KENYA
Nairobi, the capital and largest city of Kenya, is a dynamic metropolis with a population exceeding 4 million people. The city serves as a political, economic, and cultural hub, hosting various international organizations and diplomatic missions. Known as the "Green City in the Sun," Nairobi features a mix of modern skyscrapers, colonial-era architecture, and expansive green spaces. The city has a vibrant cultural scene, with numerous museums, markets, and a bustling nightlife.
Nairobi is also home to a unique and diverse food system. Nairobi households source food from both formal and informal food retail outlets as well as urban agriculture and rural food transfers (which are supported by the continued migration into the city). Nairobi also has a diverse food retail sector, incorporating multinational ethnic cuisines from around the world. Together these traits portray a dynamic urban food system in Nairobi.
RESEARCH on KENYA
MiFOOD PAPERS
JOURNAL ARTICLES
COVID-19’s Impact on Food Security among Urban Refugee Youth in Kenya: A Postcolonial Feminist Perspective
This study analyzes the experiences of urban refugee communities, more specifically, the challenges young South Sudanese refugees living in Kenya face. We divert from the comprehensive examination of refugees in camps to focus on urban youth amid Kenya’s refugee policy changes and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the support of South Sudanese community leaders, our study engaged 58 participants – 42 males and 16 females. Participants engaged in semi-structured discussions about food security and other daily challenges related ...
Disparities and Determinants of Somali Refugee Food Security in Nairobi, Kenya
This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors influencing food security among Somali refugees in Nairobi and underscores the importance of adopting a holistic and context-specific approach to addressing food insecurity in urban refugee settings. By identifying key determinants and disparities in food security outcomes, policymakers and practitioners are in a better position to develop targeted interventions aimed at improving the food security and well-being of vulnerable urban refugee populations. This demands a multipronged policy approach that recognizes ...
“An Endless Cycle of Worry and Hardship”: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Food Security of Somali Migrants and Refugees in Nairobi, Kenya.
COVID-19 has produced unprecedented effects on the global economy and society by exposing multiple weaknesses and faultlines. The pandemic has disrupted global and local agricultural production processes and food supply chains with negative consequences for food security. Containment measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, including strict restrictions on the movement of people, goods, and services have affected urban food systems adversely in multiple ways. Urban migrants and refugees in many parts of the Global South have been disproportionately hit ...
Food Insecurity and Dietary Deprivation: Migrant Households in Nairobi, Kenya
The current study focuses on food consumption and dietary diversity among internal migrant households in Kenya using data from a city-wide household survey of Nairobi conducted in 2018. The paper examined whether migrant households are more likely to experience inferior diets, low dietary diversity, and increased dietary deprivation than their local counterparts. Second, it assesses whether some migrant households experience greater dietary deprivation than others. Third, it analyses whether rural-urban links play a role in boosting dietary diversity among migrant ...
The Household Food Security Implications of Disrupted Access to Basic Services in Five Cities in the Global South
COVID-19 has caused significant disruptions regarding the extent to which households can access basic services and resources in cities around the world. Previous studies have indicated a predictive relationship between the consistency of resource access and food access among urban households. These investigations, however, have predominantly been isolated to Southern Africa and have not accounted for other dimensions of food security. To test whether these results are observable outside Southern Africa, and with a more multidimensional measure of food security, ...
Preparing for COVID-19: Household Food Insecurity and Vulnerability to Shocks in Nairobi, Kenya
An understanding of the types of shocks that disrupt and negatively impact urban household food security is of critical importance to develop relevant and targeted food security emergency preparedness policies and responses, a fact magnified by the current COVID-19 pandemic. This gap is addressed by the current study which draws from the Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP) city-wide household food insecurity survey of Nairobi city in Kenya. It uses both descriptive statistics and multilevel modelling using General Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) ...
Migration, Rural–Urban Connectivity, and Food Remittances in Kenya
This paper draws on data from a representative city-wide household food security survey of Nairobi conducted in 2017 to examine the importance of food remitting to households in contemporary Nairobi. The first section of the paper provides an overview of the urbanization and rapid growth of Nairobi, which has led to growing socio-economic inequality, precarious livelihoods for the majority, and growing food insecurity, as context for the more detailed empirical analysis of food security and food remittances that follows. It ...
RESEARCH PROJECTS
Labour Migration, Remittances, and Food (In)Security in a South-South Context: The Case of Kenya and Qatar Corridor
This project aims to investigate the reciprocal relationship between labour migration and food security in the Kenya - Qatar migration corridor, with a strong emphasis on the gendered dynamics shaping experiences and outcomes in both origin and destination contexts. In alignment with the broader goals of the MiFOOD partnership, the research seeks to interrogate whether the “triple win” of South-South migration, benefiting migrants, sending households, and receiving countries, extends to the domain of food security. The study is particularly concerned ...
Rural-Urban Food Security for Urban Youth in an Informal Settlement in Nairobi Linkages, Responses and Policy Implications
This project builds on existing relationships with Mathare Roots, a grassroots youth organization, and focus on the food insecurity experience of youth who have migrated from rural areas to Mathare. It aims to understand how their diet has changed since moving to Mathare and their connection to their rural home concerning food after they arrive in Mathare, while working to identify viable mechanisms for urban farming within the riparian area along the Mathare River. A training platform focused on food ...
Rural-urban Linkages for Food Security and Nutritional Practices of Households in Matangwe Village, Siaya County, Western Kenya
The project aims to explore the rural-urban connections between households in Matangwe village and the neighbouring cities and small towns such as Kisumu city and Bondo Municipality in western Kenya and the contributions to food security and nutritional practices. We do this by engaging with local stakeholders and community partners (Caring Partners Global in Matangwe and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) in Bondo, Western Kenya), that are located in Siaya County, western Kenya and work in ...
The Impact of Urban-Rural Linkages on Migrants’ Urban and Rural Households’ Food Security in Kenya: A Study of Internal Migrants in Nairobi’s Informal Settlements
This study assesses the impact of urban-rural linkages on migrants’ urban and rural households’ food security in Kenya, with a specific reference on household-level cash and food remittances, and on migrants living in urban informal settlements due to their low-income level and elevated food insecurity. The research objectives of the project include: (1) To establish the migration history and drivers of rural-to-urban migration among internal migrants in Nairobi’s informal settlements; (2) To determine the nature and extent of the migrants’ ...
Corridors of Vulnerability and Resilience along the Southern Route: Assessing Food (in)security among Somali and Ethiopian Refugees in Kenya, Malawi and South Africa
This study aims to investigate and compare how Somali and Ethiopian refugees experience and respond to food insecurity across three interlinked transit sites (Malawi’s Dzaleka Refugee Camp, and the Bellville area of Cape Town), and examine coping strategies - from reliance on humanitarian rations; capturing the experiences and food security challenges faced by migrants as they travel overland between the Horn and South Africa. The specific objectives include: (1) Vulnerability Mapping: To document the demographic profile, socio-economic activities, drivers, manifestations, ...
Food Security for Refugee Youth in the North Western Region of Kenya: Vulnerability, Innovation and Policy Implications
This project aims to understand the relationship between migration corridors and food security through collaborative workshops on refugee youth food insecurity. It also aims to understand how diets change as youth leave their home countries and migrate through these corridors and their strategies for procuring food while in transit. Refugee youth will have access to online training about food security, social entrepreneurship, and vertical farming. The vertical farming intervention will allow refugee youth to learn to grow their food using ...
Remitting for Resilience (R2): Enhancing Food Security and Climate Adaptation Through Gender-Inclusive Migrant Remittances
The R2 grant funded by NFRF in Canada responds to international calls to enhance adaptive capacities and resilience-building strategies to address the risks of climate change to food security, rural and urban livelihoods, and human mobility in Africa. The objectives of the project include: coproducing and mobilizing knowledge about the role of migration and remittances in rural and urban resilience to climate change; identifying adaptation strategies for enhancing remittance infrastructure resilience and leveraging remittances for reduced food insecurity among migrants ...
The Role of Somali Migrants in Informal Food Economy and Transformation of Urban Food Chains in Nairobi
This study aims to fill this gap by examining the role of Somali migrants in informal food economy and transformation of urban food chains in Nairobi. The study will also address various inter-related gaps in knowledge that appear when South-South migration is examined from a food perspective and global food security is examined from a migration perspective. The principle objective of the study is to investigate and understand the role of Somali migrants in informal food economy and transformation of ...
The Impact of COVID-19 on Women Informal Food Vendors in Nairobi’s Informal Settlements
This project intends to investigate the impact of COVID-19 containment measures on women informal food vendors in Nairobi’s urban informal settlements. Although the feminization of the informal food sector has been recognized, its gendered dimensions, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been fully grasped and researched. The negative economic, health-related and food security impacts and challenges of COVID-19 have been most intensely felt by women employed and self-employed in the informal food sector. Furthermore, women carried a different kind ...
