From Policy to Practice: Governing Climate-Related Internal Displacement in Kenya Abstract

For her human rights capstone project, Nabikshya Rayamahji developed a research proposal seeking to examine whether Kenya’s IDP Act effectively assists climate-related internal displacement and identifies where implementation gaps persist. Using a mixed-methods approach, she combined quantitative analysis of the displacement data with qualitative analysis of policy documents and stakeholder interviews. By comparing legal design with on-the-ground outcomes, the research looks at how institutional mechanisms function in practice. The findings contribute to debates on climate mobility governance by demonstrating how formal legal commitments translate into uneven protection, offering policy-relevant insights for strengthening displacement governance in Kenya and similar contexts.