1. Introduction
a. Context
Kenya was for the longest time the largest refugee hosting country in Africa with Dadaab camp as the largest camp in Africa. Displacement has often been protracted, running to almost three decades for some for instance those that fled from Somalia in the early 1990s. Even when situations in countries of origin have seemed to improve as was the case in S. Sudan, it was not long before conflict erupted again and S. Sudanese refugees were back in the camps especially in Kakuma in Turkana County.
The refugee hosting counties in Kenya are some of the most underserved and least developed. Though this is slowly changing with devolution, levels of economic development generally remain low compared to other parts of the country. For a long time, the focus has been on provision of humanitarian assistance to refugees, which has created an ecosystem of its own, but one that has not necessarily paid attention to labour market dynamics.
With the roll out of the devolved system in Kenya , the counties are taking lead in driving their development agenda and especially through defining priorities through the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDP) – these are 5 year strategic plans that define areas of focus and gaps in interventions that the counties, national government and development partners work towards addressing.
In Turkana County, for the first time, the CIDP II of 2018-2022 recognises refugees as a key constituent that contributes to the economic development of the county. At the same time, it is cognisant of challenges in the labour market including relevant /skills to drive forth-emerging sectors like oil and gas and the need for more economic development through growth of local enterprises, development of value chains, attracting large private sector and creating an environment that enables investment.
Up to 180,000 refugees are hosted in Turkana West constituting up to 40% of the population of the sub county. Of this refugee population, 46% are women and girls according to the UNHCR. Conditions for economic activity are challenging, as the area is resource-poor, remote and refugees´ are constrained in their freedom of movement and right to work. While Kenya is a pilot country for the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), key enablers of meaningful socio economic inclusion especially freedom of movement lacks. Whereas refugees are allowed by law to engage in gainful employment, the number of those accessing work permits remains low. The process of acquiring work permits remains unpredictable without a clear indication on time lines and requirements. For refugee entrepreneurs, the limitation on mobility has meant sourcing locally for produce, which may not support their growth.
In response to this situation, PROSPECTS, a four-year innovative inter-agency partnership between the Government of Netherlands, the World Bank, IFC, ILO, UNHCR and UNICEF was established. The goal of the partnership is to strengthen the socio-economic enabling environments of communities that host different forcibly displaced populations to ensure sustainable decent work, training and education opportunities, as the policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks facilitate this integration process. ILO is implementing a range of interventions under this partnership. For Kenya, the partner agencies have selected two focus counties for further analysis: Kalobeyei and Kakuma camp (Turkana County) and Dadaab Camp (Garissa County).
b. The Cooperative Advantage
Cooperatives play a major self-help role in rural areas, particularly where private businesses hesitate to go and public authorities do not provide basic services. They are instrumental in providing opportunities for productive employment, as well as offering health care, education, potable water, improved sanitation, roads, and market access, while giving a stronger voice to rural populations. Agricultural cooperatives provide strong economic benefits to farmers, through sharing and pooling of resources, improved access to markets, higher returns for their products, and strengthened bargaining position.(1)
Box 1: What is a Cooperative?
A cooperative is defined by the International Co-operative Alliance and the International Labour Organization as “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.”
Source: The ILO Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002 (No. 193)
Cooperative development in Kenya, like in most African countries, has generally traversed two main eras, namely, the era of state control and that of liberalization. The first era, which saw the origin and substantial growth of cooperatives under state direction, conditioned these organizations to emerge as dependent agents and/ or clients of the state and other semi-public agencies.(2) By serving as instruments for implementing government socio-economic policies, cooperatives were engulfed into state politics to the extent that the failures of state policies found expression in the cooperative movement. Such failures contributed to calls for the liberalization of the cooperative movement in the early 1990s(3).
Cooperatives are recognized by the government to be a major contributor to national development, as cooperatives are found in almost all sectors of the economy. There are over 22,000 registered cooperative societies in Kenya representing over 10 million members.(4) Currently the types of cooperatives that are active in Kenya include agriculture and non-agriculture cooperatives. Agricultural cooperatives engage in the marketing of members’ produce as their main activity, though some cooperatives, such as coffee and dairy cooperatives, have ventured into manufacturing in a bid to add value to produce in order to earn a higher return before it is marketed. Other cooperatives found in the agricultural sector include fishery, farm purchase and multi-produce cooperatives, which market agricultural produce and mobilize savings to purchase land for members. Non-agricultural cooperatives are involved in finance, housing, consumer, crafts, insurance, transport and the informal economy. In the financial sector, the Cooperative Bank and SACCOs provide savings and credit services, while housing cooperatives assist with the provision of affordable shelter as their main activity. Consumer and craft cooperatives market their respective commodities, while cooperatives in the transport and informal economy engage in savings and credit activities (Wanyama, 2008: 92-3). The Cooperative Insurance Company (CIC) is the flagship of the cooperative movement in the provision of insurance services.(5)With the cooperative movement playing such a significant role in economic development, the Government has over the years maintained an institutional framework to develop the movement.
More recently, in Kenya cooperatives have been bringing together refugees and host community members for social-economic empowerment. As a way of illustration, refugees and host community members have formed cooperatives in Turkana, especially savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) to provide better services to themselves as members and improving their livelihoods.(6) Such initiatives have benefitted from the support of local authorities.(7)
This phenomemon has been confirmed by a recent ILO research which aimed at identifying good practices, capturing lessons learned and taking note of potential areas of innovation by cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy organizations working in displacement contexts, with a view to enhancing their role in crisis response and promoting decent work.(8)
Box 2: Pathways for engagement of cooperatives with host and displaced populations
Cooperatives are engaging with host and displaced populations in many ways:
· Host community cooperatives provide services to displaced persons
· Host community cooperatives recruit displaced persons as workers
· Host community cooperatives include displaced persons as members
· Host communities provide capacity building and training for displaced persons to set up their own cooperatives
· Displaced persons form cooperatives provide services for themselves or their host community
· Displaced persons and host communities organized into cooperatives by an international organization provide services for themselves or the host community
· Returning displaced persons rebuild their own communities through cooperatives
Source: ILO (2020)
2. Scope of the assignment
Under the supervision of the ILO Chief Technical Advisor of PROSPECTS in Kenya, the National Programme Officer Enterprise and the Enterprise Technical Specialist Enterprise and Market Systems Development. In close collaboration with ILO’s Cooperatives Unit, the consultant is expected to conduct a rapid needs assessment of cooperatives, and other similar member-based organizations engaged in livestock and vegetable value chains in Garissa county, and explore the role and performace of public and private support organizations (i.e. government institutions, secondary cooperatives, social partners, refugee/IDP run organizations, cooperative business development service providers, training institutes, NGOs etc.) operating in Garissa county. The needs assessment will also analyse potential of informal farmers/producers/women/youth groups and similar organizations to coalesce into cooperative enterprises and formal organizations. **
The main objective of the assessment is to understand the current situation of cooperatives, farmers/producers groups, and other simila
