Women’s self-reliance and sustainable livelihoods: implementation of the Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Plan (KISEDP) for refugees and the host population in Kenya

Efforts to promote livelihoods and self-reliance are key in any strategy that seeks to create more sustainable alternatives to a one-sided dependency existence in protracted refugee situations. Women’s situation calls for special attention, since the conditions for creating and maintaining livelihoods and self-reliance differ from those of men. Women are generally more exposed to obstructing intersecting inequalities and discriminatory social norms, which can be changed and reinforced in an exile situation, resulting in an increase of economic marginalization. This chapter aims to shed light on the conditions and prospects for the development of women’s livelihoods and self-reliance in the implementation of the Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Plan (KISEDP) in Kenya. Within a theoretical framework offering guidance on the understanding of livelihoods, social reproduction and women’s labour, the chapter examines the interplay and dynamism between the conceptual idea of the plan and the factual premises on the grounds of relevance to women’s economic integration. The chapter concludes that the situation for women’s economic self-reliance and empowerment in the Kalobeyei settlement is, in many ways, representative of the bias between policy and practice on the ground that is becoming increasingly apparent in the international handling of protracted refugee situations worldwide.