Influence Of Refugee Affairs Secretariat In The Delivery Of Services In Dadaab, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Refugee support is an imperative aspect in government administration of affairs regarding asylum seekers. Effective administration of refugee affairs requires an efficient support program that coordinates with other agencies to oversee quality service delivery to refugees in the camp. Refugee population has continued to soar in Kenya. There exists little information regarding administration of refugee affairs in Kenya‘s growing refugee camps. There is an urgent need to assess the influence of refugee support program as issues of refugees are viewed more of security concerns. The aim of the study was to investigate how the Kenyan refugee support program (RAS) assists refugees in Dadaab Camp and also establish how the program coordinates with other agencies in handling refugee affairs. The study employed Securitization Theory in attempt to establish how security concerns affect provision of services throughout the Camp as well as establishing to what extent security and protection considerations influence state assistance through (RAS) to refugees in Dadaab. Descriptive research design was used to collect in-depth information on the research problem. The study purposively selected Dadaab Camp while it employed quota sampling to pick key informants; while interview schedules and questionnaires were used to collect data. The study target populations were respondents from Ifo, Dagahaley and Hagadera refugee camps. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected and descriptive statistics used to analyze the data. The study found out that the Refugee Affairs Secretariat was fairly effective in facilitating refugee based services in the camps. The study established that there was a positive Pearson moment correlation of +0.57 which indicates that proper resource utilization, training, security agency intervention, collaboration with stakeholders and effective human resource practices would lead to quality service delivery in the refugee camps. Conflicts, violation of refugee rights and unscrupulous activities by the security agencies were major hurdles in management of refugee affairs by RAS in the camps.