Tenure Security, Infrastructure and Livelihoods Nexus in Slum Upgrading in Eldoret Municipality, Kenya.
Abstract
One billion people (32 percent) of the world’s urban population live in deplorable living
conditions in informal settlements, according to estimates by the United Nations. In Kenya, they
estimate to be at 56 percent (and the figure is projected to grow. There is, therefore a pressing
need for action. Slum upgrading is seen as the current best practice in addressing this challenge.
However, upgrading has its challenges. This study sought to investigate this strategy in Kenya to
make recommendations on how its policies and programs can be better designed and
implemented for maximum impact and sustainability. Studies have shown that upgrading has
improved living conditions and quality of life in informal settlements. However, it has
sometimes failed to achieve the intended purpose. Part of the challenge lies in the
compartmentalization of upgrading interventions along sectoral lines which make it less
impactful. There is a need for linked up approaches where synergies can be leveraged and tradeoffs
minimized to enhance the impact and sustainability of upgrading efforts. However crosssectoral
linkages in the interventions have received limited attention. This study contributes to
this knowledge gap by investigating the nexus of slum upgrading interventions, specifically,
interventions of tenure security, infrastructure, and livelihoods as well as their institutional
dynamics. The inadequacy of these elements underpins poverty and deprivation, thus the
proliferation of informal settlements in the urban space. Although there is growing literature on
various aspects of these; there is limited research on their interconnections. Understanding these
links and their institutional dynamics are critical for policy and implementation of upgrading
programs. This study’s conceptual framework builds on existing theories on tenure,
infrastructure and livelihoods to conceptualize a multi-sectoral linked up approach to upgrading
comprising these three essential elements. The study was undertaken in Eldoret town located in
western Kenya within East Africa. A multi-case study design comprising Huruma, Munyaka, and
Kamkunji settlements and a mixed-method approach of both qualitative ( interpretivist) and
quantitative (positivist) techniques were used for data collection, analysis and hypothesis testing.
Findings showed a limiting sectoral approach, neglect of livelihoods but a linkage in tenure
security, infrastructure, and livelihoods improvements in informal settlements upgrading. The
study thus recommends a multisector integrated approach that incorporates both physical and
human aspects in upgrading through a collaborative institutional framework. For upgrading
practice, it recommends a Tenure-Infrastructure-Livelihoods (T-I-L) nexus model to upgrading.
An approach that is multisectoral, integrated, synergistic, and addresses both physical and human
deprivations of the urban poor, and is deemed to bring greater impact and sustainability of
upgrading efforts. The policy implications being the need to significantly transform existing
policy and legal frameworks and upgrading strategies to embrace the T-I-L nexus approach for
synergy, wholeness, and optimum use of scarce resources. Globally, this contributes to the SDGs
especially the global goal of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and
sustainable by 2030 and nationally, it contributes to the aspirations of Kenya’s Vision 2030 and
current development agenda four, especially on affordable housing.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
The following license files are associated with this item: