To provide protection and assistance to people of concern, the Sub Office worked closely with the Government authorities. 2020 was also a year when Dadaab refugee operation was meant to be “unpacked” through relocation of non-Somali refugees to Kakuma, repatriation to Ethiopia and Somalia as well as de-registration of Kenyans who registered as refugees and refugees who double registered. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic only permitted 190 refugees to repatriate to Somalia in December.
Relocation of non-Somali refugees to Kakuma and Kalobeyei took place during the 1st quarter of the year. However, the exercise stalled because of the pandemic which permitted only 683 to be relocated by air or by road. Resettlement opportunities dramatically declined during the year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 55 departures were recorded and another 9 departed under complementary pathways. Resettlement submissions during the year totaled 116, accounting for 365 refugees. The resettlement registration forms were submitted to nine resettlement countries: Australia (123), the UK (107), the Netherlands (63), Germany (27), Finland (16), Norway (15), Sweden (10), France (3), and Canada (1).
In response the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dadaab operation re-opened the Ifo 2 hospital and established a 100-bed capacity for admission and treatment of COVID-19 patients. 3 quarantine facilities were also established, one in each camp to isolate contacts of those who tested positive as well as arrivals from locations outside Dadaab.
Regarding livelihoods, in partnership with the Danish Refugee Council, 283 households were directly reached and 1,112 indirectly. Village Savings and Loan (VSL), and agricultural livelihoods developed targeted community resilience, through training and provision of agricultural inputs to promote access to employment and facilitation of businesses. 91 refugees participated in skills training through virtual learning, 40 (19 women and 21 men) completed their vocational skills training by taking the certification examination administered by the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA).
The Garissa Integrated Socioeconomic Development Plan (GISEDP), a product of multi-stakeholder collaboration, could not be launched because of the unprecedented desert locust invasion and the COVID-19 pandemic. During the last quarter of 2020, work on GISEDP gradually gained momentum through virtual consultations. A new GISEDP calendar was finalized with the Government and all stakeholders in response to finalizing the GISEDP strategy, which will be launched by mid-2021 followed by a fundraising forum.
The implementation of a security partnership project (SPP) contributed to the security of refugee camps, host communities and facilitated humanitarian access, thereby reducing the level of crime within the camps, and strengthened camp security that ultimately contributed to effective programme delivery. The results were realized through the support of RAS and the community peace and protection teams (CPPTs) responsible for camp security and management.
During the year, only 931 individuals were profiled against a target 21,000 individuals. The estimated population of unregistered persons stood at 16,671 individuals. Of those, 16,107 individuals were from Somalia while 564 were other nationalities.