Wrapping Up: Highlights from ORAM’s Inclusion Work in Kenya

As our current inclusion work in Kenya draws to a close, ORAM is proud to reflect on a powerful chapter of solidarity, co-creation, and systemic change. Over the past several months, we’ve worked in partnership with refugee-led organizations (RLOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and humanitarian actors to co-design trainings that collectively advance LGBTIQ inclusion across refugee response systems. 

Shifting Systems Toward Inclusion

ORAM also facilitated LGBTIQ inclusion training sessions with 52 staff from 28 organizations, spanning NGOs, INGOs, UN agencies, CBOs, and RLOs. 

• Participants reported an 83% increase in understanding of LGBTIQ protection needs, legal rights, and inclusive programming approaches. 

• Before the program, fewer than 15% of these organizations had implemented SOGIESC-specific initiatives. By the end, over 60% had committed to concrete steps such as revising internal policies, updating referral systems, or co-designing services with local expertise. 

• RLO members co-facilitated the training sessions, modeling horizontal partnerships and community-led knowledge sharing in action. 

Centering Community Leadership

ORAM collaborated with more than 50 refugee leaders from RLOs and CBOs to co-create and deliver inclusion workshops grounded in peer-led, participatory, and rights-based approaches. 

• These facilitators brought deep organizing experience and lived expertise into the design and delivery of sessions in both Nairobi and Kakuma Refugee Camp. 

• Rather than one-directional training, these workshops served as spaces for mutual learning and strategy sharing, focusing on legal frameworks, participatory planning, adult facilitation, and local adaptation. 

Alongside the workshops, ORAM conducted Training of Trainers (ToT) sessions in Nairobi and Kakuma, which provided structured spaces for refugee leaders to deepen their skills and leadership in delivering inclusive programming. 

Built on adult learning principles, the ToTs emphasized peer facilitation, legal literacy, and locally-led planning, equipping participants to lead future trainings and embed inclusion in their organizational work.

Looking Ahead

With this phase of work complete, ORAM remains deeply committed to advancing LGBTIQ inclusion in displacement contexts — through partnerships rooted in trust, equity, and local leadership. A heartfelt thank you to the refugee leaders, facilitators, partner organizations, and ORAM’s Kenya & Inclusion teams who brought this work to life. 

Adam McNally (he/him) is an Inclusion Specialist at ORAM based in Berlin, Germany.