Zugl.: Washington DC, American Univ., Diss., 2007 / Hergestellt on demand

Research on gender-based violence in the developing world is finally beginning to get serious attention. But that research is, unfortunately, still overlooking violence to women in the burgeoning slums and informal settlements around the globe. The current study is one of the first to address the issue of gender-based violence in slum communities by presenting both qualitative and quantitative data from Kibera, Kenya—the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa. Qualitative data were derived from the diaries of twenty women between the ages of 18-30 living in Kibera. Diary data were collected from 2007-2010. Quantitative data were derived from a survey administered to 200 Kiberan women in December, 2009. Results of the study‟s qualitative component show that women in Kibera use three main coping strategies to deal with gender-based violence. Although none of the strategies guarantees a cessation of violence, the endurance and faith strategy appears to be the most frequently chosen strategy and the one most effective in keeping women safe. The study also reveals a parallel between coping strategy and narrative style among the diarists, raising provocative questions about the relationship between journal writing and women‟s agency. Survey results show a higher rate of gender-based violence among women in Kibera (84.5%) than was measured among the general population (39%) in the KDHS (2008). The study also reveals that, although both diarists and survey participants appear to endure gender-based violence more often than they rebel against it, their attitudes toward gender-based violence are anything but accepting. Instead, both diarists and survey participants report that they do not believe gender-based violence is justified and that they are angry and upset over the amount of violence they experience.

The aim of this report is to attempt to find out the genesis of the persistent conflict in Kibera informal settlement, Nairobi Kenya. A number of defining factors in Kibera such as religion, ethnicity, economic factors and citizenship are analyzed in an effort to understand the 2001 conflict. One of the salient findings is that Kibera had been a precarious settlement since colonialism and its volatility in post independent Kenya was a perpetuation of what the colonialists established. There is focus on the theories of ethnicity as a prism for interpreting politics of conflict in Kibera. None, however, could adequately account for the 2001 conflict. The conflict defied the drama of monocausal explanations. However, the prebendary brand of politics dominant in Kibera served to entrench poverty while enriching a select few. From both historical and archival information concerning land, land had been under contestation in both colonial and post colonial periods not only in Kibera but also in Kenya as a whole. Lack of political will within successive governments to address the land question in Kibera is one of the leitmotifs of this report. From the analysis of data gathered from the field, it emerged that at the core of the 2001 conflict, was a struggle over land ownership and other resources thereto. Populist politics was largely to blame for the clashes in the area in 2001. The running theme is that as long as there was massive poverty in Kibera, it would be hard to contain persistent tensions in the settlement.

De praktiker och föreställningar som hör samma med den magiska verkligheten under etiketten ”witchcraft” verkar öka i popularitet i dagens Afrika. Medan vissa postmoderna antropologer har tolkat fenomenet som en kritisk kommentar mot moderniseringsprocesser är det troligt att föreställningen om den magiska verkligheten kan göra anspråk på fler uttryck än så. Syftet med den här undersökningen är att analysera hur informanternas syn på andebesättelse i en Luo-dominerad kristen evangelisk församling i Kibera, kan tolkas utifrån vissa ekonomiska, sociala och kulturella processer. Jag undersöker hur andebesättelse kan förstås med hjälp av informanternas förhållande till och synen på hemmet, familjen, könsroller, staden, landsbygden, avundsjuka och framgång. I analysen tolkas informanternas föreställningar om andebesättelse utifrån rörelser mellan de kenyanska gränserna rikedom/fattigdom, stadsliv/landsbygd och offentligt/privat. Andebesättelse kan därefter förstås som en slags medlare mellan dessa gränser, där de som befinner sig mellan någon av dessa oppositioner tenderar att vara särskilt utsatta för andliga attacker. / The notion of witchcraft seems to grow in popularity in the contemporary Africa. While some postmodern anthropologists have interpreted the phenomenon as a critical commentary on the processes of modernization, it is likely to be able to claim more than that. The purpose of the thesis is to analyse the notion of spirit possession by the informants in a Luo dominated evangelical church in Kibera, and how it may be interpreted through certain economic, social and cultural processes. This is made by investigating the views on the home, family, gender roles, urban, rural, jealousy and prosperity. The informant’s notion of spirit possession is interpreted in the analyse as movements across the Kenyan boundaries of rural/urban, public/private and rich/poor. Spirit possession is understood as a mediator between these boundaries, and those who is found to be in between some of these oppositions tend to be most vulnerable to spirit attacks.

Tillgång till sanitet är en mänsklig rättighet och en förutsättning för liv och hälsa. Trots det lever miljontals människor världen över med bristande sanitet. Den här uppsatsens syfte är att studera hur sanitetssituationen i informella bosättningar kan se ut och hur den upplevs av de boende, samt hur det är möjligt att förbättra den situationen. Genom att utföra en intervjustudie i den informella bosättningen Kibera i Kenyas huvudstad Nairobi, har de boende där fått ge sin bild av hur de upplever sanitetsproblemen och hur det gått till när sanitetslösningen Peepoo introducerades i området. I den här uppsatsen står själva förändringen i centrum och Kurt Lewins teori om förändringsprocessen används som teoretiskt verktyg. Med hjälp av den har informanternas svar analyserats för att se hur processen fortgått och vilka krafter som drivit respektive hindrat förändringen. Det framkom att ett framgångsrikt sätt att genomföra en dylik förändring är genom att minska motståndet till den genom information, både från formella och informella kanaler. Det är också viktigt att det finns tydliga incitament till att genomföra förändringen, både direkt märkbara och ur ett längre perspektiv. / Access to sanitation is a human right and a prerequisite for life and health. Despite that millions of people worldwide lives without adequate sanitation. The aims of this thesis is to study how the sanitary situation in informal settlements might look like and how the situation is perceived by the residents, as well as how it is possible to improve the situation. By conducting an interview study in the informal settlement of Kibera in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, the residents got to give their own view of how they experience the sanitary problems and how the implementation of the sanitary solution Peepoo was conducted in the area. In this thesis the change itself is in the centre and Kurt Lewin's theory of change is used as theoretical tool. With this tool the informants' answers were analysed to see how the process of introducing Peepoo proceeded, and what forces drove and hindered the change. It emerged that a successful way to implement such a change is by reducing the resistance through information, both from formal and informal channels. It is also important that there are clear incentives to implement the change, both directly perceptible and from a longer perspective.

