Abstract
While humanitarian discourse on urban refugee integration predominantly emphasizes livelihood generation and material self-reliance, the socio-relational dimensions underpinning sustained resilience remain under-theorized and under-measured. This study presents a comprehensive quantitative investigation into the formation and structural distribution of social capital among urban Congolese refugees residing in Nairobi’s informal settlements. Utilizing cross-sectional survey data collected from 412 respondents across Kasarani, Kawangware, and Kayole, we employ structural equation modeling and multivariate regression to disaggregate social capital into bonding, bridging, and linking dimensions. Our findings indicate that while dense co-ethnic bonding networks significantly mitigate severe food insecurity and psychosocial distress (β = 0.41, p < 0.001), they offer limited leverage for vertical socio-economic mobility. Bridging capital with host community members is substantially mediated by Swahili linguistic proficiency and participation in informal rotating credit associations (chamas), serving as a crucial buffer against localized xenophobic hostility. Conversely, linking capital with municipal and national authorities remains systematically depressed due to persistent documentation insecurity and targeted regulatory policing. These results demonstrate that economic self-reliance models are insufficient without targeted interventions that cultivate cross-community ties and institutional trust, providing critical empirical evidence for reorienting urban protection frameworks in the Global South.
