Informal settlements make up a huge part of Kenya’s urban landscape, yet they are often left out of official plans and services. In Kiandutu, one of the largest settlements outside of Nairobi, fire outbreaks are a regular threat to safety and livelihoods.

Resilience begins where people stand together prepared, informed, and ready. Effective disaster response doesn’t start when an alarm sounds; it begins with daily habits, shared knowledge, and local leadership. 

his work provides the data and insights needed to create evidence-based conservation strategies. It's a call to action for local communities and policymakers to work together to protect this essential resource, contributing to global goals for climate action and life on land (SDGs 13 and 15). 

This study investigates the implementation of devolution and disaster risk management (DRM) policies in Kenya, with a particular focus on informal settlements in the Mathare River Valley, Nairobi, during the urban floods of 2024. Through the analysis of existing DRM policy frameworks and fourteen semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from NGOs, community-based organisations (CBOs), and local […]

In Nairobi’s Mathare settlement, electricity is both essential and risky. Most households rely on informal networks that are unsafe and unreliable. At the same time, Kenya Power loses revenue by informal electricity suppliers and struggles to build trust with communities. This research set out to answer one question: How can we transform these informal systems […]

In many rural households in Kasigau, Kenya, traditional charcoal is both a livelihood and a cooking necessity. But it comes at a cost: every year, households cut down trees, threatening biodiversity and leaving bare land behind. This reality inspired this research on sustainable charcoal alternatives.  We explored the production of eco-charcoal briquettes made from sustainably pruned […]