Kenya

Citation:

Collins, Shalean M., Patrick Mbullo Owuor, Joshua D. Miller, Godfred O. Boateng, Pauline Wekesa, Maricianah Onono, and Sera L. Young. 2019. “‘I Know How Stressful It Is to Lack Water!’ Exploring the Lived Experiences of Household Water Insecurity among Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Western Kenya.” Global Public Health 14 (5): 649-62.

Authors: Shalean M. Collins, Patrick Mbullo Owuor, Joshua D. Miller, Godfred O. Boateng, Pauline Wekesa, Maricianah Onono, Sera L. Young

Abstract:

There is rapidly evolving literature on water insecurity in the general adult population, but the role of water insecurity during the vulnerable periods of pregnancy and postpartum, or in the context of HIV, has been largely overlooked. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory study, using Go Along interviews, photo-elicitation interviews, and pile sorts with 40 pregnant and postpartum Kenyan women living in an area of high HIV prevalence. We sought to (1) describe their lived experiences of water acquisition, prioritisation, and use and (2) explore the consequences of water insecurity. The results suggest that water insecurity is particularly acute in this period, and impacts women in far-reaching and unexpected ways. We propose a broader conceptualisation of water insecurity to include consideration of the consequences of water insecurity for maternal and infant psychosocial and physical health, nutrition, and economic well-being.

Keywords: HIV, water insecurity, maternal and child health, first 1000 days

Topics: Gender, Health, HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2019

Citation:

Were, Elizabeth, Jessica Roy, and Brent Swallow. 2008. “Local Organisation and Gender in Water Management: A Case Study from the Kenya Highlands.” Journal of International Development 20 (1): 69–81.

Authors: Elizabeth Were, Jessica Roy, Brent Swallow

Abstract:

Provision of safe water supplies is a priority for the global community and for villages in Kenya. An extended case study from the highlands of Western Kenya shows that local communities can be successful in self‐organisation for improved water supply, but only by mobilising considerable amounts of investment resources and local collective action. Gender relations are crucial to success, with women having primary responsibility for water management, but more or less hidden roles in community groups. There are legitimate concerns that Kenya's new water laws and institutions may make it more difficult for local community groups to self‐organise, with additional biases against women.

Keywords: water, springs, women, Gender, collective action, Kipsigis, legal pluralism, Africa

Topics: Development, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Political Participation Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2008

Citation:

Onyango, Leah, Brent Swallow, Jessica L. Roy, and Ruth Meinzen-Dick. 2007. “Coping with History and Hydrology: How Kenya’s Settlement and Land Tenure Patterns Shape Contemporary Water Rights and Gender Relations in Water.” In Community-Based Water Law and Water Resource Management Reform in Developing Countries, edited by Barbara van Koppen, Mark Giordano, and John Butterworth, 173–95. Oxfordshire: CAB International.

Authors: Leah Onyango, Brent Swallow, Jessica L. Roy, Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Abstract:

Like many other African countries described in this volume, Kenya has recently enacted several new policies and public-sector reforms that affect its water sector. This chapter considers those reforms in the context of the country's particular history of land tenure and settlement, a history that continues to have a profound influence on contemporary patterns of land and water management as well as on gender relations in water. The chapter focuses on the particular case of a river basin in Western Kenya, the Nyando river basin (3517 km 2), that has its outlet in Lake Victoria. Over the last century, the Nyando river basin has experienced a history that has shaped spatial patterns of land tenure, settlement and water management. The plural land management systems that exist in the basin today are the product of three distinct periods of historical change: (i) the pre-colonial era that was dominated by customary landholding and land rights systems; (ii) the colonial era in which large areas of land were alienated for specific users and the majority of the Kenyan population confined to native reserve areas; and (iii) the post-colonial era that has encouraged large-scale private ownership of land by men and a small public-sector ownership of irrigation land, all against the backdrop of customary norms and the colonial pattern of settlement and land use. Both colonial and post-colonial institutions have largely disre-garded women's rights to land and water resources. Although customary norms are consistent in ensuring access to water for all members of particular ethnic groups, in practice access and management of water points vary across the basin depending upon the historically defined pattern of landownership and settlement. Customary norms that secure the rights of women to water resources tend to have most impact in former native reserve areas and least impact in ethnically heterogeneous resettlement areas held under leasehold tenure. Recommendations are made on how new policies, legislation and government institutions could be more effec-tive in promoting the water needs of rural communities in Kenya.

Keywords: legal pluralism, land tenure, water tenure, gender roles, integrated natural resource management, Property Rights, policy framework, community participation

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Development, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Land Tenure, Governance, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2007

Citation:

Crow, Ben, Brent Swallow, and Isabella Asamba. 2012. “Community Organized Household Water Increases Not Only Rural Incomes, but Also Men’s Work.” World Development 40 (3): 528–41.

Authors: Ben Crow, Brent Swallow, Isabella Asamba

Keywords: Gender, collective action, water management, impact assessment, Lake Victoria, Kenya

Annotation:

Topics: Development, Gender, Gender Roles, Households, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2012

Citation:

Crow, Ben, and Edmond Odaba. 2010. “Access to Water in a Nairobi Slum: Women’s Work and Institutional Learning.” Water International 35 (6): 733–47. 

