UN-Habitat in collaboration with Turkana County Government, Kenya’s Department of Refugee Services (DRS), United Nations partners, host and refugee communities and other stakeholders have prepared an urban regeneration strategy for Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Settlement, Turkana County, Kenya. This Kakuma Regeneration Strategy is an output of the European Union funded programme, “Enhancing Self Reliance for Refugees and Hosting Communities in Kenya."
The programme has aimed to improve the capacity of national and county governments to improve refugee management and urban planning in Turkana County alongside implementation of Kenya’s Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) and 2021 Refugees Act. This report is preceded by the publication of the “Kakuma-Kalobeyei Spatial Profile” and “Kakuma-Kalobeyei Future Vision,” which together established a common understanding of the existing challenges and opportunities, explored possible future scenarios, and presented a shared vision for what the locality could become. The final result is this detailed urban regeneration strategy, which proposes interventions and actions for realising the core components of the established future vision, including integration, economic growth, sustainability, and self-reliance.
Urban regeneration offers a path to overcoming economic, environmental, and socio-cultural challenges through physical revitalisation and improved governance. In this context, the recommendations respond to the unique challenges of protracted displacement by promoting a transition away from traditional models of hosting refugees in camps and providing parallel protection and assistance services. The proposed strategies seek to leverage growing interdependence between these communities to promote economic viability, attract external investment, restore degraded environments, and improve living conditions for all residents of the newly established Kakuma Municipality, refugees and host communities alike.
Share