Impact of non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) peacebuilding operations on the humanitarian aid architecture in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya

Abstract

The global refugee crisis has resulted in the displacement of over 100 million people, underscoring the necessity for efficient humanitarian aid systems. This is especially the case in long-term situations such as the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, which is home to more than 200,000 refugees. The present research investigates how Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) peacebuilding initiatives affect the overall performance of the humanitarian aid architecture in Kakuma. The manner in which the questioned institutions carry out the said work, e.g., community dialogues, violence prevention, and peace education, was the focus of the present research. By using a concurrent mixed-methods research design, the study explores how NGOs peacebuilding work has changed the aid architecture in Kakuma and the realization of community dialogues, violence prevention, and peace education as the main interventions. The population surveyed in the research comprised 40,316 refugee household heads, 63 host community leaders, 28 NGO officers, 15 government representatives, and 50 leaders from the United Refugee and Host Churches (URHC). The selection process used stratified simple random sampling to pick 384 refugee household heads; purposive sampling to pinpoint 19 host community leaders and 5 government representatives; and a census approach for the 28 NGO officers and the 50 URHC leaders, respectively. Results from the research demonstrate excellent participation in NGO capacity building dialogues (82.8%) as well as the increase in positive safety perceptions among the population involved (78.6%) together with the rise in the percentage of efficiently handled conflicts (56.3%) among the local communities, thus contributing significantly to the organization of the aid delivery through stability provision. On the contrary, issues such as a lack of good NGO-government relations (44.8%) and instances of discrimination (79.3%) illustrate that the approach applied is far from being comprehensive. These empirical results, rooted in Galtungís Conflict Theory, indicate that peacebuilding activities bolster the humanitarian architecture by decreasing instances of disruption, however, the presence of certain systemic barriers still dictates the need for targeted interventions. To tackle such issues, the study suggests employing more participatory approaches along with better coordination as the key to achieving conflict-sensitive aid that will both be sustainable in Kakuma and transferable to other potential scenarios.