Between drought and deluge: the fragility of ‘resilience’ in Kakuma Refugee Camp

Kakuma Refugee Camp, established in 1992 in northwestern Kenya, hosts over 302,000 refugees, the majority coming from South Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Initially designed as a short-term safe haven for Sudanese boys fleeing the Second Sudanese Civil War in the early 1990s, Kakuma has become a protracted settlement with limited infrastructure and resembles a sprawling shanty town with innumerable socioeconomic and political problems. Given the ongoing international humanitarian–development financing crisis, growing refugee populations, climate crises and frequent political instability in the region, Kakuma’s residents are increasingly under pressure to support themselves in the face of dwindling food rations and a breakdown in the international order’s duty of care. Yet, recent events – especially the recent floods following a five-year drought – demonstrate that refugees face severe constraints in doing so.

As food rations have been cut to under 45% of minimum daily caloric needs, many refugees have scrambled to find ways to survive. A nearby lakebed offered relatively fertile land and easy access to water via the of digging groundwater wells, for would-be farmers to plant crops, albeit at immense risk. When sudden rains came, these crops and rudimentary farms were washed away, devastating hundreds of livelihoods. In this article we hope to draw attention to this issue by outlining how structural vulnerabilities and international neglect exacerbate such crises, and to propose a humanitarian shift toward supporting locally driven, climate-adapted responses that have a better chance of success in the long run.

Self-reliance and agricultural livelihoods in crisis

Faced with declining rations and limited employment opportunities, the cultivation of crops near the seasonal lake was a last-ditch effort for many to make a go of life in exile. This was an adaptive strategy, fuelled in many ways by the much lauded ‘refugee-resilience’ mantra we read so much about in policy papers and humanitarian–development discourse the world over. The lakebed’s loamy soils and shallow water tables made it suitable for short-term crop production and, crucially, the digging of wells to access much-needed water during climate change-exacerbated droughts. Refugees planted moringa, murere, okra, kale, spinach, amaranth, cowpeas, sweet potato, cassava, maize, sukuma, tomatoes and onions – vital for household nutrition and informal market sales.

But as the refugees now know, these farms were built on precarious ground. The recent heavy rains – breaking a record-setting drought – flooded the area, destroying crops, livelihoods and hopes overnight. According to interviews with the refugees we conducted in April 2025, many families lost everything: the crops, their seeds, their tools, and months of their labour. The lack of an emergency response or much of a sense of consideration by the international humanitarian infrastructure operating in Kakuma is pushing an already vulnerable population into deeper destitution.

Climate change and fragility

Kakuma is located in Turkana County, one of Kenya’s driest regions. The area has been hit by five consecutive failed rainy seasons (2019–2023), resulting in crop failure, livestock deaths, water shortages and increased pressure on the refugee camp to accommodate a swelling number of people affected by such disasters. These trends are consistent with broader Horn of Africa patterns linked to climate change, including irregular rainfall, extreme heat and flash floods.

The 2024/25 rains came violently. The normally welcome rainfall inundated the unprepared region and caught the local people off guard, washing away crops, submerging latrines and wreaking havoc on the local community initiatives the refugees had come to rely on. In our view, the lack of environmental planning or warning systems in Kakuma, coupled with reactive rather than anticipatory responses, underscores a broader failure by authorities to integrate climate adaptation into refugee protection frameworks.

Voices from the floodplain

For many refugee farmers, the floods were not just an environmental disaster, but a personal and existential loss. ‘It is like dying again and again,’ said Nyange Mauridi Wilongela, a Congolese farmer in Kakuma, who had planted amaranth, cassava leaves, and courge (squash) in the fertile lakebed. ‘We depended on that land. It helped us buy soap, charcoal, phone credit – things food rations cannot give.’ His plot, located about 30 metres from the seasonal river (Laga), was selected for its rich soil and proximity to underground water. ‘Then the Laga expanded and took everything away.’

Others like Peter Deng Hul, a South Sudanese refugee who had invested the earnings from his small shop into farming, were equally devastated. ‘I was the biggest supplier of moringa leaves in my area. Farming was how I fed my family. Then the rains came, and all my crops were gone overnight.’ Deng had even constructed small irrigation canals to transport community water to his garden, yet nothing could prepare him for the river bursting its banks and washing away months of labour.

Adau Bol Beliu, also from South Sudan, was one of the first to lose both her shelter and her farm. ‘I had been farming for 11 years. This season, the rains were worse than anything I’ve seen before,’ she said. ‘Our garden helped me feed my children. The food ration barely lasts half the month.’

The farmers interviewed repeatedly pointed to the lack of viable alternatives. Compound gardens are impractical due to space limitations, animals, and exposure to children and chemicals. ‘Even if I try to plant at home, chickens ruin everything,’ said Beliu. They are calling for secure land, training, tools, and protection from further climate shocks.

These personal accounts powerfully underscore the lived reality behind the policy rhetoric of ‘resilience’. Without support for climate-adapted, refugee-led agriculture, Kakuma’s residents are left with neither food nor futures.

