With the support of a grant of more than 860,000 US dollars from the Government of Japan, UN-Habitat has developed the spatial plan for Kalobeyei Settlement in collaboration with Turkana County Government and UNHCR.

The objective of the spatial plan is to integrate development objectives with emergency refugee responses, and also to aid Turkana County Government in developing ownership over the project to facilitate future handover.

Currently, Turkana County Government has inadequate capacity in regulating the new influx, resulting in sporadic informal development along the corridor. Hence, it is critical that UN-Habitat continue to support Turkana County Government in tackling the lack of preparedness for the new influx, addressing the need of shelter and integrated livelihood activities for refugee settlements, supporting integration and collaboration with the host communities.

The new project, “Enhancing Land Use Efficiency as A Conflict-Resolution Strategy for Refugee Host Community Integration” funded by the Government of Japan, will develop a spatial planning and local infrastructures, and provide technical skills trainings for refugees and host communities during the period from March 2020 to March 2021. Land rehabilitation and flood control in Kalobeyei Settlement have been urgently demanded due to a drastic increase in precipitations. In order to tackle the problems, UN-Habitat will support Turkana County Government and communities in developing the site rehabilitation plan and strategy on unutilized land in Kalobeyei Settlement.

In addition, infrastructures to improve underutilised lands will be developed through participatory process and involvement of refugees and host communities who will be provided technical skills trainings. The training on land-conflict resolution will be combined with shelter relocation strategy and sensitisation trainings conducted to ensure differing community needs.

Moreover, in Kalobeyei Settlement, children between the ages from 5 to 11 account for approximately 30 per cent of the total population, which is much higher than that of Kakuma refugee camp. Therefore, UN-Habitat will provide public spaces with many play equipment and facilities for refugees and host communities including youth and women, and capacity development regarding building entrepreneurship for women, management and maintenance of the public spaces will also be provided throughout this project.