In a landmark initiative aimed at tackling the challenges of forced displacement, the University of Nairobi and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have officially launched the Refugee Resource Centre (RRC).
This initiative was inaugurated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Filippo Grandi, and Professor Stephen Kiama Gitahi, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nairobi.
The RRC is poised to become a pivotal research hub, bridging the gap between academia and practitioners working on forced displacement. The Centre will play a crucial role in informing public policy and practice by fostering research and facilitating dialogues on the resilience and sustainable inclusion of refugees, asylum seekers, and host communities. “The Refugee Resource Centre will generate evidence on solutions to forced displacement, dialogue, and localised research, and this couldn’t come at a more important time as Kenya leads the way with its Shirika Plan,” Grandi emphasized.
This collaboration aligns with Kenya’s transformative Shirika Plan, which seeks to transition refugee camps into integrated settlements, promoting the sustainable socio-economic inclusion of refugees and host communities. The Centre will undertake various activities, including socioeconomic research on forced displacement, creating new pipelines for the microdata library, organising policy dialogues, and running a young leaders’ program.
Moreover, the RRC will facilitate the selection of research topics for students, encouraging evidence generation on forced displacement, and will host an annual conference dedicated to the Shirika Plan. A new collaborative agreement between the University of Nairobi and UNHCR aims to establish the Centre as a leading research lab in Kenya and beyond.
High Commissioner Grandi also delivered a public address on “Tackling Forced Displacement as a Development Challenge,” discussing the empowerment of displaced communities and the strengthening of host countries. This address was part of a series of lectures on global displacement challenges, following his previous talks at the University of Melbourne and Georgetown University.
The launch of the RRC signifies a significant step forward in addressing the complexities of forced displacement and highlights Kenya’s pioneering role in refugee management through innovative and integrated approaches.