Verfahrensangaben

Kenya hosts over 858,137 refugees and asylum seekers, primarily from Somalia, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, concentrated in the Dadaab and Kakuma/Kalobeyei camps and surrounding host communities. These regions face structural poverty, limited access to basic services, scarce energy infrastructure, and high unemployment, particularly among youth, women, and people with disabilities. Refugees earn limited income through trade, casual labor, or small-scale businesses, while host communities largely depend on livestock farming and informal employment. Resource scarcity, unequal access to aid, and environmental pressures have contributed to social tensions and occasional conflicts between refugees and local populations.

In response, the Government of Kenya launched the Shirika Plan in 2025 to transition from short-term humanitarian assistance toward sustainable, development-focused integration. The Plan aims to create inclusive settlements where refugees and host communities live together with improved access to education, livelihoods, energy, and vocational training. It provides a legal and institutional framework for local integration and economic participation in line with the Global Compact on Refugees.

The project "Support for the Implementation of the Shirika Plan to Strengthen the Socio-Economic Integration of Refugees and Host Communities in Kenya (SISI RH)" runs from October 2025 to September 2028. Commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), it is jointly implemented by GIZ, UNHCR, and the Department of Refugee Services (DRS/MINA) under the Special Initiative "Refugees and Host Countries." The project strengthens living conditions, enhances government capacities, and expands access to sustainable energy, vocational training, and employment services.

The project delivers three key outputs:
1. Government Capacity Building: Supporting national and local authorities to implement the Shirika Plan effectively.
2. Access to Sustainable Energy: Expanding modern energy services, including clean cooking solutions and solar power, to promote livelihoods, climate resilience, and socio-economic integration.
3. Skills Development and Employment Promotion: Providing vocational training and employment opportunities, with particular attention to women, youth, and vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities.

By linking humanitarian aid, development cooperation, and peacebuilding, the project contributes to Kenya Vision 2030, BMZ"s Country Strategy Kenya, the Global Compact on Refugees, and international climate and development frameworks, including the Paris Agreement and EU Green Deal. It fosters social cohesion, promotes gender equality, supports mental health and psychosocial wellbeing, and empowers refugees and host communities to build secure, sustainable, and self-reliant futures.

Services under Output 2 aim to increase electricity access, promote modern cooking solutions, facilitate productive-use of energy (PUE) applications, strengthen private-sector participation, and enhance local technical and institutional capacities. A significant share of the implementation activities will be concentrated in Dadaab. All interventions will be coordinated with DRS, county governments in Garissa and Turkana, relevant energy agencies, local authorities, private enterprises, and development partners.
A critical input will be a comprehensive market needs assessment, conducted by a separate contractor prior to Output 2 activities. This assessment will form the evidence base for all interventions, providing detailed understanding of household and enterprise energy demand, supply chain capacities, consumer preferences, affordability, and barriers to private-sector engagement. It will include surveys, focus groups, and key informant interviews across refugee and host communities in Dadaab, Kakuma, and Kalobeyei.
The assessment will map electricity, improved cookstoves, alternative fuels, and PUE supply chains, identifying strengths, bottlenecks, and gaps. Affordability, willingness to pay, and regulatory frameworks will be analyzed. Gender and inclusion factors, including barriers faced by women and persons with disabilities, as well as cultural and household dynamics, will inform the design, targeting, and sequencing of all Output 2 interventions.
Building on this evidence, Output 2 will support a Results-Based Reimbursement (RBR) mechanism to incentivize private-sector investment, linking payments to results such as household and enterprise connections, cookstove deployment, and PUE installations. The mechanism will involve stakeholder consultations, eligibility criteria emphasizing women- and youth-led enterprises, competitive selection, capacity-building, monitoring, verification, phased disbursement, and risk management strategies. Linkages to commercial financiers will promote long-term sustainability.
Services also include enterprise development and technical support for businesses engaged in electricity provision, cookstove production, alternative fuel distribution, and PUE technologies. Support covers installation, operation, and maintenance of solar systems and mini-grids; technical guidance for cookstove production, efficiency testing, and quality assurance; alternative fuel production; and adoption of PUE technologies. Business advisory services include market analysis, supply chain optimization, financial management, strategic planning, formalization support, and access to financing.
Result-based and technical support will be provided to scalable energy solutions, including the design, implementation and operation of a pilot 50 kW solar-hybrid mini-grid in Dadaab, solar-powered water pumps, cold storage units, and institutional cooking systems. PUE interventions will support livelihoods through solar-powered milling, refrigeration, welding, irrigation, and ICT services. Clean cooking and alternative fuel services will expand access via local production, distribution networks, and behavior change campaigns, prioritizing women"s participation and reducing exposure to indoor air pollution.
Coordination with national and county authorities, DRS, energy agencies, development partners, and private-sector actors will ensure alignment with policy frameworks and complementarity with existing programs. Lessons learned from regional initiatives such as ProSEET, EnDev, WIDU.africa, and EMPOWER will be incorporated.
A robust Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) system will track household and enterprise energy access, adoption of clean cooking technologies, use of PUE equipment, and participation of women, youth, and persons with disabilities. Community feedback mechanisms, baseline, midline, and endline evaluations, and adaptive management processes will ensure accountability, evidence-based adjustments, and continuous learning.
By 2028, Output 2 is expected to expand energy access to approximately 90,113 refugees and 60,076 host community members, including at least 75,095 women. Enterprises in sustainable energy supply chains are projected to grow from 139 to 151 in Kakuma and 22 to 32 in Dadaab, with at least 30% women-led or owned. Adoption of PUE technologies, improved cooking solutions, and alternative fuels will contribute to income generation, employment creation, and environmental protection.
Sustainability is central to Output 2, combining evidence-based market interventions, technical support, infrastructure development, PUE promotion, clean cooking, gender inclusion, and rigorous MEAL processes to ensure long-term, self-sustaining energy markets.
The services deliver a neutral, evidence-based, and coordinated set of interventions to transform energy access in Kenya"s refugee-hosting regions. By providing affordable, reliable, and inclusive energy solutions, supporting enterprise development, enabling productive-use applications, promoting clean cooking, and ensuring continuous learning and monitoring, the project will enhance livelihoods, strengthen environmental resilience, foster social inclusion, and support the implementation of the Government of Kenya"s Shirika Plan.

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