资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Turkana County, Kenya, 19 June 2020 – Refugees from Kenya, one of the biggest refugee-hosting country in Africa, will not be holding the usual celebration of World Refugee Day this year. Instead of the singing and dancing, there will be a virtual celebration with refugees from around the country taking part along with host communities.

Kenya has nearly half a million refugees mainly from the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa region. Around 40 per cent of the refugees live in Kakuma in Turkana County, one of the poorest counties in northern Kenya. Here the national and local authorities are working on an innovative model to bring together refugees and the host community in a pilot settlement.

UN-Habitat is actively involved in participatory planning processes ensuring everyone can be involved in developing the region.

“This settlement is different from other refugee camps because refugees were involved in making decisions on where we should have our shelters, schools, hospitals and markets. Through the UN-Habitat Settlement Development Groups, refugees who arrived here had an opportunity to participate in community action planning to share ideas and proposals on the kind of settlement vision we wanted for Kalobeyei Settlement ', said Betty Zackira, Chair of the Refugee Community Settlement Development Group.