Pillar 01 · Livelihoods
Work refugees choose, instead of aid they wait for.
Livelihoods sit at the centre of the association's philosophy: refugees engage in real economic activity — salons, barbershops, tailoring, selling fruits and food — and share job opportunities and employment with one another, instead of waiting for someone else to feed them.
These activities can be run individually or as a group, but the intention is always the same — the benefit flows back to the wider refugee community, not just the individual.
How it works
From a start-up kit to a standing business.
Start-up kit materials
Refugee youth — especially in Kayole — are equipped with the tools of a trade they can start immediately: clippers and mirrors for barbering, sewing machines and thread for tailoring, and the basics for a salon chair.
Individual or group activity
Some members run their own stall or shop; others pool resources and skills into a group activity. Either way, income earned supports the member's household and, where possible, the wider community.
Sharing opportunities, not hoarding them
Members actively pass along job leads and openings to one another — a small but deliberate rejection of the idea that refugees must compete for scraps rather than support each other.
Boosting activities already running
Through the waste paper project and other partner support, members who already have an income-generating activity have been supported with the additional items needed to keep it growing.
Where this happens
Livelihood activities concentrate around Kayole, in Nairobi's outer areas — one of the places where refugees are found in large numbers, and where the association's earliest work began in 2013.
Why it matters
An income changes what's possible for a refugee family: school fees, rent, healthcare, and the simple dignity of providing for yourself rather than depending entirely on aid.