The Kalobeyei Settlement: A self-reliance model for refugees?

In 2016, the Kalobeyei refugee settlement was created, just 3.5km from the Kakuma camps in Kenya. In a departure from Kenya’s policy of not allowing refugees to work, its aim was to provide self-reliance to refugees and greater refugee-host interaction. But are refugee policies and programmes in Kalobeyei really different than in Kakuma? If so, what are the differences? And do these differences actually translate into different self-reliance outcomes for refugees? Drawing upon a mixed-methods approach, we compare aid models, self-reliance enabling factors, and self-reliance outcomes between Kalobeyei and Kakuma. After just 15-months, we find that self-reliance enabling factors -- such the environment, assets, networks, markets, and public goods -- remain similar across both sites, and, in some cases, are better in Kakuma. The major differences between the sites are in the aid model: Kalobeyei’s cash assistance and agricultural programmes. We find improved nutritional outcomes and a greater perception of autonomy in Kalobeyei, both of which may be attributable to differences in the aid models. These findings have implications for the how we conceptualise the institutional design of selfreliance in Kalobeyei and elsewhere