Author: Kevin Stanley Mburu, Youth Programs Officer-Slum Dwellers International-Kenya.
CONTEXT
Climate change, ecosystem degradation, and social inequality trends threaten significant progress made on human wellbeing. A just transition will require increased recognition of how society is reliant on ecological systems and renegotiation of already unequal rights. In Kenya, there is a robust policy and legal framework on climate change including the National Climate Change Action Plan 2018-2022. However, the ability to fulfil these commitments and eventually demand action in form of planning and budgeting remains feeble. The current climate governance models are yet to fully support inclusive and integrated planning and it is clear climate change impacts will have far-reaching implications across all sectors of society further exerting the adverse impacts. The climate crisis continues to persist hence the growing need to demand for change. In this regard, Muungano wa Wanavijiji, SDI-Kenya in partnership with six organizations is implementing a five-year climate action program dubbed -Voices Of Just Climate Action. Together, the various organizations combine their expertise and leverage on their strengths in a bid to amplify voices for just climate action.
The program aims to unite and inspire civil society coalitions for a positive and innovative just transition agenda. Together, the organizations believe this needs a new level of civil society leadership in Kenya hence the vision: A world where civil society is heard & respected as it influences & co-creates locally relevant, inclusive, and fundable climate solutions that deliver real benefits to people & nature as part of local & global responses to the climate crisis.
Kenyan Context
Muungano wa Wanavijiji, the Slum Dwellers Federation in Kenya, supported by SDI-Kenya, is part of the consortium and is tasked to bring its vast experience in urban informal settlements through community-led organizing and its capacity and ability to influence development through dialogues with state and non-state actors. It has been a culture of the slum dweller federations across the world to use data to guide it's interventions. Through our Know Your City campaign, the federation developed two tools to use in the fact-finding exercise which included the profiling and assessment tool to fact find the current situation in the urban informal settlements on climate change effects and how different communities are adapting and mitigating the vast effects of climate change to become more resilient.
Community-Led Process
Community-Led approaches are those that are led not by an organization or other outsiders but by a collective, community process (Wessells, 2018, p. 19). Muungano wa Wanavijiji has consistently embraced a community-led approach in its work. This is demonstrated through the federation's existing model that provides opportunity for community to take the lead in their own processes. Community/federation are able to participate in designing their own activities and in decision-making processes weighing in their voices on the various processes and interventions. This collective process has offered both the technical team and the federation a learning platform that has uniquely evolved overtime. Engaging members of the community to design their own projects, programs, and processes has proven an effective strategy. In order to support community-led climate action in cities in the global south, it is key to engage informal settlements dwellers who typically make up more than 60% of the urban population. The informal settlement dwellers are the most vulnerable to climate change and the risks it poses hence the growing need to build their resilience. The federation aims to leverage on the program to rally community voices for 'Just Climate Action.'
PROFILING
Over the years the federation has used this tool at the settlement level to build up a picture of the current realities within an informal settlement. Through Muungano's profiling process, data, maps, visuals, and statistical analysis are produced showing the status of a settlement's informality. Muungano Wa Wanavijiji supported by SDI-Kenya, tailored and designed a tool useful in identifying the groups whose actions are geared towards addressing climate change. The tool further guided in identifying where these groups are located, their beneficiaries, their core purpose and the challenges they face within their groups. The co-researchers also mapped out the scope in which a group's activities extend to and where the groups are located. The process first involved training of co-researchers at the community level to understand the exercise as well as its core purpose and to examine their level of comprehension, the co-researchers were subjected to a pre-test.
