Kalobeiyei 3 August 2017-- UN-Habitat and UNHCR recently organized a one day workshop for the host community in Kalobeyei area and Turkana West representatives, hosting the new Refugee Settlement planned by UN-Habitat together with UNHCR and the Turkana Ministry of Lands, Shelter and Urban Development.

The host communities representatives have been engaged with UN-Habitat team in developing the spatial plan for Kalobeyei Settlement, through numerous participatory design workshops. UN-Habitat`s efforts in supporting planning for integrated refugee and host community are funded by the Government of Japan and are aimed at fostering the settlement and urban development for integrated communities.

The host community of Turkana West area was represented by a committee known as Community Dialogue and Development Committee (CDDC) and Kalobeyei town host community was represented by the UN-Habitat Settlement Development Group. The CDDC is an umbrella committee which was established in 2015 at the project inception to represent the host communities` interest in  Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement Development Programme (KISEDP) while the latter is the official UN-Habitat group representing the host communities in the immediate vicinity of the new Settlement and composed by non-political dwellers, representatives of men, women, youth, physically challenged people and elders, nominated by the community elders, with the purpose to support contextual analysis, design processes and conceptual vision for the development of Kalobeyei area.

The workshop was aimed at decoding the proposed land-use plan for Kalobeyei Settlement developed by UN-Habitat, and identification of all public services, amenities and facilities for the use of the refugees as well as for the host community supporting integration of the two. Five groups were formed, each being provided with a large size land use map for Kalobeyei settlement. The groups were guided on how to access major facilities in the new settlement using the map legend and the visual representation of the road infrastructure and facilities.

Based on the scenarios, complementary initiatives emerged, such as: waste management facility as job creation opportunity, public transport within the settlement for improved mobility and shortened walking time, residential development in Kalobeyei town for non-refugee communities that will want to move in Turkana and benefit from the job market and investment in Kalobeyei.

Finally the two groups were given a platform to share their different roles and their areas of operation to respond to some misunderstanding stemming from the scope of their work. This was settled amicably and other follow-up meetings were suggested by the CDDC for field visits to get a clear understanding of the planned developed Vis a Vis the reality on the ground in order to facilitate access of Kalobeyei Settlement facilities by non-refugees.