Rufus Karanja: Sustainable Solutions for Displaced Communities

Inkonversation s03 ep 03

Rufus Karanja, Policy Officer at the Embassy of Switzerland in Kenya shares his experience working with forcibly displaced communities and development partners to find durable solutions.

Transcript

Makena 

Welcome to the Inkomoko podcast. My name is Makena Mworia. I'm the managing director in Kenya for Inkomoko. It is my distinguished pleasure and honor to welcome our special guest today. Mr. Rufus Karanja is the national program officer for migration and protection at the Embassy of Switzerland. Welcome and karibu sana Rufus. 

Rufus 

Thank you. Thank you very much, Makena. And I'm really glad to be here on the show today. 

Makena 

Let's just get started into it. Rufus, can you kindly share a bit about yourself, your role and what led your deep interest into forced displacement and durable solutions?

Rufus 

Thank you. Maybe as you had also mentioned, I'm currently working as a national program officer with the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation with the Embassy of Switzerland here in Nairobi. My focus is on migration and protection with the regional focus on Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia because the Swiss Development cooperation works through a regional cooperation framework with the focus on the three countries. 

And myself just a little bit. I have been working now for over 14 years within the human rights and forced displacement space, working with various NGO's and now with and transitioned with the development partners, with the focus on the East and Horn of Africa region. And in terms of the interest into forced displacement, actually, I've been very fortunate that my first very first job experiences out of university were related to human rights and forced displacement. And a very specific experience that I had very early on was working with a research and think tank that was a supporting a panel of eminent African personalities that was led by the late Kofi Annan, who were mediating at the time Kenya's post election violence crisis that sparked off after the 2007 elections. This experience really enabled me to get a really first-hand encounter with the challenge of internal displacement. Because there were over 650,000 persons who had been internally displaced. We were monitoring at the time commitments which we were looking into finding durable solutions for those that had been internally displaced. So that experience and subsequent working with other human rights agencies and now in the development sector, really gave me a very deep insight and also generated a deep interest for me to then start working around finding durable solutions for those who are displaced. Whether as internally displaced persons or refugees.

Makena 

That's such a rich experience. And for those people who you know are not in the space of forced displacement, what are durable solutions, especially in the context of forced displacement? 

Rufus 

Indeed, I mean, traditionally durable solutions have been conceptualized as essentially entailing three options. So if you think about refugees, one of the options that was being fronted was talking about voluntary repatriations to countries of origin. So refugees who have fled from their countries, one of the options they are given, and that's most states would prefer that. That refugees are able to return back into their countries voluntarily. And I must underscore that, voluntarily. 

And secondly, there was also the other option for refugees, once they have crossed international border, they have gone into a country of asylum and they are still not able to be sustainably protected within that country of asylum that they can be able then to be supported to find what we call resettlement to third countries. And so they are relocated to third countries, whether in Europe or in the West, for them then to be resettled and settled there. 

Third option is around sustainable local integration. And that has been the reality of most of the refugees who find themselves displaced even in the current context that we are in, in the East and Horn of Africa and broadly in other region. That in terms of sustainable local integration, that once they are in a country of asylum, like for instance here in Kenya, that eventually they can find some form of sustainable local integration. Whether it's through socioeconomic integration or other legal pathways that they can continue to stay in the country of asylum. 

And even for those who are internally displaced. So these are persons who, by the virtue of forcefully being displaced because of different reasons, but they are still within their countries. Durable solutions have also been framed for them very much in the same way, but with a few nuances. 

Over the years there has been a bit of shifts and also reconceptualization of the concept of durable solutions because again, realities around complexities of displacement. Some people do find themselves, whether as refugees or IDP's, being in what we call protracted displacement. So, meaning they have been displaced for more than five years without necessarily finding durable solutions. And there has been more or less a thinking and a definition actually of what durable solutions means. And the classic definition now that has been provided is that a durable solution is achieved when displaced persons no longer have any assistance or protection needs that are linked to their displacement. And that they can enjoy human rights without discrimination on account of their displacement. 

But maybe just to finalize and crystallize it, I think the learning over the years has been that what we define those three different processes or pathways, those actually should just be viewed as that. They're not an end in themselves. But all the efforts around durable solutions, the ultimate goal is actually to lead that whether you're a refugee or an IDP, that all the efforts should lead towards sustainable reintegration. That actually should be the end goal of any durable solutions initiative. 

Makena 

That is really, you know, informative. So I'm wondering, how do you stay connected with all these current trends and best practices in the field of post displacement and durable solutions? 

Rufus 

Well we are very fortunate, I think in the times that we are living in, because it's the age of, dissemination of information. And there are quite a number of different multiple sources of literature or even community of practices around forced displacement. 

