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Plot 75/79 Jomo Kenyatta Road
Logo-Hashtag Gulu
Follow us
+256 (0) 393 243 139 info@hashtaggulu.org

Plot 75/79 Jomo Kenyatta Road

Restoring Hope, Dignity & Opportunity

Hashtag Gulu Initiative provides holistic care for children and youth living and working on the streets through psychosocial support, healthcare, life skills training, family reintegration, advocacy and creative therapy.

Psychosocial Support

Children and youth in street situations often carry deep trauma caused by family breakdown, conflict, stigma, abuse and loss of belonging. Hashtag Gulu provides counselling, mentorship and safe spaces where young people can begin to heal and make better choices.

✓Trauma-informed counselling and care
✓Safe spaces for trust-building and mentorship
✓Support for healing, identity and belonging

Life Skills Improvement

Through practical training in agriculture, carpentry, tailoring, hairdressing and other employable skills, young people gain confidence and pathways to earn a dignified livelihood.

✓Hands-on vocational and agribusiness training
✓Mentorship, apprenticeships and employment linkages
✓Startup support and cooperative participation

Family Reintegration

Our team traces families, facilitates mediation and prepares both young people and caregivers for reunification. The goal is not only to return children home, but to support lasting reintegration into safe families and communities.

✓Family tracing and mediation
✓Parent and caregiver empowerment
✓Follow-up mentorship after reintegration

Advocacy for Changed Systems & Mindsets

Street-connected children are often stigmatized and misunderstood. Through schools, communities, radio, online campaigns and dialogue, Hashtag Gulu challenges harmful labels and encourages community responsibility.

✓Community dialogues and school engagements
✓Radio and online advocacy campaigns
✓Systems-level conversations on child protection
Art therapy

Art & Therapy

Art creates spaces for expression, healing and reconciliation. Through theatre, music, dance and visual arts, young people tell their stories, rebuild confidence and engage communities in honest conversations.

✓Forum theatre and community performances
✓Creative healing for street-connected youth
✓Art as a tool for dialogue and reintegration

Health & Wellbeing

Young people in street situations face barriers to healthcare, stigma, substance abuse, poor hygiene and mental health challenges. Hashtag Gulu improves access to care through clinic services, referrals, outreach and education.

✓Physical and mental healthcare access
✓Hygiene, SRH and health education
✓Referrals, outreach and stigma reduction

What We Do

Psycho-social support

Life skills Empowerment

Re-integration

Advocacy for Changed Systems and Mindsets

Art and Therapy

Health

psycho

Psycho-social support

Children in northern Uganda, unlike those in other parts of the country, have been profoundly affected by the ongoing impact of the LRA insurgency in the region. The LRA insurgency forced many people to flee their homes and seek refuge in towns due to the constant fear of violence and loss of life. This resulted not only in the loss of their homes and heritage but also in the breakdown of families.

Life skills Improvement

Amid the harsh realities of poverty and hopelessness, children and youth living and working on the streets often find themselves resorting to criminal activities as a desperate means of survival.

Lifeskills Empowerment2

Re-integration

Many children find themselves living on the streets due to a complex interplay of pull and push factors, including poverty, war, lack of care at home, parental loss, domestic violence, physical and mental abuse, economic instability, trafficking, and erosion of traditional values, among others.

Advocacy for Changed Systems and Mindsets

In our community, children who live and work on the streets are often perceived as nuisances and even blamed as perpetrators of violence. The derogatory term “Aguu,” commonly used to describe street-connected individuals and other wrongdoers in Gulu, carries a heavy burden of stigma, akin to passing a death sentence or long-term social judgment.

Art and Therapy

Art and Therapy

The art initiatives at Hashtag Gulu Initiative have proven to be incredibly powerful in promoting healing, coping with stress, and supporting the well-being of young people living in street situations and juvenile detention centers. Additionally, art plays a significant role in facilitating reconciliation and reintegration processes within communities.

Health

Young people living in street situations face significant physical and mental health challenges. A survey conducted by Hashtag Gulu Initiative with 50 street-connected children and youths (41 boys and 9 girls) revealed that only 32% of males and 56% of females interviewed reported feeling healthy.

Health