MI I I 140 812 THS PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE 6/07 p:/CIRCIDaIeDue.indd-p.1 RETURNING MATERIALS: P‘ahe book dror Hi; Ch' MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY A STUDY OF THE INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS IN KENYA WITH SPECIAL REFRENCE TO THE GATWIKIRA VILLAGE, KIBERA, NAIROBI A PLAN B PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. JUNE M. THOMAS OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING PROGRAM IN CANDIDANCY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING BY TOSHIHIRO SHIMIZU EAST LANSING, MI DECEMBER 1999 Copyright © 1999 by Toshihiro Shimizu All rights reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The study was accomplished with the support of many people. Thanks to all the staff at the United Nations Centre for Regional Development who made my research convenient in Nairobi. Thanks to Dr. Peter Ngau who gave me directions for my research in Nairobi. Thanks to Dr. June Thomas who supervised my Plan B in Michigan State University. Thanks to Ezekiel Esipisu who provided me with much information of informal settlements in Nairobi from the viewpoint of NGOs. Thanks to Mr. Onyango who guided me in the study area. Thanks to Ms. Elica who helped me to conduct and translate the interviews with residents in the study area. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................. i LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................ vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................... vii LIST OF ABBRIBIATIONS ................................................................ viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................ l 2. METHODOLOGY ........................................................... 3 2.1 Interviews with Residents .............................................. 3 2.1.1 Limitations on the Interview .................................. 3 2.1.2 Composition of the Interview ................................. 4 2.2 Interview with Related Organizations .................................... 5 2.2.1 The Process of Getting Resource Personnel and its Outcome. 5 2.3 Literature Review ............................................................ 5 2.3.1 Source and Outcome of Review ................................. 5 3. BACK GROUND — NAIROBI .............................................. 7 3.1 Urbanization in Nairobi ...................................................... 7 3.1.1 Urbanization in Nairobi ........................................ 7 3.1.2 Causes of Urbanization ......................................... 9 3.1.3 The Effects of Urbanization .................................... 9 3.2 Informal Settlement in Nairobi ........................................... 10 3.2.1 Definition of Informal Settlements ............................ 10 ii 3.2.2 Squatters and Slums .............................................. 10 3.2.3 Fundamental Urban Service in the Informal Settlements... 11 3.2.4 Previous Survey of Informal Settlement ...................... 14 3.3 Planning .................................................................. 15 3.3.1 National Development Plan ................................. 15 3.3.2 The Master Plan of the City of Nairobi .................... 17 3.3.3 Housing Policy ................................ '. .............. 17 3.3.4 Housing Provision ........................................... 20 3.4 Local Government and Central Government ............................ 20 3.5 Housing Standard .......................................................... 22 SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF THE STUDY AREA ............ 24 4.1 Location and Origin of the Study Area ................................. 24 4.1.1 Location ......................................................... 24 4.1.2 Origin of Kibera .............................................. 24 4.2 Land Tenure ............................................................. 25 4.3 General Information on Residents .................................... 26 4.3.1 Age ............................................................ 26 4.3.2 Gender .......................................................... 26 4.3.3 Religion ........................................................ 27 4.3.4 Ethnic Group and their Place of the Birth ................ 27 4.3.5 Family Structure ............................................. 28 4.4 Housing Condition ....................................................... 30 4.4.1 Material of Housing ......................................... 30 iii 4. 4. 2 Room Occupancy .......................................... 33 4.5 Economic Condition and Education .................................. 34 4.5.1 Income and Expenditure .................................... 34 4.5.2 Work ............................................................ 37 4.5.3 Education ..................................................... 38 4.6 Human Relationship ....................................................... 38 4.6.1 Relationship between Tenants and Structure Owners. 38 4.6.2 Relationship with the Community Elder .................... 40 4.6.3 Relationship with Friends .................................... 42 4.7 Content of the Life ......................................................... 42 4.7.1 Problems of the Life ........................................ 42 4.7.2 Perception of the Life ...................................... 45 4.7.3 Expected Assistance to Solve the Problems .............. 46 4.8 Activities ................................................................... 47 4.9 Settlements ................................................................ 49 4.9.1 Years of Settlement ....................................... 49 4.9.2 Determinant of Choosing Gatwekera, Kibera ............... 49 4.9.3 Realization of the Landownership ............................ 51 4.9.4 Urban and Rural Linkage ...................................... 51 4.9.5 Eviction ......................................................... 52 5. EFFORTS AND TRIALS BY DIFFRENTS SECTORS ................ 56 5.1 Residents ....................................................................... 56 5.2 NGOs ......................................................................... 57 iv 5.3 Public Sector ................................................................... 58 5.4 International Agencies ....................................................... 59 5.4.1 Site and Service ................................................ 59 5.4.2 Improvement (Upgrading) program - Mathare 4A ......... 60 5.4.3 Small Towns Development Project in Voi Municipality... 61 6. CONCLUSION ................................................................ 64 BIIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIXES TABLES Table Page 1. Urbanization Rate in Kenya ......................................................... 8 2. Expansion of Nairobi ............................................................... 8 3. Annual Housing Needs and Investments in 1997 and 2001 ................... 16 4. Tenants’ Home Area by province ................................................ 27 5. Marital Status in Gatwekera, Kibera .............................................. 28 6. Heads of Household ............................................................... 29 7. Places of Residence of Structure Owners ..................................... 4O 8. Reason of Choosing Kibera .................................................... 50 9. Tenants’ estimate of Length of Time of Non-payment before Eviction. . .. 52 10. Usage of Money if there are More Incomes ................................... 54 vi ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. A Map of Kenya .................................................................. 7 2. A picture of Water supply ....................................................... 11 3. A picture of Pit Latrine .......................................................... 12 4. A picture of Drainage ............................................................ 13 5. Dual governmental structure in Nairobi ..................... -. ................. 21 6. A picture of Roofs of the Informal Settlements .............................. 31 7. A picture of Mud & Wood Wall ............................................... 32 8. A picture of Cement Wall ....................................................... 32 9. A picture of Decayed Wall ...................................................... 33 10. Income Distribution (Individual) ................................................ 34 11. Income Distribution (Household) .............................................. 35 12. Expenditures ...................................................................... 36 13. A picture of a vegetable seller .................................................. 37 14. Relationship between Tenants and Owners .................................. 39 15. Relationship between Tenants and Elder ..................................... 41 16. Problem posed by Residents ................................................... 43 17. Increase of Rents ................................................................. 44 18. A picture of Dirty Stream ....................................................... 44 19. Activities .......................................................................... 47 20. Frequency of Attending Activities ............................................. 48 21. The Number of Years in Kibera ............................................... 49 22. Potential Moving Location after Eviction .................................... 53 23. A picture of Cleaned Cement Floor .......................................... 56 24. A picture of the Bridge ......................................................... 57 vii CBOs GK / GoK GTZ HRDU HABRI NCC NISCC NGOs SAPs UNCRD ABBREVIATIONS The Architectural Association of Kenya Community Based Organizations Government of Kenya German Technical Assistance Housing Research and Development Unit of the University of Nairobi Housing & Building Research Institute (University of Nairobi) Nairobi City Council The Nairobi Informal Settlements Coordination Committee Non-govemmental Organizations National Housing Corporation The Structural Adjustments Programmes United Nations Centre for Regional Development viii I. Introduction In the summer of 1999, I had a chance to visit Nairobi, Kenya for my internship. I have been interested in the process of urban planning in developing countries. My host office, United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) has a policy that interns should have their own research about Kenya or the African region while they worked on UNCRD activities. I picked my research topic as housing and land use policy in Nairobi especially in the slum and squatter areas. Amazingly, half of Nairobi’s population resides in slums and squatters. It appears to be a serious urban problem to me, howeverI do not know what the problems are for residents and the priority of which they should be solved. I searched for evidence of the efforts on improving the living conditions by the government of Kenya (GK), Nairobi City Council (NCC), Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs), private sector, residents themselves and international agencies. Through interviews with many people from different sectors such as the public sector, academia, NGOs, I got to understand that there is not a sufficient policy on slums and squatters. The Purpose of the Study Therefore, my research turned to focus on why the informal settlements have occurred and what is the alternative for improvement. What is the living condition in the view of residents? How can the government solve this condition? How can other sectors contribute to the improvement of the situation? I examined the current condition of the informal settlement in Kenya with reference to its housing and urban policy. Furthermore, I would like to overview past efforts made by different sectors. Finally, I would like to seek a future solution to the problems of the informal settlements based on an existing condition and the past experiences. The Need of the Study The Government of Kenya came to tackle the urban problems associated with the informal settlements affirmatively. There were several inventory studies on the sites. However, it is necessary to acquire more recent and detailed information in order to build the appropriate policy(s). II. Methodology 2.1 Interviews with Residents 2.1.1 Limitations on the Interview First of all, I must address the limitations of this interview. I have done interviews from 9th August to 13th August 1999 with help from the local residents. The lack of security in the city limited my, active time to only the daylight hours. Security is an issue in the study area. A lot of residents tend to come back to Kibera from five or six p.m. Thus, I could not contact residents who work outside the study area. Secondly, some residents do not use English although it is the official language. I had to rely on a local resident to translate my English for non-English speakers. Thirdly, I had the cooperation from a local resident that was indirectly introduced by a community development officer from the City of Nairobi. Considerable parts of the interviews were done with her acquaintances. Fourthly, time is limited. I had been in Kenya for about three months. There is not enough time to carry out large numbers of interviews in the area. The number of the sample is limited, and is not random. Due to the above limitations, I dared not analyze data from this interview with statistical methods. Despite the limitations, answers from residents can help describe part of the life in the area. Therefore, I would like to use these interviews to examine later questions. 