Kenya’s Flagship Slum Upgrading: Definitions, Purpose, and Impact

Kenya has long grappled with the challenges posed by rapidly expanding informal settlements, which house a significant portion of its urban population.

In response, the Kenyan government, in collaboration with various international partners, has launched and sustained ambitious slum upgrading initiatives. These programs are not merely about providing better housing; they are holistic interventions aimed at integrating marginalized communities into the formal urban fabric and improving their overall quality of life.

Kenya’s Flagship Slum Upgrading Initiatives

While various local efforts have been made, two programs stand out as Kenya’s most prominent and flagship slum upgrading initiatives:

1. The Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (KENSUP)
2. The Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP) / KISIP2

These programs, often working in tandem or building upon each other, represent the core of Kenya’s strategy to address its informal settlements.

1. The Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (KENSUP)

Definition and Genesis: KENSUP was launched in 2004 as a collaborative initiative between the Government of Kenya (GoK) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). Its genesis was a direct response to the urgent need to improve the dire living conditions in Kenya’s extensive informal settlements, aligning with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the time, specifically target 11 on improving the lives of slum dwellers.

Purpose and Objectives: The main objective of KENSUP is to improve the livelihoods and living conditions of people residing and working in slums and informal settlements across urban areas in Kenya. This overarching goal is pursued through a multi-faceted approach, encompassing:

• Security of Tenure: A fundamental pillar of KENSUP is to regularize land tenure for slum residents. This involves legalizing property rights, providing title deeds or other forms of secure occupancy, which empowers residents and incentivizes investment in their homes and communities.
• Provision of Physical Infrastructure: This includes crucial upgrades to basic services such as improved access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities (toilets, sewage systems), development of drainage systems to mitigate flooding and improve hygiene, construction of better roads, footpaths, and public lighting for improved accessibility and security, and enhanced access to modern energy, often through household power connections.
• Provision of Social Infrastructure: Beyond physical improvements, KENSUP also focuses on enhancing social amenities by establishing or improving access to health clinics and educational facilities, creating safe public spaces and recreational areas, and establishing Community Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centers to enhance digital literacy.
• Housing Improvement and Income Generation Opportunities: KENSUP aims to facilitate the upgrading of existing housing structures and create economic opportunities for residents through support for housing cooperatives and self-build initiatives, training in entrepreneurship and micro-enterprise skills development, facilitating access to micro-credit mechanisms, and promoting waste collection and recycling services as income-generating activities.
• Participatory Planning and Capacity Building: A core philosophy of KENSUP is the active involvement of slum residents in the planning and implementation of projects. It also seeks to strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of community-based organizations, local authorities, and informal traders.
• Integration into the Broader City Structure: Ultimately, KENSUP aims to integrate informal settlements into the formal urban planning and management systems, ensuring they are not seen as isolated enclaves but as integral parts of the city.

Key Features and Impact: KENSUP was designed to be a demonstration program, initially focusing on areas like Kibera in Nairobi and parts of Kisumu and Mavoko, with the intention of scaling up successful models. Early achievements included improvements in water, sanitation, and waste management, construction of low-volume roads, and establishment of community ICT centers. The program laid the groundwork for a more systematic approach to slum upgrading in Kenya.

2. The Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP) / KISIP2

Definition and Evolution: Building upon the experiences and lessons learned from KENSUP, the Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP) was launched in 2011. KISIP is a Government of Kenya initiative, primarily supported by the World Bank, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). KISIP2 is the subsequent phase, further scaling up and refining the approaches.

