“Rivers and People” is a multi-year (2015-2018) iterative collaboration with IDEO.org, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and The Rockefeller Foundation to prototype and test different forms of data collection and sharing in the Kibera neighborhood and the City of Nairobi on the issue of local flood risk mitigation and response. By providing the community with tools for collecting and sharing both “hard data” and stories about local flooding, the overall goal is to create a common language and a community voice too loud to ignore.

In the first phase of the project, KDI and residents prototyped different forms of risk information dissemination including photo exhibitions, storytelling, murals and visual communication, mapping, physical flood markers, social media and phone-based communication tools, and invited local government to take part in the process.

In the second part of the project KDI will continue to work with partners both on the local level and at Nairobi City County to refine these tools and build a functional network for risk information dissemination between Kibera and the City. This network will inform planning and response decisions and enable the community to give input in future upgrading plans. Read more about the project here.