Our Story

Background of the Formation of Refugee Women Organization

The Refugee Women Organization (REWO) was founded out of lived experience, resilience, and a deep commitment to addressing the challenges faced by refugee women and vulnerable communities.

The organization’s founder, BimoAnisi Anibie Wandu, was born a refugee in Central Africa, where she spent her early childhood living with her parents. Following her parents’ separation, she moved with her father to Yambio, South Sudan, where they settled and began rebuilding their lives. However, tragedy struck in 2004 when her father passed away, leaving her under the care of her elder brother.

Life presented further challenges when conflict erupted in South Sudan in 2016. The outbreak of war brought widespread violence, displacement, and bloodshed, forcing Bimo Anisi Anibie Wandu and her family to flee for safety. They sought refuge in Uganda and were registered in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement in Yumbe District, West Nile Region.

Upon arrival in Uganda, Anis was a teenage single mother who had just given birth and was faced with the harsh realities of displacement without adequate support. Like many refugee women, she struggled to provide food for her child and navigate life in the settlement. The conditions in Bidi Bidi were extremely difficult, characterized by limited access to education, inadequate clean water, economic hardship, and frequent cases of gender-based violence (GBV). These experiences gave her firsthand understanding of the unique challenges refugee women face.

In 2020, Anis began volunteering with ICAN South Sudan, an organization founded by her elder brother. Through this work, she gained valuable experience in humanitarian response and community mobilization. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she witnessed a sharp rise in domestic violence, economic instability, food insecurity, interrupted education, and heightened tensions within refugee households and between refugee and host communities.

These experiences revealed a critical gap: the absence of a refugee women-led organization in Bidi Bidi that could effectively amplify women’s voices, advocate for their rights, and provide practical solutions to their challenges. Recognizing this need, Anis and her team Wande Clement Jovana, Joy Nema, Ekisa Betty Nelly Williams Registered (REWO) as a community-based organization (CBO) with the Yumbe district local government (Reg. No; RMG/000650). Later REWO was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee (Reg. No; 80020003930046). This milestone market a new phase of growth, and impact for REWO in preventing, reducing, and transforming conflicts through locally led innovations in peace building, education, livelihood, environment sustainability and gender equality and protection. We have strengthened local peace structure to respond to and prevent conflicts, build livelihood of about 4155 youth, girls, and women, increased their safety and well-being and improve access to education for over 7000 children, youth and women.

REWO was created to empower refugee women and girls by promoting gender equality, economic empowerment, education, peacebuilding, and social inclusion. The organization also works to strengthen peaceful coexistence between refugees and host communities through dialogue and conflict resolution initiatives.

The organization’s first major breakthrough came through a five-year partnership with War child Canada under the BRIDGE Project, which provided a strong foundation for its growth and operations. Since then, REWO has built partnerships with key humanitarian actors, including UNHCR, which has supported livelihood programming. REWO is also a proud member of the Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN) Uganda, where our Executive Director represents refugee voices on the steering committee.

Today, REWO focuses on four key thematic areas:

Education

Livelihood and economic empowerment

Gender equality and protection

Environmental protection

REWO continues to stand as a powerful example of how lived refugee experiences can be transformed into leadership and action that creates lasting change for vulnerable communities.