Crowdsourcing effort to support refugee-run media in Kenyan camp
Published: 1 Jun 2016
A crowdsourcing effort is underway to support KANERE, a one-of-a-kind independent refugee-run media in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. The KANERE Refugee Free Press is published online as a blog (email here).
I, Dr. Barbara E. Harrell-Bond, have been involved with the KANERE journalists and this initiative in Kakuma since its beginnings, when the local staff of the Kakuma office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) first warned the journalists that they would never have a chance to be resettled or have their refugee status adjudicated if they did not stop producing their newspaper.
Then Bethany Ojalehto, a US Fulbright Fellow, came to Kakuma and collaborated with the team to publish their newsletter online. When she completed her fellowship in 2009, KANERE editorial duties and leadership transferred to a group of dedicated Kakuma-based journalists and KANERE became fully refugee-run.
That was not the end of KANERE’s problems, however, which then included a struggle to secure resources and the support of local humanitarian actors, and to gain recognition as an NGO. With the intervention of Ekuru Aukot, a Kenyan lawyer, it has finally been recognised that refugee journalists have a right to be active. To improve the quality of KANERE, the long-time former editor of the Journal of Refugee Studies Margaret Okole agreed to edit KANERE, as she continues to do.
Donations of any size will enable KANERE to continue giving a vital voice to Kakuma refugees. Support KANERE – a refugee free press by donating today.
Sincerely,
Qaabata Boru, Editor of KANERE
Dr. Barbara Harrell-Bond, OBE, Professor Emeriti, Founder/Director, Refugee Studies Centre (1982-1996), Honorary Fellow, Lady Margaret Hall (2004- ) University of Oxford; Co-Director, International Refugee Rights Initiative Rights In Exile Programme