224 young men and women were involved in the profiling exercise in their settlement and were able to profile a total of 426 groups across three regions- Naivasha, Kisumu and Nairobi for a period of three days. After data collection, SDI-Kenya consolidated all information and begun data cleaning and data entry using Microsoft Excel. This was later followed by a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis using both NVivo and SPSS . From the analysis it was evident, majority of the groups ran activities such as; garbage collection, waste management, recycling, urban farming, and art . Among some of the challenges identified by some of the groups included, lack of funding , lack of water supply needed by a group to facilitate some of its activities, minimal support from community at large while running its groups activities among many others. A comprehensive report was later produced for community validation and dissemination. Read more on the profiling process in the link; https://www.muungano.net/browseblogs/2021/11/4/rallying-community-voices-for-just-climate-action
VALIDATION
A validation process followed in all the regions where the profiling exercise had been conducted and a few members from the groups profiled attended the validation forums. The forum would provide an opportunity for collective feedback and validation of the consolidated information by community and various stakeholders present. Among some of the key stakeholders in the forum included, a few members from the profiled groups, community leaders, youth leaders, local NGOs, and community members that are familiar with some of the profiled groups. The analyzed data was presented at the forum for feedback and every profiled group was given a well-designed profile template which they could leverage on to develop their business plans and proposals. Further, from the discussions held, it was identified, a number of groups were yet to be profiled and as a result, a few members were tasked to profile the additional identified groups. In it's effort to 'leave-no-one behind' and eventually solidly build one of the program's core pillar- movement building, it was core that the federation leveraged on its data collection to identify all the existing groups that would be key in advocation for climate action.
The validation exercise triggered a dialogue around climate action and the core question arising was- 'What role can the community play in mitigating the effects of climate change?' Groups present at the validation meeting categorized environmental sustainability into various initiatives such as garbage collection, recycling, and urban farming. From these initiatives, they developed immediate actions that can be undertaken. Notably, in all the areas there was a demand to conduct an awareness campaign; to scale up the conversations and shed light to 'Humans are the leading contributors of climate change hence the need to address the issue as a collective' . From the dialogues, it was clear that slum dwellers are feeling the effects of climate change as a result of the collective actions. It was interesting to also note how health challenges were also highlighted along with climate change impacts. Residents, are exposed to the harmful effects of gasses emitted by companies which also pose significant global warming effects.
It was additionally raised that it was key for the groups to undergo training on value addition. This would aid them manage the products they produce in their urban farms as it was clear, many at times, they fail to make profit, due to lack of market demand thereby they end up consuming the products meant to earn them an income.
ASSESSMENT
Having validated the data, the federation organized group assessments to extensively look into their activities and how these are geared towards addressing climate change. This process would aid in identifying the groups and their core agenda. A team of 12 federation leaders was tasked to design an assessment tool that would be used to assess the groups. The tool aimed to understand a group's financial management structure, its governance structure, a group's product and services, and its membership. This would aid in identifying the capacity strengthening needs of each group and how they could be supported. The one-week long exercise was supported by some federation leaders whereby, a total of 171 active groups were assessed out of the 426 that were profiled. The process was later followed by a reflection and selection criteria process.
Federation members supporting the process shared their experiences and thoughts of the process noting that most community groups are running various climate adaptation initiatives. These include; waste recycling, reclamation of public spaces, and awareness creation. The federation went further to develop a selection criteria that would be used to identify to the best groups so far assessed and could be further supported. The following standards were set for a fair selection process; score of groups based on the assessment process with the highest-scoring rated first. The following factors were also were also considered at group level; could the group act as learning hub, does the group have the potential to scale up, what climate change innovations does the group support, the relationship they have fostered with the community at large, the mentorship they provide to other groups or individuals in the community. The criteria foresaw the team select 77 groups from Nairobi, Kisumu, and Naivasha which have concrete activities that aim to address climate change. Muungano Wa Wanavijiji aims to further engage these groups in its endeavor to further propel the climate change agenda at the grassroot level.
NEXT STEPS
Muungano Wa Wanavijiji, SDI-Kenya will work with the selected groups to further scale up their activities. Support will also be issued to the selected groups in a bid to address the gaps identified at the group level during the assessment and profiling process.
The validated data will be presented to various stakeholders including the County and National government and other actors in the climate change field in a bid to review areas of synergy and potential support on a larger scale. Plans are also underway to conduct vulnerability mapping to assess how vulnerable the slum dwellers in the various settlements are exposed to the effects of climate change. The federation also aims to further propagate the adaptation planning agenda in Mathare through organizing consultative forums with the community members to jointly hold discussions on service delivery to foster greater resiliency in the wake of adverse effects of climate. Muungano/SDI-Kenya are also mapping out various environmental conferences where community members will attend to add their voices at the decision- making table and also to increase participation and bring new ideas to the platform. Lastly, partnerships and collaborations will be formed with various partners in the sector in a bid to achieve SDG 13.
Credits:
KYCTV