Community vitality and frugal practices in informal settlements in Nairobi: Towards a typology

Adaptive governance by community based organisations: Community resilience initiatives during Covid‐19 in Mathare, Nairobi

“…The formation of MSPARC as a CBO network in February 2020, right before the Covid-19 pandemic started, indicates their ability to transform adaptive governance networks. CBOs may also engage in other transformative actions, such as community profiling (Watson, 2014), a practice also found in Mukuru, Nairobi (Fransen et al, 2023) and recently started in Mathare. The sum of these actions transforms the lives of selected target groups.…”

“…Furthermore, resilience activities of CBOs compromise sustainable development, if they harm the environment, increase inequality, reduce resilience of the wider community, or if they have long‐term negative effects (Elmqvist et al, 2019; Rivero‐Villar & Medrano, 2021). Research in informal settlements in Kenya offers ample examples of such ‘negative resilience’ (Elmqvist et al, 2019), such as pouring oil on still water to prevent mosquitoes, dumping collected waste in the river, or informal suppliers offering low quality basic services at inflated prices during shocks, the so‐called poverty penalty (Fransen et al, 2023). Third, Adger et al (2009) argue that activities of CBOs are likely to be adaptive but not transformative.…”

“…Research in informal settlements in Kenya offers ample examples of such 'negative resilience' (Elmqvist et al, 2019), such as pouring oil on still water to prevent mosquitoes, dumping collected waste in the river, or informal suppliers offering low quality basic services at inflated prices during shocks, the so-called poverty penalty (Fransen et al, 2023). Third, Adger et al (2009) argue that activities of CBOs are likely to be adaptive but not transformative.…”