Cities without slums in Kenya

Millennium Development Goal 7, target 11, seeks to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. Achieving it will be impossible without strengthened institutions and partnerships. In Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest city, the authorities are working with UN-HABITAT as part of a regional Cities Without Slums programme.

A UN-HABITAT report presents results of a PEST analysis: identifying political, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors influencing slum development and conditions in the informal settlements in Kisumu. In total there are about 200,000 slum dwellers in seven different informal settlements. The report was produced through a collaborative process involving the Municipal Council of Kisumu, the local Maseno University, key local and international non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations and UN-HABITAT.

The objective of the initiative is to improve the people’s livelihoods by working towards security of tenure, housing improvement, income generation and physical and social infrastructure. This includes addressing the problems and effects of HIV and AIDS. All this will be done using full and active participation of the people the project intends to help.

In January 2006 Jeffrey Sachs, director of the United Nations Millennium Project, declared Kisumu the world’s first Millennium City. International experts in agriculture, nutrition and health, economics, energy, water, environment and information technology are starting to work with municipal authorities and the Government of Kenya to develop a strategy to move the city out of extreme poverty.

The settlements studied are well provided with rental housing, mostly built of cheap materials. Most land in the slum settlements is divided among landowners with title deeds. However, a recent trend to informally sub-divide land is introducing new forms of conflicts over tenure between original landowners and newcomers. As more landowners sub-divide their land and sell to investors, the result is a planning nightmare, with a confused blend of modern and mud-thatched structures.

Key problems in Kisumu’s slum settlements include:

• land grabbing and illegal settlement on land set aside for public purposes
• poor infrastructure – for example, shallow wells provide affordable water but it is difficult to construct toilets that do not contaminate nearby wells, and motorised transport is difficult
• lack of affordable health facilities and complete absence of state health care provision in some settlements, leading to widespread use of traditional medicine
• the increasing prevalence of HIV and AIDS: many orphaned children lack support from relatives
• lack of municipal waste collection services
• high levels of illegal brewing of alcohol and trade in stolen goods.

All eyes are on Kisumu as a Millennium City, but building a city without slums requires action in priority areas that have been identified through dialogue with community members:

• Providing some security of land tenure for those who lack it and tackling land subdivision problems by setting a minimum plot size.
• Improving access to investment funds and assisting small entrepreneurs in slum areas.
• Providing access roads, street lights, storm drainage and safe water and sanitation facilities, including public toilets.
• Establishing community systems for solid waste management, planting trees and promoting energy-efficient technologies.
• Promoting public-private partnerships to improve low cost housing.
• Establishing community information and resource centres and ensuring that planning documents are shared with all stakeholders.

Source(s):
‘Cities without Slums: Situation Analysis of Informal Settlements in Kisumu - Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme’, UN-HABITAT, 2005 (PDF) Full document.

Funded by: UN-HABITAT, Government of Kenya, Municipality of Kisumu, Government of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.  

id21 Research Highlight: 24 November 2006

Further Information:
Ulrik Westman
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT),
PO Box 30030
Nairobi 00100, Kenya

Tel: +254 20 762 3116
Fax: +254 20 762 4256
Contact the contributor: ulrik.westman@unhabitat.org

UN-HABITAT

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