Urban South Sudanese Refugees: Opportunities and Constraints Related to Food Supply Chains in Nairobi and Nakuru Kenya
This research project aims to understand the relationship between migration and food supply chains through collaborative workshops that bring young South Sudanese urban refugees together with stakeholders to promote the conversation about their involvement with agricultural production and businesses. The research will be conducted using three focus groups that encourage shared ideation between separate groups of self-identified men and women as well as combined gender groups of South Sudanese youth to ensure inclusion and diversity in the conversation. The focus ...
A Gendered Analysis of the Role of Women-led Informal Food Businesses in Urban Household Food Security and Wellbeing of Urban Dwellers Kisumu City, Kenya
The proposed study addresses the existing information and knowledge gap by examining how the pandemic and increased cost of living have affected the livelihood of female business owners and workers in the informal food economy in Kisumu City, Kenya. Additionally, the study will assess the contributions of the informal food sector on the urban household food security and the associated health and well-being effects. The project addresses the following specific objectives: Explore the policy environment as it relates to the ...
QES-AS Program: Governing Urban Food Systems in the Global South
The Hungry Cities Partnership has received a four-year (2017-2021) grant from the Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships advanced scholars program to fund the exchange of doctoral, post-doctoral and early career scholars between Canada and partner cities. Learn More (PDF)
IPaSS: Informality, Inclusive Growth and Food Security in Cities of the Global South
This foundation project of the Hungry Cities Partnership is funded by the SSHRC and IDRC under the International Partnerships for Sustainable Societies Program (IPaSS). The project has facilitated the formation of an initial seven-city research and policy network across the Global South linked to researchers at five Canadian universities. The project has embarked on a five-year program of collaborative research on a variety of themes related to inclusive growth and the formal and informal urban food system in the study ...
Consuming Urban Poverty (CUP) Project: Governing Food Systems to Alleviate Poverty in Secondary Cities in Africa
The CUP project is funded by the UK DFID-ESRC Urban Poverty Programme and focuses on the relationship between urban poverty and secondary urbanization in Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe Africa as viewed through a food lens. The project is based at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, also a partner in the Hungry Cities Partnership. Learn More
Nourishing Spaces
The African Centre for Cities, the HCP partner in South Africa, has launched a new IDRC-funded project which investigates urban food systems in the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in South Africa, Kenya and Namibia. Learn More
Migrants in Countries in Crisis (MICIC)
The African Centre for Cities, the HCP partner in South Africa, has launched a new IDRC-funded project which investigates urban food systems in the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in South Africa, Kenya and Namibia. Learn More (PDF)
Gender and Urban Food Insecurity: A Case Study Analysis of Migrants in Nairobi, Kenya
With the current knowledge that COVID-19 has significantly impacted the food systems in Kenya, this research seeks to explore how COVID-19 has affected the food security of asylum seekers in Nairobi, Kenya. Migrants will be asked about food security, access to food, food availability, interventions, and innovations. The objectives of the study will be to (a) Determine how access to food has changed during the pandemic for various gender groups; (b) Determine how food availability has changed during the pandemic ...
Migration, Food Remittances and Dietary Diversity in Nairobi, Kenya
This QES-AS project is using data from a representative Hungry Cities Partnership household food security survey to model the similarities and differences between migrant and non-migrant households in relation to various food security outcomes. Thematic issues addressed include housebold vulnerability to pre-COVID economic, political and environmental shocks, urban-rural links and food remittances, and the determinants of dietary deprivation amongst migrant households.
BOOK CHAPTER
THESES
Foreign Models and Discordant Outcomes in Nairobi’s Food System
— PhD Thesis — This dissertation critically examines the transformation of Nairobi's food system within the context of rapid urbanization, retail liberalization, and the growing influence of supermarket economies. Drawing on extensive data from household surveys, policy analysis, and documentation research, it investigates the application of the supermarket revolution model and food desert concept within the specific socio-economic and cultural dynamics of Nairobi. The findings reveal significant discordance between theoretical models developed in Global North contexts and the lived realities of Nairobi’s ...
An Assessment of Enterprise Dynamics of Women Street Food Vendors in Urban Informal Settlements: The Case of Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Nairobi, Kenya
— Master's Thesis — The informal food sector is big and persistent in sub-Saharan Africa and provides employment and livelihood opportunities to a large proportion of urban residents. Although feminization of the informal food sector has been recognized, its gendered dimensions have not been fully understood. Most studies have focused on both male and female food vendors with less attention given on those operating in urban informal settlements. As such, this study is an assessment of enterprise dynamics of women street ...