| Abstract |
During the two decades following Kenyan independence in 1963, the population of Nairobi mushroomed as rural migrants came into the city in search of new and better lives. The city's infrastructure could not cope and housing in particular was inadequate and inappropriate. Today over 60 percent of the population lives in Nairobi's 76 informal settlements, usually making do without roads, piped water, toilets, schools, drainage, or health care services. The Undugu Society, Kenya's largest indigenous NGO, works in these communities and this article explains how the organization's way of working has evolved since its inception in 1973 to enable it to continue to help many of Kenya's most marginalized people.
Undugu, whose original objective was to help street children, is now involved in community development and stresses the participation of the whole community in all its projects. Its main objectives are: to enhance the socio-economic status of people in low-income areas through an integrated approach to community and small-scale business development, to enhance the sense of responsibility of people in low-income areas for their own development, to provide non-financial assistance to other organizations that are involved in similar activities, progressively to reduce to a minimum level the organization's dependence on donor funding, and to influence policy makers to change their attitudes and practices to more favourable and appropriate policies. Undugu has adopted the multiple entry point intervention strategy which integrates the organization's various programmes into a single cost-effective programme. The development of technologies such as briquetting paper and sawdust for fuel and the recycling of plastic has led to the formation of small businesses.
The technology development process can be traced in the area of shelter development, which communities identified as the number one priority. In the first phase Undugu, as early as 1974, was showing people how to upgrade their dwellings. They also established the Mathare Valley Village Polytechnic to transfer technical skills to rehabilitate youth. The second phase (1980-90), facilitation, used extension services to convey messages and change attitudes through an emphasis on facilitatory structures such as democratic forums. The third phase emphasized collaboration, where Undugu and the communities share responsibility in technology choice and community development. A system of attaching trainees to community artisans was also established. Undugu believes in the empowerment process.
Undugu uses the term "developing" community to describe a process rather than a "target". Undugu has applied its principles of community participation in the upgrading of informal settlements in Nairobi. Its main aim is still to meet the needs for shelter at minimal costs. As well as house building activities, other upgrading initiatives include drainage systems and toilets, planting trees, building water collection jars, and developing appropriate technologies that are affordable and appropriate for communities in marginal urban environments. An example is seen in Kanuku-Kinyago village where, with the help of Undugu in 1985, 500 dwellings and 20 water jars were built with some infrastructure such as roads and drainage. An additional 200 houses were built by people using resources generated from the village. Later additional infrastructure included toilets and a school. Shifts in urban housing policy have enabled Undugu to use low-cost housing technologies like stabilized soil blocks and VIP latrines. As communities become empowered and trust grows they are considering the possibility of building low-cost high-rise structures and permanent houses.
Undugu has concluded that women hold the key to informal settlement upgrading. In the Kitui-Pumwani upgrading programme women have been involved in all project phases from needs identification through implementation to evaluation and monitoring. Through women's groups, Undugu has gained an entry point into the community, the local administration, and even the youth (45 percent of the population of the area). Currently there are 18 women's groups and 8 youth groups, all involved in income-generating activities. The youth trained in basic carpentry and masonry skills are now upgrading houses and constructing drainage. As the community takes over the responsibility for upgrading, Undugu's role has been minimized. In general, Undugu feels that although promoting community participation in urban informal settlements is a risky and ambitious enterprise, their successes and failures have helped them to learn how to work with such marginalized communities
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