2.1.2 Composition of the Interview I had done interviews with 58 residents to understand their way of life and their consciousness about the problems in the informal settlement (See Appendix I). The interview format was composed of five major parts. The first part looked at general information such as ethnicity, households, living condition, economic activity and education. The general information helps us to understand their overall background and situation. Next, I focused on human relationships. The relationships include their rental- housing owner, friends and family. How people get together in the community is also examined. The results help me to understand the bond of the community. The third section regarded content on their lives. Residents picked three of the most pressing difficulties or problems in the community among multiple choices. This section is designed to identify their problems. The fourth part deals with residents and their activities in the community. Existing community activities may include the solution for the improvement of their life condition. The last section attempted to inspect the settlement issue. The questions are made up to examine the future settlement and the attitude toward eviction. There is an atmosphere present that residents are getting tired of research. Residents do not really expect that something good will happen to the area. Most of residents are not aware of NGOs activities. Some residents confessed that many outsiders came to the area and asked questions, but nothing improved. 2.2 Interviews with Related Organizations 2.2.1 The Process of Getting Resource Personnel and its Outcome After I submitted my research proposal to UNCRD, Africa office, the staff at the office helped me to get in contact with a faculty member in the University of Nairobi who was familiar with the issue addressed. The faculty member provided me with contacts of resource persons in the central government, city council, NGOs, and international agencies. The list of resource persons expanded as I interviewed with people who directed me to more appropriate persons. Interviews with the above resource persons helped me shape my focus and understand the issues of slums and squatters. 2.3 Literature Review 2.3.1 Source and Outcome of Review In the beginning of the research, I acquired literature from several libraries such as the local university library and international agencies libraries. Nairobi is a city where a lot of international agencies are located. The libraries of Housing and Building Research Institute at the University of Nairobi (HABRI) and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT) library at Nairobi have ample collections on the informal settlement issue. Besides two major libraries, the World Bank library was also useful. NGOs also provided me with their documentary materials. The government officer in charge provided me with the project report of Small Towns Project in Voi municipality. Government statistic data is acquired at the Center of Bureau of Statistics and the Government printing office. The literature review shaped the issue, helping to develop the research topic. Several studies on the study area made up for the shortages of my survey on the site. 111. Background - Nairobi 3.1 Urbanization 3.1.1 Urbanization in Nairobi Nairobi is the capital of Republic of Kenya (See Fig. 1). Figure 1 _ — r. , I SUDAN /. " L _ __ .I... lie a--- - ...\ t r H I o P I A _ MAJ, ‘K\\ r’xt/ (AI/l ~ 3. .1. ‘~--——-—-. .,,, ~,/ '~ Lodwar. . MOYa'G ' r "f '«r ' .Marsabit UGANDA Gm, i Rift Wajir ' 5 Valley ./ . SOMALIA 2/ .Eldoret " 'q’ .Kisumu ‘ .Meru . - 5 . Mount .Garlssa ; . . , . Nakuru Kenya L- ‘ '3 if A ‘.-"."";{It': \I ' ‘ ° Machakos x" v\“\ '.' \.\_\ Lamu,“ -.‘\\\ 1 TA N Z A N l A x Malindi’ {ruin-m i ., ‘ OCUEi r': 0 III) zoo km \‘-\.\ , 1 no 200 mi \\ Mombasa Source: Central Intelligence Agency. The World Fact Book. http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ke.html, 1 January, 1999. The current population is approximately two rrrillion. In fact, there is no precise population data due to the poor surveys done in the past. Even though nobody knows the exact population in Nairobi, rapid urbanization is apparent. The population of Nairobi is about ten percent of the total population in Kenya and approximately four times as much as the population of the second largest city, Mombasa. Nairobi expands rapidly, not only in light of population but also geographical area. Since the settlement started in 1901, it expanded from 3.84km2 to 680km2.l The populations of Nairobi increased in accordance with the national population increase. Kenya’s urban population increased rapidly since her independence (See Table 1). Table 1 Urbanization Rate in Kenya YEAR URBAN POPULATION URBANIZATION (%) 1920 39,512 1.6 1940 160,800 3.1 1950 274,917 4.6 1960 670,945 7.8 1970 1,179,908 9.9 1980 1,661,913 10.8 1995 N/A 28.59 Source: 1920-1980: Rasmussen, 1987. 1995:The United Nations Statistic Division As Table 2 shows, the Nairobi population grows over time in accordance with the national population growth. Population density decreased from 1948 to 1963 due to the expansion of the city boundaries. The population has continued to increase up to the present day. Table 2 Expansion of Nairobi YEAR TOTAL GROWTH POP. DENSITY LAND AREA RATE PER SQ. KM. (SQ.KM) 1948 1 18,976 N/A 1,433 83 1963 350,000 7.5% 515 680 1969 509,286 6.5% 745 680 1979 827,775 5.0% 1,210 680 1989 1,346,00(est) 4.8% 1,910 680 Source: Census Data, Government of Kenya. ’ Matrix Development Consultants. Nairobi ’s Informal Settlements: An Inventory March 1993 working Paper. (Nairobi: USAID Office of Housing and Urban Programs, 1993), 4. 3.1.2 Causes of Urbanization There are two major causes of rapid urbanization. One is social growth, which is the influx from rural areas and neighboring countries. Many rural residents have moved to Nairobi to find jobs because there are not enough jobs in the rural areas. In other words, the poverty in rural areas pushed people into the urban areas. The phenomenon of the influx from rural to urban is common in many developing countries as well as developed countries. The other social growth is attributed to immigration from neighboring counties. Many immigrants come to Kenya because of the insecurity of their home countries and poverty. Next, the urban population has increased due to natural growth. 3.1.3 The Effects of Urbanization The rapid urbanization resulted in the deficiency of urban services. The city cannot provide enough water, housing, roads, garbage collection services etc. The increase in the number of automobiles has caused air pollution. Overwhelming urbanization has caused a serious lack of housing. Nairobians have to rely on self-help to build their houses. The poor cannot afford any houses; therefore they tend to move into the slum and squatter areas. Squatters build their houses on public land without legal permission. The study area, Kibera, is primarily government land. 3.2 Informal Settlement in Nairobi 3.2.1 Definition of Informal Settlements The Matrix Development Consultants gives us the characteristics of informal settlements in Nairobi. 0 Owners of structures have either (1) a quasi-legal right of occupation or (2) no rights at all. 0 They are self-planned (um-planned). The physical layout is haphazard, making it difficult to introduce roads, pathways, drainage, water and sanitation. 0 They are constructed largely of temporary materials such as polythene papers, cardboard, mud and wattle, iron sheets (for walls and roofs) and timber as well as timber off-cuts. 0 Majority of the structures are let on a room-by-room basis and the majority of households occupy a single room or part of a room. 0 Majority of the residents have low or very low income and are mainly engaged in the informal sector — employment or self-employment. 0 Densities are high, typically 250 units per hectare compared to 25 per hectare in the middle-income areas and down to 15 per hectare in the high income areas. 0 Urban services such as water and sanitation are non-existent or minimal. (Matrix, 199325) 3.2.2 Squatters and Slums Squatter means the place where people build housing illegally. The land actually belongs to the government. On the other hand, slums can be either legal or illegal. Slums refer to the place where the living condition is deteriorated. It may be built on either private or public land. In order to tackle the problem, it is significant to distinguish between squatters and slums. If the area is private, the landowners have to be involved in 10 the improvement activity. However, if it is government land, one has to deal with illegal settlers. Usual residents are tenants. Structure owners may not live in squatters. 3.2.3 Fundamental Urban Service in the Informal Settlements Water Supply The water supply is one of the major problems in informal settlements. Both availability and reliability is low especially during dry season. The Nairobi City Council provides water pipes, however they do not penetrate into the settlements. Normally, NGOs or International Organization builds the smaller pipes in the settlement.2 Water is sold at kiosks run by private individuals or community based organizations such as women groups (See Fig. 2). The price of water is generally more expensive than the tariff charged by the City. Figure 2 All photographs are taken by the author. 2 Ibid., 9. ll Sanitation The majority of informal settlers do not have access to adequate sanitation. Toilets are not directly available among 60% of household in Kibera and Korogocho. In addition, residents have to share a pit latrine with about 50 persons (See Fig.3). Figure 3 Due to the shortage of water supply, water borne sewage is not applicable in the informal settlements. Therefore, pit latrines are the major way to deal with excreta disposal.3 3 Ibid. 12 Sanitation The majority of informal settlers do not have access to adequate sanitation. Toilets are not directly available among 60% of household in Kibera and Korogocho. In addition, residents have to share a pit latrine with about 50 persons (See Fig.3). Figure 3 Due to the shortage of water supply, water borne sewage is not applicable in the informal settlements. Therefore, pit latrines are the major way to deal with excreta disposal.3 3 Ibid. 12 Drainage Most of the informal settlements lack adequate drainage. Although open earth drains may exist, this type of drain is often congested by garbage and becomes the source of odors (See Fig.4). Figure 4 Garbage Collection Nowadays, the Nairobi City Council does not provide garbage collection services in the slums or the city. There is no regular garbage collection service by the Council in 13 Drainage Most of the informal settlements lack adequate drainage. Although open earth drains may exist, this type of drain is often congested by garbage and becomes the source of odors (See Fig.4). Figure 4 Garbage Collection Nowadays, the Nairobi City Council does not provide garbage collection services in the slums or the city. There is no regular garbage collection service by the Council in 13 any informal settlements.4 There are garbage mountains dumped by inhabitants around settlements. Frequently, alleys are also covered by garbage. 