Supporting Learning in Urban Informal Settlements.

According to a report by the National Treasury, 19.1 million people in Kenya live below the poverty line, with 1.3 million in peri-urban and 4.2 million in core-urban areas, an estimated 60% (2.52 million) of those in core-urban areas living in slums and informal settlements. Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, has an estimated population of about 200 thousand.?

In Kibera (and other urban informal settlements), education is critical in helping change many families' economic trajectories and living standards. Recently, Metis gathered our fellows working hard to support learning in Kibera. The key objective of the gathering was to bring together leaders (organizations) working in this community to explore the common challenges they face, explore solutions to these challenges, and how they can leverage collective action to augment each other's work and avoid duplication of efforts.

So, what happened?

Like many other communities of practice, we started by asking ourselves, what would it take to shift the Kibera narrative? What keeps us in the same cycles, how are we contributing to these cycles, and what’s working in our spaces that’s helping change things? This gathering had a semblance of historic meetings that sparked major societal shifts, like the intellectual discussions in 18th-century London coffee houses, or innovative brainstorming sessions at Silicon Valley.?

Our initial discussions focused on the main challenges educators face in their quest to improve their community's education quality. We then jumped into brainstorming sessions where we discussed actionable, practical pathways toward solving these challenges. These discussions were insightful, offering an opportunity to look at education from the proximate leader’s perspective. Here are the insights that came out of it:

• Quality and capacities of teachers.

Education in Kenya has shifted dramatically from a holistic, community-driven approach to a more formalized system where classrooms, teachers, and exams are seen as the sole purveyors of knowledge. In the past, learning extended beyond school—parents, elders, and the community played active roles in nurturing the minds and hearts of children through storytelling, riddles, and shared wisdom. However, in modern-day settings like Kibera, parents often send their children to school with the expectation that teachers alone will provide all the learning. This shift places immense pressure on schools to act as not just educational centers but also caregivers, leaving parental and caregiver engagement alarmingly low.

This disengagement from parents, coupled with the challenges of everyday survival in low-income settings, means that many children miss out on the critical reinforcement of learning that happens at home. Without active involvement from parents, the burden on teachers to address not only academic but also emotional and social issues grows. The Basic Education Curriculum Framework (BECF) strives to define quality education, but its impact remains limited unless parents and communities understand and embrace their role in supporting their children’s education beyond the classroom. Reinforcing parental engagement is key to reviving a more balanced and effective educational ecosystem, where learning is a shared responsibility between the home, school, and community.

A central theme that arose was the quality and capacity of teachers within low-income areas. In Kibera, teachers can earn anything between KES 5,000 per month to KES 60,000 per month. Depending on where the child goes to school, a teacher will either be motivated and eager to teach, or very demotivated. It’s important, then, that we think of incentivizing teachers working in hardship areas. While pay for teachers in public schools is very standardized, these schools cannot uptake all the kids in Kibera. Currently, Olympic Primary School has over 5,000 students, with each class holding up to 100 learners.

To mitigate this, local leaders have come in to build private and community schools. With little to no regulation guiding this space, we have scenarios where a teacher is earning KES 5,000 per month. Thousands of kids go to these types of schools. The teachers teaching in these schools are not only under-compensated, most of them do not have the qualifications needed to effectively teach. How then, do we navigate this? Strengthening low-fee-paying schools in urban informal settlements is crucial in ensuring access to quality education. The key to this work is to provide teachers with professional development opportunities. This can be adapted to be provided during school holidays and designed to address the key gaps identified within a participatory process with the teachers.

Teachers from low-cost communities would benefit from training on pedagogical content, classroom culture, and learner engagement. Issues such as the use of learning resources. In addition, skilling teachers also require headteachers and their deputies to provide quality support that enables teachers to apply lessons learned; this can include structured coaching and mentorship, to provide for continued opportunities for growth. Equally important is enhancing the collaboration with the government to support the schools to effectively implement government policies and standards in a bid to ensure the learners get quality learning. For this to succeed there is a need for better collaborations and a shift of mindsets to consider the contributions of low-cost schools to the wider education system and adopt approaches that coordinate efforts towards a shared goal.

Parental and caregiver engagement needs to be a key pillar in addressing child abuse and promoting student well-being, especially in marginalized communities. With data showing that 56% of children in Kibera are exposed to abuse, and 50% of young adults in Kenya report experiencing abuse in some form, the home environment becomes a critical space for intervention. Since most cases of abuse occur at home, parents must be educated on safeguarding practices and actively engaged in their children's development. Empowering parents with knowledge of child protection not only helps prevent abuse but also strengthens the child's support system. This can be done through community programs, workshops, and stronger home-school collaborations. If parents are equipped with the right tools and awareness, they can create safer, more nurturing environments, while also working with schools to address trauma and enhance the holistic development of their children. By making parental engagement a priority, we can shift the narrative from merely reacting to abuse to preventing it, ensuring every child has a safe space to learn and grow. Freely In Hope works actively in slums in Kenya to support schools and caregivers with child protection.

