Abstract

In 2016, UNHCR became aware of a group of stateless persons living in or near Nairobi, Kenya. Most of them were Shona, descendants of missionaries who arrived from Zimbabwe and Zambia in the 1960s and remained in Kenya. The total number of Shona living in Kenya is estimated to be between 3,000 and 3,500 people.

On their first arrival, the Shona were issued certificates of registration, but a change in the Registration of Persons Act of 1978 did not make provision for people of non-Kenyan descent, consequently denying the Shona citizenship. Zimbabwe and Zambia did not consider them nationals either, rendering them stateless. Besides the Shona, there are other groups of stateless persons of different origins and ethnicities, with the total number of stateless persons in Kenya estimated at 18,500.

UNHCR and the Government of Kenya are taking steps to address statelessness in the country, among them is the registration of selected groups for nationalization. In April 2019, the Government of Kenya pledged to recognize qualifying members of the Shona community as Kenyan citizens. However, the lack of detailed information on the stateless population in Kenya hinders advocacy for the regularization of their nationality status. Together with the Kenyan Government through the Department of Immigration Services (DIS) and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), UNHCR Kenya conducted registration and socioeconomic survey for the Shona community from May to July 2019. While the primary objective of the registration was to document migration, residence and family history with the aim of preparing their registration as citizens, this survey was conducted to provide a baseline on the socio-economic situation of the stateless Shona population for comparison with non-stateless populations of Kenya.

Geographic coverage

Githurai, Nairobi, Kiambaa and Kinoo

Analysis unit

Household and individual

Universe

All Shona living in Nairobi and Kiambu counties, Kenya

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

The objective of the socio-economic survey was to cover the entire Shona population living in areas of the Nairobi and Kiambu counties. This included Shona living in Githurai, Kiambaa, Kinoo and other urban areas in and around Nairobi. Data collection for the socioeconomic survey took place concurrently with a registration verification. The registration verification was to collect information on the Shona's migration history, residence in Kenya and legal documentation to prepare their registration as citizens. The registration activity including questions on basic demographics also covered some enumeration areas outside the ones of the socio-economic survey, such as institutional households in Hurlingham belonging to a religious order who maintain significantly different living conditions than the average population. The total number of households for which socio-economic data was collected for is 350 with 1,692 individuals living in them. A listing of Shona households using key informant lists and respondent-driven referral to identify further households was conducted by KNBS and UNHCR before the start of enumeration for the registration verification and socio-economic survey.

Sampling deviation

None

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

The following sections are included: household roster, education, employment, household characteristics, consumption and expenditure.

Cleaning operations

The dataset presented here has undergone light checking, cleaning and restructuring (data may still contain errors) as well as anonymization (includes removal of direct identifiers and sensitive variables, recoding and local suppression).

Response rate

Overall reponse rate was 99 percent, mainly due to refusal to participate.

Kenya had a Protestant population of nearly 15.8 million people, according to the last country census conducted in 2019. Around 1.36 million Protestants lived in the capital Nairobi, the largest amount among all Kenyan counties. Nearly 882,800 people living in Kiambu adhered to Protestantism, while 715,700 Protestants dwelled in Bungoma. The religion had the highest number of followers in the country.

Kenya had a Catholic population of roughly 9.7 million people, according to the last country census conducted in 2019. Around one million Catholics lived in the capital Nairobi, the largest amount among all Kenyan counties. Nearly 590,000 people living in Kiambu adhered to Catholicism, while half-million dwelled in Machakos.