Purpose and Objectives: KISIP’s main objective, and that of KISIP2, is to improve access to basic services and land tenure security for residents in participating urban informal settlements, and to strengthen institutional capacity for slum upgrading in Kenya. Its comprehensive framework is structured around several key components:

• Integrated Settlement Upgrading: This component is the backbone of KISIP and combines land tenure regularization with infrastructure upgrading. A major focus is on coordinating and facilitating the formalization of secure land tenure through planning, land surveying, and the issuance of leases or titles, especially for settlements on uncontested public lands, directly addressing one of the most significant vulnerabilities of slum dwellers. This also involves substantial investments in a wide range of services and infrastructure, including roads, pedestrian walkways, street and security lighting, vending platforms, storm water drainage, water and sanitation systems, and public parks/green spaces.
• Socio-economic Inclusion Planning: KISIP recognizes that physical upgrades must be accompanied by socio-economic empowerment. This component focuses on formulating Community Development Plans (CDPs) to identify and address the socio-economic needs of communities, supporting Labor-Intensive Community Works (LICW), including Digital Public Works (DPW), to create employment opportunities, operationalizing solid waste management strategies that can also create income, and implementing Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) measures.
• Institutional Capacity Development for Slum Upgrading and Prevention: This is a crucial component aimed at long-term sustainability. It involves reviewing and developing national and county-specific slum upgrading and prevention strategies and policies (e.g., the National Slum Upgrading and Prevention Strategy currently under KISIP2), conducting capacity needs assessments and implementing capacity-building plans for national, county, and community levels, and establishing effective multi-stakeholder institutional frameworks for collaboration. It also involves developing a special fund (e.g., the National Slum Upgrading and Prevention Trustees Fund) to mobilize and manage resources.
• Program Management and Coordination: This ensures effective project implementation at both national and county levels, including robust financial management and procurement processes.

Key Features and Impact: KISIP has significantly expanded the reach of slum upgrading in Kenya, covering numerous urban centers and impacting millions of residents. Key successes cited include the issuance of thousands of title deeds, providing critical tenure security to beneficiaries, and extensive infrastructure development, with significant kilometers of roads, footpaths, and drainage systems constructed, along with improved water and sanitation access and street lighting.

By enhancing access to basic services, fostering private investment in housing and businesses (due to secure tenure), and linking residents to safety net programs and job opportunities, KISIP aims to reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity. KISIP also supports urban planning that not only upgrades existing slums but also aims to prevent the emergence of new ones by planning for future urban growth. KISIP2, in particular, emphasizes working with county governments, recognizing their increasing role in urban development and service delivery following devolution in Kenya.

Everything Else: Challenges and Future Outlook

Despite the significant strides made by KENSUP and KISIP, slum upgrading in Kenya continues to face complex challenges:

• Rapid Urbanization: The sheer pace of rural-urban migration consistently puts pressure on existing infrastructure and services, leading to the formation of new informal settlements.
• Land Ownership Complexities: Untangling complex, informal land tenure systems, dealing with absentee landlords, and preventing land grabbing remain significant hurdles.
• Funding Sustainability: While donor-supported, the long-term financial sustainability of large-scale upgrading programs requires substantial domestic resource mobilization.
• Political Will and Governance: Sustained political commitment and effective governance, including combating corruption in land allocation and project implementation, are vital.
• Livelihood Disruption: While in-situ upgrading is preferred, any intervention can temporarily disrupt informal livelihoods. Ensuring economic resilience during and after upgrading is crucial.
• Gentrification and Displacement: A critical concern is “slum gentrification,” where improved conditions lead to increased rents or property values, making it unaffordable for the original inhabitants, potentially displacing them indirectly. KISIP aims to mitigate this by ensuring affordability and tenure security for existing residents.
• Community Engagement Challenges: Despite policies emphasizing participation, ensuring truly inclusive and representative community involvement can be difficult, sometimes leading to projects that don’t fully align with community priorities.

Kenya’s flagship slum upgrading programs are pivotal to its urban development agenda. They represent a progressive shift from reactive measures to proactive, integrated, and participatory approaches. As Kenya continues its journey towards Vision 2030, these programs are fundamental to achieving the goal of “a well-housed population living in an environmentally-secure urban environment” and ensuring that the benefits of urbanization are shared inclusively by all citizens.