The authors investigate the reasons why refugees have been consistently reluctant to relocate from the Kakuma refugee camp in north-east Kenya to the newer Kalobeyei refugee settlement, 3.5 km away. This reluctance is confounding since Kalobeyei offers a range of...
JDC Literature Review
Are Refugee Children Learning? Early Grade Literacy in a Refugee Camp in Kenya
This study assesses literacy outcomes for refugee children in lower primary schools in Kakuma refugee camp in Turkana County, Kenya. The authors also examine how the literacy outcomes for refugee children in Kakuma compare with those of Kenyan nationals outside the...
Refugee livelihoods: a comparative analysis of Nairobi and Kakuma Camp in Kenya
This paper compares the livelihoods of refugees living in a camp setting (Kakuma Camp) and an urban setting (Nairobi) in Kenya, and contrasts these with the economic activities of host communities in each location. At the time the research was undertaken, in 2016,...
Empowering refugees through cash and agriculture: A regression discontinuity design
This article assesses the impact of the development approach promoted in the Kalobeyei refugee settlement in Turkana County in Northwest Kenya. Opened in 2016 just 3.5 kilometers from the Kakuma refugee camp, the Kalobeyei refugee settlement was envisaged as a model...
Localising public health: Refugee-led organizations as first and last responders in COVID-19
Organizations created and led by refugees themselves (‘refugee-led organizations’, RLOs) play an important role in meeting community needs. In particular, refugee-led social protection (activities designed to reduce poverty, vulnerability, or risk), provided by...
Doing Business in Dadaab Report: Market Systems Analysis for Local Economic Development in Dadaab, Kenya
This report presents findings from a market system analysis conducted in the Dadaab refugee camps in Garissa County in northeastern Kenya. The analysis is based on research conducted by Samuel Hall in and around Dadaab in October and November 2018, including key...
Doing Business in Kakuma – Refugees, Entrepreneurship, and the Food Market
This report examines the environment for business and entrepreneurship in Kakuma through an in-depth examination of the food market. The food market figures large in the economic life of Kakuma (including the Kakuma refugee camps and the Kalobeyei refugee settlement)...
Measuring the Costs of Internal Displacement on IDPs And Hosts: Case Studies in Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya And Somalia
This report presents the first results of IDMC’s standardized survey for assessing the economic impacts of internal displacement on livelihoods, housing, health, education and security of IDPs and host communities. Data from the survey and key informant interviews are...
Fostering Refugee Self-Reliance – A Case Study of an Agency’s Approach in Nairobi
This article traces the development of a self-reliance approach used by the non-governmental organization (NGO) RefugePoint to assist urban refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. In developing its approach, RefugePoint drew on elements of the model employed by the United States...
The Kalobeyei Settlement – A Self-Reliance Model for Refugees?
The Kalobeyei refugee settlement in Turkana County in Kenya was established in 2016 with the aim of transitioning refugee assistance from a traditional aid-based model to one based on the principles of supporting host communities, offering self-reliance and promoting...