3.2.4 Previous Survey of Informal Settlement5 There were three main surveys previously done concerning informal settlements: The First Survey “Survey of Temporary Structures ” in 1971 by the Nairobi City Council & the National Christian Council of Kenya. Findings: 0 50 villages of temporary structures exist. 0 One third of Nairobi residents live in these structures. 0 167,00 people 0 The average 4.77 people shared the room 0 The average rent was Ksh. 40. 0 The average monthly income Ksh. 225(wage employment) and Ksh. 95 (casual employment) The Second Survey In 1990 by the National Housing Cooperative Housing Union Ltd (N ACHU) The survey covers population, infrastructure, land use and housing condition, and community life. Findings: 0 78 informal settlements 4 Ibid., 10. 5 Ngau, Peter M. Informal Settlements in Nairobi: A Baseline Survey of Slums and Informal Settlements and Inventory of NGOs and C30 Activities Technical Report No.2 (Nairobi: International Development and Research Centre, 1995). 14 0 74,165 dwelling structures 0 The average 6 rooms per each structure 0 The average room size: 10X 10 feet 0 A room is occupied by a family, 4-5 members 0 Rents per room Ksh. 80 (Gigiri slum) — Ksh. 600 (Lunga Lunga village) 0 40 — 60 % of 2 million population in Nairobi live there (estimated by NACHU) The Third Survey In 1993 by MATRIX Development Consultant for USAID-Kenya. Aerial photography was used to identify informal settlements. Characteristics of informal dwellings, infrastructure, economic activities and organizations are covered in the survey. Findings: 0 36 informal settlements 0 Total population: 748,991 0 55 % of the population in Nairobi live in informal settlements 0 5.84 % of all the land area used for residential purposes. 3.3 Planning 3.3.1 National Development Plan Kenya’s National Development Plan 1969-74 said that, “The prime objective of Government policy in housing is to move towards a situation where every family in Kenya will live in a decent home, whether privately built or state sponsored, which 15 provides at least the basic standards of health, privacy and security...”6 United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) argued that the cheapest housing which met a standard of decent housing was not affordable for the poorest people. In addition, both the public and private sector did not provide the housing for the poorest population.7 The National Development Plan of 1997 — 2000 addresses that “adequate shelter provides protection from the elements as well as security, privacy and space for socio- economic activities for the advancement of the quality of life.” However, the Plan illustrates that the current status of the Housing sector is “deplorable with most housing failing to meet minimum standards of durability, sanitation and space.” Table 3 Annual Housing Needs and Investments in 1997 and 2001 1997 2001 - Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Units(ooos) 101 .5 287.4 388.9 127.7 303.6 431 .3 New Units 96.6 234 330.6 123.2 255.5 378.7 Investment Kshs Bln 27.62 32.76 60.38 39.04 38.66 77.7 Formal Finance Kshs Bln 16.57 13.11 29.67 23.42 15.46 38.89 Infrastructure Investments Kshs Bin 3.35 22.84 26.18 4.23 25.47 29.7 Source: The National Development Plan 1997 - 2001, The Republic of Kenya. The National Development Plan 1997-2001 does not refer to the slum area. In the past, the government has ignored the informal settlements. The City council has its own plan on the city of Nairobi. However, it has never been implemented because the central 6 The Plan defined a decent house as a structure with at least two rooms, a toilet, a shower, and a kitchen. 7 The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat). National Human Settlements Policies and Institutional Arrangements: Kenya 1964-1985. (Nairobi: Habitat, 1987), 140. 16 government overrules the city management. The lack of resources also prevents the city council from implementing the plan. 3.3.2 The Master Plan of the City of Nairobi The Nairobi Master Plan was made in 1973. There has been no update on the master plan although NCC is currently making a new master plan. Chapter four mentioned recommended policies regarding housing for the lower income group. “Improving existing squatter settlements rapidly through provision of basic services, regulations of land tenure and preservation and improvement of existing housing stock rather than on redevelopment programmes involving demolition of existing housing, however inadequate it may be. Such housing should only be demolished scheduled for construction.” Even though the master plan recommended the improvement of informal settlements, there is no upgrading project by the city. In fact, the city is not positively involved in Gatwekera because it is owned and controlled by the government. 3.3.3 Housing Policy Sessional Paper Number 5 of 1996 on Housing Policy is the only policy regarding housing in Kenya. There is no update on the policy after that except for several revisions. In the first edition, the policy addresses that the slum should be cleared up. The policy addresses this point clearly. 17 “if towns are not to develop into slums and centres of ill-health and of evil social conditions, low-income urban housing and slum clearance must continue to form the major part of the nation’s programme. . .” The numerous demolitions of the informal settlements took place during the 1970s. Informal settlements dwellers were not informed in advance and were offered no compensation. Even though the government prepared another site for inhabitants, those places are not affordable for the poor, who has no place to go. The government’s official policy regarding informal settlements in Nairobi was demolition until the late 1970s since independence in 1964. Currently, the government has changed the attitude toward those settlements into accepting the existence of informal settlements. There is no clear governmental statement; therefore it is only apparent by implementation. The major shift in attitude began after the huge demolition of two settlements, Muoroto and Kibagare in Nairobi. The city authorities demolished considerable numbers of settlements in 1990 and it caused the relocation of 30,000 people, according to the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK).8 Macoloo (1992) examined the relationship between the housing policy and the squatter settlements. The vulnerable poor do not have any political power to improve their deteriorated environment. Mwangi said that there is no explicit housing policy in Kenya. Rental housing issues are submerged in the overall national housing policy formulated in 1966 in Sessional Paper No. 5, which has been the basis for national 8 Matrix Development Consultants. Nairobi 's Informal Settlements: An Inventory March 1993 working Paper. (Nairobi: USAID Office of Housing and Urban Programs, 1993), 4. 18 housing policy in Kenya”. A review of Sessional Paper No. 5 has been underway since 1981. It is still on going. A National Report and Action Plan on shelter and human settlements stated a goal, which is to provide Kenyan citizens with sustainable human settlements. The goal of adequate shelter for all remains more a statement of social and political intention than a feasible objective in the foreseeable future. Apart from the goals, the reality was not matched by the intention. Implementation has often been piecemeal and there are continuing house shortages. Currently, the private rather than the public sector has provided more housing. Mwangi overviewed tenancy in Kenya. The construction of informal rental housing not in accordance with following planning procedures such as construction standards, is expanding much faster than formal housing. Either the structure owners or squatter families are constructing the housing. The most updated revision of Sessional paper No. 5 was done in 1997. In order to alleviate the problems of informal settlements, the government takes the following strategies: Slum Upgrading, Urban Low-Cost Housing, Urban Middle-cost Housing, and V Poverty Alleviation. Slum upgrading should pay attention to land tenure, ownership of structures, age of settlement and affordability. Increasing housing costs prevent the poor from obtaining housing. Next, urban low-cost housing is supposed to meet the demand of the urban poor. In addition, urban middle—cost housing should be paid attention besides the urban low-cost housing as far as there is acute demand. Finally, poverty alleviation ensures that the poor have access to the basic needs such as shelters, food, water and health care, and employment opportunities. 9 Mwangi, Issac Karanja. “The Nature of Rental Housing in Kenya.” Environment and Urbanization 9, no. 2 (October 1997), 142-43. 19 3.3.4 Housing Provision Foreign donors have achieved the provision of low-income housing in N airobi'°. Sessional Paper No. 5 of 1997 addressed the deficiency of housing provision. The total housing need is 112,100 units annually by the year 2000. The production, however, is only 20,000-30,000 units per year. Therefore, a shortfall of over 80,000 units takes place every year. The informal settlements make up for the shortage. 3.4 Local Government and Central Government Nairobi has been under dual control by the Central Government and the City Council. The complexity of the city management due to dualism prevents one from managing the city. Local government does not have strong enough power to conduct planning. Instead, the central government rules the planning process as well as implementation.“ Most of the ruling party’s opposition lives in the urban area. On the other hand, most of the ruling people live in the rural area. Therefore, the current government focuses intensely on rural development. Three Heads of the City A Town Clerk manages implementation and is actually running the city (See Fig.5). He is under the minister of Local Authority. He does not have to follow the lo Rasmussen, Susanne. Implementation and Institution: A Case Study of the Housing Development in Nairobi. (Master Thesis, Aalborg Universites Center Denmark, 1987), 6. 1’ Ngau, Peter. M. UNCRD staff and a faculty of Urban and Regional Planning, the University of Nairobi. Interview by author, May 17 1999, Nairobi. 20 policies made by the mayor. A Town Clerk, assigned by the central government control, does most of planning in the City of Nairobi. He has more power than the mayor does. There are three main parts to the function of the Town Clerk: 0 Policy making 0 Implementation 0 Administration Figure 5 Dual Governmental Structure in Nairobi12 Central Government Local Office of President Urban Province own Counceller District Moi elected Citizens Division Division Location Location Ch Sub-Location Markets The Mayor has power regarding politics. He provides the policies. He is concerned when people want to organize a committee. Citizens elect him. The Provincial Comrrrissioner deals with security issues. He is directly under the President. Parallel Structure The parallel structure of central and local government has been created since the colonial period. The British controlled Kenya by the current central government administrative system, from province to location. The British allow Kenya to participate the local government structure in Nairobi. On the other hand, the British appointed the ’2 N gau, Peter. UNCRD staff and a faculty of Urban and Regional Planning, the University of Nairobi. Interview by author, June 30 1999, Nairobi. 