{"id":21005,"date":"2026-10-05T13:04:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/?p=21005"},"modified":"2026-10-05T13:17:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:17:33","slug":"from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"From Kakuma to Shaping Refugee Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs x126k92a\">\n<div id=\"attachment_21006\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 240px\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-21006 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/830095447_1628783928779434_1158078286566369544_n-240x160.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/830095447_1628783928779434_1158078286566369544_n-240x160.jpg 240w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/830095447_1628783928779434_1158078286566369544_n-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/830095447_1628783928779434_1158078286566369544_n-160x107.jpg 160w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/830095447_1628783928779434_1158078286566369544_n-360x240.jpg 360w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/830095447_1628783928779434_1158078286566369544_n-200x134.jpg 200w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/830095447_1628783928779434_1158078286566369544_n.jpg 590w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nyabuol Biel Gang, a fourth-year Bachelor of Global and International Studies student at Carleton University.<\/p><\/div>\n<p dir=\"auto\">&#8220;Every room that I go into, I move as an expert. I might not have the academic credentials, but I do have the lived experience. And that is enough.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After spending nearly two years living in Kenya&#8217;s Kakuma Refugee Camp, Carleton University student Nyabuol Biel Gang is bringing her lived experience directly to decision-makers, global youth councils and Parliament Hill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<p dir=\"auto\">From becoming the first refugee member of UNICEF\u2019s Generation Unlimited Young People\u2019s Action Team to winning the C.J. Scott Memorial Award, Gang is working to ensure displaced youth have a direct voice in shaping refugee policy, education and mental health support.<\/p>\n<p>Read how Gang turned her journey from Kakuma to Ottawa into a platform for global advocacy and documentary filmmaking: <span class=\"html-span xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak xexx8yu xyri2b x18d9i69 x1c1uobl x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs\"><a class=\"x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n x18oe1m7 x1sy0etr xstzfhl x972fbf x10w94by x1qhh985 x14e42zd x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 x3ct3a4 xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak xexx8yu xyri2b x18d9i69 x1c1uobl x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xkrqix3 x1sur9pj x1fey0fg x1s688f\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/gang-kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy\/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAcGRvZgVicmlkETF2UjV0enZKb2tJYmhuQ21pc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHuk2-riVf5N3vQwf9-J4-JM5FTp-KVWDxIcR4GV9F5BliFdEAkXJJqmzYVtm_aem_a6arQQZhq0HrID7XN9Brbg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/carleton.ca\/&#8230;\/gang-kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Every room that I go into, I move as an expert. I might not have the academic credentials, but I do have the lived experience. And that is enough.&#8221; After spending nearly two years living in Kenya&#8217;s Kakuma Refugee Camp, Carleton University student Nyabuol Biel Gang is bringing her lived experience directly to decision-makers, global [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[80,1,277],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From Kakuma to Shaping Refugee Policy - Institute of African Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;Every room that I go into, I move as an expert. I might not have the academic credentials, but I do have the lived experience. And that is enough.&quot; After\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GabrielHabiyaremye\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/\",\"name\":\"From Kakuma to Shaping Refugee Policy - Institute of African Studies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-05T17:04:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-05T17:17:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#\/schema\/person\/08bb0b06150c006d27b0d1d1bc77e7dc\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Every room that I go into, I move as an expert. I might not have the academic credentials, but I do have the lived experience. And that is enough.\\\" After\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/category\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"From Kakuma to Shaping Refugee Policy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/\",\"name\":\"Institute of African Studies\",\"description\":\"Carleton University\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#\/schema\/person\/08bb0b06150c006d27b0d1d1bc77e7dc\",\"name\":\"GabrielHabiyaremye\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64807b44215bd724c2ff5e37e3507922?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64807b44215bd724c2ff5e37e3507922?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"GabrielHabiyaremye\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From Kakuma to Shaping Refugee Policy - Institute of African Studies","description":"\"Every room that I go into, I move as an expert. I might not have the academic credentials, but I do have the lived experience. And that is enough.\" After","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GabrielHabiyaremye","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/","name":"From Kakuma to Shaping Refugee Policy - Institute of African Studies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-10-05T17:04:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-05T17:17:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#\/schema\/person\/08bb0b06150c006d27b0d1d1bc77e7dc"},"description":"\"Every room that I go into, I move as an expert. I might not have the academic credentials, but I do have the lived experience. And that is enough.\" After","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/category\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"From Kakuma to Shaping Refugee Policy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#website","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/","name":"Institute of African Studies","description":"Carleton University","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#\/schema\/person\/08bb0b06150c006d27b0d1d1bc77e7dc","name":"GabrielHabiyaremye","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64807b44215bd724c2ff5e37e3507922?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64807b44215bd724c2ff5e37e3507922?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"GabrielHabiyaremye"}}]}},"acf":{"Post Thumbnail Icon":"","Post Thumbnail":{"ID":21016,"id":21016,"title":"kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683 (2)","filename":"kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2.jpg","filesize":148725,"url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2026\/from-kakuma-to-shaping-refugee-policy\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2\/","alt":"","author":"55","description":"","caption":"","name":"kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":21005,"date":"2026-10-05 17:02:52","modified":"2026-10-05 17:02:52","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2-160x120.jpg","thumbnail-width":160,"thumbnail-height":120,"medium":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2-240x180.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2-400x300.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":300,"gallery-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2-300x230.jpg","gallery-thumb-width":300,"gallery-thumb-height":230,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"banner":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2.jpg","banner-width":800,"banner-height":600,"people":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2-200x200.jpg","people-width":200,"people-height":200,"post-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2-300x230.jpg","post-thumb-width":300,"post-thumb-height":230,"rotator-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2.jpg","rotator-image-width":800,"rotator-image-height":600,"video-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2-360x270.jpg","video-thumb-width":360,"video-thumb-height":270,"cms-newsletter-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/kakuma-shaping-refugee-policy-1200x800-2-1024x683-2-200x150.jpg","cms-newsletter-image-width":200,"cms-newsletter-image-height":150}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21023,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21005\/revisions\/21023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}