Building a More Climate-Resilient Community in Mathare Through Nature-Based Solutions
Tuwe Pamoja, a Kiswahili phrase translating to “let’s be together”, is more than just a name. It’s a guiding principle for a powerful collaboration currently happening in Mathare Valley. The project brings together city officials, informal residents, non-governmental organisations and community based organisations to strengthen the capacity to co-design and implement Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that are just, sustainable and climate-resilient, particularly for marginalized communities in Mathare Valley.
This initiative is timely in Mathare because temperatures in Mathare are rising, and thanks to newly reclaimed riparian land along the Mathare River, there’s a unique opportunity to reimagine public space with nature at the center. The community is ready and eager to lead climate action in their settlement. This work is part of the global CLARE (Climate Adaptation and Resilience) research programme, funded primarily by UK Aid through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and co-funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.
Most recently, the Tuwe Pamoja spirit was the anchor of a recent workshop that brought together communities, academia, and supporting NGOs to explore how vulnerable informal settlements can collaborate with city actors to build resilient nature-based solutions that are locally driven, context specific, effective, and equitable. SDI Kenya, alongside the University of Nairobi’s Institute for Climate Change, joined city teams from Accra, Lusaka, and Cape Town for this four-day exchange. The core values of the workshop were collaboration, knowledge sharing, and community-driven approaches to resilience.
Art-based approaches for deeper engagement
One highlight was the use of participatory, art-based methods such as body mapping and graphic harvesting to engage communities in new ways. These tools help residents express how they experience their environment and climate risks to their lived experiences and bodies. They also provide visual and creative ways to capture stories, making community insights more accessible, hence ensuring they stand out. Such approaches remind us that building resilience is not only about data and policies but also about listening, seeing, and representing lived experiences in ways that communities can relate to and own.
Learning across contexts
A field visit to Khayelitsha settlement in Cape Town offered practical lessons on climate vulnerabilities, particularly flooding. Communities there face recurring floods and have developed their adaptation measures, such as using rubble to divert water from their households. After the visit, we held group discussions where residents of Khayelitsha identified Nature-based Solutions (NbS) currently in use, such as digging out impermeable topsoil to redirect flash floods and allow water to percolate through more permeable soil beneath. They also highlighted the use of sand-filled sacks as barriers. During these discussions, participants reflected on which strategies have been effective and explored new ideas they could implement to further mitigate flooding risks.
One key takeaway from this visit is that solutions are not universal. Every settlement has unique challenges, vulnerabilities, and strengths. Effective interventions must be tailored to the local context, co-designed with residents, to ensure ownership and uptake.
Nature-based Solutions and climate-resilient development pathways (CRDPs)
The workshop underscored the importance of localizing Nature-based Solutions so that communities understand and embrace them. NbS must be translated into simple, relatable concepts that people can adopt as their own, rather than external ideas imposed on them. We also explored Climate Resilient Development Pathways (CRDPs), coined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
These pathways integrate climate adaptation and mitigation into development planning, ensuring that efforts not only reduce vulnerabilities but also improve well-being for current and future generations. For Mathare, this means embedding resilience into our development plans and local works. This, in practice means, developing ecosystem-based adaptation plans along Mathare River, housing and infrastructure improvement to ensure they withstand climate shocks, community-led participatory mapping and risk assessment and climate change awareness creation, among others. This ensures the community not only withstands climate change, but thrives despite it.
Profiling as a tool for action and advocacy
Another key learning was the potential of community-led profiling as a vulnerability assessment tool. Profiling generates rich data on local conditions, enabling residents to identify gaps, advocate for services, and even design business models such as green jobs. By documenting lived experiences with climate hazards, profiling helps ensure that solutions are both equitable and responsive to the needs of those most affected. By integrating nature-based solutions into SDI profiling tools, communities can be able to make informed decisions and participate in the co-creation of urban climate change adaptation strategies.
Our Key Takeaways for Mathare;
From the workshop, the following priorities emerged for building climate resilience in Mathare:
Localize Nature-based Solutions so communities can understand, adapt, and take ownership of them, and identify which solutions would best address their needs.
Strengthen Climate Resilient Development Pathways (CRDPs) to achieve long-term transformation and reduce vulnerabilities in informal settlements.
Embed resilience into housing improvements, encouraging climate-friendly materials that safeguard rather than expose residents.
Center lived experiences in designing solutions, ensuring equity and inclusivity.
Use participatory, art-based approaches to deepen engagement with communities, bringing about community-driven solutions.
Leverage profiling as a vulnerability assessment tool, providing evidence for advocacy and locally-driven economic opportunities.
The Tuwe Pamoja Workshop reaffirmed that resilience in informal settlements must be co-created, localized, and community-owned. Mathare’s path forward lies in harmonizing indigenous knowledge with global learnings, while ensuring that every intervention responds to the realities of informal settlement communities.
Written by: Joseph Kimani, BabraDerick Otieno, Keller Otieno, and Jane Njoroge
This article was originally published by SDI Kenya