IPA
Integrated Support through Protection and Resilience Action - IPA
Strategic Pillar: Resilience
Effective response and resilient recovery that safeguard dignity and prioritize inclusion. CARE Kenya delivers life-saving assistance during crises, expands water access and sanitation infrastructure, and links relief to long-term recovery. This places women's leadership at the heart of humanitarian action.
Programme Goal
Strengthen access to lifesaving protection services while building community resilience to climate shocks and gender-based violence (GBV) across crisis-affected and displaced populations in Dadaab and cross-border communities in Lower Jubba, Somalia.
Key Impacts
42K+
Crisis-affected people reached
2
Cross-border geographies
100%
Localization — national & refugee-led partners
Context and Rationale
Dadaab in Garissa County hosts one of the world’s largest and longest-standing refugee complexes, with over 400,000 registered refugees — predominantly Somali. Communities face compounding vulnerabilities: prolonged displacement, recurring climate shocks (drought and flooding), high rates of GBV, and limited access to protection services. Cross-border dynamics with Lower Jubba, Somalia add additional complexity, including population movement, protection risks, and the need for culturally sensitive, community-owned responses.
Traditional, top-down humanitarian models have often failed to achieve sustained impact in these contexts. IPA responds with a localization approach — working through national and refugee-led partners — to ensure community ownership, cultural relevance, and long-term sustainability.
Key Interventions
Protection Services
Climate Resilience
Localization & Partnership
Key Achievements and Impact
42,078 crisis-affected and displaced people reached in IFO2 Camp, Dadaab.
Gender equality and protection systems strengthened for women and girls across the programme area.
Enhanced community resilience to climate-related and protection risks demonstrated.
Effective partnership model with local and refugee-led organizations validated — contributing to the growing evidence base for localized humanitarian response in complex, cross-border displacement contexts.
Location: IFO2 Camp, Dadaab, Kenya & Lower Jubba, Somalia
Localization Approach
IPA exemplifies CARE Kenya’s commitment to localization — the deliberate shift of resources, decision-making, and leadership to national and community-based actors. By working through RCK and Halgan, IPA ensures interventions are culturally grounded, community-owned, and more likely to sustain beyond the project period. This model is generating evidence that informs CARE Kenya’s broader humanitarian programming strategy.