21 local government officials. The Town Clerk is in charge of the actual implementation. This double administrative system took place in many British colonies. Zambia has merged these two systems into one system. However, Kenya has retained these two systems separately. After independence, Kenya has faced an administrative problem especially in Nairobi. There are three heads in one city, the Provincial Commissioner, the Town Clerk and the Mayor. Each of them has different tasks in the city management. They sometimes overrule each other, which causes conflict. The Mayor cannot implement the policies that he made. The policies are supposed to reflect the citizen’s Opinion, however implementation has been done under the central government control. 3.5 Housing Standard At the National workshop on housing standards, Jerry Ndong of the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) addressed that it is concerned with these following issues”: a Current high standards in the building industry which are unattainable b. Mushrooming of informal settlements. c. Poor hygiene and health standards in many settlements. (1. Poor roads e. The inadequacy of infrastructure services Because Kenya has high building standards that require expensive materials, it is hard to provide affordable housing made from available material locally. The building codes are imported from the British; therefore there are codes that do not fit the availability of materials from a domestic industry. There are oppositions from members of AAK ’3 Intermediate Technology - Kenya. Emerging Partnerships for Implementing Sustainable Building Standards. Report of The National Workshop on Housing Standards. (Nairobi: IT Kenya, 1998). 22 against changing the building codes due to acquired benefits from the construction industry based on the current regulations. 23 IV. Socio-economic Profile of the Study Area 4.1 Location and Origin of the Study Area 4.1.1 Location Kibera is located to the southeast of Nairobi, about 7km away from the city center (See Appendix II & 1H). The Kibera settlement is the largest informal settlement in the city of Nairobi. It is 225.6 hectares. 220 dwelling units exist per hectare. Five persons share the unit on average. Estimated population of Kibera is 248,160 persons”. 4.1.2 Origin of Kibera Kibera means “forest” in Sudanese. The entire area was mainly forest before the Sudanese settled down. The area was initially allocated to Sudanese ex-soldiers who joined the British Empire army while the British were expanding their territory in Kenya. Sudanese soldiers were called Nubian due to their language. Kibera’s area lay within and outside the city boundary before 1964. After the boundary change, all of Kibera became a part of the city. Originally, Kibera was exclusive for Nubians. As the city grew rapidly, the immigrants from rural areas came into Kibera as tenants”. In the 19808 the housing demand in the City of Nairobi accelerated the expansion of the informal settlements in Kibera. ’4 Matrix Development Consultants. Nairobi ’s Informal Settlements: An Inventory March I 993 working Paper. (Nairobi: USAID Office of Housing and Urban Programs, 1993), 15. '5 Amunga, Willam E. Study of Housing Policy in Kibera with Specific Reference to Low Income Communities, Nairobi. (Nairobi: M.A. Thesis, University of Nairobi, 1976), 19-21. 24 4.2 Land Tenure Kibera can be divided into two areas. One is called Old Kibera, and the other one is called New Kibera, owned by Nubinas. Because Nubians have title deeds on the original Kibera (Old Kibera), their land is private. On the other hand, the rest of the land in Kibera called New Kibera is still owned by the government. It is necessary to distinguish between the Nubians’ land and the rest of the places in terms of the condition of land tenure. Kibera consists of following nine villages: Kianda Village, Soweto Village, Gatwekera Village, Kisumo Ndogo Village, Makina Village, Kichinjio Village, Lindi Village, Line Saba Village. My study area, Gatwekera (See Appendix IV) is in Old Kibera, which is public land. Ngau shows the housing profile of the study area (1995). The population of Gatwekera from a 1995 survey was approximately 100,000. The approximate number of structures was 2,500. One unit of structure varies from 2 to 12 rooms. The average number of rooms is ten. There is a total of about 25,000 rooms. The average occupancy per room is four persons. The average rent per room per month was Ksh. 225.16 Gatwekera village in Kibera is a squatter settlement. Strictly speaking, individuals built structures illegally and run rental businesses.l7 However, when individuals plan to build structures, they are supposed to talk to the community elder appointed by the Chief, an administrative officer on the public land. The Chief sometimes issues “a letter” which is not an authorized document though not all structure owners have this letter. Therefore, ’6 N gau, Peter M. Informal Settlements in Nairobi - A Baseline Survey of Slums and Informal Settlements and Inventory of NGOs and C30 Activities Technical Report No.2. (Nairobi: International Development and Research Centre, 1995), 64. ’7 Esipisu, Ezekiel A. Shelter Forum (NGO) staff. Interview by author, July 7 1999, Nairobi. 25 the tenure status is considered as quasi-legal due to a quasi-public procedure. In other words, informal settlements in Kibera are built with quasi-legal tenure. Thus, the Kibera inhabitants are not genuine squatters. This quasi-legal condition applied to many informal settlements in Nairobi. When NGOs or International Organization plan to build anything on the area, they have to negotiate with the Government. 4.3 General Information on Residents 4.3.1 Age The interviewees’ mean age is 27.7 years old. I intended to interview adults who were over 15 year old. The age varies from 18 to 48 in this survey. Life expectancy at birth is 47.02 years in Kenya.18 4.3.2 Gender Thirty-nine female inhabitants (67.2%) answered the interview, on the other hand I interviewed with 19 male residents (32.8%). My interview was implemented while a considerable number of the single male workers were out of the area. Therefore, there are more female interviewees than male. This figure would represent the daytime population in Gatwekera, Kibera. I could see more female and children during daytime. ’8 The data is obtained from “InfoNation” published by United Nations United Nations Publication (1997). http://www.unorglflbs/CflrSchoolBus/infonation/e infonation.htm. 26 4.3.3 Religion Christianity is the dominant religion in the study area. Fifty-seven interviewees are Christian, while only one is Muslim. Religion seems to be important for their lives because it can gather people and unify the community. Many people are involved with the church, which I will discuss later. 4.3.4 Ethnic Group and their Place of the Birth The Luo (36 persons: 62.1%) and Luyia (18 persons: 31%) are the predominant ethnic groups in the study area. Most of them are not from Nairobi. The Kamba, Kikuyu and other foreigners form a very small group. They make up two persons (3.4%), one person (1.7%), and one person (1.7%) respectively.” Each ethnic group has its home region (See Table 4). Table 4 Tenants’ Home Area by Province PROVINCE ENTIRE KIBERA (AMIS) GATWEKERA VILLAGE Nyanza 36 (40%) 36 (62%) Western 27 (30%) 16 (28%) Rift Valley 5 (6%) 0 (0%) Central 9 (10%) 1 (1.7%) Eastern 10 (11%) 3 (5.2%) Coast 1 (1%) 0 (0%) Non-Kenya 2 (2%) 1 (1.7%) Nairobi N/A 1 (1.7%) Source: Entire Kibera : Arnis, Philip Henry. A Shanty Town of Tenants: The Commercialization of Urbanized Housing in Nairobi 1960-1980. University of Kent at Canterbury. May, 1983, 212. Gatwekera by the author. The Luo is generally from Nyanza province and Luyia is basically from Western province. Amis (1983) illustrated the ethnic group composition in Kibera. Nubian, Luo ’9 According to the World Bank (1998), the majority of Gatwekera is Luya and Luos. And, there are also considerable numbers of Kikuyu. 27 and Luyia are more representative than Kikuyu and Kamba, due to the historical back ground of the Kibera. I did not have any interview with Nubians because the Gatwekera village is not the settlement for Nubians historically. Table 4 also shows the similarity of the ethnic composition over 15 years. The Luo is more intensely populated in Gatwekera villages compared to the entire Kibera. The figure shows the tenants in Kibera area are made up of immigrants from the local areas. Amis (1983) also found that there is no doubt that people came from the local to Nairobi to look for a job in order to support the remaining family in their home area. The population pressure on the land is also the reason people move into Nairobi. Some families do not send money to anyone in their home area because they do not have surplus money. 4.3.5 Family Structure Interviewees on average have 2.7 children. The number of people who live in the room is 4.5 persons per room on average. Most interviewees (48 persons: 82.8%) are married and living with their spouses. Only a few couples live apart from each other (See Table 5). From the interviewees, I could observe that the family unit holds great value with residents. Table 5 Marital Status in Gatwekera, Kibera MARITAL STATUS PERSONS (PERCENTAGE) Single/Never-Married 8 (13.8%) Married living with spouse 48 (82.8%) Married living away from spouse 2 (3.4%) Widow/Widower 0 (0%) Divorced 0 (0%) Separated 0 (0%) 28 As I mentioned before, the interview was carried out during the daytime; therefore there would be major missing groups such as single males. According to Amis (1983), two major types of room occupancy were observed. Married couples with children and single males sharing the room are dominant. However, I interviewed with only a few single males who were sharing with other single males. I assume that this group must be out of the area during the daytime. It is common to see children and women while I carried out the interview. The strength of the area is that the community can help to look after other children because the bonds of the neighborhood are relatively strong based on the ethnic and religious identity. A majority of the head of the household are husbands (See Table6). Table 6 Heads of Household HEADS PERSONS (PERCENTAGE) Husband 33 (56.9%) Self 19 (32.8%) Father 3 (5.2%) Mother 1 (1.7%) Wife 1 (1.7%) Other 1 (1.7%) Heads of household are most likely to be male. Nine females put themselves as the head of household. Totally, only 11 females (19.0%) are the heads of households. According to the result of survey and hearings from residents, the family structure is the male dominant type in the study area. It is important to know who is the most vulnerable person in the family. There were a few single women head households according to my interview although literature says the single-women headed households have the poorest conditions. 29 On the contrary, most of them are married and live with their husbands. My interview was done in the daytime, thus I had more chances to talk to women who were staying at home. Many of them do not have a job. Some have an informal job inside Kibera. Young women who have children are supposed to take care of them at home. The majority emigrated from other regions, which are mostly rural areas. This is the typical immigration style in Kenya as well as other developing countries. 4.4 Housing Condition 4.4.1 Material of Housing I tried to find out what materials made up of houses through my interviews and observation. Three components of a housing unit such as roofs, floors and walls were examined. Structures are neither permanent nor legal. None of them can meet the building code. A small number of structures for the public purpose seemed to be relatively durable compared to the majority of houses. While I was walking around the area, I noticed several structures were just torn down. In addition, none of the structures basically seemed to be made of durable materials. Roofs Most of the residents live in structures in which the roof is made from iron sheets. It is obvious when one looks down Kibera from above. As Figure 6 shows, tin roofs usually rust. It is not rare for residents to suffer from a leak in the roof especially during the rainy season. Houses made from tin were observed in a very limited area. 30 Figure 6 Floors Two different types of floors can be observed in the study area. One is bare earth, when people just build the structure on the ground directly (19% of the total interviewees). The ground easily became muddy during the rainy season. It is obvious that the condition is not comfortable. The other type is cement flooring, which is the more dominant type in the study area. Seventy-eight percent of the floors are cemented. Residents tend to tidy their floor as far as I visited structures. It is quite tidy inside the structures, unlike the outsides. It is a good sign that people like to clean their houses on an individual level. Then, there is a necessity to expand this individual tidiness in the public sense.20 2° Limited numbers of neighborhoods have already been cleaning up their area in a well-organized manner. 