Making the community land act effective: The case of Mashimoni settlement in Nairobi County and Kwa Bulo settlement in Mombasa County of Kenya

Kenya has been urbanizing rapidly similar to many other countries in Africa and Asia. This rapid urbanization has resulted in a number of challenges including the growth and expansion of informal settlements in almost spontaneous manner. As these informal settlements continue to expand, little effort has been put towards spatial planning and provision of the needed basic services. Many informal settlements dwellers are also under constant threat of evictions since their land rights are not legally recognized. As such, informal settlements areas are often overlooked with regard to general development or budgetary allocations by National and County Government authorities. This paper will make a justification of the need to strengthen community organizations towards land claims and occupation in informal settlements as a way of improving their tenure security, access to basic services and infrastructure and inclusion to governments’ planning work. It will also provide critical analyses on how these grassroots-oriented tools implementation and partnerships with local government authorities can enhance the implementation of the newly legislated Community Land Act and ensure inclusive policy dialogues. Finally, the authors will offer key recommendations on how these experiences can be used in similar instances within the country and elsewhere.