| dc.description.abstract | This research project was a case study of strategic responses of Nairobi Water and
Sewerage Company to challenges of supplying water to informal settlements in
Nairobi. The main objectives of the study were to establish the challenges faced by
Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company in supplying water to informal settlement and
to determine the strategic responses by Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company to
cope with the challenges faced. The need for this investigation was occasioned by the
fact that while a fairly reasonable segment of the urban formal settlements have been
provided with water, a negligible percentage of water reaches the informal settlements
in our cities particularly in Nairobi. Unfortunately over 50% of Kenyan population
live in informal settlements with Nairobi alone accounting for approximately 50% of
this population The fact that this population is not covered with enough supply of
water is actually against the Kenya Constitution 2010. Nairobi’s informal settlements
which comprise about 50% of the total city population face numerous challenges of
being supplied with portable water by Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company hence
there was a need to investigate these challenges and the responses to address them. At
the same time there is no known research that has been undertaken which has been
taken on the same subject at the same firm. This therefore left a knowledge gap that is
addressed by this research. In order to address the objectives of the study, data was
collected and analyzed using in-depth interviews by the researcher. The Managing
Director and four other senior managers were interviewed. The collected data was
analyzed using content analysis technique. The research findings indicated that
Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company has faced many challenges. These challenges
were found to be political, economic, legal, technological, strategic leadership,
financial and staff related. The findings also indicate that the company has responded
to these challenges by developing community outreach and participation programs,
training of staff, developing strategic plans, partnering with strategic stakeholders and
allocating financial resource investments among others on supplying water to the
informal settlements.The findings of this study will be of great value in terms of
theory and knowledge, policy development and management practice. In terms of
theory and knowledge, the findings of this study will be significant in the field of
water supply in informal settlements. The research findings will also form the basis
for further research as well as act as a source of literature review for future
researchers. The findings of this study will also be of great importance to policy
decision making in the water sub-sector. Also the company management will use
these findings to review its organisational structure to ensure proper allocation of
resources to the informal settlements.Given the ever increasing population and the
demand for more water in the informal settlements, Nairobi Water and Sewerage
Company require the creation of strategic leadership with a core mandate of creating a
learning organization with the capability to readily accept and adopt to environmental
turbulence in the water sector. It is within this framework that an effective
organizational structure which ensures effective allocation of resources with clear
performance indicators on supply of water to the informal settlements is developed.
This investigation being a case study may not reflect the general situation in the
supply of water to the informal settlements in Kenya and is therefore limited to
Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company. Given that Kenya has over 1800 informal
settlements, it would be interesting to investigate the major challenges and strategic
responses in supplying water to informal settlements in other towns in Kenya. | en |
