This project (2015-2016) worked with residents of Kibera, local and national authorities and civil society organisations to build the resilience of communities in Kibera to create a “toolkit”, including a flood model built through stakeholder participation, that can be used to implement flood risk reduction strategies in Kibera (and ultimately in other informal settlements) while incorporating local perspectives.
The collaboration brought together residents, planners and policy makers with experts in vulnerability, flood risk assessment, community participation and the human impacts of infrastructure. Results include the creation of an open-source 1D Flood Model for Kibera, a novel dataset of household survey information from 963 respondents, a mapping of
the institutions involved in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Flood Risk Management (FRM) in Kenya and Nairobi and pilot projects in Kibera that demonstrate the appropriate use of these different elements.
Technical, institutional civil society and resident stakeholders were officially involved in all stages of the modelling process, although the level of participation varied. The team included a leading organisation, a modelling team, Nairobi City County (NCC) – Department of Public Works from the government, Kibera community based organisations (CBOs) representing civil society, as well as local and international academic institutions. CBO groups of Kibera residents living along the river were involved in data collection, model verification, and model application (project development).
The case of the Kibera flood model showed improved accuracy as well as increased acceptance and understanding of proposed solutions. In particular, the engagement of residents in data collection and model application showed real results in incorporating local knowledge and raising awareness of flood risk locally. It also expanded the modelling team’s understanding of the local physical drivers of flood risk particular to urban informal settlements and highlighted the challenges of undersized and/or non-designed infrastructure to local authorities. It can be considered an example of shared learning between the different stakeholders groups.
The modelling process led to the initiation of a flood protection and public space project in the high-exposure Andolo neighbourhood, developed by local partners in 2017 and 2018. Appropriate uses for the development site were decided through a series of community workshops designed to mediate local experiences and the flood extent information. The community’s prioritisation and selection of site features and programmes (flood protection, laundry pad, water point and play-space) were informed by both their situated understanding of risk and a science-based interpretation of potential flood hazard as represented by the model.