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UN & The Netherlands launch second phase of refugees and host community intergration programme

Daadab Refugee Camp in Turkana County. (Photo: UNHCR)

By Issa Hussein | 29 Mar 2024

Stakeholders are keen on enhancing the integration of refugees and host communities in the two counties.

The Netherlands, in partnership with the United Nations, local county governments and financial institutions, launched phase two of a programme that seeks to promote the welfare of refugees in Garissa and Turkana counties on Thursday.

Under the partnership programme titled ‘The Prospects Opportunity Fund’, stakeholders are keen on enhancing the integration of refugees and host communities in the two counties.

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The Government of the Netherlands will invest $50 million in the four-year programme to promote education, economic inclusion, child protection, social protection and uplifting critical infrastructure.

Via its website, the European nation states that it is working in close collaboration with the International Finance Corporation(IFC), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank.

Speaking at the event held in Nairobi, the Principal Secretary of the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services, Julias Kibet Bitok, said the project's second phase was based on achievements made during the implementation of the first stage.

He emphasised that the project enhances refugees' opportunities by making them self-reliant and able to contribute to the country's economy.

"The marshal plan for the refugees reduces overreliance on humanitarian aid and improved education and critical infrastructure," PS Bitok stated.

Garissa Governor Nathif Jama speaking during the launcheon of the Prospects Opportunity Fund programme in Nairobi on Thursday, March 29, 2024. (Photo: Courtesy)

Garissa Governor Nathif Jama, who was also present at the luncheon, urged the key partners of the programme to scale it up in his county. In his submission, he argued that phase one had more impact on Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Settlement in Turkana County than the Dadaab Refugee Complex in Garissa.

"The host community bears the brunt of hosting refugees. We have experienced wanton destruction of the environment affecting the livelihood of the host community", Jama explained the extent of the impact the refugees had on Garissa County in the past decades.

Turkana’s Deputy Governor, Dr John Erus, added that the project's first phase created an enabling environment and socio-economic inclusion for the refugees and host communities in Kakuma and Kalobeyei.

As of the end of November 2021, Kenya hosted about 540,433 refugees and asylum seekers, with a majority (84 per cent) living in Dadaab (Garissa County), Kakuma refugee camp and the Kalobeyei Settlement Area (Turkana County), according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The two host counties are largely arid with most of the inhabitants being pastoralists regularly affected by recurrent droughts.

Meanwhile, other than Kenya, The Prospects Opportunity Fund will invest £500 million in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia to support refugees and host communities to access the provision of education, skills and jobs as well as safeguarding refugees human rights.