Founded directly inside Nakivale Refugee Settlement by those who have walked the path of displacement, ARAI was created to shift the narrative from short-term aid dependency to lasting community self-reliance.
What Drives Us
To expand access to education for underserved communities, ensure that vulnerable and marginalized people have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives, and make health a right, not a privilege.
A world where education, healthcare, and opportunity are accessible to all.
Treating every person with kindness, dignity, and deep human respect.
Operating with absolute honesty, transparency, and accountability.
Believing that futures can change and hope can grow past any hardship.
Giving our very best and serving with professionalism.
Building sustainable, locally rooted solutions alongside families and youth.
Choosing understanding over division to bridge cultures and shared humanity.
Equipping people with skills and confidence to build a better future.
(ARAI) African Refugees Alliance Initiative, formerly African Initiatives for Change (AIC), grew from the lived experience of young refugees in Nakivale settlement.
Founded in 2019 by Emmanuel Manu Mukarandimu and Zigashane Matabura as African Initiatives for Change (AIC) in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. They saw how poverty, conflict, and displacement quietly stole opportunities from neighbours, classmates, friends, and families.
Listening to parents who wanted nothing more than to keep their children in school. Listening to teachers who knew which students were quietly disappearing. Listening to older people whose greatest wish was simply not to be forgotten. Listening to young people who needed someone to believe in them.
Today, ARAI works alongside refugee communities and vulnerable families to keep children in school, protect orphaned children, improve healthcare access, respond to emergencies, restore dignity to older people, and empower youth.
We believe every child deserves an education, every orphan deserves to know they are not alone, every older person deserves dignity, and every young person deserves the opportunity to lead. Every refugee deserves to be seen for the future they are capable of building.
Grown from lived experience in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, our leadership and advisors are united by a commitment to community-led change.
Social entrepreneur and Pearson College UWC alumnus who founded ARAI to expand educational access and community-led support for displaced families.
Humanitarian and community leader focused on administrative oversight, sustainable program delivery, and local capacity building within refugee settlements.
Educator and advocate directing student retention programs and community outreach to keep vulnerable refugee children in school.
Dedicated community field coordinator driving boots-on-the-ground program implementation and direct family engagement across local settlements.
UWC network member providing strategic guidance, organizational development, and international partner alignment.
Pearson College UWC educator and founder of Girls on the Move, specializing in gender-equitable education policy and program strategy.