31 Wall There are several kinds of material for walls. “Mud” is 19%, “mud with wood” is 21% (See Fig. 7), and about half of the walls are cement (See Fig. 8). The cement wall frequently decays and reveals the inside structure which is mud and wood (See Fig.9). Residents do not repair decay due to the lack of finance. None of the materials meet the building standards. Figure 7 Figure 8 32 Figure 9 4. 4. 2 Room Occupancy Tenants live in a highly congested place. Most of the structures were designed as a single room. This physical feature is partly attributed to historical background in the colonial period. Workers from rural areas were not allowed to bring their families to Nairobi“. Then farrrilies settled down in a single room together due to the poor economic conditions. All of the interviewees are living in a single room with plural house members that are generally family members. 2‘ The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat). National Human Settlements Policies and Institutional Arrangements: Kenya I964-1985. (Nairobi: Habitat, 1987), 141. 33 4.5 Economic Condition and Education 4. 5.1 Income and Expenditure Income is measured by both the individual and total household income. Some household income data was not available because interviewees do not always know the other family member’s income. The average income of the interviewee is Ksh. 1, 731 per month (=US$ 23.4). 22 This figure includes residents who do not earn income. Twenty- seven people (46.6%) do not earn money (See Fig.10). Most of them are wives and rely on income from their husbands. The average income by the rest of the earning persons is Ksh. 3,239 per month (= US $ 43.85). Figure 10 Income Distribution (Individual) ”W4. «020— .3 8 215- or l3-10- :--r‘r . ‘? p.51“, 35.3," .‘ .-'. '3, .7 ,. : . _. _- _ ..._J..._ .._.. . . r a.“ ._... - «hr av . - .- , q , . . t .o . r. -. 35 _ _._ .‘_.... . J'- -‘-.-.v.‘Ey.~.o.€u.l‘&_';.:—'. ‘ .2 ’3- “J Income(Ksh.) 22 The figures were calculated base on the exchange rate as of December 17, 1999. 1 US Dollar = 74.0000 Kenyan Shilling, l Kenyan Shilling (KES) = 0.01351 US Dollar (USD). The minimum bus fee in the city is Ksh. 10 (= US $ 0.135) in 1999. 34 In terms of household income, 41 responses were applicable. The rest of them do not know how much the other house members earn monthly, therefore the data was not available (See Fig. 11). The average income of 41 households is Ksh. 4,297 per month (= US$ 58.2)”. Unsurprisingly, this figure is higher than the individual income. Nearly one quarter of households (15 persons) have more than two house members who contribute to income generation. Figure 11 Income Distribution (Households) 12 f" " I III-1n. I_-:-' 1:1... l.... I...- 1-: - '11.}; h I. Households 8 DIV-#030 Under 2000 2000~4000 4000~6000 Over 6000 N/A Income per month (Ksh.) They tend to address more expenditure than their reported household income. The total household expenditure is Ksh. 6,966 (= US $94.2) although the total household income is Ksh. 4,297. The difference between expenditure and income comes from the difficulty of calculating the accurate expenditure of items such as food and water. For example, some household spends 2,000 Ksh per month for food. It is not necessary to use money equally everyday. Many people use money when they have it, then they 23 The average is calculated based on available data. It does not take account into the persons who did not answer the question. 35 tolerate the shortage of food until the next payment or income. When one has money to use the bus in the first two weeks, s/he uses it for commuting. However, s/he may walk to the work for the rest of the month. They tend to cut expenditure on food and transportation based upon their economic situation each month. This irregular expenditure is partly attributed to their irregular income. For example, informal local small artisans earn money irregularly. The income varies each month. Generally speaking, food is the major expenditure (See Fig 12). Figure 12 Expenditures Transportation 8°/o The figure of rents should be accurate because it is fixed monthly. The average rents are Ksh. 784 (=US $ 10.6) per month that is 11 % of the average household expenditure (See Fig. 11). The main expense is food (44%). School expenditures depend on their marriage status, children’s age and the number of children. In fact, about half of households do not spend money on school fees. 36 More or less, residents send remittances to their home area. According to the previous survey by Amis, tenants sent 22% of their average income (1983). My survey shows that 64% of interviewees send remittance to their rural area. The average remittance is Ksh. 744. It is 17 % of their household income. Some households do not earn enough money to send remittances to their homes in the rural area. 4.5.2 Work The majority of the interviewees are involved in the informal economy. This result is subject to the interview time. Many women sell food daily such as vegetables around the neighborhood (See Fig.13). Work can be either skilled or non-skilled work. For example, a considerable number of males work as craftsmen, carpenters or artisans. Many male inhabitants work at construction sites in the city center and the industrial area“. I, however, could not contact with this group due to the same reason above. Figure 13 24 N gau, Peter M. Informal Settlements in Nairobi: A Baseline Survey of Slums and Informal Settlements and Inventory of NGOs and C80 Activities Technical Report No.2 (Nairobi: International Development and Research Centre, 1995), 64. 37 4.5.3 Education Kenya education is composed of eight years in primary school and four years in “form” which is equivalent to a high school. Most of the interviewees have dropped out from school for a few years. Although English is the official language, not all the residents are able to speak English. Over one third of interviewees are not English speakers. Whereas each ethnic group has its own language, Swahili is the other official language that is rooted from East African region. On the other hand, some residents told me that they were better at English than Swahili. The language is an important tool for communication. Common languages between researchers and residents as well as among residents make things easy to carry out. Although, it is common to use illustrations to disseminate health care knowledge, it is highly recommended for residents to strengthen any common language skills as the whole community. Parents normally pay attention to their children’s education despite their financial difficulties. 4.6 Human Relationship 4.6.1 Relationship between Tenants and Structure Owners My first question is the relationship between tenants and structure owners”. The relationship may influence future settlement plan. The relationship was measured by on a scale of one to five. One stands for “very bad”, on the other hand, five means “very good.” The average relationship between tenants and structure owners are nearly good 25 Even though people and literatures call structure owners landlords, strictly speaking, so-called landlords do not possess the land because the genuine landlord in the study area is the Government of Kenya. I use the term “structure owners” in order to clarify their legal status. 38 (3.81 points). Overall the relationship between tenants and structures owners is good (See Fig. 14). Figure 14 Relationship between Tenants and Owners 25 The contract between tenants and structure owners are not based on legal procedures. The owner can raise the rents, as s/he wants. There is no clear market for the rents. I assumed that the price to be determined by the number of rooms, the size of structure, the condition of structures and the economic condition in Nairobi. It would be necessary to do further studies in order to reveal the rental housing market in the study area. Because a large population depends on the informal economy, which at most times do not guarantee the level of the minimum income, they could face a delay of the payment anytime. Half of the residents face a delay of rent payments. Owners may respond to the delay with patience, understanding the tenants’ economic situation. Others get angry and sometimes insulted tenants. They may evict tenants after a three-month delay. Others may wait longer. Most of the owners warn tenants to pay within certain 39 months. Some resident told me that his structure owner did not wait for a single month. He must pay every month on time; therefore he felt pressured to live in the current place. The owners of structures are absent from Kibera in most of the cases. According to Amis, 64% of the structure owners were living out of Kibera (See Table 7). Tenants may have not seen owners because they hire somebody to collect rents. Table 7 Places of Residence of Structure Owners (more that 20 room units) ON SITE 22% Absentee, but in Kibera 14% Absentee, but in Nairobi 55% Absentee, outside Nairobi 9% Total 100% Source: Arrris 1983, 230. 4.6.2 Relationship with the Community Elder There is one community leader in each village in Kibera. The Elder26 is a leader of the village who is appointed by the Chief. Because the land is not allocated to residents by following legal procedures, this appointment is also unofficial. The Elder plays a role of a liaison between structure owners as well as tenants and the Chief. According to Wanjala (1990), elders have an obligation to solve land disputes in the community. However the law does not clarify the procedure of solution. They are given enormous discretion based upon their skill, character, and rrrind. Elders are supposedly 2‘ Wanjala explains that the Kenyan law defines an elder is “a person in the community or communities to which the parties by whom the issue is raised belong who are recognized by custom in the community or communities as being, by virtue of age, experience or otherwise, competent to resolve issues between parties.” (Wanjala 1990, 45). 4O incorruptible, fair and respectable. However, they are highly likely to be involved in corruption because they do not receive any salary from their work. In addition, as the Kenya society changed, the respective characters of elders had changed. Despite his position and character of the duties, approximately half of the tenants are not be aware of the presence of the Elder (See Fig. 15). Only a few tenants have actual transactions with him. For example, the Elder may help residents to borrow money for their children’s school fee. If there are any problems between residents, the Elder may solve the problem as a mediator. Figure 15 Relationship between Tenants and the Elder Very Good 10% On the other band, structure owners have to report to the Elder when they want to rebuild settlements or do major repairing. All of the reporting regarding housing is not an official procedure. In addition, there is no central authority to control the situation. Once any development takes place, the Elder will presumably play a significant role to manage the land transaction. 41 4.6.3 Relationship with Friends People have active relationships among friends. The community is overcrowded, however that helps to facilitate the social interchange. Generally speaking, they keep strong identities by ethnic grouping. At the same time, they have interactions with other different ethnic groups. Minimal tension among ethnic groups can be an advantage when organizing the community. 4.7 Content of the Life I exarrrined what residents think the problems are and how they feel being in Gatwekera. The content of the life is measured in two different ways such as multiple questions and open-ended questions. 