Murhula Christian is a community development professional, interpreter, and humanitarian practitioner with over 10 years of experience supporting refugees, vulnerable communities, and international organizations across Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Community Development and currently serves as an Interpreter and Translator with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), providing multilingual interpretation and translation services for refugee resettlement programs and international missions. Fluent in English, French, Swahili, Lingala, Shi, and Havu, he has also worked with UNHCR, InterAid Uganda, the Uganda High Court, and several humanitarian organizations. His expertise includes community development, refugee protection, advocacy, livelihood programming, peacebuilding, and cross-cultural communication. As a Global Peace Ambassador, he actively promotes peaceful coexistence, social inclusion, and sustainable community development through advocacy, training, and humanitarian engagement.

Title:Empowering Refugee and Host Community Women through Skills Development, Leadership, and Social Inclusion: Lessons from Uganda Abstract Women and girls from refugee and host communities continue to experience multiple barriers to economic independence, leadership participation, education, and access to essential services due to displacement, poverty, gender inequality, and limited livelihood opportunities. Despite Uganda's progressive refugee policy, many refugee women remain vulnerable to unemployment, gender-based violence, and social exclusion, limiting their contribution to sustainable development. This presentation examines community-based approaches implemented by Youth Up Foundation (YUF) to promote women's empowerment through vocational skills development, entrepreneurship, language education, financial inclusion, psychosocial support, leadership training, and social cohesion initiatives involving both refugee and host communities. Drawing on practical experiences from urban and rural Uganda, the presentation demonstrates how integrated interventions strengthen women's resilience, improve household incomes, reduce dependency on humanitarian aid, and increase women's participation in community decision-making. Special attention will be given to innovative models including tailoring and fashion design training, savings and lending groups, digital and computer literacy, language education, youth leadership development, gender-based violence prevention, and partnerships with local governments, faith-based organizations, and international development actors. The presentation further highlights the importance of locally led organizations in advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). The paper concludes by proposing scalable, community-driven strategies that governments, development partners, and civil society organizations can adopt to strengthen women's economic empowerment, social inclusion, and leadership among displaced populations across Africa and other humanitarian settings. Keywords: Women Empowerment, Gender Equality, Refugees, Social Inclusion, Livelihoods, Youth Development, Uganda, Community Development, Leadership, Sustainable Development Goals.