Rethinking Refugee Integration through Sports in Nairobi

by Mercy Chepkirui

Kenya hosts 110,172 refugees living in urban areas, with the majority living in Nairobi city. The urban context is characterized by complex, fluid, diverse and interconnected communities. Unlike encamped refugees, urban refugees reside among host community members in informal settlements and low-income neighbourhoods such as Eastleigh, Ruiru, Kasarani, Mathare, Kawangware, Kangemi, Satellite and Kayole. Importantly, Kenya’s encampment approach in refugee management has effectively marginalized urban refugees. Even with the implementation of the Refugee Act 2021 that combines both integration and encampment, Nairobi's urban refugees still live in a state of legal limbo. Additionally, urban refugees continue to live in precarious circumstances weighing heavily on their social integration, livelihoods, security, and health.

The urban refugee rhetoric has become highly securitized especially in the context of counterterrorism. Refugees and other urban asylum seekers in Nairobi are often portrayed as security threats rather than individuals in need of protection. Framing practices guised under national security such as those employed during “Operation Usalama Watch” have legitimized xenophobia, profiling and unlawful detention of refugees and asylum seekers. Securitization thus undermines refugee integration, perpetuates their systematic exclusion and intensifies refugee invisibility within host communities. In such a context, sporting activities have emerged as alternative approaches to integration countering securitization and criminalization among other dominant narratives against urban refugees. Moreover, sport has helped restore the dignity and humanize the urban refugee not as a threat but rather as a player, coach, and a teammate. 

Sporting activities have emerged as alternative approaches to integration countering securitization and criminalization among other dominant narratives against urban refugees. Moreover, sport has helped restore the dignity and humanize the urban refugee not as a threat but rather as a player, coach, and a teammate.

The Nairobi County sports department in partnership with Rebuild Kenya conducted trainings for coaches and refugee participants to promote sports as a social infrastructure to heal strained relations and promote mutual respect. Similarly, HIAS Kenya in collaboration with UNHCR and IRC commemorated the 2024 World Refugee Day by organizing a football tournament in Dandora that brought together refugees from Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, and Congo with the host community members. Such initiatives showcase how sports facilitate social integration, with the field serving as a microcosm of urban diversity and respect. These programs correspond with what academics describe as "social infrastructure", to mean “physical places and organizations such as parks, libraries and sports that shape the way people interact”. These are sites where connections are formed, mental and emotional recovery takes place, and marginalization is momentarily set aside.

However, the protection discourse has prioritized issues such as documentation, access to services and legal status. As such, protection for refugees goes beyond this to also include protection from violence and discrimination, healing from trauma, and an opportunity to lead dignified and fulfilling lives. To bridge this gap, organizations such as Fútbol Más Foundation have created community-based sports programs that incorporate mental health support into football training. These workshops give displaced youth much-needed psychosocial support by addressing trauma, resilience, and life skills. Nonetheless, much of the priority is geared towards refugee camps rather than the urban refugees.

In camps, sport has proven to be a unifying factor for refugees of diverse nationalities embodying different beliefs and cultural identities. In fact, Kenyan refugee camps — particularly Kakuma — have produced notable sportspersons and athletes. Among them are basketball players, coaches, and sprinters including; Thomas Deng, Awer Mabil, Mayuer Maguei Chaggai, Joseph Geng, Duop Reath and Sarah Chan among others. Thus, refugee inclusion through sports in urban areas should be normalized to move beyond tokenistic one-off events to become an everyday affair. 

As cities like Nairobi continue to provide sanctuary to displaced populations, the exclusion of urban refugees from the county and national development plans continues to marginalize them and threatens the broader social cohesion. Focusing on refugee sports programs, despite their being frequently underfunded and disregarded, becomes key in promoting local integration, combating xenophobia and developing young leaders. Additionally, it promotes a rights-based and place-based approach to inclusion, challenging the camp-centric focus of refugee response programs.

Furthermore, in a city characterized by inequality, surveillance and fractured identities, the football pitch becomes a unique space that defies securitization and promotes coexistence. Although not a panacea, sports can be a great starting point for refugee integration. This entails reimagining refugee integration beyond just legal frameworks and institutions, to also include 'commonplace' places of resilience and solidarity, such as the dusty football fields of Mathare and Dandora, where the politics of belonging are fought out one game at a time.