What we propose

Refugee-led development approaches

Grassroots refugee-led development organisations offer insightful, relevant and realistic approaches towards development, that top-down institutional approaches cannot replicate. Above all, through real community engagement and leadership, they offer hope and a blueprint for what ‘resilience’ should be. One example is our project, Vijana Twaweza Community (VTC) a grassroots collective of refugees in Kakuma supported by international colleagues, that promotes agriculture, poultry, fish and rabbit farming in Kakuma and beyond. Our flagship project, Fishing in the Desert, focuses on fish farming in an effort to provide much-needed protein to the people of Kakuma. In 2024, VTC fed over 500 families and launched the Inua Mama project to train women heads of households to become poultry farmers. Supported by Crédit Agricole Assurances and Dublin City University, the programme trained 10 women in its first year and has now expanded to train 30 women in 2025.

Participants receive chicks, feed, training and startup materials. The model promotes nutrition, economic empowerment, sustainable agricultural practices and local leadership. VTC also works on rabbit breeding, cricket raising and vegetable gardening, with an emphasis on small-scale, replicable models that use minimal water, low-tech infrastructure and are designed to work within the local environmental context. These efforts, though small in scale, offer a sustainable livelihood pathway and counterbalance top-down aid fatigue.

More and better education for sustainable development

Education for sustainable development (ESD) remains critically under-supported in refugee and crisis contexts like Kakuma, where immediate survival often overshadows long-term planning. Yet, in the face of natural and manmade disasters, food insecurity, and a collapsing humanitarian infrastructure, education is often the only solution available and one that everyone can agree brings positive change.

Reinforcing and augmenting the role that ESD plays needs to go beyond formal schooling to include vocational training, agricultural science, and entrepreneurial skills tailored to the local context. Community-led education initiatives, like VTC’s Inua Mama Chicken Farming Training programme, have shown significant promise in this regard – offering practical, relevant and cost-effective alternatives to top-down institutional development initiatives.

However, systemic barriers persist: community-based education programmes are woefully underfunded, and grassroots approaches are frequently sidelined by humanitarian models that prioritise aspirational rather than realistic ones. There is an urgent need for more localised and practical education strategies that empower (financially as well as figuratively) refugees as agents of change – particularly as global aid systems continue to contract.

Structural failures in international humanitarian and development infrastructure

The latest round of ration cuts by the World Food Programme means that Kakuma’s residents now receive less than 945 kilocalories (kcal)/day. This figure is far below the Sphere standard of 2,100 kcal/day for an adult’s energy requirements in humanitarian contexts. Food insecurity has led to malnutrition and undernutrition, protests, intercommunal violence, school dropouts and various other social ills. Meanwhile, the dominant narrative emanating from humanitarian and development remains one of expectation for refugees to become self-reliant without adequate resources such as land, tools or training.

Donor shifts away from long-term development in crisis contexts – especially as European and North American funding is diverted to domestic priorities – have left refugees worse off than ever before. Moreover, aid and development programming is often criticised for being too fragmented, following the latest political trend and rarely geared toward specific contexts. Furthermore, host-country constraints, including political discontent, increased competition for rare resources, limits on land ownership and work permits, further stifle autonomy.

Ultimately, for sustainable development to be the panacea that it can be, livelihoods must be reconceptualised in refugee camps as a right, not a privilege. This will mean integrating legal reforms, market access, educational opportunities and psychosocial support into future humanitarian and development strategies across the international humanitarian and development infrastructure.

Policy and practice recommendations

1. Restore full food ration levels: Urgent appeals are needed to restore food rations to the minimum humanitarian standards. International donors should ringfence funding for protracted refugee crises.
2. Support refugee-led organisations: Scale up funding and technical support for groups like VTC to drive real and lasting grassroots development. Funders should streamline grant access for refugee-led initiatives.
3. Invest in climate-resilient agriculture: Build raised beds, invest in flood defences, introduce drought- and flood-tolerant seeds, and expand drip irrigation. Pilot early-warning systems and adaptive agricultural education.
4. Embed vocational training in education: Expand access to education in refugee contexts and emphasise the importance of vocational education in agriculture and business development. Link education programmes to microfinancing and resources like VTC’s Inua Mama Chicken Farming Training programme.
5. Improve cooperation and coordination: United Nations agencies, international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and governments must co-create strategies with refugees and community-based organisations.

Conclusion

The drought-to-deluge crisis in Kakuma is not an isolated weather event – it is the result of intersecting systemic failures, including an overburdened system and a lack of forward planning. Refugees who proactively responded to ration cuts by farming lakebeds – through no fault of their own – saw their work destroyed by climate change-induced floods in a devastatingly short time. Their exclusion from national systems, underfunded support structures, and lack of climate resilience tools have compounded the crisis.

Yet, refugee communities are not passive victims. Through initiatives like VTC and many other community-based development initiatives, a different model is now visible – one based on agency, adaptability, inclusion and true resilience. For humanitarian actors, the imperative is clear: listen, invest locally, and move beyond top-down paternalism to partnership.

Dieu Merci Luundo is the Chairman of Vijana Twaweza Community in Kakuma.

Sunday Amum is a member of Vijana Twaweza Community in Kakuma.

Paul O’Keeffe is an academic, writer and sustainable development expert from Ireland.