4.7.1 Problems of the Life I asked the interviewees to point out three of the most pressing problems in the life in Kibera from the list of problems that I gave to them. The totals for every problem on the list were tabulated. If all fifty-eight interviewees voted for poor sanitation, the maximum point would be 58 points. Therefore, the point range is from 0 point to 58 points. Items receiving higher points would appear to be more of a problem for residents. Figure 16 shows the total point of problems. According to the survey, residents consider the following items as the most severe problems in order: “High Rents”, “Poor Sanitation”, “Refuse Disposal,”27 “Electricity,” “Lack of Clinic,” “Education,” “Water 27The World Bank (1998) regarding Gatwekera village said that the most severe problems in order of priority are excreta disposal, solid waste management, drainage and water respectively. 42 Supply,” “Small Space,” and ‘Transportation.” On the other hand, “Tenure” and “Eviction” did not get many points. Most residents are afraid of eviction, as I discuss later, however it is not considered as the major problem. They do not pay attention to tenure issue. Figure 16 Problems Posed by Residents ll Poor Sanitation I Lack of Clinic El Water Supply CI Refuse disposal I Bathroom ll Electricity I Odour El Rough Alley 13 Small Space I High Rent 13 Tenure I Eviction I Education El Transportation High rents got a total 52 points. The residents consider high rents, as one of most severe problems of living in Kibera even though the rents in Kibera are generally low, compared to the city in general. The rent has increased by Ksh. 244 in the past two years on average (See Fig.17). 43 Figure 17 Increase of Rents(1997~1999) 10 Persons ~100 100~200 200~300 300~400 400~500 500~ Increase (Ksh.) The second largest problem is poor sanitation. The problem is caused by poor toilet facilities (See Fig.3), lack of garbage collection activities, and poor drainage system (See Fig. 4). During a rainy season, rain is likely to come out from pit latrines with human excreta. The garbage has been dumped into the stream (See Fig.18). Daily used water from cooking and cleaning is thrown away in the open drainage, causing odor. I Figure 18 One NGO staff member that has been engaged in cleaning activities in Kibera says that it is very hard to keep the street and alleys clean. There is no garbage site; therefore residents naturally throw trash in the community. 4.7.2 Perception of the Life Open end question such as “Are you relatively happy or sad in being in Kibera?” was asked to perceive their general feeling in the settlements. Approximately half of the residents answered “happy” to be in Gatwekera, and the other half inhabitants said “sad.” The reasons why they are happy there are “the place is affordable in terms of housing rent and food,” “farrrilies, relatives, and friends are here,” and “the settlement is close to the work place.” These answers give us three key points of their lives such as “affordability”, “good human relationship,” and “work.” On the other hand, people who said “sad” addressed the poor living condition as the primary reason. Poor living conditions are discussed in the previous section (4.7 .1). There are two different sources of feeling sad in the settlements. One is their poor condition itself. They addressed that the poor sanitation, odor, poor sewage, shortage of water, over crowded settlement, less privacy, sickness and jobless. The other group compared their lives with other wealthy people in Nairobi. These people see the society as the economical classified unit. Even though they are under the similar condition, people have different feelings of their living in squatter settlements. This difference is attributed to the different level of expectation and appreciation of the life. One who had high expectations of their lives cannot feel happy or hardly find happiness in their lives. On the other hand, one who does not have high expectations of their lives can appreciate their lives and feel happy to 45 be there. Although the settlements definitely lack of the basic urban services, people have their own perception of life. The friendly atmosphere of the study area resulted from the people’s attitude compared to other hostile informal settlements. 4.7.3 Expected Assistance to Solve the Problems I asked what residents would like get assistances from different sectors such as GK, NCC, CBOs and NGOs. Many people were not aware of CBOs and NGOs in general. Residents’ responses vary. Some list many items while others did not answer at all. Listed items are educational support, building schools and clinic, cleaning up, drainage, job creation, affordable housing, loan etc. Their major requests can be summarized into the improvements of the infrastructure and provisions of loan. Considerable numbers of residents hope that any sector would provide them with loans for their own businesses. In order to answer the questions, they list things that they would like to get assistance in. However, interviewees do not seriously expect any assistance from them. Several residents clearly claimed that GK and NCC have neglected the settlements. They feel that they are marginalized. They insisted that the politicians should think of Kibera as a part of Nairobi. Some who are aware of NGOs have negative impression of NGOs’ activities. NGOs may have come into the settlement for researches, but they did not eventually contribute the improvement of the living condition. Residents complained that NGOs were making use of the informal settlements to get money from foreign donors. 46 4.8 Activities Over half of the residents have been involved in religious or neighborhood based activities (See Fig. 19). If it is of religious purpose, typical activities include dancing, singing, praying and studying the Bible. Neighborhood and friends’ groups carry out fundraising activities. Fund raising activities called Harambe are common regardless the type of groups. The purpose of Harambe is mutual-help. If one of the members is in need financially due to children’s education, businesses or funerals, other members fund raise for one member or family. Harambe are taken place in turn for each member in case s/he is in need. Figure 19 Activities Religious Group "'A" .'.‘. 38% '.‘- ....... Neighborhood and friends group activities are counted as community-based organizations. None of the group activities are not organized by strict regulations. In addition, they are not involved NGOs activities. The number of people involved in activities varies. Forty-two percent of all interviewed have never attended any activities. Attendance frequency also varies (See Fig. 20). The majority of people attend activities more than twice a week. This high attendance results from the religious activities held on weekends. 47 Figure 20 Frequency of Attending Activities 20 18 16 14 12 10 Persons Ome Frequency [I Less than once / month IOnce / 2 weeks CI Once / a week EI More than once / a week J According to Ngau, residents in Gatwekera have got assistance from various NGOs. Residents also organized themselves for self help.28 None of the interviewees was involved in any of the activities below (See Box 1). It implies that regardless of how big the size of activity, there are numerous activities that cannot be tracked by the public agencies and researchers. Box 1: NGOs and other groups and their activity in Gatwekera NGOs and their Activity KWAHO — Assisted Usafi Women Group with sewing machines from a Danish organization UNEP - Helping Usafi Women Group in its water selling project Mother Teresa’s Organization — Has built a school which offers free basic education @rches/CBO/Self-Help Grow CPK - Gava Usafi Women Group a loan Catholic and Chrisco churches — Assist school children with fees and uniforms Usafi Women Group — Water selling, tailoring and dress-making projects and Mobilizes the residence to cleans the village Karibuni Women Group — Had built 11 rental rooms and a nursery school Karuni Group— Members contribute money to help each other dung emergencies Source: Ngau, Peter M. Informal Settlements in Nairobi - A Baseline Survey of Slums and Informal Settlements and Inventory of NGOs and CEO Activities Technical Report No.2. (Nairobi: International Development and Research Centre, 1995), 66. 28 Ngau, Peter M. Informal Settlements in Nairobi: A Baseline Survey of Slums and Informal Settlements and Inventory of NGOs and C30 Activities Technical Report No.2 (Nairobi: International Development and Research Centre, 1995), 66. 48 4.9 Settlements 4.9.1 Years of Settlement The Number of years in Kibera as well as Nairobi shows the mobility of the tenants. The results vary from three weeks to over 20 years (See Fig.21). Residents have lived in Kibera and Nairobi for an average of 7.9 years and 10.1 years respectively. This gap implies some people had been in the other area in Nairobi and moved into Kibera later. Figure 21 The Number of Years in Kibera 14 J 12* 10~ Persons i\\m\ \. »\.-;:\ 1_ I ~ . -- . .' . 4 ', ‘ H', - .‘.'-I . _-_ ._ .,. _..,,._ "‘,_ , _.7 - ‘- '.. ._.‘..‘...:"'.,' ., 'f'wf'c' '5‘ I. ’.I II“'-‘ T-‘ ‘ 2“ ‘- -'..'" _ . , .,._ :‘j'fl , ». . ,, ' . . I..." .-. .1, .I . 18~ ~3 3~5 6~8 9~11 12~14 15~17 Years 0 4.9.2 Determinant of Choosing Gatwekera, Kibera Half of the people chose Kibera to live because there has been somebody who knew, for example, relatives (27.6%) and their spouses (22.4%) (See Table 8). 49 Table 8 Reason of Choosing Kibera REASONS PERSONS (%) Friends have been there 1 (1.7%) Relatives have been there 16 (27.6%) Spouse has been here 13 (22.4%) Rents are affordable 20 (34.5%) Close to the work place 5 (8.6%) N/A 3 (5.2%) This may reflect the family layers of interviewees. They followed these people from the rural areas. There are a considerable number of women who followed their husbands. The relationship between their husbands’ job locations and a determinant of choosing Gatwekera should be examined by further studies. The other major factor is the affordability of housing rents. The affordability refers not only to housing rents but also food and clothes. Water is relatively expensive compared to a fee charged by NCC. On the other hand, daily necessities like food and clothes are abundant and cheap. Less than ten percent of interviewees came here because the working place is close to this settlement. This figure should be higher than the number the table shows if the survey includes more persons who works at outside. In terms of affordability, there is no other choice for the poor to stay. If there is any choice, it is another informal settlement that is in a similar condition to Gatwekera. 50 4.9.3 Realization of the Landownership Over 50 % of the people were not aware that the GK owns the land where they lived currently. They perceived the structure owners as the landlords. It is not a crucial topic for tenants to know who eventually owned the land. If there are any future projects that require the change of the tenure such as Small Town Project in Voi (See 5.4.3), the project implementer should clearly explain to residents that the ownership belongs to the GK. 4.9.4 Urban and Rural Linkage Finally, my interview focused on how people settled in the study area. Results show a majority (69 % of interviewees) immigrated from out of Nairobi. There are not so many people who were born in the area. However, their children are the first generation in Kibera. People who come from rural areas have a desire to go back to their home area one day when they earn a certain amount of money for living (72% of interviewees). It means that if the tenants earn enough money to go back to rural area or that the economic condition in the home area improved; there is a high possibility of Kibera inhabitants’ return to their home region. From the residents’ response, any improvement of economic condition in rural area apparently helps to reduce influx to Nairobi. However, the first generation in Kibera may not have the same desire as their parents have. This would influence the mobility of people in Kibera in the long term. In fact, they do not have any clear future plans for settlements in Gatwekera. The economic uncertainty prevents them from planning to move out to the other areas. 