<p>This paper analyses the solid waste management (SWM) process in Nairobi, Kenya and studies the roles and actions of the actors involved in this process, putting emphasis on the role of informal actors and their relationship with the city authorities. Based on semistructured interviews and participant observation conducted on the field in Nairobi, Kenya, the results of this paper suggest that the role of informal waste collectors in the Kibera settlement is essential. In most parts of Kibera, the municipal SWM seems to be non-existent. Thus the collection and transport is often carried out by informal waste collector groups. Furthermore, the relationship between informal actors and authorities is highly complex and ambivalent. The local authorities claim to have acknowledged the important role of the informal actors; however the latter are more or less neglected by the NCC in the overall solid waste management sector.</p>

This paper analyses the solid waste management (SWM) process in Nairobi, Kenya and studies the roles and actions of the actors involved in this process, putting emphasis on the role of informal actors and their relationship with the city authorities. Based on semistructured interviews and participant observation conducted on the field in Nairobi, Kenya, the results of this paper suggest that the role of informal waste collectors in the Kibera settlement is essential. In most parts of Kibera, the municipal SWM seems to be non-existent. Thus the collection and transport is often carried out by informal waste collector groups. Furthermore, the relationship between informal actors and authorities is highly complex and ambivalent. The local authorities claim to have acknowledged the important role of the informal actors; however the latter are more or less neglected by the NCC in the overall solid waste management sector.

This thesis is focused on the elimination of slums in Kenya. It is currently facing a huge challenge - improving the quality of life of slum dwellers. Despite the large amount of efforts developed to promote the slums in Kenya, the situation remains problematic and local slums has already grown to such proportions that it was not easy efficient and sustainable. Thesis is divided into three subsequent chapters. The first chapter focuses on the economic, political and social situation in Kenya. In the second chapter I explain term slum, it's history, the life of slum dwellers and I also think about causes of their origin and subsequent dynamic urban sprawl. The third chapter is focused on the actual Kenyan slums and projects dedicated to tackle the challenges of their elimination. My goal is to identify the causes that lead to the extension of slums. Further I want to analyze how the issue of slums in Kenya is solved and whether these projects are effective and sustainable.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur ungdomars liv ser ut i Kiberaslummen, Nairobi, utifrån intervjuer med fem nyckelinformanter. Studien utgår från fyra huvudämnen; att vara ungdom, utbildning, att söka arbete och genus och könsroller. Dessa fyra huvudämnen är högst relevant för att förklara hur unga människors liv ser ut i Kibera. På grund av ungdomars socioekonomiska status har de begränsad tillgång till bland annat utbildning och arbete. Mina informanters syn på unga människor i Kibera har jag valt att knyta samman med en teori av Alcinda Honwana som kallas waithood, där unga människor hamnar i ett ”glapp” mellan childhood och adulthood. / This thesis aims to explore how young people’s life is in the Kibera slum, Nairobi, seen from five key informant’s point of view. The study has four bigger subjects; being a youth, education, seeking for employment and gender/gender roles. These subjects are highly relevant to explain how young people’s life looks like in Kibera. Youths socioeconomically status limits their assets to education and employment, for example. I have tied my informants view on youths living in Kibera to a theory by Alcinda Honwana called waithood, which is a term for the “gap” some youths experience between childhood and adulthood.

Nairobi is one of the fastest growing cities in Africa with an average of five hundred people coming to the city on a daily basis. More than seventy percent of these people end up living in the informal settlements. An appropriate model of theological training for church leaders needs to be developed, so as to equip them to work with congregations and communities within the informal settlements, to address the needs and potential of people living in the context of Kibera informal settlements and to bring about spiritual and material transformation in their midst. A qualitative and comparative study was undertaken and data was collected through semistructured interviews and focus group discussions. After interpreting the data, the researcher found out: The problems and needs of the community and challenges of church ministers in the informal settlements are enormous. It includes unemployment, poor housing and sanitation, and a general lack of resources to meet basic needs; as well as negative ethnicity, inadequate ministers‟ stipends and the dependence of church members on ministers.  The existing models of theological education have not effectively equipped church ministers to face these challenges in informal settlement ministry. The research study end by proposing a model that will enable church ministers‟ witness to the incarnation of Christ among marginalized people in the informal settlement of Kibera. This model of theological training will be informed by African, Freirian and Western approaches to education. It will aim to form, inform and transform the pastoral work of ministers in informal settlement contexts. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M.A. (Theology in Missiology: Specialization in Urban Ministry)