Community-driven solutions and stronger government
support are key to improving the lives of millions of people living in Kenya's
informal settlements, experts have said.
Speaking on Friday during the Muungano wa Wanavijiji International Conference at the Kenya School of Government, they said progress has been made over the years, but major challenges remain.
These include insecure land tenure, poor housing, limited access to basic services and growing vulnerability to climate change as rapid urbanisation continues to pile pressure on cities.
Former University of Nairobi lecturer and researcher Prof Peter Ngau, who has studied informal settlements for more than 30 years, said many slums remain invisible despite housing millions of Kenyans.
"Very little is known about informal settlements. If you go to the maps of the city, those places where they are, they are blank because the land doesn't belong to them," he said.
Ngau said
many residents lack basic services such as clean water, sewer systems, roads
and street lighting.
Instead, they rely on expensive water sold at kiosks
and use unsafe sanitation methods such as flying toilets, exposing them to
serious health risks.
"They
buy water from kiosks. It is almost 100 times more expensive than the water
sold in ordinary residential areas. They don't have roads. They have very
narrow roads. They don't have lighting," he said.
Although
the constitution
guarantees access to sanitation, Ngau said many residents are yet to enjoy that
right.
He said researchers developed advisory plans to guide the upgrading of informal settlements so residents can access basic services and live in dignity.
Ngau estimated that about nine million Kenyans live in informal settlements, including around 60 per cent of Nairobi's estimated 5.5 million residents.
He said poverty remains one of the biggest obstacles, with many households surviving on an average monthly income of about Sh10,000.
"What do you do with Sh10,000 when you have a family of three or four?" he said, urging policymakers to design programmes that reflect the realities of low-income earners.
He added that about 94 per cent of residents are tenants, making tenure insecurity another major challenge.
While welcoming the government's affordable housing programme, Ngau said the allocation of social housing remains too small to meet demand.
"You find many of them still cannot afford the houses because they are rent-to-own, but it is a big effort by government," he said, calling for more housing specifically targeted at low-income families.
Joe Muturi, president Global Slum Dwellers International-Kenya, said the movement has spent the last 30 years advocating affordable housing, secure land tenure and improved access to clean water, sanitation and livelihoods.
He said communities have been empowered to identify their own priorities by collecting data on population, housing, land ownership and access to services.
"We have empowered communities so that they can push their own agendas and prioritise their challenges," Muturi said.
The information has helped shape policies and supported the relocation of about 10,000 households living along the railway line.
Muturi said communities should not only benefit from government housing projects but also participate in designing and implementing them.
"The community should be involved in the designing, in the dreaming of these houses and even in the construction. They should be seen as co-producers of these projects, not just beneficiaries," he said.
The
conference also marked 30 years of Muungano wa Wanavijiji, celebrating its role
in promoting community-led urban development while strengthening partnerships
between grassroots movements, researchers and government institutions to shape
more inclusive cities.
