Citizen participation in social sustainability of subaltern communities: lived experiences of Mukuru Kayaba informal settlement community, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

This study was based on the informal settlement of Mukuru Kayaba in Nairobi County. Informal settlements are a common feature of the urban landscape in developing countries; raising unique challenges in tackling their social, political and economic problems. The new Kenyan Constitution (2010) recognises, institutionalises and entrenches citizen participation in Kenya. The study was problematized around examining the lived experiences of the informal settlement community as they attempt to leverage their citizenship and participate in improving their communities. Lived experiences refer to the knowledge gained about events through personal, first- hand involvement of people in everyday events. The objectives of the study were: to determine existing provisions for citizen participation in social sustainability of subaltern communities; to examine how citizens in subaltern communities, access, interpret and utilise existing provisions for citizen participation in social sustainability of their communities and to assess the views of the community on provisions for and the extent of citizen participation in enhancing social sustainability in subaltern communities. Theories of citizen participation, the public sphere and power framed the discussion of this research. This study adopted a relativist-interpretivist paradigm, a qualitative approach, using the transcendental phenomenology research method. The target population was the people living in Mukuru Kayaba; the unit of analysis was the individual who has lived there for more than one year. A sample of thirty individuals was selected using criterion sampling. The data was generated using in- depth interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis. Data was analysed thematically from the codes generated by the process of transcendental phenomenological analysis and presented narratively. Ethical issues were addressed and appropriate measures were taken to ensure trustworthiness of the study. Among the major findings of the study was that the members of the Mukuru Kayaba community had mixed perceptions of the utility of citizen participation for social sustainability of their communities. Their lived experiences expressed by their reactions, gave a picture of people perceiving their apathy and exclusion; low levels of citizenship and public trust; high dependency on local social networks; their scepticism of „barazas‟ and the role of the public administration; the importance of projects in informal settlements and also as spaces for contestations of power. Finally, the findings highlight the importance of devolution in enabling citizen participation and the lack of policy coherence between the national and county governments. The study concludes that meanings and practices of citizen participation in subaltern communities are an important determinant on the sustainability of development initiatives in informal settlements. The researcher recommends that further studies on the role of the chairpersons in informal settlements would be necessary. This should include analysing the role of chiefs, being administrators in the settlements as key enablers of the government agenda and the role of community health volunteers‟ (CHVs) work in informal settlements as both social and political mobilisers. Finally, there is a need for further research on sustainably transiting projects initiated by international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to scaling by local NGOs and Community Based Organisations.