WUF11: Building Resilience for Refugees in Kenya

The session Area-based approaches and local development practices in Kakuma- Kalobeyei in Turkana County in Kenya as a multi-actor/multi-sector pioneering model to build self-reliance for hosts and refugees, organized at WUF11, draws on past experiences and perspectives from multiple actors in the area.

The event, organized by the Turkana County Government of Kenya, will elaborate on case studies and spotlight the tools which have improved the resilience of infrastructure, housing and socio-economic opportunities. This will include a recent project implemented by Cities Alliance and UN-Habitat to support sustainable economic development. 

For the past three decades, Kenya has hosted a large number of refugees. In 2015, the Turkana County Government of Kenya allocated 1,500 hectares of land to UNHCR and the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA) for the creation of a new refugee settlement - one which would promote sharing of investments equally between refugees and host communities.

To harness the presence of refugees and the benefits of urbanisation in Kenya, the National Government of Kenya, the Turkana County Government, UNHCR and other stakeholders agreed to pilot a new approach by developing a settlement promoting the self-reliance of refugees and the host population, known as Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Programme (KISEDP).

The area-based programme aims to benefit the refugees and host population - to create a conducive environment for investment to promote the sustainable and inclusive urbanisation, improve basic socio-economic infrastructure, strengthen capacities for inclusive national delivery service, and enhance innovative aid delivery to increase self-reliance and improve access to participation in the local economy.

Speakers:

• Josephat Nanok - Governor of Turkana County
• Theresa Beltramo, Senior Economist, Head of Analytics and Research Unit, UNHCR
• Luba Shara, Senior Operation Officer, IFC, Kenya
• Brigitte Hoermann, Cities and Migration programme lead, Cities Alliance