Single mothers coping with food insecurity in a Nairobi slum

Abstract

With high urbanisation rates, cities in sub-Saharan Africa are contending with food insecurity. Urban studies scholars have approached the issue mainly from the perspective of food deserts. We adapt Sen’s ‘resource bundles’ and Watts and Bohles’s ‘space of vulnerability’ concepts to examine food insecurity as a function of both tangible and intangible resources. Moreover, we also interrogate the role of kin in strengthening safety nets for the urban poor. Drawing on a data set of 462 single mothers in a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, we find that (1) bundles comes in four types; (2) bundles with high levels of all resources buffer against food insecurity as do (3) bundles weighted with high levels of wealth and social standing; and (4) kin enhance the protective effect of bundles only for two types. These findings should direct urban poverty researchers to consider the compounding effect of resources in the reproduction of poverty and social inequality and encourage policy makers to focus on both vulnerability and resilience in designing interventions to ensure food security.

Informal settlements, Covid-19 and sex workers in Kenya

“…For the women, the struggle in informal settlements was to earn enough money through selling sex so they could eat for the day and meet the basic requirements of their family (food, medicine, transport costs and rent) (see Madhavan et al, 2020 on food insecurity amongst women in Nairobi). We discuss the economic and social effects of Covid-19 for sex workers which include deteriorating or complete loss of income, lack of alternative income, exploitation and stigma.…”

Developing a guiding framework based on sustainable development to alleviate poverty, hunger and disease

“…This process considers informal markets, rural-urban connections and customary land allocation. Meanwhile, Madhavan et al (2021) suggested that "resource packages" and "spaces of vulnerability," both tangible and intangible resources, can eliminate food insecurity in food deserts and that relatives help strengthen the safety net for the urban poor. Biermann et al (2021) propose that greater access to food-related data can provide new insights into food and food systems.…”

“…This study contends that the meaning of poverty and deprivation goes beyond local and limited resources (Jonah and May 2020;Madhavan et al, 2021;Owens and Clampet-Lundquist, 2017;Riley, 2020;Vandecasteele and Fasang, 2020). Social imbalances, including international political instability related to growing wealth inequality and class disparities, cannot be corrected by merely feeding or providing financial aid or limited-value healthcare treatment to the poor.…”

“…According to numerous international reports, many of them continue to suffer from high poverty indicators, low-income levels (World Bank Group, 2020), high food prices, employment volatility and low wages (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2019), food insecurity (UN-Habitat, 2020), high hunger rates (World Food Programme, 2021) and increased health crises (World Bank Group, 2020). However, many urban planning and design researchers and practitioners have started assessing the impact of PHD on cities of the Global North (Horney et al, 2020;Vandecasteele and Fasang, 2020) and South (Asaad et al, 2023;Jonah and May 2020;Madhavan et al, 2021). While most studies explore PHD by investigating how cities may address these threats to their well-being by increasing economic output (Ahmad, 2020) and productivity (Monkkonen et al, 2020).…”

“…Sustainable urban planning and design (SUPD) is required to develop best practices for alleviating PHD. We reviewed the literature on sustainability theories to identify prevailing ideas on addressing poverty (Ahmadi, 2017;Riley, 2020;Soyinka and Siu, 2018;Zhang and Pryce, 2020), hunger (Jonah and May 2020;Madhavan et al, 2021) and disease (or health) (Horney et al, 2020;Gharipour et al 2022). To examine the pathways of existing city-planning theories aimed at reducing PHD, we reviewed the application of several experimental cases to the recommendations of the SDGs.…”