This learning brief documents challenges, capacities and opportunities of women and youth at risk of gender based violence (GBV), in particular in urban areas in Northern Uganda. It summarizes key findings from various studies of the Women and Youth Resilience Project (WAYREP), including two Rapid Gender Analyses, the baseline, knowledge model papers, and a qualitative assessment.
The learning brief informs WAYREP’s learning agenda which aims at:
 Gaining a better understanding of the livelihood and safety, security, and wellbeing challenges that marginalised and vulnerable communities face in urban poor and settlement settings with a focus on girls,
 Identifying and documenting effective and sustainable support strategies to alleviate challenges, namely poverty and gender-based violence (GBV), in the nexus, urban and COVID 19 context.
WAYREP’s overall objective is to “Strengthen the resilience of refugee and Ugandan women, girls and youth to live a life free from violence in Uganda”. WAYREP focuses on women and girls’ empowerment within the context of some of Uganda’s most pressing current challenges such as rapid urbanization, regular and high rates of displacement and migration across and within Uganda’s borders and a very young and largely unemployed population. In 2020, this fragile context was further exacerbated with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic not only in terms of its health implications, but also in terms of its impact on livelihoods, safety and security.