| dc.description.abstract | This study sought to establish the social challenges facing women refugees of Somali origin
living in Eastleigh. The term social challenge shall be used to mean, a condition that at least
some people in a community view as being undesirable. The challenges identified were:
health and shelter, insecurity, gender based violence, education and access to social
amenities. Economic challenges were also highlighted. From the challenges, coping
mechanisms were also identified, some of which include: Trade, remittances, employment
and religion.
On methodology, the study interviewed thirty local residents, seventy urban Somali women
refugees and thirty Somali male refugees. The men were interviewed so as to offer a male
perspective on the issues that the women raised and for gender inclusion. The interviews
were carried out using a semi-structured questionnaire and were both individual and focus
group discussions. The study also used secondary data, that is, from books, newspapers,
unpublished articles and articles published in journals and periodicals. Snowballing was used
to get a sample that was a representation of the demographic.
Halleh Ghorashi's Organizational Theory was used for the theoretical framework. Through
the deficit approach he states that migrants or refugees are held responsible when a
society/organization is not diverse enough. The urban Somali women refugee is privileged to
limited rights thus making her environment not diverse. The deficit in this study represents
the challenges that the Somali women refugees face and therefore seek to get organized or to
fill up that deficit by getting organized which is what the study refers to as coping
mechanisms. To further explain this, the study concluded that, in a new context where
women want to thrive and become active participants, they have to influence their mindsets,
change behaviors for a chance to realize their dreams.
The study established that women refugees of Somali origin actively took up education
opportunities; they established businesses and took up employment opportunities, It was also
discovered that they were prone to Gender Based Violence (GBV) and some of them had
been subjected to violence like sexual abuse and Female Genitals Mutilation (FGM). Further,
the study established that, while health services were not as discriminative, poor roads,
garbage collection and sewerage systems were a major challenge.
Inasmuch as the study explored different social challenges facing urban Somali women
refugees, the study still has room for more academic research in the area of other social
challenges facing the women and specifically insecurity, socio-economic challenges and
pressure on social amenities.
At the end of the project, the Somali women refugees forwarded some recommendations to
the Government of Kenya and the Nairobi County government. This information will be
helpful to further development and planning for Eastleigh, | en_US |
