Kenya: New livelihoods for refugees and their hosts

But for Bol, undergoing training is about more than just his own future: “My hope is to build a social enterprise with refugees here in Kakuma. People here don’t know how to start their own businesses. This is why I am here, to help a good number of refugees,” he says.  

Host community sees opportunities, despite climate challenges and refugee influx  

In Nakoyo, not far from the Kakuma refugee camp, sits a small farm consisting of a few acres of land and a set of net houses used to grow a variety of different crops.  

A project of the LWF, the farm serves as a training ground for 83 individuals from the Turkana people – a traditionally pastoralist people native to the area, and host community for Kakuma refugee camp and the related Kalobeyei refugee settlement.  

“This is one of four similar farms around the refugee camp. We help the Turkana community develop small-scale farming to diversify their sources of income, as changes in climate and extended droughts have made keeping of livestock more difficult,” explains LWF livelihoods officer Hilda Thuo. “The animals simply do not survive as they used to.” 

And while the project at Nakoyo targets a limited number of individuals, it has the potential to reach an extended population of at least 1,000 Turkana households in the area. “Today they grow spinach, cowpeas, groundnut, watermelon, sorghum, butternut and other crops here,” Thuo adds looking out over the fields.  

One who says she has always lived in the area, including before refugees even began arriving in Kakuma, is Turkana elder Lokarach Lomongin.

Although the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees has meant new realities in terms of land and availability of space, Lomongin says she sees many benefits. 

“The establishment of the camps has actually helped our communities, through improved living conditions, and the types of food and seeds that are now available,” she reflects. The Nakoyo farm has improved the community’s provision of vegetables, and helped against malnutrition. 

As the day draws to a close and the community moves from the farm back to their homes in the late afternoon, it is time for a moment of rest and a meal before night falls. “Tonight we are eating cowpeas, which we have picked from the farm,” Lomongin says. 

Every year on 20 June, the world celebrates the resilience and resourcefulness of refugees and internally displaced people, while raising awareness about the increasing numbers of forcibly displaced people. This year’s theme focuses on solutions for refugees and the power of inclusion: “Hope away from home. A world where refugees are always included.”  

LWF, through its humanitarian and development arm World Service, supports 3.4 million people in need, in 28 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. On social media, we will share more stories of hope for those who had to flee.