Doing Business in Kakuma: Refugees, Entrepreneurship, and the Food Market

Overall, understanding the [Bamba Chakula] experience in Kakuma offers insights of wider relevance into how markets emerge and develop in refugee camps and settlements, the process of transition from in-kind to cash-based assistance, and what determines entrepreneurial success in a refugee camp. It also poses challenging questions about the appropriate role for humanitarian organisations in regulating markets. We offer a series of practical recommendations relating to the transition to cash assistance, the future role of BC as an interim measure, and the role of the Retail Engagement Initiative.