Tara Boekhout & Marcel Rutten Radboud University ... - IUCN

Tara Boekhout & Marcel Rutten
Radboud University Nijmegen &
African Studies Centre Leiden,
The Netherlands

Slum upgrading 2.0
Effect of relocating Nairobi slum dwellers into a new
settlement in its semi-rural hinterland

Introduction
Nairobi: uncontrolled growth of informal settlements
• Traditional slum upgrading focus on physical
infrastructure
Jamii Bora: microfinance and social programmes
• Decent housing critical to get people out of
vicious cylce of poverty

Research Design
• Research objective: Get insight in the effect of Jamii Bora’s slum
resettlement project on Kisaju area, Kajiado district, Kenya, with
special attention to natural resources.
• CoCooN hypotheses:
1. Increased diversification of household economies leads to intensified
occurrence of conflicts
2. Sudden changes in resource availability cause conflicts
3. The absence of (effective) institutions allows for more conflicts over natural
resources
Fieldwork July-September 2011
• 150 questionnaires: 75 New Kaputiei Town households and 75 neighbouring
community households
• 32 interview with key informants:
- 4 Jamii Bora management representatives & 8 New Kaputiei Town residents
- 6 Government officials & 4 NGO’s or persons involved in court case
- 10 Local representatives (3 Maasai village elders, 7 local community members)

New Kaputiei Town

Project plan New Kaputiei Town
Mission: Providing quality low cost housing to slum
dwellers in a sustainable socio-economic environment
Model for socially and ecologically sound low
income housing development in Kenya
• 2,000 units for each Ksh 350,000 (€3200)
• 10,000 slum dwellers

Resistance
Maasai community Kisaju
• Environemental concerns
• Security, Politics, Livelihood and Culture
Memorandum of Understanding
Wildlife conservation community and NGO’s
• Nairobi National Park dispersal area
• Wildlife migratory corridor
Court Case

Natural resources in Kisaju (1)
Water resources:
• Boreholes main water resource
• Availability: human consumption and economic activities
• Quality: high fluoride content level
• Conflict over water resources
Grazing land:
• Availability: changes in land rights and land use
• Quality: depletion of water resources and expansion of Nairobi
• Conflict over grazing land

Quality of grazing land
Table 1. Reasons for the negative trend of quality of pasture
1 Longer dry seasons 98.5
2 Less rainfall 96.9
3 Urbanization 96.9
4 Less flooding of river/drying of water sources 89.2
5 New (fenced) activities 86.2
6 More shambas encroaching on pasture 75.4
7 Higher temperatures 73.8
8 More wildlife competing over grass 69.2
9 Lack of finances to buy/lease pasture 60.0
10 More animals (overgrazing – erosion)) 56.3
11 Salinization of groundwater 24.2
12 Salty water flooding 21.0
13 (Bad) invading plant species 15.0
14 Less animals (undergrazing – shrub/bush) 10.8
Source: Fieldwork 2011
%

Natural resources in Kisaju (1)
Water resources:
• Boreholes main water resource
• Availability: human consumption and economic activities
• Quality: high fluoride content level
• Conflict over water resources
Grazing land:
• Availability: changes in land rights and land use
• Quality: depletion of water resources and expansion of Nairobi
• Conflict over grazing land

Natural resources in Kisaju (2)
• Diversification of household economies
• Land Use Master Plan

Impact of New Kaputiei Town
in Recourse Allocation
• Water resources: provision and access versus
increasing scarcity and pollution
• Grazing land: reduction of availability and quality
of pasture

Impact of New Kaputiei Town in
Recourse Allocation
• Water resources: provision and access versus
increasing scarcity and pollution
• Grazing land: reduction of availability and quality
of pasture

Progress of the housing project
Development of the facilities in New Kaputiei Town
Mission to provide quality low-income housing to
poor
• Increase housing prices
• Kisaju View Park Estate
• Quality of the houses
• Sustainable socio-economic environment

Progress of the housing project
Development of New Kaputiei Town
Mission: quality low-income housing for poor
• Increased housing prices
• Quality of the houses
• Employment opportunities
• Neighbouring community

Conclusions
• Jamii Bora lost sight of mission
• Increasing diversification of household
economics
• Sudden influx of people is causing tension
• Lack of institutions managing natural
resource