Understanding the Socio-Economic Conditions of Urban Refugees in Kenya : Results from the 2020-2021 Urban Socioeconomic Survey (English)

Forcibly displaced people (FDP) are increasingly inhabiting urban areas where, together with urban hosts, they face an array of risks and heightened vulnerabilities that need to be addressed through evidence-based policies and programs. More than half of the world's population including FDPs live in urban areas. Urban refugees often face the problems confronting urban poor such as inadequate housing and marginalization, combined with unique challenges related to their refugee situation. As refugees in Kenya are not systematically included in national household surveys (NHS), their inclusion into NHS complemented by specific refugee and host community surveys are needed to provide evidence for policy planning and programming. This limits efforts to design policies and programs that inclusively address the needs of vulnerable populations, especially when facing socioeconomic shocks such as those resulting from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Urban Socioeconomic Survey (SES) helps close data gaps by providing comparable socioeconomic profiles for refugees and host community members. With most refugees planning to leave Kenya, continuing existing efforts to inform them about resettlement, repatriation and integration options will remain important. This report is part of the socioeconomic survey series on the living conditions of refugees and host communities in Kenya, and focuses on the living conditions of hosts and refugees in urban areas.