51 4.9.5 Eviction Eviction is one of the major concerns for tenants. Most of the tenants have felt fear of eviction due to the late payment of rents. When tenants delay payments, they tend to negotiate with owners to postpone payments. One quarter of tenants who delayed payment said some structure owners showed their understanding on the tenants’ economic situation. Others normally get angry, warn or give notice to leave in a certain period. This period varies. Some owners do not wait for a single month, demanding payment must be always on time. Other may wait for at most three months. Amis (1983) surveyed how long tenants estimate they can stay at their places before eviction (See Table 9). Table 9 Tenants’ estimate of length of time of non-payment before eviction Less than 2 weeks 38% 2-4 weeks 42% 4-8 weeks 13% 8-12 weeks 8% Total 101% Source: Amis, Philip Henry. A Shanty Town of Tenants: The Commercialization of Urbanized Housing in Nairobi 1 960-1 980. (University of Kent at Canterbury. May, 1983), 239. Amis’s figures are relevant to data from my survey. More than three-quarters of residents are afraid of eviction and feel in danger of eviction at the current location. Over 15 years, psychological pressure from eviction has sustained. If inhabitants were evicted, about 30% of the residents would look for their next house within Gatwekera again (See Figure 22). Nearly half of them would find the place within the Kibera settlement. Then, 52 approximately three quarter of them would remain in Nairobi. Other areas out of Nairobi are most likely to be their home areas. Figure 22 Potential Moving Location after Eviction N/A 1 0% Gatwekera 29% Out of Nairobi 17% . ' . Kibera but not Nairobi but not Kibera Gatwekera 23% 16% This result shows that eviction and demolition did not affect the decrease in urban high density. People tend to find another informal settlement in the city. Therefore, it makes sense that slum clearances by the government has failed to solve the fundamental situation of informal settlements in Nairobi. Table 10 shows how they will spend their money if they have higher income. I specified the two answers such as “Improving the housing condition” and “Moving to another place,” and set up “Others” for the optional answer. This question was made to exarrrine if people rather stay in the settlement or move to another place due to the economic condition improvement. 53 Table 10 U of if there are More Incomes tems the ' condition in business to another house at home area It was hard for residents to answer the concrete idea because it is dependent on how much income increase. If the increase was subtle, the money would go to daily items such as food, clothes and transportation. If they can earn enough money, they will buy land and built their own houses. Over one-quarter of the people will improve their housing condition while 11 % of people move to another place. An interesting finding is that another one-quarter of residents would invest money in their business rather than spend money on the housing matter. This result shows that there is a potential to expand business if there are any micro loans available for residents. When I asked their future plans for the settlements, interviewees are reluctant to answer the questions, and their answer mostly ambiguous. Although they may have complaining about the current living condition, they do not have a precise future plan. In other words, they may stay in Kibera for their entire life. It is subject to their economic condition. Thus, their investment in the business is a realistic answer. This answer came up from women who were running small informal business. Some clothes sellers said 54 that she would buy more clothes and expand her business scale. The other hair salon employee told me that she would buy equipment for a hair salon and run the shop by herself. 55 V. Efforts and Trials by Different Sectors 5.1 Residents Although the number of activities is limited, some residents organize themselves based on the neighborhood and clean their areas periodically. The picture (See Fig. 23) shows the ally cleaned by residents regularly. Figure 23 Especially during the rainy season, garbage flows around their houses. Several interviewees answered that they cleaned the surroundings with other members of neighborhood. One neighborhood says over 100 people get together and clean during a rainy season. 56 5.2 NGOs NGOs are expected to have a capability and play a significant role in order to improve the living condition of the poor. Yahya (1997) address several key points of NGOs’ role such as data collection of expanding the informal settlements, a lobby about the legal framework, and demonstration of housing project by simple and inexpensive methods. Shelter Forum is a NGO that tries to coordinate NGOs to share information regarding slums with other NGOs and slum dwellers. Its main activity is the distribution of information and building a network with NGOs.29 In addition, Shelter Forum has service regarding housing for the vulnerable people such as women, children and disabled persons. In practice, one NGO has built a bridge in the study area recently (See Fig.24). The bridge helps residents cross the stream during the rainy season. Before the building was constructed, people could not go to the other side of the river. Figure 24 29 Esipisu, Ezekiel A. Shelter Forum (NGO) staff. interview by author, July 7 1999, Nairobi. 57 5.3 Public Sector - Nairobi Informal Settlement Coordination Committee (NISCC) NISCC is the committee under NCC. NISCC is composed of many different stakeholders such as GK staffs, NCC officers, AKK members, and NGOs staffs. NISCC has the following visions”: 0 To achieve socio-economic development which will directly benefit the poor; 0 To improve the access of the poorest residents to the means to achieve increased productivity; 0 To improve the access of residents of informal settlements (many of whom are tenants) and the poor in general, to improve infrastructural services, shelter and a healthier living environment; 0 To increase access of the poor to educational and training opportunities; 0 To ensure environmental sustainability. In order to achieve these visions, NISCC is concerned with: 1) land tenure, physical, housing and infrastructure, 2) environmental health and sanitation, 3) education and training, and 4) income generation opportunities, skills development and employment. Jobita, the housing director of NCC and the member of NISCC, said that NISCC focuses on economic development rather than physical development because tenants cannot sustain housing without enough income in the long term.31 3° The Nairobi Informal Settlements Coordination Committee. A Development Strategy for Nairobi ’s Informal Settlements. (Nairobi: Republic of Kenya October 1997), 6. 3’ Jobita, M.M. Director of Housing and Social Service, Nairobi City Council. Interview by author, July 20 1999. 58 5.4 International Agencies 5.4.1 Site and Service The site and service scheme has failed to meet the demands of original residents. It cannot be the ultimate solution to the informal settlements problem. The deficiency in the site and services program is that residents cannot afford the housing designated by the program. In the end, middle or upper income class people move into the area rather than the target group which is the low-income people”. The site has to be close to the working place for residents. Numerous poor rely on their feet to commute. When they have money, they may use the bus and matatu”. However, once they use up their money, they are forced to walk to work. It is not rare for them to walk for a few hours to go to the work place. If the site is considerably far from the work place, they have to change their job. The site has adequate public facilities, thus the rent is beyond the affordability of the poor. Sessional paper No.5 of 1997 says the Structural Adjustments Programmes (SAPS) have made housing unaffordable to the majority of Kenyans". The Dandora site and service project was planned by the World Bank under the direction of SAPS. NCC has demolished numerous slum/squatters, however such an action was not a meaningful alternative. Even though the city demolished these slums/squatters and prepared new housing, people would squatted in another area. From the past experience in Kenya as well as other third world countries, the site and service strategy may meet certain housing 32 Amunga, Willam E. Study of Housing Policy in Kibera with Specific Reference to Low Income Communities, Nairobi. (M.A. Thesis, University of Nairobi, 1976), 10. 33 Matatu is the local mini bus, which can carry at most twenty persons. It is privately run. 3" Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Department of Housing, Republic of Kenya. Housing Policy for Kenya of 1997. (Nairobi: Republic of Kenya, 1997), 1.7. 59 demands in the light of the total city housing market, since the middle and upper class people can access this housing, but does not always reach the target groups, which is the poon Site and service projects should solve the difficult problem of reaching the target groups. The Site must be considered in view of the working place of the target group. However, there is no appropriate location for the projects. Fundamentally, this strategy is not effective in improving the informal settlements’ situation. 5.4.2 Improvement (Upgrading) program - Mathare 4A35 People started to settle in Mathare 4A, Nairobi in 1924. It is one of the major informal settlements in Nairobi. The Mathare 4A slum upgrading project was implanted by the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi, the Kenyan Government and the German Government. The German Government supported the project financially and helped the Catholic Archdiocese obtain the title deeds of the land. The project was supposed to upgrade the living conditions of Mathare 4A, by providing basic necessities such as water, roads, toilets, electricity, and improved housing. After that the Archdiocese has been in charge of the management of the improved housing instead of the owners of the initial structure. Through implementation, the project caused and encountered many problems. The project did not compensate the structure owners when they demolished the informal settlements. Some structure owners earn income only from renting rooms. These owners became poorer than before the projects were initiated. Furthermore, violent force was 35 Opiata, Odindo and Bodewes, Christine. Mathare 4A Briefing Paper. (NairobiL: Kituo Cha Sheria 1999). 60 used to take over housing. The project implementer hired hoodlums to deal with the slum residents who had problem with rent payment on time. The project was initially supposed to allocate lands to the slum residents, however the plan was changed without any discussion with the beneficiaries. Hence, this change caused the opposition from the residents. Residents were excluded from any level of decision-making process. Bloody conflicts between the hired men and the slum residents occurred as the project progressed. The project upgraded the physical infrastructures of Mathare 4A while the outcome did not reach the initial target group. The project implementation was ordered to postpone by the provincial commission. From this experience, any future project in Gatwekera should consider having broad participation from the residents. In addition, the project should take into account the effect on the structure owners. 5.4.3 Small Towns Development Project in Voi Municipality36 The Tanzania - Bondeni settlement is located in the southern part of the old township area of Voi Municipal Council in Taita Taveta District.37 The total population as of 1991 was 15,000. The target area was highly populated and owned mainly by the government. Because the residents did not have title deeds, they were always afraid of eviction and demolition of structures by the authorities. Housing material was poor. Less than one per cent of 530 structures were considered as permanent structures. Mud 36 Ministry of Local Government and Deutche Gesellschaft fur Technisch Zusammenarbeit (G'I'Z). Small Towns Development Project - Tanzania Bondeni Community Land Trust Project, Voi Municipality, Taita District, Kenya. (Nairobi: Republic of Kenya 1996). 