and word of mouth, arriving late or wrong or not at all.
That gap became a business for some people. Not an honest one. Refugees paid strangers to access services that were already free. False registration dates circulated and the people who showed up found closed doors. Fake resettlement opportunities spread fast, and families made real decisions based on complete lies. The cruelty of it was not just the loss of money or time. It was what it did to people over years. At some point, even true information stopped being believed.
ConnectRefugee was built inside that reality.
The app is simple by design. Organizations working in Nakivale post updates directly, and refugees read them in their own language. Food distribution schedules. Health services. Registration windows. Education programs. Emergency alerts. The information comes from the source, and it reaches people before they have already made a wasted journey.
It runs in English, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, and Somali, because those are the languages of the people living in Nakivale. That decision was not made in a meeting far away. It was made by someone who knows which languages are spoken at which end of the settlement.
More than 200 people used the app before it was officially launched. They found the problems, reported them, and the team fixed them. That is how software should be built. Especially software that people will rely on for information that affects their daily lives.
The Launch: April 24, 2026
On April 24, 2026, ConnectRefugee was officially launched inside the settlement.
26 community-based organizations and UN agencies came. ACBON (Association of Community-Based Organizations of Nakivale) came. For anyone who works in humanitarian settings, that list means something. These are not organizations that show up for events. They show up when they believe something is worth their time.
What made that room significant was not the speeches or the number of seats filled. It was the fact that the organizations refugees already trust were now part of a system built by refugees. That alignment is harder to achieve than building the app itself.
Six days later, on April 30, 2026, ConnectRefugee went live on the Google Play Store.
That is the moment the work became permanent. An event ends. An app on the Play Store does not. Any refugee in Nakivale with an Android phone can download it today. Any refugee who has since moved to Kampala or any part of Uganda to study, work, or for any other reasons can download it. The information is there, it is free, and it is not going anywhere.
The target is 5,000 active users in the first three months. Given the size of Nakivale and how long people have been waiting for something like this, that number is a floor.
ConnectRefugee was built by CAMPUS Digital Hub, a refugee-led technology organization that operates inside the settlement. CAMPUS trains people in web development, artificial intelligence, and digital marketing. Its DigiLadies program works specifically with women.
Campus Digital Hub
Community first, Technology forward.
For the people of Nakivale, by the people of Nakivale.
Share it with someone in the settlement who is still walking hours for information they could have on their phone.