Acumen Fund

Pioneering Urban Planning

Jamii Bora’s innovations in ecofriendly housing and microfinance are a model for providing housing to the poor. (Photo: Gabriel Kadidi)

In Nairobi, Kenya, more than half the population — approximately 2 million people — lives in slums and informal settlements. According to Cities Alliance, "Most poor Kenyans want to have a home of their own…[yet] at every step in the progressive-build process, from acquiring land to building a basic unit to obtaining financing, poor households face limited options or active enforcement of restrictive legislation." (Cities Alliance: Shelter Finance for the Poor Series, Issue iv, April 2003)

Started as a club of fifty beggars in 1999, Jamii Bora Trust has grown into the largest microfinance institute in Kenya, with over 170,000 members. It works in slums throughout Kenya, assisting members in moving beyond poverty by providing access to crucial services — such as affordable housing and education — and by providing a supportive network, in order to enable economic self-empowerment.
Jamii Bora Trust has recently launched Kaputei Town, a pioneering urban planning project 60 km south of Nairobi which is designed to be ecofriendly and will include residential neighborhoods, commercial, cultural and social centers as well as a wetlands wastewater recycling facility.
Building new towns such as Kaputei will contribute greatly to removing pressure from the city center and creating new economic ecosystems that have their own micro-economy and that complement neighboring communities and local industries.
New residents will include local small business owners who can bring their enterprises to Kaputei Town to generate an internal microeconomy.

Kaputei Town will provide new homes for 2000 families, drawn mostly from the slums surrounding Nairobi.
Jamii Bora’s innovations in ecofriendly housing for the poor and microfinance products geared toward helping the poor move out of slums will serve as a model for learning and further experimentation for both the local and international spaces of urban planning and BoP housing.