Impact of Legal and Institutional Frameworks on Sustainable Livelihoods for Urban Refugees in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Whereas the impact of legal and institutional framework on refugee well-being has been studied, scanty empirical studies exist on how these have been operationalised for impactful sustainable livelihoods of urban refugees in host countries. The study sought to fill this empirical lacuna by determining the impact of Kenya’s legal and institutional framework on sustainable livelihood pathways for urban refugees using Nairobi County, Kenya as a case. Random sampling was used to select 288 refugee households for a quantitative survey while purposive sampling was used to identify participants for Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews. Quantitative data was coded and Shapiro-Wilk and Levene tests were used to determine normality and homogeneity. Socio-demographic information was analysed using descriptive statistics; Chi-square tests and one-way analysis were used for inferential statistical analysis using R statistical software.  Qualitative data from Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews were thematically analysed. The study findings established that in spite of Kenya being a signatory to key international and human rights instruments, her refugee policy is still largely restrictive and that refugee access to services is hampered thereby exposing them to constant predation by the security agents. Account ownership to ease financial access was statistically and significantly higher (p=0.007) among male than female refugees and different (p=0.001) among refugee nationalities. Operationalisation of the Refugee Act of 2021 to secure socio-economic rights for refugees and extensive legal and rights awareness among refugees, nationals and authorities need to do to fast track participatory compliance with Kenya’s international obligations to refugees.