Mtwapa Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme: Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme

Summary

The Mtwapa Informal Settlement Programme is being undertaken in two settlements of Mzambarauni and Majengo, whose main objectives include providing security of tenure by assisting in the preparation of an advisory plan and lobby for its approval, to improve access to potable water for the community and finally build capacity to empower the community, as well as the various actors in participatory slum upgrading.

Background and Objective

The two settlements are similar in that they both sit on government land mainly characterized with lack of potable water, congestion, no physical plans, poor sanitation, lack of drainage systems, poor accessibility, insecurity especially at night, temporary mud houses and poorly managed solid waste.

Actions and Implementation

For effective and efficient community participation, a resident committee (RC) was set up through an election. The composition and structure, as adopted by the community was: 1 women representative, 1 youth representative, 1 people with disability representative, 2 tenants’ representatives, 4 structure owners’ representatives for a total of 9 representatives from each settlement. To understand and appreciate the existing situation, digital maps were prepared. Ground-editing was done together with the RC and nominated community members, to ensure that all the structures were captured. Each structure was given a unique identifier number and an owners’ register created. Once finalized, they were handed over to the community to validate the information both on the maps and the structure owners’ register. The enumeration and socio-economic survey were next. The process included formulation of the questionnaire with the RC, hiring of youth as data collectors, data collection under the supervision of the RC and map editing and finally analysis and presentation for validation by the community. The priority of securing tenure could only be achieved through planning. The approach taken was to engage the community from start to finish to avoid resistance. Also other local stakeholders were looped in including the politicians and the local administrative office. The process included data collection and mapping through the enumeration and socio-economic surveys, visioning and launch where the community is taken through the planning process and the expected outputs, draft proposals stage where the community makes proposals on the maps and these are reviewed by the technical team and validated by the community in several workshops, and finally the final advisory plan which was presented to the community for concurrence and ownership before submission for approval. The main challenge was quenching the insatiable appetite for land ownership and managing their expectations. This was achieved through constant consultations and also through the local politicians. The community provided labour for the implementation of the pilot projects (construction of water and sanitation facilities, resource centre and community empowerment centre). The opportunities were given equally between men, women and youth for both skilled and unskilled labour. To enhance community participation and communication, a facebook page and blog site for the programme were set up. All the information and processes being undertaken were shared through the platforms by an administrator and all the views collected would be discussed and answered accordingly.

Outcomes and Impacts

The community in consultations with the RC agreed on a management strategy for the water points. Initially, the technical team organized with the water company to capacity build the community on how to manage the water points. With this knowledge, the community nominated 10 members (men, women and youth) to manage each of the water points, who in turn update the RC on the progress and emerging issues. Since these are the only potable water sources within the settlement, it was agreed that the water will be sold at a cheaper rate compared to what the community were paying currently, and all proceeds banked in the respective accounts. The proceeds were agreed to be ploughed back into the projects to maintain and upgrade and in future, proceeds can be used to initiate new projects as well as assist with the education of poor within the community. The sanitation facility managed by the youth has an elaborate management strategy for the facility. The proposal included charging a small amount for the use of the facility for payment of bills, use of the upper space for hire for meetings and regular meetings with the RC. These would ensure that the facility can pay any emerging bills and maintenance costs. The intended use of the proceeds from the empowerment centre were 30% of the annual collection to be used on the project maintenance and management, 20% of the annual collection to pay part of school fees for the needy students in the community, 10% of the annual collection to help the vulnerable in the community and the remaining 40% for other community projects. The same strategy was followed for the CMF groups of banking proceeds, regular updates to the RC and future expansion strategies from the savings.

Gender and Social Inclusivity

Previous upgrading projects had led to the formulation of the minimum intervention approach (MINA) adopted to avoid displacements and eventual failure of an upgrading initiative. In the MINA approach, all projects including planning are planned around the structures ensuring that destructions are at a minimum. This was heavily borrowed from especially during the planning process which was undertaken with the community. All proposals were passed by the community and justifications in case of any destructions made for concurrence before moving forward. A challenge which has been observed and avoided in future upgrading initiatives is individual titling where there are other options of securing tenure. Individual titling for plots in the slums is a very difficult fete to achieve. One can consider other ways that the community can own the land e.g. sharing of titles amongst families and friends, block titling or community land ownership. It is usually not easily acceptable by slum dwellers, and this is usually due to the insatiable appetite to own land individually, but it needs to made clear what is viable and best for the whole community and what is not from the initial stages. This is something that has also been proposed in the new Slum Upgrading and Prevention Policy which is still in its draft form. Considering the situation of most of the slums, it would be very difficult to impose the planning standards to the later, and from experience these areas should be declared special planning zones to allow for some standards to be lowered. The old school of thought that one would be creating another slum or organized slum through this is misguided. For instance, creating 15m road reserves in areas that only 3m footpaths exist is a bit extravagant and would not be in the interest of the slum dwellers.

Innovative Initiative

Previous upgrading projects had led to the formulation of the minimum intervention approach (MINA) adopted to avoid displacements and eventual failure of an upgrading initiative. In the MINA approach, all projects including planning are planned around the structures ensuring that destructions are at a minimum. This was heavily borrowed from especially during the planning process which was undertaken with the community. All proposals were passed by the community and justifications in case of any destructions made for concurrence before moving forward. A challenge which has been observed and avoided in future upgrading initiatives is individual titling where there are other options of securing tenure. Individual titling for plots in the slums is a very difficult fete to achieve. One can consider other ways that the community can own the land e.g. sharing of titles amongst families and friends, block titling or community land ownership. It is usually not easily acceptable by slum dwellers, and this is usually due to the insatiable appetite to own land individually, but it needs to made clear what is viable and best for the whole community and what is not from the initial stages. This is something that has also been proposed in the new Slum Upgrading and Prevention Policy which is still in its draft form. Considering the situation of most of the slums, it would be very difficult to impose the planning standards to the later, and from experience these areas should be declared special planning zones to allow for some standards to be lowered. The old school of thought that one would be creating another slum or organized slum through this is misguided. For instance, creating 15m road reserves in areas that only 3m footpaths exist is a bit extravagant and would not be in the interest of the slum dwellers.

Resources devoted to delivery

No. Title Source Author Publication Title Volume Number Date Page Number 1 Economic and social rights Constitution of Kenya National Council of Law Reporting Constitution of Kenya I 2010 31

Conclusion

Vision 2030: The Programme recognizes challenges in urban slums pose serious health risks to residents, due to poor planning in the country’s urban areas, resulting in proliferation of informal settlements with poor housing and little or no infrastructure services. The overall goal therefore of the vision 2030 is to provide the country’s population with adequate and decent housing in a sustainable environment. The Constitution of Kenya: Section 43 part 1(b) states that everyone has the right to accessible and adequate housing, and to reasonable standards of sanitation. Section 44 (4) of the Constitution of Kenya stipulates that Public land shall not be disposed of or otherwise used except in terms of an Act of Parliament specifying the nature and terms of that disposal or use. Urban Areas and Cities Act: The Programme took into consideration the provisions of the recently enacted Urban areas and Cities Act, 2011. One of the key thrusts of the Act is to promote participation by residents in the governance of urban areas and cities. This was adopted in the programme as the main guiding principle National Urban Development Policy (NUDP) whose vision is to have secure, well governed, competitive and sustainable cities and urban areas