1. strengthening climate change resilience in
Nairobi informal settlements – MnU
approach
Judy Ndichu
Maji na Ufanisi, Kenya
P.O. Box 58684 – 00200, Nairobi, Kenya

2. Background - Maji na Ufanisi
(MnU)
• Maji na Ufanisi (MnU) is a membership based
Kenyan Water and Sanitation NGO which has been in
existence for the last 10 years
• The need to establish Maji na Ufanisi arose from the
need to continue strategies and experiences of
former Water Aid Kenya
• Water Aid Kenya closed its office in Kenya in 1997
• Maji na Ufanisi has always had 3 major WES
programmes – Urban, Rural and Advocacy
• MnU has maintained a focus on building the capacity
of partner institutions e.g. CBOs to analyze and
address community concerns

3. CHALLENGES OF INFORMAL
SETTLEMENT DWELLERS
(Over 200 slums in Nairobi and growing literally by the
day)
Population expected to increase with rural –urban
migration.
• Basic services (Water, Sanitation, accessibility)
• Lack of social amenities ( schools, hospitals etc)
• Land tenure issues, geographically –valleys for most
slums
• Inadequate and indecent shelter
• Low involvement/participation in decision making

4. • Climate related
– floods
• Flooding of houses= riparian location
• Diseases and epidemics – sanitation related(
Mukuru, Kibera)
– drought
• water scarcity
• High food prices
• Slum fires
– Non climate proofed development/slum upgrading
(more water usage, waterborne systems as
opposed to existing pit latrines or flying toilets
– Low participation of slum dwellers( yet over 60%
of urban dwellers)

6. On going projects
• Kenya slum upgrading – KENSUP in Soweto (Kibera) funded by
Habitat and GoK
• Community managed integrated sanitation blocks in different
slums – funded by, Athi Water Services Board, Rotary Club of
Nairobi
• Nairobi Informal Settlements Water and Sanitation in selected
settlements – EU
• School WASH programme( UNICEF, WATERCAN, Coca Cola)
• Rural Projects – Water harvesting in arid areas
(Makueni)
• Networking and Advocacy – limited funds from a mix of donors
Need to mainstream( climate proof dev) Climate change
Adaptation and mitigation in Slums and in general urban areas
in all projects

7. Climate Change
• Affecting poor urban dwellers whose no. is
increasing due to rural-urban migration
• Urban dwellers have hitherto been ignored
yet are vulnerable:
– Increased flooding
– Reduced available water
– Increased food prices
– Urban fires

8. MnU working in informal settlements to:
– To increase the level of awareness of the urban informal
settlement communities on CC
– To enhance Nairobi’s informal settlement communities’
preparedness and capacity to cope with weather extremities
particularly floods and droughts (drainage improvement)
– To increase the water supply options for the urban informal
settlement communities particularly during floods and
droughts
– To significantly increase the urban informal settlement
communities’ advocacy skills with particular emphasis on
climate change and adaptation measures

9. Promoting climate smart to
DRM in WES projects
• Tackling exposure to climate extremes
• Enhancing adaptive capacity
• Addressing poverty, vulnerability and their
causes

14. • Community clean ups
• Initiate door to door waste collection
• Awareness creation- use of climatic data

15. Enhancing adaptive capacity
• Construction of drains
• Construction of sanitation facilities
• Installation of holding water tanks
• Community trainings( hygiene, IWRM,

18. Addressing poverty,
vulnerability and their causes
• ‘Real development is peoples ability to
make decisions on resources around
them’
• WES services are income generating
• Money deposited in bank a/c daily
• MnU is a signatory to these accounts

24. Factors that enabled integration
of CC into WES
• Increasing debates at a global and
national level
• Recurrence in floods, water rationing and
the resulting effects
• Increasing human suffering

25. Advocacy

27. Current partnerships
• Local partnerships – AWSB, Rotary Club of
Nairobi. EABF, APA Insurance, Chandaria
Foundation
• Peer NGOs e.g. Pamoja Trust + Umande
Trust
• Bi lateral partnerships – Christian Aid
Cordaid, Sida ( programmatic), Water
Canada,
• Multi lateral partnerships – UN Habitat, EU
Water Initiative, UNICEF and UNDP