Background
The Kakuma refugee camp is composed of three areas; Kakuma 1, Kakuma 2, and Kakuma 3, each divided into zones and blocks in the Turkana West District of Kenya. The camp is home to a large and diverse refugee population that has now exceeded 120,000 people (120,237 on 10th June 1013), the majority being Somali and Sudanese, with sizeable populations of Congolese, Burundian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Rwandan and Ugandan refugees. Kakuma town has grown significantly with the arrival of the refugees and the establishment of the camp over 20 years ago. The Government of Kenya (GoK) and UNHCR, the lead agency for refugees, had always considered the encampment of refugees in Kakuma as a temporary measure with the intent that the refugees, initially from South Sudan would return to their home countries. Indeed, in 2010, with the declaration of independence of South Sudan, the repatriation programme had begun in earnest and camp activities, including educational programming, were scaled back and funding ceased.
Many recent activities have been based on youth ideas with an important awareness amongst agencies that youth can be empowered with skills required in establishing priority and critical decision making as mediated through the camp structures and bureaucracies. Earlier and current education interventions have focussed on access to formal schooling for younger children. Youth and young adults, in many cases who head households, have had little targeted interventions. Vocational programs also have traditionally recruited whoever was interested regardless of talent for the area of work. With high demand and limited opportunities, agencies have felt they need ‘selection criteria’ to align programs with candidate’s interest. However, the demand is so large that more programmes need to be developed to meet the skills requirements of the existing population. Programs need to be linked to marketable skills, though challenges exists due to either the refugees not being allowed to pursue employment outside of the
camp whereas placements or internships are not part of the training programmes. Access to funds to start businesses with the newly acquired skills is moreover difficult to obtain and is normally associated with a client-patron status that makes them beholden. Further, the multilingual environment due to different nationalities and languages of the refugees and host community could pose particular challenges for language of instruction and comprehension. Swisscontact and NRC are implementing a programme funded by SDC to train refugee youth (aged 15-25 years) in Kakuma Camp and from the local host communities and impart training in lifeskills and basic literacy and numeric skills. The long term goals is to enable refugee youth to be better trained towards self-sufficiency once they return to their home countries and enable host community youth to attain higher standards of literacy and improved life-skills.
This market study and consequent analysis therefore links life-skills programming to livelihoods and skills development, reflecting the evolving market demands.
PERIOD: The reporting was done in July 2013.