Browsing by Author "Majale, Christine Liyala"

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    An assessment of the contribution of urban agriculture to households’ livelihoods in Roysambu Ward, Nairobi County.
    (Kenyatta University, 2014) Githugunyi, Dickson Kibata; Majale, Christine Liyala; Nyaoro, W.
    Urban agriculture plays a significant role in national development by contributing towards food security, employment creation and income generation. However, it is associated with diverse negative impacts on public health and the environment. Development of UA has been affected by lack of specific laws and policies geared towards addressing the development this important sub- sector. However, various legislations refer individually to the sub-sector. Some of these legislations indirectly support or hinder the growth and development of the sub sector. Despite these shortcomings UA has continued unabated in most parts of Nairobi. Many households in Nairobi are facing a serious decline in their purchasing power and poverty levels are on the rise. The poorer the household the more they depend on farming to supplement their food requirements. As Nairobi metropolis expands, it encroaches on the hither to agricultural areas in its periphery. These areas are an integral part of the city as they provide the bulk of the food especially vegetables to the city. Their close proximity to the city provides ready market for farm produce and hence encourages peri- urban agriculture. This study examined the contribution of urban agriculture to households’ livelihoods in Nairobi County. It covered various aspects such as legal and policy framework, problems affecting development of UA, trends and patterns of land use in Nairobi and its implications on UA and finally came up with an integrated plan for sustainable urban agriculture in Roysambu Ward. The Sampling frame for the study comprised of farmers in Roysambu Ward, a number of institutions and farmer groups in Roysambu Ward. Primary data was derived from field surveys using questionnaires, key informants interviews and focused group discussions. A sample size of 90 was used for household interviews, 5 institutions interviewed and 3 focused group discussions held. Secondary data was synthesized from books, journals, newsletters, electronic media and Government policy papers. Landsat satellite images were used to obtain the land use trends in Nairobi. Probability and non-probability sampling methods were used in data collection. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists whereas qualitative data was analysed either in text, diagrams or photographs. GIS generated maps were analysed to capture land use trends over the last 20 years ie year 1995 to year 2014.Review of legal and policy framework revealed that there is a dire need to harmonize all the conflicting pieces of legislation governing UA in Kenya and this can only be achieved by bringing all stakeholders on board. UA policy is also overdue. The trend of UA in Nairobi County showed a decline of 28% of the area under forests and crops compared to an increase of 35% of the area under built up areas over the last 20 years. This shows that all the hither to agricultural areas in the County will soon be taken up by the built up areas. However UA remains popular especially among the urban poor because of food security and income generation. Some middle and upper income people also prefer growing their own food for food safety reasons. Health and environmental concerns were noted especially in the low income areas of Mathare, Ruaraka and Njathaini which reinforces the fact the UA should be controlled if not outlawed in these areas. It is strongly recommended that agricultural areas in the study area and in Nairobi County should be designated so that they are easily controlled. Investments should be done in the City waste management to allow use of treated liquid and solid waste, while building capacity of farmers on its utilization. This may involve integration of UA in the City land use planning.
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    Cooperation among small urban centres in the Lake Victoria Basin as a necessary strategy for managing solid waste: the case of Kisii, Homa Bay and Migori municipalities
    (Inderscience Publishers, 2014-01) Mireri, C.; Majale, Christine Liyala
    Solid waste management remains a daunting task for small municipalities found in the Lake Victoria Basin. The situation is aggravated by low prioritisation of solid waste management, limited revenues for financing waste management and the ever increasing population in these municipalities. Cooperation offers an option that can be considered as it would allow neighbouring municipal councils to pool their resources together to address this common challenge. This is pegged on achieving economies of scale and internalising externalities. Using interviews, stakeholders workshop, observation and documents review, this paper presents findings and conclusions to a study that was carried out to assess opportunities for cooperation amongst three small neighbouring municipal authorities in the Lake Victoria Basin namely Kisii, Homa Bay and Migori municipalities. This paper concludes that cooperation provides a necessary strategy to addressing solid waste management challenges and that there are indeed various opportunities within the institutional organisation and along the waste chain for cooperation in order to jointly accomplish this.
