Examining the Impact of Self-Reliance Interventions on the Social and Economic Wellbeing of Urban Refugees

Background: The global refugee crisis has reached unprecedented levels, over 100 million people forcibly displaced, more than 35 million classified as refugees. As per UNHCR commissioner, “a record that should never have been set”. With only 3-4% of refugees getting one of the three traditional “durable solutions” of repatriation, local integration, and resettlement, millions remain trapped in protracted displacement.

In response to the inadequacies of short-term humanitarian aid and protracted displacement, refugee self-reliance interventions have emerged as a promising alternative to enhance self-sufficiency, resilience, and dignity among displaced populations. RefugePoint’s Urban Refugee Protection Program (URPP) in Nairobi, Kenya, provides a phased model integrating stabilization services and self-reliance intervention to urban refugees. This study examines the effectiveness of URPP in improving refugees’ social and economic well-being and advancing their self-reliance.

Research question.

• Is there a significant change in households' social and economic well-being along the self-reliance continuum?

Methods: Study used de-identified data from 536 urban refugees representing over 400 households enrolled in URPP from 2019 to 2021. Participants were assessed using the Self-Reliance Measurement Tool (SRMT), which scores households on a scale of 1(lowest) to 4(self-sufficient) across key measures of family social and economic well-being such as food security, shelter, health, protection, child protection, and economic well-being. Assessments occurred every six months. Households scoring above 3.5 were considered self-sufficient. Repeated Measures ANOVA and multivariate analysis (Wilks’ Lambda) were applied to evaluate changes in self-reliance indicators across four assessments.

Results:

Demographics: Majority (61.4%) are women, 39% are married, 35.6% single, 8.2% are divorced, widowed or separated. Majority (65.7%) were head of households, 39% of the households are women headed. The average household size was 5.7 (3.2) and mean age is 37 (10.1).

Key Findings: The results demonstrate significant improvements in multiple domains of refugee well-being. Overall self-reliance scores increased from a baseline mean of 2.48 to 3.07 by the fourth assessment. Food security scores improved from 1.92 to 2.9, and shelter scores rose from 2.1 to 2.96. Similarly, health, child protection, and household economic well-being also showed consistent improvement. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed statistically significant improvements across all outcome variables (p < .001), with large effect sizes for overall well-being (η² = .465), shelter (η² = .432), and food security (η² = .327). However, protection and self-determination scores showed less consistent trends, with protection scores declining slightly from baseline.

Conclusion:

This study offers empirical evidence to an emerging field, supporting the impact of self-reliance interventions on refugee well-being. RefugePoint’s URPP model demonstrated measurable improvements in critical areas critical to household stability and well-being. The phased approach—combining immediate stabilization with empowerment through self-reliance intervention is promising. Almost 70% of participants achieving self-sufficiency within two years. These findings reinforce the value of shifting from short-term aid to long-term empowerment strategies that promote refugee-led recovery. At a time when global displacement is at a record high, humanitarian organizations are overwhelmed and durable solutions are below the capacity, these findings shed some light on important alternative framework to support refugees to become self-reliant.