JDC Literature Review

Results for: Integration, Inclusion and Social Cohesion
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Somali Refugees in Kenya: Increasing camp-urban mobility

This working paper examines the wellbeing and ‘displacement economies’ of Somali refugees living in protracted displacement in Kenya, comparing those living in camps to those living in urban areas. Kenya is home to approximately 280,000 Somali refugees, of whom 230,000 live in the Dadaab refugee camp complex in Garissa County, and around 24,000 living in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi. The research was conducted during the period when the 2006 Refugee Act, which enforced Kenya’s encampment policy, was still in effect. Kenya has since adopted a new Refugee Act in 2021 (which came into force in 2022) that provides for the establishment of ‘designated areas’ for refugees but does not explicitly contain an encampment requirement.