Universal Basic Income for Refugees

In partnership with the Refugee Integration Organisation, the Kakuma Hub, is running a crypto currency based unconditional basic income (UBI) programme within the Kakuma Refugee Camp. 

The UBI fund is open to 5000 refugees and gives $1 per day. Each refugee beneficiary is eligible to receive $400 in total. The beneficiaries receive their cash directly into their Mobile Money accounts - this works through a USSD integration that connects directly with the blockchain technology, thereby catering to the most vulnerable refugees such as the elderly, the ill, and unaccompanied minors, all of whom do not have access to smartphones and would not have had access to the fund otherwise. 

This UBI fund was created in response to fostering economic development within the Kakuma Camp, helping camp residents afford basic needs during COVID-19, and handing some agency back to refugees. 

It is managed by the Kakuma Hub and overseen by RIO. In the long term, we hope to change the narrative around refugee helplessness by showing that this innovation, the first of its kind in the world, is run by its beneficiary refugees.