Economic opportunities in context

Economic opportunities in context

The Tullow Kenya Business Venture created a number of jobs and contracts which provided significant economic opportunities to people living in Turkana County and in other parts of Kenya.

The paper, written in the form of a concise brief, points out that the outcomes generated by these opportunities, particularly the outcomes vis-à-vis conflict and tensions in the vicinity of the TKBV’s operations, were shaped substantially by a range of contextual factors other than the jobs and contracts themselves. 

Public expectations, local political wrangles, historical resources conflicts, and past experiences of intergroup violence also contributed substantially to these outcomes fundamentally. On this basis, the brief argues for a complex, nuanced, and context-specific understanding of the ways that the creation of economic opportunities such as jobs might affect dynamics of conflict and stability.  

There are four lessons learned papers in this series:

Lessons Learned from the Enabling Good Governance in Kenya’s Oil Sector project  

Dealing with fragility: A practice note for oil and gas companies

A distinction with a difference: Harm avoidance and conflict mitigation in business operations in fragile contexts