Log In
Sign Up
Apply for job
Apply For This Job
Introduction and background Information
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is an international humanitarian organization working in situations of displacement. With operations in over 40 countries, DRC supports refugees, internally displaced persons, and host communities to meet immediate needs while working toward longer-term solutions.
In Kenya, DRC has been operational since 2010 and is one of UNHCR’s lead implementing partners in the refugee response. Beyond humanitarian assistance, DRC delivers integrated programmes that bring together humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding approaches.
In Garissa County, including Dadaab, Fafi and Garissa Township, DRC implements multi-sectoral programmes focusing on economic recovery, protection, WASH, and peacebuilding. These interventions respond to both immediate humanitarian needs and longer-term challenges affecting displaced and host communities.
Program Context:
Dadaab hosts over 400,000 refugees and asylum seekers, the majority from Somalia, alongside populations from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many remain in protracted displacement with limited access to durable solutions.
The broader Garissa context is shaped by arid climatic conditions, recurrent drought, and limited access to essential services. Livelihoods are largely pastoral and agro-pastoral, making communities highly vulnerable to climate shocks and resource scarcity. These pressures are compounded by poverty, limited infrastructure, and limited market access.
Protection risks remain significant. Women, children, and persons with specific needs face heightened exposure to gender-based violence, exploitation, and barriers to accessing services. Administrative challenges, including delays in documentation and movement restrictions, further limit access to opportunities and services.
Competition over natural resources, combined with climate variability and socio-economic pressures, contributes to tensions between and within communities. At the same time, youth unemployment and limited economic opportunities continue to undermine resilience.
In response, DRC implements an integrated programme that strengthens protection systems, supports livelihoods, improves access to services, and promotes peaceful coexistence between refugee and host communities.
Economic Recovery
DRC’s Dadaab economic recovery programming supports households to move towards self-reliance by strengthening livelihoods and access to income.
Key areas include:
Skills development through market-oriented TVET, apprenticeships, and digital training
Support to micro and small enterprises through business development services
Financial inclusion through savings groups, financial literacy, and linkages to financial institutions
Climate-smart agriculture and livestock support to strengthen food security
Market systems development to improve access to economic opportunities
These interventions are guided by labour market assessments and aim to link skills development to real income opportunities.
WASH:
The WASH sector is a key area of intervention for the Danish Refugee Council. The sector focuses on improving access to safe water, sanitation, shelter, and essential infrastructure for communities affected by climate shocks. DRC supports vulnerable households by providing temporary shelter, rehabilitating water infrastructure such as boreholes and shallow wells, and improving irrigation systems to increase water availability and promote hygiene. In addition, DRC provides cash assistance and distributes essential non-food items (NFIs), including hygiene kits, bedding, and cooking utensils, to help displaced and vulnerable populations meet their basic needs and live with dignity.
The organization seeks partnerships with local organizations to strengthen the delivery of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services in Garissa. Through collaboration, the organization aims to improve access to safe and sustainable water sources, enhance sanitation infrastructure, and promote hygiene practices among vulnerable communities. Such partnerships will support resource mobilization, technical capacity building, and community-led solutions that improve public health and resilience.
Protection Dadaab
The refugee population in Dadaab remains in protracted displacement with limited access to durable solutions. Persistent conflicts from the countries of origin, adverse climatic shocks, and resource constraints have exacerbated vulnerabilities, with limited access to basic services driving heightened protection risks, including GBV, child protection concerns, and risks facing persons with specific needs. Overcrowding, movement restrictions, and economic hardship further contribute to negative coping mechanisms. Despite ongoing humanitarian support, critical gaps remain, stressing the need for integrated, protection-centered interventions that strengthen prevention, enhance community resilience, and promote the dignity and safety of affected populations, particularly women and girls. DRC Dadaab delivers integrated GBV programming across Ifo, Ifo2, and Dagahaley, combining response, prevention, and protection monitoring to address both immediate risks and root causes. Survivor-centered response services including case management, psychosocial support, and referrals, ensure timely, confidential, and holistic support to survivors, while Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS) provide safe, structured environments for healing, skills-building, and access to critical assistance. Prevention efforts, implemented through community outreach, awareness campaigns, and partnerships with women-led and community-based organizations, aim to challenge harmful norms and promote positive behavior change. Complemented by protection monitoring, these interventions enable early identification of risks, inform adaptive programming, and strengthen accountability, ultimately contributing to safer, more resilient communities.
