Nighttime Lights Illuminate Positive Impacts of Refugee Camps
Satellite data from Kenya’s remote northeast shows increased economic activity around Kakuma camp. New research suggests a connection between refugees and growing agricultural production.
To help answer some of these questions we examined the impact of long-run refugee inflows on the host population in Kakuma, northwestern Kenya. Previous studies of refugee-host interactions, which have largely been qualitative, have established continuous and important relationships without being able to directly estimate net benefits to locals of refugee and aid presence. One exception to this is recent work showing positive net impacts of cash aid to refugees on the local economy in a calibrated simulation of Congolese refugee camps in Rwanda. The long-run impacts of refugee presence, however, remain unclear.
To tease out these different effects, we combined data from a recent household survey with price data, refugee population and food aid deliveries to examine changes in labor, livestock and agricultural markets. The data showed that proximity to the refugee camp is associated with more low skill jobs and wage labor, particularly for households with secondary education.
In a traditionally pastoralist region like Turkana, these findings are meaningful. If there is labor market competition from refugees, its overall impacts are swamped by the job opportunities provided by the camp and the increased demand generated by refugees.
With regard to agricultural markets, in a context where food aid is externally provided, as it is in Kakuma, food prices may decrease for products in the aid package as a result of increases in supply. However, they may also increase across a variety of products due to the increase in the number of people purchasing goods, and from the sale of aid packages for income. Information from our household surveys showed that agriculture in the Turkana region occurs almost exclusively close to the refugee camp, suggesting that the camp presence incentivizes increases in, rather than depression of, agricultural production.
We also find that livestock prices are positively correlated with high refugee and aid presence, and although absolute numbers of livestock are not higher closer to the camp, larger amounts of livestock sold in the immediate vicinity of the camp suggests that herding households benefit from the presence of the refugee market.
Overall, the positive effect of refugees on the local economy seemed to come through the availability of employment opportunities and price changes in agricultural and livestock markets that encourage new production.
Nonetheless, it is important to recognize that refugee camps can provide important economic opportunities to local populations, and that policies could be designed to amplify these positive effects. For example, interventions supporting locals’ ability to exploit the increased demand from the refugees could result in even more beneficial outcomes. These interventions might include equipping locals with the skills necessary to take advantage of new wage work, and providing technical support to improve agricultural and livestock production could help spread the benefits more widely.
►https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2017/12/08/nighttime-lights-illuminate-positive-impacts-of-refugee-camps
#Kenya #camps_de_réfugiés #Kakuma #aide_en_cash #Turkana #agriculture #nourriture #travail #économie #économie_locale #aide_in_cash #cash_based_intervention #monétisation
Au-delà l’étude sur le camp, voici un extrait qui met en lien #lumière et #consommation :
Using a census of household data collected in 2012, we estimate the correlation between lights and consumption. Back of the envelope calculations suggest that a 10 percent increase in the refugee population raises consumption by approximately 5.5 percent within the same proximity of the camp.