Economic And Socio Cultural Impact Of Refugees On The Kenyan Communities A Case Study At Kakuma Camp

Document from the year 2017 in the subject Sociology - Individual, Groups, Society, , language: English, abstract: This study sought to investigate the economic and socio-cultural impact of refugees on the Kenyan communities. The data for this study was collected from primary and secondary sources. The research instruments were questionnaires and interview schedules. The study population comprised of 30 refugees, 10 camp officials and 20 locals. Purposive sampling was used to select 60 respondents. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, means and percentages were used in analyzing data. Unlike many communities whereby refugees are restricted to the camp, the situation in Kakuma Camp is different. The Kakuma refugees move freely to any part of the Kakuma. There is a good social relation between the host community and the refugees in Kakuma. There have been intermarriages between the refugees and the host community. The hosts and the refugees also attend some social events like weddings, funerals and child naming ceremonies together. However, there are some minor negative developments as a result of the refugees’ presence for almost two decades in the Kakuma community. These negative impacts include poor sanitation, scarcity of land, security issues and moral degeneration. This notwithstanding, the positive impacts of the refugees’ presence on the host community outweighed the negatives. Indeed, the presence of the refugees on Kakuma has turned the place from a small village to an urbanized centre. The Kakuma community can boast of much better modern infrastructural development springing up all over the town after the refugees’ settlement. The study found the types of development that can be associated with the presence of the refugees to include the provision of banks, telecommunication and Internet cafés.

Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp is one of the world’s largest, home to over 100,000 people drawn from across east and central Africa. Though notionally still a ‘temporary’ camp, it has become a permanent urban space in all but name with businesses, schools, a hospital and its own court system. Such places, Bram J. Jansen argues, should be recognised as ‘accidental cities’, a unique form of urbanization that has so far been overlooked by scholars. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, Jansen’s book explores the dynamics of everyday life in such accidental cities. The result is a holistic socio-economic picture, moving beyond the conventional view of such spaces as transitory and desolate to demonstrate how their inhabitants can develop a permanent society and a distinctive identity. Crucially, the book offers important insights into one of the greatest challenges facing humanitarian and international development workers: how we might develop more effective strategies for managing refugee camps in the global South and beyond. An original take on African urbanism, Kakuma Refugee Camp will appeal to practitioners and academics across the social sciences interested in social and economic issues increasingly at the heart of contemporary development.

European public discourse often frames (forced) migration solely as a security issue and ignores the implications of societal diversity for health, quality-of-life and well-being, in both Africa and Europe. The present volume offers an interdisciplinary and international look at the relationship between refugees, diversity, and health, including health care policies, socio-political framework conditions, environmental factors, the situation in refugee camps, quality-of-life approaches and economical perspectives.

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Development Politics, National University of Science & Technology Zimbabwe (National University of Science and Technology Zimbabwe), course: Master of Science in Development Studies, language: English, abstract: This research is concerned with refugees and their impact on the host community. In refugee hosting areas, the local communities face various economic, social and cultural challenges as they interact with refugees. This study specifically investigated the socio-economic impact of refugees from Tongogara Refugee Camp on the host community of Chipinge District, Zimbabwe. A qualitative approach was used to conduct the research and the researcher used focus group discussions, interview guides and questionnaires. Since the research was qualitative, the researcher obtained data from key informants and the units of analysis included the refugees who are mostly involved in business, the host population who interacts with the refugees, the local authorities, UNHCR and other representatives of Organizations working in the Camp. The research established that despite the Zimbabwe Government’s encampment policy, the refugees were free to interact with the local communities and to trade in the District. The research found that there were both positive and negative social and economic impacts associated with the presence of the Tongogara Refugee Camp. Some of the positive impacts included infrastructure development, provision of transport services and creation of market places for both the locals and refugees. Negative impacts included deforestation, theft, social ills like prostitution and alcohol abuse. The study also found that there was a good social relationship between the refugees and the host community on the whole. However, competition for common property resources proved to be a key source of tension between the two groups. The researcher gathered that the Government of Zimbabwe and other local authorities had to revisit some of their policies as well as to support both the refugees and the locals for them to fully utilize the economic and social benefits that the presence of refugees bring and also mitigating the negative impacts that they also bring. This can be done by integrating the refugees into the formal employment working system, providing working permits for the refugees so that they can freely work, extend projects to the host communities which are specifically for them and also to provide financial assistance to refugees so that they can engage in income generating projects that sustain them.

Refugees have rarely been studied by economists. Despite some pioneering research on the economic lives of refugees, there remains a lack of theory and empirical data through which to understand, and build upon, refugees' own engagement with markets. Yet, understanding these economic systems may hold the key to rethinking our entire approach to refugee assistance. If we can improve our knowledge of the resource allocation systems that shape refugees' lives and opportunities, then we may be able to understand the mechanisms through which these market-based systems can be made to work better and turn humanitarian challenges into sustainable opportunities. This book adopts an inter-disciplinary approach, based on original qualitative and quantitative data on the economic life of refugees, in order to begin to build theory on the economic lives of refugees. It focuses on the case of Uganda because it represents a relatively positive case. Unlike other governments in the region, it has taken the positive step to allow refugees the right to work and a significant degree of freedom of movement through it so-called 'Self-Reliance Strategy'. This allows a unique opportunity to explore what is possible when refugees have basic economic freedoms. The book shows that refugees have complex and varied economic lives, often being highly entrepreneurial and connected to the global economy. The implications are simple but profound: far from being an inevitable burden, refugees have the capacity to help themselves and contribute to their host societies - if we let them

This book investigates the diverse and dynamic forms of migration within Africa. Centring themes of agency, resource flows, and transnational networks, the book examines the enduring appeal of the Global South as a place of origin, transit, and destination. Popular media, government pronouncements, and much of the global research discourse continue to be oriented towards migration from the Global South to the Global North, despite the fact that the vast majority of migration is South-South. This book moves beyond these mischaracterisations and instead distinctly focuses on the agency of African migrants and the creative strategies they employ while planning their routes within and across the African continent. Case studies explore the flow of resources such as people, money, skills, and knowledge throughout the continent, while also casting a light on the lived experiences of migrants as they negotiate their sometimes precarious and vulnerable positions. Underpinned by intensive empirical studies, this book challenges prevailing narratives and provides a new way of thinking about South-South Migration. Composed by a majority of scholars from the Global South, the book will be crucial reading for researchers, students, and policy makers with a focus on South-South Migration, Migration and Inequalities, Migration and Development, and Refugee and Humanitarian Studies.

This topical volume deals with the major challenges of migration in the Global South and their governance, which are traditionally much less considered than migration to industrialized countries and its consequences. It is written in view of the intergovernmental agreement of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations in 2016, and one of the major recent events in international migration governance. Written by authors with a sound academic background and professional involvement in policy relevant research, this volume focuses on priorities in implementation of the Global Compact in the Global South. It is addressed to a broad readership interested or involved in international migration governance, development studies, and regional studies, from a research as well as a policy perspective.