Joint Evaluation of the Integrated Solutions Model in and Around Kalobeyei, Turkana, Kenya

Executive Summary

Background and Context

1. The Evaluation Service of UNHCR and the Evaluation Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark have commissioned ADE with the evaluation of the Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Plan (KISEDP). KISEDP is a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder development programme that contributes to transforming the humanitarian model of assistance for refugees towards development-oriented approaches that enhance the self-reliance of refugees and development of host communities in the Turkana West sub-county of Kenya. The evaluation scope includes refugees resident in both Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei settlement – as well as the host communities of Turkana West sub-county, over the period 2016 to 2018. This is a forward-looking evaluation aimed at lesson learning.

2. The KISEDP plan emerged over three years with significant evolution in the objectives, leadership, scope and approach over the course of development. The current KISEDP plan was approved in December 2018 and is closely aligned to the County Integrated Development Plan for 2018-2022 CIDP. Assistance for on-going humanitarian and emergency assistance, including food assistance, and parts of international protection work, remained largely outside of the KISEDP plan.

3. The evaluation drew on interviews with national and international stakeholders, the views of affected populations and a desk review of documents and data – with data gathered and analysed in the first half of 2019. The analysis and synthesis phase included periodic consultations with the Evaluation Reference Group and other stakeholders. The main evaluation limitation was limited access to government ministries at national level.

4. Kenya has been hosting refugees since 1970 with the numbers increasing significantly from 1990 due to refugee influxes from Somalia and South Sudan. Approximately 190,000 refugees are resident in Kakuma camp (established in 1992) and the Kalobeyei settlement (established in 2015) in Turkana County, located in the North-West near the border with South Sudan – which represents 40% of all refugees in Kenya.

5. Turkana County remains economically, politically and socially marginalised from the main markets and population centres and with poor infrastructure provision, despite decades of development assistance to Turkana. The economy is principally reliant on pastoralism and data suggests that many refugees in Kakuma camp are better off than their Turkana hosts.