Reviewing IFC’s investment for displaced communities in Northern Kenya
The context and the programme
The Kakuma-Kalobeyei area in Northern Kenya is home to large numbers of forcibly displaced people and the host communities around them. The Kakuma Kalobeyei Challenge Fund (KKCF), run under the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group, was designed to address their economic challenges. Its focus spans economic growth, self-reliance, social cohesion and livelihoods, with particular attention to ESG and gender across all its activities.
The fund supports private enterprise, social businesses and small local enterprises in the area through three windows:
- Private Sector Window: Loans and grants for small and medium-sized private companies starting or expanding in the area.
- Social Enterprise Window: Support for social businesses starting or scaling up.
- Local Enterprise Development: Support for small and micro enterprises owned by refugees or host community members.
This was IFC’s first investment in a context this fragile. At mid-term, the question was clear: how far was the fund actually advancing economic growth, self-reliance and social cohesion?
The approach: A review built on evidence from the ground
MDF ESA, working with partner Syntesia, carried out the mid-term review. The methodology combined breadth with depth:
- A digital survey of 55 investors and 155 of their users and clients
- Key informant interviews with 73 people, focus group discussions and direct business visits
- Six business case studies covering agribusiness, education and childcare, financial services, telecommunications, and ESG and gender
- A landscape analysis of the business climate in refugee and IDP areas
- A revision of the programme’s Theory of Change
The review assessed mid-term progress against the fund’s objectives and the OECD DAC evaluation criteria. It identified lessons learned and produced concrete recommendations to improve efficiency and effectiveness for the remainder of the programme.