If we in education are such a divided house, how can we expect the government to take us seriously?

Kibera has over 500 NGOs operating in various contexts. This oversaturation of organizations can be counterproductive. With so many NGOs vying to address similar challenges, competition emerges where collaboration could better serve the community. This often leads to duplication of efforts and fragmented initiatives, ultimately limiting systemic change. Instead of driving sustainable development, this disjointed approach hampers the long-term transformation of the education sector in Kibera. Collaborative, community-led strategies could create more unified, impactful outcomes, reducing dependency on external interventions.

• Caregiver engagement:

Parents play a critical role in creating a conducive learning environment, providing guidance, and nurturing their children's educational aspirations, which collectively lead to better academic performance. A recent study performed by USAWA shows that children whose mothers have tertiary education are 68% more likely to have better learning outcomes in English and 47% more likely in numeracy compared to those whose mothers have only primary education. This emphasizes the critical role of parental education in shaping a child’s academic success.?

In Kibera, a large portion of households are headed by single parents or guardians with limited education and resources, which compounds the issue of low engagement. The average wage for residents of Kibera is low, with many living on less than KES 5,000 to KES 10,000 per month.

A parent involved in their child’s education and development positively affects learning outcomes for the child substantially. One-to-one interactions, confidence development, and general support by a caregiver to their child will encourage the child to participate better in school, leading to improved learning. However, in a low-income setting, the parent has to also worry about affording rent, food, and catering to their children. They end up working overtime to pay the bills, and at times, are forced to leave their child’s development to the school.?

At the tail end of all this, teachers often end up having to take multiple roles within the classroom, from being educators, counselors, and even caregivers due to the fact that, in some instances, parental involvement can be sorely lacking.?

We need to create spaces and opportunities for caregivers to engage [with students], but we also need to understand the challenges they face.

Providing channels that bridge the gap between home and school for caregivers and children can be a great way to relieve some of the pressure from the teacher, giving them a chance to focus their efforts on the child's development and progress specifically within the context of their education, allowing children to learn, and grow in a balanced and wholesome way.?

• ?Resources vs Resourcefulness.?

We may not have everything, but we can make the most of what we have by being creative and resourceful.

Access to quality learning resources remains a significant barrier to improving education in disadvantaged communities, largely due to the inherent resource limitations of these areas. While the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in Kenya aims for a holistic approach to student growth, it faces key challenges in facets like digital literacy, where most teachers, parents, and students in low-income settings have no access to technology. Additionally, necessities such as food are often lacking, making education secondary to immediate survival needs. In many households, the decision to send a child to school is weighed against the necessity of that child contributing to the family income, further compounding educational inequality.

Donor dependency has long been a fallback for such communities, yet true transformation will come from within. Communities must begin to leverage their resources, applying creativity and innovation to bridge the gaps. For instance, schools could repurpose available space to establish small-scale gardens, reducing the cost of school meals and increasing enrollment as food security becomes less of a barrier. This kind of local solution reduces reliance on external aid while directly addressing immediate needs.

Partnerships still play an important role in enhancing education quality, but these partnerships should empower communities rather than foster dependency. Organizations like Carolina for Kibera, which provides essential supplies such as hygiene products and learning materials, offer valuable support, but local leaders must drive sustainable change. Dignitas, an education development organization, empowers schools in Nairobi’s informal settlements by offering leadership training and infrastructure support to schools in Mathare Valley. While such partnerships provide critical resources, the real breakthrough happens when the community itself steps forward, using what it has creatively to solve its challenges. By fostering resourcefulness and innovation, these communities can reduce external dependency and take ownership of their educational futures.

• Conclusion

Put together, schools in low-income areas struggle with three main issues. Challenges with the qualities and capacities of teachers necessitate a need for teacher training across thematic areas, and reduced caregiver engagement, which adds pressure to the teacher’s roles and reduces their capability to focus on simply providing education to a child and resource limitations.

At the end of the day, there is a need for stakeholders in education to collaborate and develop creative solutions that address these challenges, as a child’s future should not be determined by the income bracket they were born into, and every child should have an equal opportunity to access quality education that empowers them to break the cycle of poverty and build a better life for themselves and their communities.?

Contributed by:

Becky School: Mary Asiko (Founder), Geoffrey Ooko (Teacher) and Frederick Magige (Teacher).

Chezacheza Dance Foundation: Francis Odhiambo (Founder).

Little Rock Inclusive ECD Centre: Dan Masiru (Teacher).

Dignitas Project: June Omune (Grants and Partnerships Manage)

Freely in Hope Kenya: Lydia Matioli (Program & Partnerships Director)

Garden of Hope: Victor Odhiambo (Founder)

Carolina for Kibera (CFK) Africa: Keith Obiero (Program Lead, Youth Leadership & Education).

Metis Collective: Muthoni Gakwa (Executive Director), Naftaly Muroki (Associate Director of Community & Advocacy) and Alvin Kiiru (Alumni Consultant).