Unmet Needs and Resilience: The Case of Vulnerable and Marginalized Populations in Nairobi’s Informal Settlements

Abstract

Catalyzing change and promoting sustainable cities in informal settlements and their residents requires an understanding of unmet needs and resilience among marginalized and vulnerable groups (MVGs). This is because needs identified on behalf of MVGs as “unmet” are sometimes not perceived as unmet, or even “meetable”, and resilience strategies from above are often perceived as unsuitable by the MVGs. To the best of our knowledge, no study has used governance diaries to identify the unmet needs and resilience strategies of MVGs from their perspectives. As such, this study explored the unmet needs and resilience strategies of MVGs in informal settlements using governance diaries. This was a qualitative study using governance diaries with 24 participants from two informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. We used Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for the framework analysis. We identified unmet needs related to physiology, safety, love and belonging, and self-esteem, in the order of the hierarchy. MVGs did not need the full satisfaction of a lower need to yearn for a higher one, and continue living despite their unmet needs. However, there were no self-actualization needs as the participants could not satisfy the lower level needs. The urban paradox reminds us that cities are not always beneficial for all. There is a continued need for holistic approaches to uncover the often hidden resilience strategies for achieving unmet needs. Our study identified behavioural and cognitive resilience strategies. As such, actors need to embrace and build on local resilience strategies in efforts to address the unmet needs of MVGs in pursuit of inclusive urbanization in Africa. The identification of unmet needs and resilience strategies adds to the literature, policy and practice on how and why residents and MVGs continue working and living in informal settlements despite a lack of or inadequate basic amenities. Our study findings imply that actors in informal settlements need to build on and re-build local resilience strategies in pursuit of inclusive and liveable urbanization in Africa, as unmet needs tend to increase with worsened marginality and vulnerability status. Beyond the resilience strategies adopted by MVGs, governments, service providers and caregivers should take more useful actions to prevent or reduce unmet needs.

Socioeconomic inequality in unmet outpatient healthcare needs among people living in urban informal settlements in Sanandaj city, Iran

“…In developing countries, centers providing health services are not evenly distributed at the level of cities and are often concentrated in city centers [ 22 , 23 ]. Due to illegal violations, informal settlements do not have access to basic health services, public transportation, roads, passages and electricity [ 6 , 13 ]. Addressing the unmet healthcare needs of these settlements requires inter-sectoral cooperation between different actors in both public and private sectors.…”

“…Providing evidence of status of need, access and unmet healthcare needs along with their causes in informal settlements is very important in order to design interventions, have planning and public health policy [ 13 , 14 ]. In developing countries, information related to situation and needs of marginalized and vulnerable groups is less documented.…”

Social inclusion of persons with disability in employment: what would it take to socially support employed persons with disability in the labor market?

“…Notably, there are few formal opportunities ( 13 ), and residents end up relying on the private and informal sectors for labor ( 14 , 15 ). Under such circumstances, many residents have unmet needs ( 16 ), therefore leaving communities including PWDs to find ways of fulfilling their own needs by seeking employment opportunities. Due to vulnerabilities of PWDs ( 17 ), some employers accommodate them in the workplace; yet, no study has uncovered social support of PWDs in informal settlements from the employers’ perspectives.…”

“…Notably, they often receive negative treatment such as being labelled based on their disability status ( 31 ) and are vulnerable to a greater risk of becoming victims of crime ( 17 ) and social and psychological problems ( 31 ). PWDs have also been perceived as dependent, incompetent, unproductive, ill, burdensome, unattractive, hypersensitive, helpless, passive, and childish, and as such, they have many unmet needs ( 16 ). For this reason, some employers have considered their talents and employed them at their workplace.…”

“…These conditions indicate that their self-esteem tends to be low. Self-esteem determines personality and affects the human health state and effective functioning at work ( 16 ).…”