37 Limited information does not tell us the origin of the name. The inhabitants might be associated with the Republic of Tanzania. The project itself does not related to Tanzania at all. 61 and wattle were predominantly used. Decaying and overcrowding structures were major features. Water supply and accessibility were inadequate. There were three different kinds of occupancy: owner-occupancy (60.5%), sharing occupancy (8%) and tenants for absentee landlords (30.0%). People had no access to credit. In addition, the community was not organized to tackle problems. The economic condition of the community was also serious. Unemployment and underemployment were widespread. About 30% of the residents were jobless; almost 40% earned less than one thousand Kenya shillings per month; 12% between one thousand and two thousand Kenya shillings and only 10% earned over two thousand Kenya shillings. The local authority, pressured to alleviate the Situation in one of the town’s problem areas, approached the Small Towns Project for assistance during the preparation of its five year development program. In 1991, the Voi Municipal Council submitted an application for the Local Authority Development Programme (LADP). The Small Towns Development Project (STDP) was initiated as a joint venture between the Kenya Ministry of Local Government and the German Technical Assistance (GTZ) in 1992. The Size of the project is on a neighborhood scale. The major tool for this project is a new land management model, the "Community Land Trust (CLT)" whose main thrust is to make land tenure for the targeted community sustainable and to minimize the negative effects of the land market on poor residents. Thus, it can sustain the existing residents in the community. The basic idea of the CLT is to mellow the forces of the capitalistic land market on poor people by putting the land into the hands of the community with individual members owning developments and improvements which they have undertaken on their plots. They can inherit and bequeath these developments. If a 62 member wants to move out of the settlement, he/she can only sell the developments but not the land. The land is owned by the whole community such as the Society, which consists of residents, and managed by the management committee, and controlled by the Trustees. Therefore, the land does not belong to any individual residents. In effect, land and development have been separated. Based upon the successful performance of the project, NISCC is currently considering CLT as the prospective alternative to solve the problem of informal settlements in Nairobi”. 38 The Nairobi Informal Settlements Coordination Committee. A Development Strategy for Nairobi ’s Informal Settlements. (Nairobi: Republic of Kenya October 1997). 63 VI. Conclusion Rapid urbanization caused the shortage of housing in Nairobi. Half of Nairobi’s populations reside in informal settlements. The past policy on the slum and squatter settlements is one of demolition and clearance. It was not the solution to the problem of the informal settlements. The Minister for Public Works and Housing, Katana Ngala says that “the Government has discontinued its practice of demolishing urban slums built on the right locations?”9 In addition, the Director of Housing, Housing Department, HK Mugo said that the problem of housing shortage should be solved by upgrading the informal settlement. GK has shifted the policy on the informal settlements from demolishing to upgrading settlements with donors groups. The residents in Gatwekera live in this informal settlement with poor conditions such as lack of sanitation and poor housing. GK has not made any effort on the area so far. My survey revealed that most inhabitants are from rural areas looking for employment opportunities. Most of them wish to go back to their home area, however this dream to return home is dependent on their economic situation. The results of the survey imply that those residents may stay in Nairobi for a long time. A possible solution is to improve the economic condition of rural areas so that the influx to urban areas will decrease and this in turn will alleviate urban pressure. However, it is urgent to improve the living conditions in the informal settlements unless the residents are temporal residents. In addition, there are many second generations in the area although I have not 39 Ogova Ondego, “Slums: Government Policy Shifts,” East Africa Standard (Nairobi), 12 August l999,p.28. 64 interviewed the younger generation. Poor living condition have seriously affected their growth. If there are any future projects, the following three key issues should be considered: affordability, sustainability and participation. The experience from site and service programs demonstrated that unaffordable housing did not reach the poor. Building standards must be reviewed to meet the affordability for the poor and the availability of materials because the current building standard needs expensive building materials. The project such as Small Towns Development project is sustainable and provides the existing residents with better living conditions. Mathare 4A slum upgrading project taught the lesson that the lack of residents’ participation would lead to the failure of the project. Communities must be well organized and there must be collaboration between tenants and structure owners. Many residents in the study area are involved in religious activities. The cohesion of the community as a result of those activities could be advantageous to the initiation of perspective projects. 65 BIBLIOGRAPHY Akatch, 8.0. “The Myth of Sustainable Development in Kenya.” African Urban Quarterly 10, no. 3 and 4 (August and November 1995): 370-78. 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California: Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkley, 1978. The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat). Survey of Slum and Squatters Settlements. Dublin: Tycooly International Publishing Limited, 1982. . National Human Settlements Policies and Institutional Arrangements: Kenya [964-1985. Nairobi: Habitat, 1987. The United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. Regional Water and Sanitation Group Eastern and Southern Africa [Informal Paper] Nairobi: UNDP and the World Bank, 1998. Wanj ala, Smokin. Land Law and Disputes in Kenya. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1990. Wegelin, Emiel A. and Karin M. Borgman. “Options for Municipal Interventions in Urban Poverty Alleviation.” Environment and Urbanization 7, no. 2 (October 1995): 131-151. INTERVIEWS Esipisu, Ezekiel A. Shelter Forum (NGO) staff. Interview by author, July 7 1999, Nairobi. Jobita, M.M. Director of Housing and Social Service, Nairobi City Council. Interview by author, July 20 1999. Ngau, Peter. M. UNCRD staff and a faculty of Urban and Regional Planning, the University of Nairobi. Interview by author, May 17 1999, Nairobi. . Interview by author, June 30 1999, Nairobi. APPENDIX I 5th August, 1999 Toshihiro Shimizu Master Student, Urban and Regional Planning Program Michigan State University, USA Questionnaires I am a Master student of Urban and Regional Planning at Michigan State University, USA. I am an intern for United Nations Centre for Regional Development in Nairobi. While I am staying in Nairobi, I am studying Kibera slums to examine how people live there regarding human relationships, activities and settlements. I plan to write a paper for my Master program based on this interview. All the information acquired by this interview are strictly confidential. I. General Information 1. Reference Number 2. Name(Optional) 3. Age 4. Gender: Female Male 5. Religion: Christian Muslim Traditional African Religion Others: specify No applicable 6. Ethnic group: Kamba Kikuyu Luo Luyia Nubian Other ethnic groups: specify___ Non-Kenyan. 7. Where are you from originally? Nairobi Central Province Western Province Eastern Province Rift Valley Province Nyanza Province North-Eastern Province Outside Kenya No applicable 8. How many years have you stayed in Kibera? How many years have you stayed in Nairobi? 10. How many children do you have? 11. Marital Status: Single / Never- Married Married living with spouse Married living away from spouse Widow/Widower Divorced Separated 12. How many people live in your house? 13. Who is the head of your household in Gatwekera? Self Husband Father Mother Otherszspecify 14. How much money do you earn monthly on average? 15. How much money does your household earn monthly on average? 16. How much money does your household spend on the followings: Rent Water Food Health/Treatment School Transportation Sending to your family Otherszspecify 17. How much has your rent increased in the past two years? From to 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. What kind of house are you living? a. b. c. How many rooms do you have? Roof: Iron sheet Polyethylene Titles Others: specify Floor: Earth Cement Others: specify Wall: Mud Wood Tins Cement Brick Stone Others:specify What is your occupation? Public Employee ( ) Private Employee( ) Self-employee ( Others:specify No applicable Where is your workplace? No applicable How do you commute to your working place? Walk Matatu Stagecoach Others: specify No applicable Commuting time on average mins/hours No applicable Level of education Highest Standard: Primary( ) Form ( ) Number of years in schools Others: specify II. Human Relationship 1. Relationship with owner of houses (Land Lords) Very Bad Very Good 1 2 3 4 5 Have you faced delay of your rent in the past six months? Yes No How did your land lord deal with your delay? Relationship with the Community Elder (Leader) if you know him personally. Very Bad Very Good 1 How does he assist you if any? 2 3 4 5 Relationship with friends a. b. c. What meetings have you attended in the last two years? Ex. funnel How many people were there? (0-20,20-50,50-100,100-200,200-300,over300) Who are they? (Same ethnic group, Mixed ethnic group, Family and relatives, others: specify: ) Who did you visit in the last two weeks? (family/relatives/friends/others: ) Who visited you in the last two weeks? (family/relatives/friends/others: Ill. Content on the life Problems 1. What are your problems in your life? (Choose the three most severity in order.) Poor sanitation Lack of clinic Water supply Refuse disposal Bathroom Electricity Odour Rough alley Small space High rent Tenure Eviction Education Transportation Others: Specify Solutions 2. Who helps you to solve these problems? Family and relatives Friends Neighbourhoods 0805 ex. Women’s group Religious group ex. Church NGOs Others: Specify 3. Are you relatively happy or sad in being in Kibera? Happy Sad what makes you happy? - Personal / Family - Community - At work IV. Activities 1. Have you ever been involved in any community activities? Yes No 2. If Yes, what kind of community activities are you involved? 0803 N603 Religious Organizations Others:specify No applicable 3. How often do you attend? Never attend Very frequent 1 2 3 4 5 4. What is the purpose of the activities? 5. What responsibility do you have in the group? V. Settlements 1. 9°N9’9‘P90 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Where did you live before you came to Kibera? Other area in Kibera Nairobi Outside Nairobi Out of Kenya No applicable Why do you choose to live in Kibera? Friends have already been there. Relatives have already been there. Marriage Rent is affordable. Close to the working place. Others:specify Do you know the Gatwekera is the government land? Yes No Have you ever tried to own land? Yes No How long do you plan to stay in Kibera? No applicable Do you plan to move to another place? Yes No If Yes, where do you want to move in Nairobi? If you answer 7,what is the reason to choose this area? Do you plan to go back to your rural area? Yes No Have you ever faced eviction? Yes No If Yes, who evicted you? Why were you evicted? Are you afraid of eviction? Yes No Do you feel that you are in danger of eviction in Gatwekera? If you were evicted, where will you move? Gatwekera Kibera Nairobi Others: specify No applicable if your household have more income, how will you use the money? 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