Kenya hosts over 830,000 refugees and asylum seekers (UNHCR, December 2025), with 36% living in Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei settlements of Turkana West sub-county. Poverty affects 72% of the sub-county"s hosting community of around 240,000 people and 58% of the refugee population (KNBS, 2022) The youth, especially young women and refugees in protracted displacement situation, face significant barriers to acquiring skills, income, and economic self-reliance, resulting in strong dependency on humanitarian aid and other support services. The project Promoting Employability and Entrepreneurship in Turkana West and Lokichoggio (ProSEET) pursues the objective to strengthen the socio-economic self-reliance of youth in the refugee and host communities. On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) follows an integrated approach to sustainable employment in Turkana West. ProSEET project cooperates with local training institutions, business skills training providers, business associations, and local authorities at a structural level. In its three fields of action, ProSEET takes a holistic approach to employment promotion and simultaneously addresses multiple barriers to employment and economic participation affecting both the refugee and hosting communities: Action Area 1 improves the conditions for socio-economic self-reliance of youth in the refugee and host communities, by sharing labor market information through listening groups, game shows, mobile counselling services and digital campaigns. These activities also cover remote areas of the sub-county providing access to information. Action Area 2 addresses access to employment-oriented skills training for youth by strengthening the capacities of local trainers and institutions, introducing new qualifications, and offering technical and entrepreneurial courses. Action Area 3 focuses on building the capacities of local government and private-sector stakeholders to expand their business-related services and provide target-group-specific support for microentrepreneurs, aiming to boost MSME competitiveness, incomes, and create jobs. Activities include public-private dialogues, financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills trainings for micro and small enterprises, promotion of loan and saving groups (especially among women-headed households) and supporting start-ups through business incubation, mentorship, and grants.

10024964-Sustainable Economic Opportunities for Youth in Turkana West and Lokichoggio

The service to be delivered is divided into four interlinked work packages. Work package 1 focuses on career guidance and counselling for youth in Kakuma, Kalobeyei and Lokichoggio against the backdrop of Kenya"s policy shift from a camp model to integrated settlements (Refugees Act 2021, Shirika Plan). In a context of high poverty, informal livelihoods and recurrent climate shocks, many young people (especially women) face a "dependency syndrome" fuelled by limited formal job opportunities and insufficient soft skills, qualifications and psychosocial resilience. Lecture-style guidance proved inadequate in 2023-2024. The package therefore adopts a holistic, human-centred approach that aligns with KNCCI, DRS and the NEA to prepare youth for participation in the emerging local economy. The intervention combines three tracks. First, Personal Discovery and Career Orientation establishes career clubs in secondary schools or community youth clubs, guiding learners through self-assessment (interests, strengths, values), exposing them to local economic opportunities via KNCCI/NEA, and using role-model talks from both refugee and host communities to build aspiration. Second, the "Bounce-Back" psychosocial resilience track provides ongoing support through trauma- and culturally informed group sessions and individual counselling, with practical exercises in stress management, self-awareness, goal-setting and adaptive thinking; peer support circles normalise setbacks and foster persistence, with particular emphasis on young women"s needs. Third, Employability Skills and Labour-Market Linkages deliver hands-on training in CV writing, job applications, interview techniques, workplace communication, teamwork, time management and professional conduct, followed by short attachments with local firms and service providers to translate skills into practice and build networks. Delivery leverages existing facilities (schools, youth clubs, NEA at the Huduma-Biashara Centre) and mobile outreach for outlying areas; cohorts can run in parallel across Kakuma and Lokichoggio. Key deliverables are an inception report, training measures reaching 2,000 youths, viable psychosocial support activities, formal linkages to NEA/KNCCI, and a final report. Work package 2 strengthens MSME performance through Business Development Services. Many entrepreneurs in Kakuma/Lokichoggio operate informally and lack budgeting, record-keeping, pricing and investment planning skills. Targeted training-using a GIZ 10 day entrepreneurship/financial literacy curriculum-and follow-on mentorship are designed to improve cash-flow management, responsible credit use, decision-making, innovation, value addition and market linkages, thereby enhancing profitability, resilience and job creation. The contractor delivers training to 800 current and aspiring entrepreneurs and VSLA members from wards including Kakuma, Kalobeyei, Lopur, Song"ot and Lokichogio, with courses offered in Kakuma and Lokichoggio to reduce travel burden. Methods combine interactive sessions, case studies, practical exercises and group work. Content covers ideation, business planning, marketing, pricing, business canvas models, advertising, and financial management (budgeting, saving, record-keeping, goal setting), complemented by life skills (communication, empathy, stress management, confidence, decision-making). Each participant receives six one-to-one mentoring sessions over three months (two per month) to embed learning and address firm-specific challenges. The contractor supports participant selection, verifies business activity and documents success stories, drawing on a pool of local coaches trained by GIZ since 2024. Deliverables include an inception report with methodology/work plan, verification records, up to 27 trainings reaching 800 participants, 4,800 mentoring sessions and a final report. Work package 3 conducts outcome harvesting on ten public-private agreements concluded in August 2024 after 84 Public-Private Dialogues (PPDs) held across seven wards (Kakuma, Kalobeyei, Lopur, Letea, Songot, Nanam, Lokichogio). Signatories include the Deputy County Commissioner, County Ministry of Trade, Public Health, Boda-Boda associations, TWECA (contractors/suppliers/service providers), Livestock & Agriculture, DRS, Kakuma Biashara Centre, the National Police Service and traders"/refugee representatives. The contractor designs and implements a participatory, evidence-based process to identify actual changes attributable to the agreements-intended/unintended, positive/negative-such as reduced administrative barriers, improved service delivery, increased formalisation/expansion and stronger public-private coordination. All outcome statements must be verified by a third party. Deliverables include an inception report (methodology, tools, work plan), an outcome database, a validated outcome set, a final report (findings, contribution analysis, lessons, recommendations) and a facilitated learning workshop for government and private stakeholders. Outputs feed directly into the LED planning in WP4. Work package 4 develops a Local Economic Development plan and Youth Engagement Strategy for Kakuma Municipality, established in November 2024. While the Turkana County IDEP 2024-2028 recognises LED needs, it lacks a coherent pathway. The contractor runs a structured, participatory process: engage municipal leadership and constitute an LED steering committee; conduct stakeholder consultations to ensure inclusion (businesses, community organisations, women, youth) and set communication mechanisms; perform a rapid local economy assessment (value chains, infrastructure, labour market, business climate, natural resources, institutional capacity), building on recent partner studies collated by the project; facilitate a shared vision and strategic priorities; formulate an actionable strategy aligned with municipal/national policies; and validate through public consultations leading to formal ad