Assessment of Refugee Protection Project Strategies on the Socio~economic Development of Host Communities: a Case of Urban Refugees in Nairobi County, Kenya.

Abstract

Despite various initiatives both from state and non-state actors to empower urban refugees and provide them with protection systems upholding their rights and privileges, there still exist significant gaps in their ability to support themselves and have an impact on host communities. The study sought to assess urban refugee protection project strategies on the socioeconomic development of host communities in Nairobi County. Objectives for the study were hinged on four variables namely, advocacy support, finance and donor funding, human capacity building, social capital support and how these four influences the socioeconomic development of urban refugees’ host communities. Refugee aid and Development theory and the World Society Approach were used. Descriptive survey research design was applied. It targeted, urban refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff in Nairobi, Government officials from the Department of Refugee Services and staff from NGOs involved in Refugee Protection programmes. The study used 128 participants. All these were selected through purposive sampling. The study adopted purposive sampling to obtain the sample of respondents from each of the subjects under study. Questionnaires and the interview guides were used. To evaluate various indicators of the variables, methodological changes to instrument rollout or administration, and the efficacy of research instruments and methodologies, a pilot study was conducted on a small sample of 10% of the sample size. Urban refugees and other participants from the target population were given questionnaires, but they were not included in the sample. To examine the degree of consistency of the results, questionnaire was divided into two parts and distributed to participants, with the results statistically connected using the Spearman correlation method. The composite mean for all the constructs for the dependent variable was 3.67 with a standard deviation of 0.708 implying that majority of the respondents agreed that the refugee protection project strategies had a positive impact on the socioeconomic development of host communities in Nairobi County. From the findings, all the independent variables greatly affected socioeconomic development of urban refugees’ host communities. All the variables had positive correlations with advocacy support having the highest correlation of 0.774. The study recommended that in order to lessen the financial burden that refugees place on the host economy, the Kenyan government and international refugee organizations should work together to improve refugee inclusion in national, regional, and global development projects. To do this, they should allocate enough financial resources and technical assistance for the construction of infrastructure and social amenities for refugees and refugee host communities. The report also recommended that rather than providing refugees with short-term humanitarian aid, the international community and the Kenyan government should come up with development-oriented measures that create employment prospects. This will lessen the over-dependence of refugees on foreign help. To help Kenya's socioeconomic development and the realization of Vision 2030, the host nation should provide employment opportunities for refugees. According to the findings of the survey, participants were unsure of the impact of donor funds on the socioeconomic growth of host communities. As a result, a study on the variable can be conducted to support the influence of financial assistance to refugees on the economic development of host communities.