Humanitarian Disarmament and Peace Building (HDP)
The Garissa County Cluster encompasses Dadaab Refugee Complex, Dadaab, Fafi, and Garissa Township, which faces profound challenges, including natural resources scarcity exacerbated by climate variability (e.g., severe drought), violence extremism, environmental degradation, and inter-communal conflicts. Decades of humanitarian food aid demonstrate that a purely emergency-based approach is insufficient to meet basic needs or address the root drivers of vulnerability, such as chronic insecurity and ecological collapse. Conflict in this region is deeply intertwined with long-term pressures on pastoralist livelihoods, including population growth, clan-based competition, and land degradation from overgrazing. These factors have increased the frequency and intensity of violence, which in turn depletes the very social and economic capital communities need to remain resilient against climate-related shocks like droughts and floods.
Resilience of local communities to climate-related shocks (e.g., drought and floods) links with communities’ access to diverse forms of human, social, economic capital – and to their capacity to develop, acquire or exchange these resources. Strengthening local communities’ capacity to prevent, manage and resolve violent conflict in the Garissa County is critical – as conflict otherwise significantly undermines and depletes communities’ diverse forms of capital and their resilience capacities, tipping communities further into crisis.
Rationale for Partnership
As part of the programming, DRC is seeking to partner with local organizations to strengthen the implementation of Economic Recovery, Protection, WASH and HDP sector-based projects. Working with local actors aligns with DRC’s overall strategy of promoting locally led solutions, enhancing community ownership, and ensuring context-specific, culturally appropriate interventions. Local organizations bring valuable knowledge of the local dynamics, trusted relationships with communities, and the ability to deliver locally led timely and sustainable interventions that will bring impact to the persons of concern. Through these partnerships, DRC aims to build the capacity of local structures by giving them the opportunity to provide locally led solutions, foster inclusive participation and contribute to more effective and impactful programming in fragile context of Garissa and Dadaab refugee complex.
Economic Recovery
In line with its localization commitments the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) seeks to strategically engage local actors including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs), and national NGOs as core partners in delivering Economic Recovery (EcoRec) programming in Dadaab, Fafi and Garissa Township. Local partners possess a distinct comparative advantage derived from their deep contextual knowledge, established community trust, and sustained presence within host communities and displacement-affected settings. These attributes position them as critical actors for last-mile delivery, community engagement, and adaptive programming in complex and fragile environments.
Protection Dadaab
DRC Dadaab invites Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from qualified local and like-minded organizations, particularly Civil Society Organizations, Women Refugee-Led Organizations (WRLOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) based in the camps or from the host communities to partner in the delivery of integrated GBV programming across Dadaab, Fafi and Garissa. DRC’s approach combines survivor-centered response services, prevention initiatives, and protection monitoring to address both immediate risks and underlying drivers of vulnerability. Through these partnerships, DRC seeks to leverage local expertise and community networks to enhance outreach, strengthen accountability to affected populations, and ensure inclusive, community-driven and sustainable protection outcomes.
Humanitarian Disarmament and Peacebuilding (HDP)
DRC Humanitarian Disarmament and Peacebuilding (HDP) sector seeks to partner with like-minded organizations (CSOs, CBOs, RLOs) with significant experience in implementing peacebuilding and social cohesion interventions targeting both the host and refugee communities for sustainable peace and stability. Our HDP sector focuses on conflict transformation, security governance, and climate adaptation. By addressing the root causes of instability and employing a gender-transformative lens, DRC empowers women as primary agents of peacebuilding and climate resilience within their communities.
Objectives of the Partnership
Interventions will be aimed at supporting communities in Dadaab, Fafi and Garissa.