Authors: Ben Crow, Edmond Odaba

Abstract:

This paper describes the ways that households, and particularly women, experience water scarcity in a large informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, through heavy expenditures of time and money, considerable investments in water storage and routinized sequences of deferred household tasks. It then delineates three phases of adaptive water and social engineering undertaken in several informal settlements by the Nairobi Water Company in an ongoing attempt to construct effective municipal institutions and infrastructure to improve residential access to water and loosen the grip that informal vendors may have on the market for water in these localities.

Keywords: slums, water supply, water markets, institutions, deliberative democracy, household water storage, Kenya, Gender

Topics: Environment, Gender, Women, Governance, Households, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2010

Citation:

Ngigi, Marther W., Ulrike Mueller, and Regina Birner. 2017. “Gender Differences in Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Participation in Group-Based Approaches: An Intra-Household Analysis from Rural Kenya.” Ecological Economics 138: 99-108.

Authors: Marther W. Ngigi, Ulrike Mueller, Regina Birner

Abstract:

Existing studies on adaptation to climate change mainly focus on a comparison of male-headed and female-headed households. Aiming at a more nuanced gender analysis, this study examines how husbands and wives within the same household perceive climate risks and use group-based approaches as coping strategies. The data stem from a unique intra-household survey involving 156 couples in rural Kenya. The findings indicate that options for adapting to climate change closely interplay with husbands' and wives' roles and responsibilities, social norms, risk perceptions and access to resources. A higher percentage of wives were found to adopt crop-related strategies, whereas husbands employ livestock- and agroforestry-related strategies. Besides, there are gender-specific climate information needs, trust in information and preferred channels of information dissemination. Further, it turned out that group-based approaches benefit husbands and wives differently. Policy interventions that rely on group-based approaches should reflect the gender reality on the ground in order to amplify men's and women's specific abilities to manage risks and improve well-being outcomes in the face of accelerating climate change. 

Keywords: perceptions, adaptation, Group-based approaches, Gender, Intra-household analysis, Kenya

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Households Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2017

Citation:

Caretta, Martina Angela, and Lowe Börjeson. 2015. “Local Gender Contract and Adaptive Capacity in Smallholder Irrigation Farming: A Case Study from the Kenyan Drylands.” Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography 22 (5): 644–61.

Authors: Martina Angela Caretta, Lowe Börjeson

Abstract:

Keywords: local gender contract, climate variability, East African drylands, smallholder irrigation farming, gendered adaptive capacity, contrato de género local, variabilidad climática, tierras secas del África Oriental, agricultura de riego a pequeña escala, capacidad adaptativa generizada, 在地性别契约, 气候变异, 东非旱地, 小农灌溉农作, 性别化的调适能力

Topics: Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2015

Citation:

Hudson, Heidi. 2017. “The Power of Mixed Messages: Women, Peace, and Security Language in National Action Plans from Africa.” Africa Spectrum 52 (3): 3-29.

Author: Heidi Hudson

Abstract:

Against the backdrop of global and continental women, peace, and security discourses, this contribution analyses the gender and women-focused language of national action plans from four African countries (Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Uganda), which were drafted with a view to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. I argue that national action plans have the potential to transcend the soft-consensus language of Security Council resolutions because they create new spaces for feminist engagement with policy and practice. The analysis reveals three discursive themes – namely, the making of “womenandchildren,” women civilising war, and making women responsible for preventing gender-based violence. The themes relate to the construction of, respectively, gender(ed) identities, security, and violence. To varying degrees, the plans reflect a combination of predominantly liberal-feminist language interspersed with some examples of critical insight. I conclude that the ambiguous nature of the messages sent out by these plans serves as a reminder that discourses are fragmented and therefore offer an opening for nuanced contextual analyses and implementation.

Keywords: Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Uganda, peace and conflict research, women, women's politics, action programmes/action plans, UN Security Council Resolution (2000-10-31)

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Discourses, Gender-Based Violence, Peace and Security, Peacebuilding, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Africa, East Africa, West Africa Countries: Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Uganda

Year: 2017

Citation:

Ogola, Pacifica F. Achieng. 2010. "Geothermal Energy, Climate Change and Gender in Kenya." Paper presented at the World Geothermal Congress, Bali, Indonesia, April 25-29.

Author: Pacifica F. Achieng Ogola

Abstract:

Geothermal energy plays a vital role in the context of climate change as a mitigation and adaptation technology. However, the full potential role of geothermal in this regard has not been realized in Kenya, especially in responding to the impacts of climate change at the micro-level where it occurs, meeting gender specific needs and ultimately the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). While geothermal energy is considered the most feasible option for capacity expansion, very little has been done to assess its role in climate change beyond Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. Most unexploited geothermal prospect areas in Kenya experience adverse climate impacts. The development of the resource in these areas could enhance adaptive capacity and resilience of the local people. The paper aims to discuss in general the role geothermal energy should play in mitigation and adaptation to climate change in Kenya and how its utilization can meet different gender economic requirements at the micro-level. Barriers to achieving this with possible recommendations are also discussed. 

Keywords: geothermal energy, climate change, Gender

Topics: Development, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2010