strengthening climate change resilience in

Nairobi informal settlements – MnU

approach

Judy Ndichu

Maji na Ufanisi, KenyaP.O. Box 58684 – 00200, Nairobi, Kenya

Background - Maji na Ufanisi

(MnU)• Maji na Ufanisi (MnU) is a membership based

Kenyan Water and Sanitation NGO which has been in existence for the last 10 years

• The need to establish Maji na Ufanisi arose from the need to continue strategies and experiences of former Water Aid Kenya

• Water Aid Kenya closed its office in Kenya in 1997

• Maji na Ufanisi has always had 3 major WES programmes – Urban, Rural and Advocacy

• MnU has maintained a focus on building the capacity of partner institutions e.g. CBOs to analyze and address community concerns

CHALLENGES OF INFORMAL

SETTLEMENT DWELLERS

(Over 200 slums in Nairobi and growing literally by the

day)

Population expected to increase with rural –urban migration.

• Basic services (Water, Sanitation, accessibility)

• Lack of social amenities ( schools, hospitals etc)

• Land tenure issues, geographically –valleys for most slums

• Inadequate and indecent shelter

• Low involvement/participation in decision making

• Climate related– floods

• Flooding of houses= riparian location

• Diseases and epidemics – sanitation related( Mukuru, Kibera)

– drought• water scarcity

• High food prices

• Slum fires

– Non climate proofed development/slum upgrading (more water usage, waterborne systems as opposed to existing pit latrines or flying toilets

– Low participation of slum dwellers( yet over 60% of urban dwellers)

On going projects• Kenya slum upgrading – KENSUP in Soweto (Kibera) funded by

Habitat and GoK

• Community managed integrated sanitation blocks in different slums – funded by, Athi Water Services Board, Rotary Club of Nairobi

• Nairobi Informal Settlements Water and Sanitation in selected settlements – EU

• School WASH programme( UNICEF, WATERCAN, Coca Cola)

• Rural Projects – Water harvesting in arid areas

(Makueni)

• Networking and Advocacy – limited funds from a mix of donors

Need to mainstream( climate proof dev) Climate change Adaptation and mitigation in Slums and in general urban areas in all projects

Climate Change

• Affecting poor urban dwellers whose no. is increasing due to rural-urban migration

• Urban dwellers have hitherto been ignored yet are vulnerable:

– Increased flooding

– Reduced available water

– Increased food prices

– Urban fires

MnU working in informal settlements to:– To increase the level of awareness of the urban informal

settlement communities on CC

– To enhance Nairobi’s informal settlement communities’ preparedness and capacity to cope with weather extremities particularly floods and droughts (drainage improvement)

– To increase the water supply options for the urban informal settlement communities particularly during floods and droughts

– To significantly increase the urban informal settlement communities’ advocacy skills with particular emphasis on climate change and adaptation measures

Promoting climate smart to

DRM in WES projects• Tackling exposure to climate extremes

• Enhancing adaptive capacity

• Addressing poverty, vulnerability and their

causes

• Community clean ups

• Initiate door to door waste collection

• Awareness creation- use of climatic data

Enhancing adaptive capacity

• Construction of drains

• Construction of sanitation facilities

• Installation of holding water tanks

• Community trainings( hygiene, IWRM,

Addressing poverty,

vulnerability and their causes• ‘Real development is peoples ability to

make decisions on resources around

them’

• WES services are income generating

• Money deposited in bank a/c daily

• MnU is a signatory to these accounts

Factors that enabled integration

of CC into WES• Increasing debates at a global and

national level

• Recurrence in floods, water rationing and

the resulting effects

• Increasing human suffering

Advocacy

Current partnerships

• Local partnerships – AWSB, Rotary Club of Nairobi. EABF, APA Insurance, Chandaria Foundation

• Peer NGOs e.g. Pamoja Trust + Umande Trust

• Bi lateral partnerships – Christian Aid Cordaid, Sida ( programmatic), Water Canada,

• Multi lateral partnerships – UN Habitat, EU Water Initiative, UNICEF and UNDP