KDI is a research partner to International Alert and a member of the Urban Africa Risk Knowledge (UrbanARK) consortium: a 3-year research and capacity-building program, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), that seeks to open up an applied research and policy agenda for risk management in urban sub-Saharan Africa. In-depth research is focused on four cities, each presenting different development and hazard contexts: Ibadan in Nigeria, Karonga in Malawi, Nairobi in Kenya and Niamey in Niger.

KDI facilitated research in Kibera and Nairobi that focused on the effects of slum upgrading on social cohesion and the social contract. 339 respondents in 36 focus groups were asked to identify positive and negative changes they had experienced over recent years in Kibera, and then to rank the issues identified. This led to a discussion of conflict and flood risks, the slum upgrading projects, and implications for building resilience.

Initial conclusions drawn from the research about the preconditions that can ensure positive social outcomes from slum upgrading were presented in a briefing, which can be found here.