Working within the Swiss development cooperation, first and foremost we have quite big breadth of partners whom we work with who do a lot of different kinds of operational research or operational studies or different kind of assessments. So that also does help a lot when you are able then to get a deep dive of different kind of sectoral issues within the scope of forced migration or forced displacement. 

There are also other partners like the World Bank and UNHCR, who have recently set up quite a very useful platform which is called the Joint Data Center that collects different kind of literature and studies on forced displacement. So that is another source of information where myself and many of the practitioners we are able to get different kinds of information. 

We have one of our partners called the Regional Durable Solutions Secretariat, which is more or less an evidence and research think tank who also publish a lot of different kinds of researches. And also there are many other partners within the context and whom we lean on and rely on who provide different kind of researches. 

And also I mean podcast. This has also become one of the key sources of information and areas. And of course I must commend Inkomoko for instance, just this podcast and platform that we are on Inkonversation, becomes very rich in terms of as a source of information. And there are many others. This is just about to mention a few. 

But I think another and most important also with the kind of work that we do with our partners. When we go to the field, when we get to interact with them, the displacement of the communities themselves, that's also a very, at first hand experience that we are really able to interact with who have the experience of displacement. That also becomes a very first hand to be able then to keep up with them. Different trends and practices that are in within the fields to the field of forced displacement. 

Makena 

Fantastic. Moving on now, around 30 million internally displaced people, refugees and asylum seekers live in Africa, representing almost 1/3 of the world's refugee population. At Inkomoko we serve these communities in four countries now Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and South Sudan. But for you, Rufus, over the years, regional policies around displacement have evolved. What are the key changes or milestones that you have observed that may have impacted refugee management or protection? 

Rufus 

Yes. I think for me, three things do come to mind. Back in 2016, there was a momentous moment when there was the signing of the New York Declaration for Refugees and also migrants. In some context, we call that the Global Compact for refugees. And this global compact, was a key milestone as it was seen essentially as a blueprint for global solidarity and refugee protection by States and international partners. And especially those who are very much hosting large numbers of refugees. What this compact did is that it set the stage for more support to refugees and their hosting communities, particularly because it focused on three objectives and... but I'll highlight two. One being that it focused on the enhancement of self-reliance. So that whole goal or ambition to be able then to make refugees and of course, together with their host communities, to be more self-reliant. Secondly, for especially for those countries that host large numbers of refugees, easing pressures for the host countries, as part of international burden sharing and expanding access for refugees to third countries solutions. So that really was an important moment because then it set the stage even, for instance, for the refugees who are currently in displacement, because even the discussion and the focus started to focus much more on self-reliance or agendas around durable solutions. 

secondly, I think the 2nd trend or mile milestone has been the radical policy and and practice shift that member states have started to adopt and moving away much more from a very securitized approach of how refugee management or hosting is looked at and then to start to pilot local solutions or push the needle around socioeconomic integration for refugees within hosting communities. Here in Kenya where we are currently, we've seen a very big shift ... policy shift from the government of Kenya and much complement for the visionary leadership there where we are now seeing you know, a break away from the traditional very security first approach in terms of how to look at refugees or host them. And Kenya is on the trajectory of moving towards even adopting what they're calling a SHIRIKA plan. And that is geared towards transitioning the current camps, so Dadaab refugee camp, Kakuma refugee camp, to be able to move towards integrated settlement and approach where refugees and host communities live much more in urban centres and there's much more inclusion or access. Refugees are more included in different services, even those that are offered from a national level. Ethiopia is also another good example we've seen even in the last global refugee Forum, where Ethiopia also made some very specific pledges in terms of transforming some of its selected refugee camps into urban settlements. So you can see really a trend here where there's this radical policy and practice shift. 

The third thing that I will mention here is very much linked to, of course, the second one is the greater focus on development of the shift from a humanitarian approach towards a development approach. And this is something that even as the you know government of Switzerland and SDC, we are very much in support of. Because the reality that we see today as I mentioned earlier is that we see much more increase in numbers of those who are displaced. And those who are in that situation, they find themselves being in a displacement situation for more than five years without necessarily finding any kind of solutions or prospects for solutions. There's also the, the reality where we find that with these increased displacement across the region, the funding situation, even from development partners, humanitarian partners, that funding is dwindling, and different priorities are coming into play. So then that begs the need to be able then to move from this traditional humanitarian approach. So this development approach then looks at other development financing opportunities for instance, the private sector. what private sector can bring in terms of innovations, but most importantly in a market led approach, when we talk about assistance to refugees. 

