Home Equals Campaign launch
Habitat for Humanity Kenya and their partners in Kenya launched a two-year campaign, called Home Equals in partnership with a local grassroots NGO, Akiba Mashinani Trust to engage with the Nairobi City County Government for the provision of basic services, including access to clean water and sanitation for at least 50,000 households and to work collaboratively with the relevant partners in the land sector to help advocate for Mukuru residents’ tenure security.
The event held at Ruben Centre brought together representatives from the Nairobi County Government, The State Department of Housing, Members of County Assembly and community members drawn from the three villages marked for implementation of the Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA), an upgrading process developed by residents of Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Kwa Reuben and Viwandani that identified critical pillars for sectoral planning.
Mukuru informal settlement residents have been grappling with issues related to substandard housing, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to basic services. Recognizing the need for sustainable urban development, the government proposed affordable and social housing projects aimed at improving the living conditions of residents in these areas. The community took the opportunity to air their concerns around the proposed development including lack of community involvement through public participation forums in the housing projects despite ongoing affordable housing project in Mukuru. The community further expressed concerns that they feel excluded from discussions and decisions that directly affect their living conditions and future.
A key pain is also the historical demolitions that have been undertaken in the informal settlements without prior and adequate notice or information. This has led to forced displacement, loss of property, human rights violations and heightened insecurity in the community like in the case of the 2021, demolitions that occurred in Mukuru Kwa Njenga without alternative housing frameworks for the evicted population. In addition, lack of factual and timely -information on the development processes has led to fear, tension, speculations and rumors which is detrimental to the peace and cohesion in the community.
Other questions emanated around the distribution of the housing units already constructed in Mukuru as the residents urged the slum upgrading department officials to conduct fresh enumeration in a transparent manner to identify and ensure the residents of Mukuru benefit from such government initiatives.
The Home Equals campaign launch beamed some hope to the residents as Habitat for Humanity Kenya and Akiba Mashinani Trust shall be convening partners in the land sector to help people living in Mukuru to advocate for tenure security focusing on enactment and implementation of the Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA), an upgrading process developed by residents of Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Kwa Reuben and Viwandani that identified critical pillars for sectoral planning.
The County officials from the state department reassured the residents of Mukuru that the government is developing strategies on community engagement and public participation on housing development in Mukuru. They assured the residents that the government through the slum upgrading department has policies in place to ensure victims of evictions are relocated and resettled.
Ruben Centre through Amani Ni Sisi program has continued to advocate with the community in a bid to have a just and empowered community and remains the hub for like-minded partners with an interest in impacting the community positively through their programs and initiatives.
By: Margaret Kariuki