Simma Africa Creative Arts Foundation

The THRIVE
Programme

A community-centred, feminist and arts-based programme working at the intersection of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, Mental Health, Digital Literacy, and Rights and Security for refugee and key population communities across Uganda and East Africa.

Our Four Pillars Read About Our Work
782+
Queer Refugee Women & Girls Reached Directly
8.6M
Online Audience Reached Across Social Media
1,400+
Menstrual Health Packs Distributed in Uganda Per Year
398
Briquette Stoves Distributed to Refugee Women Since 2023
5
Refugee Settlements Covered: Nakivale, Kiryandongo, BidiBidi, Kyaka and Wakiso
Programme Focus Areas:
SRHR & WASH Mental Health Digital Literacy Rights & Security
Why THRIVE Exists

Because Survival is Not Enough

In Uganda's refugee settlements, adolescent girls and young women from key population communities face compounding crises: gender-based violence, period poverty, isolation, digital exclusion and a near-total absence of queer-friendly support services.

Simma Africa Creative Arts Foundation has been working directly with queer refugee women and adolescent girls since 2018, building evidence, trust and community at the grassroots level. Through two foundational programmes funded by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) and UHAI-EASHRI, we have documented the deep, interconnected needs of marginalised refugee communities and responded with community-led, feminist and arts-based interventions.

Our work through the CFLI-funded MASQ Project delivered mental health wellness training, psychosocial healing circles, feminist transformational leadership workshops, and menstrual health hygiene kits to over 100 queer refugee AGYW in Wakiso District, reaching a total audience of 7,241 through an online and offline advocacy campaign. The UHAI-EASHRI programme extended our reach to 103 direct beneficiaries across five refugee settlements, creating healing circles, buddy support systems and an online HIV sensitisation campaign that reached 345,000 people.

Building on this foundation, THRIVE continues in partnership with UNAIDS, AWDF, VOICE and TRUST Women to eliminate gender-based violence, including sexual violence, female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) and child marriage, while challenging the stigma, discrimination, attitudes and laws that undermine human rights on the basis of gender, race or sexual orientation.

We raise awareness on comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in schools, promote menstrual health and youth-friendly service delivery, and increase access to comprehensive reproductive health services for poor, vulnerable and marginalised people across Nakivale, Kiryandongo, BidiBidi, Kyaka and Wakiso Refugee Settlements.

THRIVE consolidates these learnings into a coherent, multi-year programme framework built on four pillars, working not just to help communities survive, but to truly thrive.

Peer Leaders session
Ending Period Poverty
GBV Awareness Session
Our Four Pillars

What THRIVE Addresses

01
Pillar One

Sexual & Reproductive Health Rights, WASH

Ending period poverty, providing menstrual health products, hygiene training, SRHR awareness, bodily autonomy education and advocacy on SGBV and HIV for queer refugee women and girls in displacement.

Menstrual Health SGBV Awareness Bodily Autonomy HIV Prevention WASH Access
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02
Pillar Two

Mental Health & Psychosocial Wellbeing

Healing circles, mental wellness training, psychosocial support sessions, queer-feminist counselling, radical rest practices and buddy support systems for survivors of SGBV, intimate partner violence and displacement trauma.

Healing Circles Psychosocial Support Feminist Leadership Trauma-Informed Safe Spaces
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03
Pillar Three

Digital Literacy & Online Advocacy

Building the digital confidence, safety skills and advocacy capacity of queer refugee communities, with a focus on online safety, identifying misinformation, social media literacy and digital storytelling as a tool for movement building.

Online Safety Digital Storytelling Social Media Literacy Anti-Misinformation Advocacy Campaigns
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04
Pillar Four

Rights & Security in Refugee Communities

Community sensitisation on SOGIE, human rights, VAWG and the specific vulnerabilities of key population peoples within refugee settlements, including access to non-discriminatory legal and health services and documentation support.

SOGIE Education Human Rights Legal Awareness Documentation Community Safety
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Documented Impact

Our Track Record

Drawn from final narrative reports submitted to Canada Fund for Local Initiatives and UHAI-EASHRI, and ongoing programme data from continuing partnerships with UNAIDS, AWDF, VOICE and TRUST Women.

782+
Queer refugee women and girls directly reached
8.6M
Online audience reached across all social media
1,400+
Menstrual health packs distributed in Uganda per year
398
Briquette stoves distributed to refugee women since 2023
7
Healing circles and buddy support groups established for survivors of SGBV
Canada Fund for Local Initiatives · 2021-22
MASQ Project, Wakiso District
Mental health wellness, psychosocial healing circles, feminist leadership training and menstrual health support for 100 queer refugee AGYW in Wakiso. Online advocacy reaching 7,241 persons.
UHAI-EASHRI · 12 Months
SRHR, SOGIE and Mental Health Programme
Two-day joint SRHR and SOGIE workshops, five mental wellness sessions, healing circles and a 6-month HIV sensitisation campaign reaching 345,000 people online across five refugee settlements.
Ongoing · UNAIDS, AWDF, VOICE, TRUST Women
THRIVE, Multi-Pillar Programme
Consolidating our SRHR, Mental Health, Digital Literacy and Rights work into an integrated programme reaching queer refugee and key population communities across Nakivale, Kiryandongo, BidiBidi, Kyaka and Wakiso Refugee Settlements.
"

We are very happy with the ideas coming up and we need to believe in those ideas, especially those about women standing against violence. We believe that Simma Africa will help change many of the negative stereotypes surrounding queer women within Uganda.

Trans Womxn from South Sudan, THRIVE Programme Participant
How We Work

Community-Centred, Feminist, Arts-Based

THRIVE is built on the principle that the communities most affected by structural violence are the experts in their own liberation. Every intervention is co-designed with participants, facilitated by peer leaders from refugee communities, and grounded in the creative arts as a tool for healing, expression and advocacy.

We do not deliver services to communities, we build movements with them. Our healing circles, leadership workshops and digital campaigns are designed to create lasting peer support infrastructure that continues beyond any funding cycle.

We have documented that mental health wellness, bodily autonomy, digital safety and human rights knowledge are not separate issues for our communities, they are inseparable dimensions of the same struggle. THRIVE addresses them together.

Peer-Led Delivery

Trained community peer leaders from within refugee settlements facilitate all sessions.

Feminist and Decolonial Framework

All programming centres intersectionality, bodily autonomy, and indigenous knowledge systems.

Arts as a Vehicle for Healing

Creative expression, art-making, music and performance are integrated into every programme component.

Safe Spaces by Design

All sessions are confidential, non-discriminatory and tailored to the specific safety needs of key population peoples.

SRHR WASH Food Relief Distribution

SRHR, WASH and Food Relief Distribution, Wakiso District, Uganda. Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, 2021-22

Get Involved

Fund, Partner or Co-Design with THRIVE

We are actively seeking institutional partners, individual supporters and co-funding opportunities to scale THRIVE across East Africa's 13 refugee settlements, reaching over 1.5 million refugees, more than 60% of whom are womxn and girls.

Contact Natasha Simma All SAF Projects