Localizing Obstacles and Solutions: Underscoring Women's Suggestions for Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change in Informal Settlements in Kenya

Background and purpose: In Nairobi, Kenya, approximately 56% of the three million residents live in informal settlements, and the population is expected to double by 2050. Dominant narratives about residents of these settlements label them as ‘dirty,’ ‘dangerous,’ and ‘uneducated’ without acknowledging the financial, structural, social, and political disenfranchisement residents of these settlements face. Residents are largely excluded from formal services like water, sanitation, electricity, social programs, formal labor markets, and access to public health services. Climate change is expected to exacerbate the impacts of this exclusion as the number and severity of extreme weather events (EWEs) in this region grows, further marginalizing informal settlement inhabitants. There are substantial gaps in interventions by the Kenyan government and external stakeholders to address residents' marginalization in informal settlements. This is due, in part, to a lack of authentic collaborations with residents of informal settlements and efforts to understand not just the obstacles residents face, but their solutions to these challenges. The purpose of this study is to highlight the resilience and solutions that women living in informal settlements develop to mitigate the devastating impacts of EWEs and challenge dominant narratives about these settlements as spaces of depravity.

Methods: Using a phenomenological approach, we analyzed qualitative data from a study carried out in December 2022-January 2023 exploring women’s resilience in the face of climate change and EWEs in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. Audio recordings of in-depth interviews with 144 women residents of two informal settlements (Mathare and Kibera) were transcribed and translated. The interviews included questions about the types of services, programs, interventions, and policies women wish were available to support residents in Mathare and Kibera with climate-related preparation and coping. We then conducted a preliminary thematic analysis of their suggestions using a counter-narrative approach, offering alternatives to dominant discourses and allowing marginalized communities to voice their solutions.

Results: Preliminary results revealed innovative and sustainable solutions to mitigate the effects of EWEs that are true to women residents’ needs and not to the objectives and agendas of external stakeholders. These solutions include calls to (1) establish permanent and regularly maintained infrastructure, including sanitation, water, and drainage systems; (2) create and enforce residence construction standards and hold structure owners accountable; (3) provide startup capital and small business training; (4) maintain greater involvement of existing government-run programs, such as Kazi Mtaani (National Hygiene Program) and the National Youth Service; (5) co-create an early warning weather system; and (6) increase government involvement in security and safety.

Conclusions: Our preliminary findings reveal contextualized and localized solutions integrating women’s expertise and lived experiences. These solutions represent calls to the Kenyan government and key stakeholders to collaboratively invest in these rapidly expanding settlements through social, structural, and financial systems and interventions. These solutions are counter-narratives of people living in informal settlements as resilient and able to contrive empowering, relevant, and sustainable interventions. No one understands the needs of people living in informal settlements in the face of climate change more than the residents of these community members themselves.