Makena 

Great. It's such encouraging news, especially in the Kenyan context and around the world. Seeing all this progress and milestones. In particular, Rufus, before we shift to the private sector. Have you worked on a specific policy or program, in terms of durable solutions? What key challenges or successes have you had in your experience? 

Rufus 

Yes indeed, I'm happy to actually highlight one of the flagship programs here in Kenya that has been supported by SDC and the government of Switzerland alongside other donors. It's a private sector program actually that is led by IFC, the International Finance Corporation as part of the World Bank Group. The program itself, called Kakuma-Kalobeyei Challenge Fund, or KKCF. Which is a five-year initiative that started way back in 2020 and that really aims to support private sector investment and to really focus on unlocking the economic potential of refugees and host communities within Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei settlement. They are located in Turkana County. So the northwest part of Kenya. And this initiative and that's why I call it a really a flagship initiative. Because it has really been able to really give a proof of concept that private sector can actually be able to establish and thrive within force displacement context. And also happy to say that, Inkomoko for instance is one of the investors under this particular component and within the partnership with IFC where they provide competitive grant support of different ticket sizes to various businesses and entrepreneurs. To either set up shop in Kakuma or Kalobeyei settlement, or even to expand some of the already existing enterprises that they have there. As of last year, we've been able to see that out of the different capital investments that has been done to give these different businesses, they have actually been able to generate over 370 new jobs both for refugees and host communities. And I think that is very commendable. Part of it is that the private sector also bringing their own capital investment. I think by the end of last year they have been able to generate over 2.1 million U.S. dollars in terms of capital investments to be able then to match what they are provided for within this initiative. And you can imagine how much that amount of money or capital investment into the local economy within Turkana and within the Turkana county. It does in terms of just supporting that local economy. 

I think the second thing because this initiative is very unique, it also works very closely with the local authorities. And one of the things and flagship projects that have been able to do even in the context of Kakuma has been to set up the first ever one-stop shop within the context of Kenya. We have something that we call the huduma Biashara Centre. So essentially a centre that provides both government or national level services, Being able to provide different kind of business advisory services to both refugees and host communities. Whether they want to renew their refugee ID or if it's different things or accessing municipal level because now Kakuma for instance, has been elevated to a municipality, business licenses or different kind of permits to be able to enable their businesses that is very much a key flagship that we have seen in that regard. 

It's also good to show what are some of the challenges. I think two of them do come in mind for me for private sector to thrive, they always want to thrive in a place where there is clear and predictable policy environment. And being very honest, one of the challenges over the years that we've seen in the context of Kenya has been that predictable policy environment. But now we are very much glad and happy that there is now much more clarity, especially with the SHIRIKA plan and is much more political and commitment towards moving towards this integrated settlement approach. 

The second thing has been the regulatory challenges that hinder refugees really to participate in livelihoods or entrepreneurship. So when you think about and I know these are challenges that even as Inkomoko, you've also been faced with in terms of refugees, access to work permits, different kind of refugee documentation that really allows them, whether on one part to set up businesses or even to Access Bank accounts or even the mobile SIM cards. And in Kenya We have the platform from the telcos Safaricom which really allows digital banking, digital transactions and refugees are not able to access that or even asylum seekers because of the regulatory challenges. But again, these are things that are very much work in progress within the Government of Kenya and we are really positive, especially with regards to the Shirika plan and the new Refugees Act, which is also trying to address some of these challenges. 

Makena 

Indeed, the private sector is already a key actor in the forced displacement context, mostly in three ways in formal sector activities, whether it's through CSR and another is also through procurement, you know, contracted by, you know, humanitarian agencies and NGO's to deliver goods and services. However, through our work as you mentioned, we know that business, the business angle is more impactful. Refugee communities are vibrant dynamic marketplaces. That have the potential to contribute to their host country economies by generating new partnerships and making private sector investment work for these settings, it is possible to make a difference as you have spoken Rufus. So just to add to what you had also said, what are other strategies you would employ to engage, you know, other stakeholders, including government, NGO's and affected communities to keep, you know, developing and implementing more effective solutions and policies? 

