Relational accountability dynamics in refugee-led education systems

Mainstream aid discourse often emphasises perceived deficiencies of refugee-led initiatives regarding their capacity to deliver quality services and meet donor requirements, including accountability standards. Despite misrepresentations, emerging evidence shows that refugee-led initiatives in some contexts outperform traditional aid organisations in quality and effective service delivery. A possible explanation for their success is that their governance system is effective, including accountability processes. There is much literature on the accountability of conventional aid organisations. Yet, little attention has been paid to understanding the accountability of refugee-led systems, especially formal ones with legal status and accountability obligations to the host state. This study fills this knowledge gap. It explores principles and mechanisms that govern accountability in the refugee-led education system using ethnographic data from nationally accredited refugee-led schools in the Dadaab camp complex. Established in 1991 in the arid north-eastern region of Kenya, it has been a home to refugees from Eastern and Central Africa, the majority of whom are Somalis. Dadaab comprises three camps: Hagadera, Ifo, and Dagahaley. The study underscores that accountability relations between refugees and refugee-led schools operate as a living process shaped by everyday direct interactions, shared educational goals, collaborative efforts, reciprocal oversight, and answerability among stakeholders. I argue that technical reporting methods that characterise conventional aid are counterproductive without input from recipients. While refugees cannot hold conventional aid organisations to account due to power imbalances, geographical distance from decision-makers and complex bureaucratic procedures, they are the founders and funders of refugee-led schools in Dadaab. Proximity and direct access between those who benefit from education and those who provide it create everyday interpersonal interactions that enable relational accountability.