Samantha Wasala, Research Analyst – NORC at the University of Chicago

Kakuma Refugee Camp located in North-Western Kenya home to 196,120 refugees.[1] Photo taken by Ryan Brown for UN Women.

With more than 70 million forcibly-displaced people worldwide Kenya hosts 494,694 refugees, the second largest refugee population in Africa.[2] Dadaab, Kakuma, and Kalobeyei are the largest refugee complexes in the country, located in remote food insecure counties that host refugees mostly from Somalia and South Sudan.[3] As the average length of displacement is rising, many refugees can spend up to nearly two decades growing up in these protracted situations.[4]

In response, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Research Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) worked with researchers from University of Notre Dame’s Department of Anthropology and the Pulte Institute for Global Development to better understand approaches that build refugee and host community self-sufficiency and resilience capacities.

Extensive field research to reflect the on the ground realities was undertaken in the Dadaab, Kakuma, and Kalobeyei refugee camps. The research team conducted household surveys with refugees and focus group discussions with refugees and host communities. The team also conducted key informant interviews with external stakeholders working in relief and development agencies, government and country officials, and private sector investors and firms.

Why Measure Resilience and Self-Sufficiency Sources?

Resilience refers to the ability of individuals, groups, and/or communities to withstand/absorb, adapt to, or transform with respect to varying types of personal, social, and systemic shocks and chronic stressors a characteristic of disabling environments. Self-sufficiency is the ability of individuals, groups, or communities to meet their essential needs in a sustainable and dignified manner.[5] Resilience is important to measure as it helps understand which characteristics are linked to greater well-being.

Based on the data analysis, significant sources of resilience and self-sufficiency among refugees include: refugee’s country of origin or where they currently live, being hopeful about the future, spending time with friends, and having sources of income. Identifying these sources can help guide practitioners on how to amplify the strengths and resources people already have in the face of adversity, as well as how to target their future programming.

Enhancing Future Programs

Currently, most programmatic interventions are focused on offering training and skills in business and job development or improving access to financial services; water, sanitation and hygiene; energy; and agriculture. These findings suggest that future programs need to account for three key factors: the disabling environment, mental health, and positive social network.

• Disabling Environments. Insufficient attention to on-the-ground realities in programming can contribute to low resilience and self-sufficiency. Police interactions (abuse, assault, and corruption), low quality of health care, and high frequency of stress and shocks hinder successful program implementation.
• Mental Health. Most refugees suffer disproportionately from psychobiological stressors and shocks, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, negativity, harmful sleeping patterns, and anxiety. If these traumas are left untreated, it can have a significant impact on the individual’s greater well-being and affect the ability to respond to opportunities or show consistency in work.
• Social Capital. Positive social networks are key sources of resilience in refugee communities. Access to capital, property ownership, and labor markets are often determined along social, kinship, friendship, and place of origin ties.

Recommendations

RTAC’s research and the evidence gathered during this study produced five key recommendations for governments and funding agencies. These actions focus on locally feasible and culturally appropriate interventions and programming shifts with the potential to mitigate overall stressors and shocks of protracted camp settings.  When implemented, stakeholders will be able to better align their resources to promote refugee self-sufficiency.

1. Include a counseling and mentoring component that provides clinical and psychosocial support to program beneficiaries.
2. Invest in programs that specifically aim to strengthen social capital.
3. Shift the promoted job model from middle-class delayed wage/daily labor to locally appropriate options such as pastoral daily wage/non-daily attendance.
4. Invest in productive activities for women and youth refugees including small-scale agriculture and livestock programs.
5. Include nutrient-dense foods to refugees within all programs.

The path to enhanced resilience, self-sufficiency, and sustainable integration for those living in Kakuma, Kalobeyei, and Dadaab is complex, but this research offers a pathway to identify and inform future USAID and USG planning.

Read the full reports and recommendations.

[1] UNHCR. 2020. Kenya Registered Refugees and Asylum Seekers. https://www.unhcr.org/ke/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/05/Kenya-Infographics-30-April-2020-1.pdf

[2] UNHCR. 2019. Global Trends Forced Displacement in 2018. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/statistics/unhcrstats/5d08d7ee7/unhcr-global-trends-2018.html

[3] UNHCR. 2020. Kenya Registered Refugees and Asylum Seekers. https://www.unhcr.org/ke/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/05/Kenya-Infographics-30-April-2020-1.pdf

[4] UNHCR. 2020. Refugee Camps. https://www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/camps/

[5] Oka, R. & Gengo, R. (2020). The Political Economy of Refugee-Host Integration in Kenya. Report. Research Technical Assistance Center: Washington, DC. https://www.rtachesn.org/resource/refugee-resilience-in-kenya/