The program aims to strengthen the resilience, self-reliance, and well-being of vulnerable and displacement-affected households in Garissa County through integrated interventions across livelihoods, protection, WASH and peacebuilding. It improves access to essential services, including safe water, sanitation, protection, and livelihood opportunities, while promoting sustainable economic recovery through income-generating activities, financial inclusion, and market system strengthening. The program addresses protection risks, including gender-based violence and child protection concerns, ensuring safe and inclusive community environments. Community capacity is strengthened to prevent, manage, and resolve conflicts, promote peaceful coexistence, and enhance local systems and structures that support social cohesion, environmental sustainability, and long-term recovery.
Technical Approach.
The implementing partner (IP) will strengthen community resilience through integrated Economic Recovery, Protection, WASH and HDP interventions.
WASH activities will focus on rehabilitating and maintaining water infrastructure, improving sanitation facilities, promoting hygiene practices, and distributing essential non-food items.
Economic Recovery programming enables access to sustainable, market-driven income-generating opportunities and the accumulation of productive assets, and will focus on expanding access to inclusive financial services (including VSLAs, SACCOs, and formal banking institutions) and tailored Business Development Services (BDS); and aligning skills development initiatives such as market-oriented TVET and digital livelihoods with labor market demand to improve employability and enterprise viability.
Protection interventions will address GBV and child protection risks, strengthen safe referral pathways, and ensure inclusive community environments.
HDP-focused activities will strengthen local peace committees, promote social cohesion across different community groups, facilitate conflict resolution, and strategically use digital platforms and social media to disseminate peace messaging and manage conflict, with a specific focus on reaching the youth population. The IP will also implement transformative peace initiatives targeting women and youth, linking them to sustainable livelihoods and economic empowerment as core tools for conflict prevention, directly addressing the underlying drivers of instability while bolstering community resilience.
Counties of Focus
This RFA is for implementation of activities in two refugee hosting areas (Dadaab and Fafi) and Garissa.
Submission Requirements
Applicants should provide a comprehensive submission that includes the following information:
A statement of interest explaining their motivation for partnering with DRC
An organizational profile detailing their mandate, strategic focus, program and donor portfolio, and geographic reach; and initial ideas on how they can contribute to the program’s objectives.
They should also highlight their value addition, outlining unique strengths, expertise, or resources they bring to the partnership.
Submissions must include relevant experience with similar projects or programs among host communities and refugees, their approach to community engagement in program design, and an assessment of potential risks along with proposed mitigation strategies.
Applicants should describe their experience in coordination mechanisms both formal and informal.
Submission should include a list of current donors, grants, duration, and budget.
Applicants must provide Audited financial reports for the last 2 years.
Applicants should have proof of 2 years of working experience in Garissa County.
Eligibility Criteria
Submissions will be reviewed and scored based on several key criteria as follows;
Registration status of the organization. The organization MUST be an NGO/CBO that is legally registered with operations in Garissa County including refugee hosting areas of Dadaab and Fafi.
The organization must have a clear and well-defined constitution outlining its mandate, purpose, membership structure, and whether it has employed staff.
The organization must have been in existence and operational in Garissa County.
The organization must demonstrate experience in implementing programmes in the interior and cross border areas for the last 2 years.
The organization should demonstrate how its vision and mission align with DRC’s goals
The organization should demonstrate a clear understanding of the target group they serve and their unique needs.
Evidence of strong working relationships with relevant ministries and Garissa County and the National government departments and key sector private sector actors is desirable
Financial and Operational Capacity to implement a project.
Disclaimer
Please note that submission in response to this call does not guarantee selection or funding.
DRC reserves the right to accept or reject any or all submissions without obligation or explanation. Shortlisted organizations may be asked to provide additional documentation, such as financial audits or references, as part of the due diligence process.
How to apply
Applicants must submit their proposals on or before 05th May 2026. Submissions should be in Word format and sent via email to [email protected]
Proposals must be submitted in English. For any questions or clarifications, applicants may send their questions on or before 29th of April 2026 to [email protected]