Effects of refugees’ encampment policy on livelihoods of refugee youths in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya

Abstract

Human displacement is a product of conflict the world over. Some people who are displaced as a result of conflicts seek asylum in foreign countries. Some countries such as Kenya, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jordan etc who accept to host asylum seekers, place them in camps under a policy of encampment entered into with the approval of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) ostensibly to make provision of emergency humanitarian assistance to the affected population easy. Often times such camps are conceived and perceived as temporary transit points for the refugees and would be in existence for no more than five years (emergency period). Experience has, however, shown that refugee camps can be in existence for more than twenty years and due to failure to anticipate this, generations of refugees lead dependent, frustrated, stressful and hopeless lives. This study was intended to assess the effects of encampment on refugee youths’ livelihood in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. It was guided by the following objectives: To determine the level at which encampment policy affects refugee youths’ economic selfreliance; to establish the extent to which encampment policy affects refugee youths’ (formal) education; and to assess the extent to which encampment policy affects refugee youths’ health in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. Causal-comparative research design was adopted for the study and a combination of multi-stage cluster and stratified sampling was used to pick a sample totaling 380 respondents. Quantitative data was collected by research aided questionnaires. Factorial comparative analysis of effects of encampment on refugee youths’ livelihood was done on descriptive statistics such as mean, frequencies, percentages and variance. Rank analysis was done on effects of various nature. The quantitative data was transcribed, organized into the various thematic areas of the study and reported in a narrative format. Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Science were used as tools for data analysis. The study found that encampment policy has composite effects on refugee youths’ livelihoods and more specifically on their ability to achieve economic self-reliance, acquisition of not only basic but also quality formal education and their mental and preventive health. The study recommended measures that can be undertaken to mitigate encampment’s effects on the youths including construction of more schools and provision of more material resources and trained teachers; prioritization of secondary and tertiary education to alleviate effects on youths’ education; investing more on the economic empowerment of refugees by facilitating them to establish income-generating activities; recruiting more counselors to provide counseling to refugees and initiating “accelerated” education programme to provide education to “mature” learners and to engage more children and youth in the arts, music, sports and cultural activities. Suggestions for further research were given to establish effects of encampment on socio-cultural fabric of the refugee population living in Kakuma, study policies applied by other states and how they impact different segments of the refugee population and also to conduct a similar study in Daadab, Kenya.