Refugee Impacts on Turkana Hosts : A Social Impact Analysis for Kakuma Town and Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya

In June 2015, the World Bank in partnership with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the University of Notre Dame, conducted an economic and social impact analysis of refugees on hosts in Turkana County, Northwestern Kenya, oc...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vemuru, Varalakshmi, Oka, Rahul, Gengo, Rieti, Gettler, Lee
Format: Report
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/359161482490953624/Refugee-impacts-on-Turkana-hosts-a-social-impact-analysis-for-Kakuma-town-and-refugee-camp-Turkana-County-Kenya
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25863
id okr-10986-25863
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-258632021-06-14T10:12:02Z Refugee Impacts on Turkana Hosts : A Social Impact Analysis for Kakuma Town and Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya Vemuru, Varalakshmi Oka, Rahul Gengo, Rieti Gettler, Lee ethnographic analysis psychosocial stress anthropometric surveys refugees social exclusion well-being nutrition gender-based violence vulnerability oil water underdevelopment In June 2015, the World Bank in partnership with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the University of Notre Dame, conducted an economic and social impact analysis of refugees on hosts in Turkana County, Northwestern Kenya, occupied by the Turkana community (pop. 1.2 million) and Kakuma Refugee Camp (pop. 200,000). Renowned for their herding abilities in the harsh arid landscape of Turkana County, the Turkana host community has been systematically marginalized from mainstream development programs under both colonial and post-colonial governments, and are among the most impoverished groups in Sub‐Saharan Africa. The goal was to measure the economic and social impact of the refugees on the Turkana community. The study finds that while the Turkana overall continue to show extremely low indicators of socio‐economic and physical‐emotional well‐being, there is a net positive impact on the local Turkana communities of Kakuma who engage with the refugees in Kakuma. These impacts are seen in greater access to: (1) cash, credit, and consumption through exchange of goods, labor, and services; (2) health and educational facilities established for the refugees; and (3) nutritional security measured through biological indicators such as sum of skinfolds and body mass index. The results also suggest that the Turkana host community at Kakuma has developed a complex counter‐narrative of refugees as good and beneficial in opposition and mitigation to the meta‐narrative of refugee as violent economic burdens. 2017-01-17T20:02:01Z 2017-01-17T20:02:01Z 2016-11 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/359161482490953624/Refugee-impacts-on-Turkana-hosts-a-social-impact-analysis-for-Kakuma-town-and-refugee-camp-Turkana-County-Kenya http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25863 English en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work :: Other Social Protection Study Economic & Sector Work Africa Kenya
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic ethnographic analysis
psychosocial stress
anthropometric surveys
refugees
social exclusion
well-being
nutrition
gender-based violence
vulnerability
oil
water
underdevelopment
spellingShingle ethnographic analysis
psychosocial stress
anthropometric surveys
refugees
social exclusion
well-being
nutrition
gender-based violence
vulnerability
oil
water
underdevelopment
Vemuru, Varalakshmi
Oka, Rahul
Gengo, Rieti
Gettler, Lee
Refugee Impacts on Turkana Hosts : A Social Impact Analysis for Kakuma Town and Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya
geographic_facet Africa
Kenya
description In June 2015, the World Bank in partnership with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the University of Notre Dame, conducted an economic and social impact analysis of refugees on hosts in Turkana County, Northwestern Kenya, occupied by the Turkana community (pop. 1.2 million) and Kakuma Refugee Camp (pop. 200,000). Renowned for their herding abilities in the harsh arid landscape of Turkana County, the Turkana host community has been systematically marginalized from mainstream development programs under both colonial and post-colonial governments, and are among the most impoverished groups in Sub‐Saharan Africa. The goal was to measure the economic and social impact of the refugees on the Turkana community. The study finds that while the Turkana overall continue to show extremely low indicators of socio‐economic and physical‐emotional well‐being, there is a net positive impact on the local Turkana communities of Kakuma who engage with the refugees in Kakuma. These impacts are seen in greater access to: (1) cash, credit, and consumption through exchange of goods, labor, and services; (2) health and educational facilities established for the refugees; and (3) nutritional security measured through biological indicators such as sum of skinfolds and body mass index. The results also suggest that the Turkana host community at Kakuma has developed a complex counter‐narrative of refugees as good and beneficial in opposition and mitigation to the meta‐narrative of refugee as violent economic burdens.
format Report
author Vemuru, Varalakshmi
Oka, Rahul
Gengo, Rieti
Gettler, Lee
author_facet Vemuru, Varalakshmi
Oka, Rahul
Gengo, Rieti
Gettler, Lee
author_sort Vemuru, Varalakshmi
title Refugee Impacts on Turkana Hosts : A Social Impact Analysis for Kakuma Town and Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya
title_short Refugee Impacts on Turkana Hosts : A Social Impact Analysis for Kakuma Town and Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya
title_full Refugee Impacts on Turkana Hosts : A Social Impact Analysis for Kakuma Town and Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya
title_fullStr Refugee Impacts on Turkana Hosts : A Social Impact Analysis for Kakuma Town and Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Refugee Impacts on Turkana Hosts : A Social Impact Analysis for Kakuma Town and Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya
title_sort refugee impacts on turkana hosts : a social impact analysis for kakuma town and refugee camp, turkana county, kenya
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/359161482490953624/Refugee-impacts-on-Turkana-hosts-a-social-impact-analysis-for-Kakuma-town-and-refugee-camp-Turkana-County-Kenya
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25863
_version_ 1764460332126830592