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    Evaluation of slum upgrading and redevelopment in promoting sustainable urban human settlements: a case study of Pumwani-Majengo Housing Project, Nairobi County
    (Kenyatta University, 2014) Mgele, Victor Otieno; Majale, Christine Liyala; Kirui, Allan Isaac
    The existence of slums has posed a huge problem for achievement of sustainable urban development in most ACP countries. Slum upgrading and redevelopment measures have been adopted worldwide as key components of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under goal number seven which emphasizes the need to tackle the problems posed by slums. In the Kenyan context, slum upgrading and redevelopment as intervention measures are critical to the attainment of both Vision 2030 and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) priorities. The Pumwani-Majengo informal settlement was chosen owing to its unique history of being among the first areas to benefit from the above slum rehabilitation measures in 1987. The study was conceptualized on the need to evaluate the effectiveness of slum upgrading and redevelopment in promoting sustainable urban human settlements in relation to Kenya’s progress towards the attainment of MDG 7, targets 10 and 11 which seek to combat urban poverty and improve the livelihoods of 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020. It also set to evaluate the attainment of the goals concerning housing and urbanization as envisioned in our development blueprint vision 2030. The evaluation was done based on measurable objectives which formed the intended goal of the slum rehabilitation programme against the target indicators set in MDG goal 7 and Vision 2030. The study adopted a case study design combining both qualitative and quantitative methods that involved pre-field work, field work, data collection and analysis utilizing a variety of relevant scientific methods and tools. The sample size consisted of 100 respondents determined using scientific formulae and was drawn from a target population that consisted of households, resource persons, businesses, institutions and NGO/CBOs operating in the study area. Emphasis was on analyzing the policy, legal and institutional framework governing slum upgrading and redevelopment projects in Kenya, ascertaining the level to which the Pumwani-Majengo project has achieved its main intended objective of fostering transition of the beneficiaries from the slum to the redeveloped housing units, assessing the adequacy and affordability of the housing typologies implemented by the developer in relation to the living styles of the beneficiaries and investigating the perceptions of the beneficiaries towards the slum upgrading and redevelopment approach used in the project. The study established that the slum redevelopment programme implemented by the developers in the Pumwani-Majengo project has had varying degrees of both successes and setbacks in as far as Kenya’s achievement of both MDG goal 7, targets 10 and 11 and Vision 2030 targets on housing and urbanization are concerned. The study established that even though most of the beneficiaries cited improved living standards in form of better sanitation, water supply and infrastructure as benefits originating from the slum redevelopment project, an overwhelming majority nevertheless faulted the lack of the redevelopment approach to sufficiently address community economic empowerment aspects to enable the project beneficiaries have a means of sustaining better livelihoods after being relocated to the Highrises and the total lack of direct involvement by the government to subsidize the economic burden borne by the beneficiaries in paying the monthly rents/mortgages. The findings of the research were used to prepare a participatory slum upgrading and redevelopment planning matrix for promoting sustainable urban human settlements in Pumwani-Majengo. The output plan indicates the major issues, how they can be addressed and who should address what issue.
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    A framework for sustainable e-waste management in manufacturing and processing industries, Industrial area Nairobi County
    (Kenyatta University, 2014) Muhani, Duncan Aliero; Majale, Christine Liyala; Getao, C. M.
    Kenya’s manufacturing and processing sector is among the key productive sectors identified for economic growth and development because of its immense potential for wealth, employment creation and poverty alleviation. Currently Kenya’s industrial sector is one of the largest in sub Saharan Africa, the sector is highly fragmented with more than 2,000 manufacturing enterprises. The presence of these industries has led to rise in waste from electrical and electronics equipment and devices known as e-waste due to changes in technology, wear and tear, and high rates of obsolescence of the equipments. The country is also likely to experience an increase in e-waste due to the formation county government as envisaged by the constitution of Kenya 2010, as the Counties are all out to embrace industrial growth. The project explored how an integrated approach to e-waste management can be applied in Industrial Area, Nairobi County in order to address the problem of e-waste brought about by the presence of high number industries. The study reviewed legal, policy and institutional framework governing e-waste management and general waste management in Kenya with a view to determine their strength and weaknesses in addressing the issue. The study also sought to assess how e-waste is handled and examining critical challenges constraining e-waste management in industrial area. From the data I collected, It was established that the legal and institutional framework governing e-waste in the country do not efficiently address the problem. There are no e-waste specific policies and general national policies on environmental conservation do not directly address the problem of e-waste but solid waste in general. Enforcement of the regulations on general waste management has also proved to be a problem to the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) and the County Government as they lack adequate capacity to carry out their mandate in form of finances and personnel to enable them carry out enforcement of the regulations. Many of the industries do not practice routine environmental reporting where both internal and external auditing on the state of the environment is done. Routine environmental reporting is very important in realizing sustainability on matters of environmental management; it ensures disclosure of the state of the environment at given periods, which ensures industries comply with laws and regulation governing the sector. From the data collected, some of the industries do not have health and safety measures and procedures of e-waste handling in place. These two issues are very critical when it comes to handling e-waste; there absence in industries means high vulnerability during the handling process. Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act, 1999 provides for the integration of environmental concerns in national policies, plans, programmes and projects. In this regard, it provides for the formulation of National, Provincial and District Environment Action Plans every five years, there is therefore need to restructure the former provisional administration to fit in the new county government structure for this purpose. The study calls for urgent and comprehensive integrated framework, which will ensure functional systems and structures, are put in place for proper e-waste management hence reducing significantly the human and environmental impacts of poor e-waste handling by taking action to address gaps in policy and institutional framework governing the sector both at the national and county government. It also calls for manufacturing industries to put in place measures towards environmental compliance.
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