Rufus 

I think the first strategy or the first approach is definitely looking at a multi stakeholder approach, and indeed it's true. Because when we talk about the complexities of displacement or even the challenges of facilitating durable solutions for whether refugees or IDP's in different context. and we talk about that being a process that is not necessarily able to be done by 1 stakeholder or one partner or even just them donor partners being able to provide funding. We are very much and especially from the Switzerland side and other different donors. So this whole aspect of whole of government approach, so bringing different government entities. So not just those that are only dealing with, for instance, the Department of Refugee Services or the different Department of Refugee Services across the regions where refugees are, but also other different partners. When you talk about now, NGOs, you talk about the displacement affected communities themselves, private sector, etc. so being able to really employ a diverse set of actors and partners because this challenge of displacement really requires that. And then secondly, we need to be able to move away, of looking private sector only from a corporate social responsibility. For a long time, we've always looked at when private sector are being talked about. We look at them with the lens of CSR. But now the strategy to really look at them as being more a critical partner when we talk about development or formulation of policies or even in its execution. Private sector can offer different kind of innovations or even financing. So we need to be able then to pull them to bring them along. And we've seen that working very well even in the context of Kenya. Because when we talk about financial inclusion or economic inclusion for refugees and the host communities, we need the private sector, who then offer, whether it's the banking solutions, whether it's the tech solutions and different kind of financial products. They have to be part and parcel of the discourse or even in the programmatic sense that we are bringing them along. So being able to shift away from looking at private sector only as a CSR, but also as a critical partner to really be able to unlock the solutions for refugees. 

Makena 

That is very true Rufus, great recommendation around these approaches, and you know the balances that you know us actors are in to really support that. So now, looking forward, what are your main goals and aspirations in your work? 

Rufus 

So as I've mentioned before, we have a regional cooperation program or framework and for us, we look at finding solutions using a long term development approach and instruments. So that is still going to be a key focus for us within the context of Kenya, Somalia, Somaliland and Ethiopia. Very much taking a long term perspective but more concretely. 

So the aspect about measuring impacts on solutions, or even what we call pathways towards solutions, is a very important one. Because after having invested for some time now on this solutions agenda, we need to be able then to show the results or even at least to show the impact. For instance, in the context of Somalia where you have more than three-point something, million IDP's in that context. To what extent have you been able to actually move, X number of Idps from a situation of displacement into much more sustainable solutions? And for us even in terms of the exit strategy in terms of the kind of support that we are providing. And i know in the community of Practice, measuring impact of solutions or pathways to solutions is something that is going to be a big focus over the coming years. 

I think secondly, is the intersection between climate change and migration or displacement because this is increasingly becoming a big focus area. So looking at, complexities that come with climate change. So being able then to look at what are the intersections there, what are the kind of programs and even more importantly financing. Because climate change is a big discussion at the moment, and there is now much more deep dive and focus to be able to actually look at the intersection between climate change and migration. So I that is going it's going to be a big focus areas. And for Switzerland we have also different programs that we have within the SDC that we're also looking at how to address this big area of concern. 

Makena 

Fantastic Rufus. Finally, what is your parting shot to fellow and upcoming practitioners, partners and policymakers working on refugee issues to better address the challenges and harness opportunities in this field? 

Rufus 

Wow, that's a big question, especially when you frame it as advice, but maybe perhaps three things come to mind. First would be really to invest deeply in understanding and unpacking the issues and also being very intentional in spending time to interact with the displacement affected communities. I strongly believe that it's only by being intentional in, interacting with them, those who are affected or those who are living in the context of forced displacement. That you really get to understand, you appreciate their challenges. You also really much appreciate their resilience, their capacities. 

I think in terms of policy makers and also the practitioners, I think one of the big realization is about providing meaningful opportunities for refugees and even the host communities to be a part of the policy making processes and really to give them a seat at the table. That is one of the things that Switzerland we are very much having a big focus about. It's not just about being in closed door meetings, but really inviting them to actually have a voice. The rallying call these days from refugees and with a big movement on refugee led organisations is that "there is nothing about us without us." And this applies even for the practitioners, whether it's the NGO's, the UN or even ourselves. That we actually meaningfully involve refugees and IDP's in program design to really look at them in a sense equal partners. Because it's everything is at stake for them. 

I think the last one and here I come back to the point about evidence and also just providing a voice. We have fantastic people who are living in the situation of displacement, who are by virtue of themselves, they are researchers. There are many examples that we can pull out from this region. The refugee led research hub, which is led by refugees. They are doing fantastic work in terms of just being able to highlight different kind of researches that is led. Or even also not forgetting the academia, both the local academia within the global South. So being able to really highlight and provide an opportunity. This is very much in line with the localization agenda which as Switzerland, we very much in support of. So maybe those will be the three things that I would talk about. 

Makena 

What a rich conversation, delving really into the depths of of forced displacement and durable solutions, Rufus Rufus. We cannot say thank you enough for sharing with us. You know all your knowledge and and and letting people learn more about the great work that you're doing. I wanna thank you once again for giving us your time. And wishing you all the best. Thank you Rufus. 

Rufus 

Thank you. Thank you so much, Makena and all the best to Inkomoko and all the great work that you're also doing in the region.