Grace Lubaale presents key findings from the sub-city qualitative study at the Nairobi dissemination event.

1. UNDERSTANDING THE TIPPING
POINT OF URBAN CONFLICT
Key Findings from the Sub-city
Qualitative Study
Grace Lubaale
2 March 2012

2. STRUCTURE SSSTTTRRRUUUCCCTTTUUURRREEE OOOOFFFF TTTTHHHHEEEE PPPPRRRREEEESSSSEEEENNNNTTTTAAAATTTTIIIIOOOONNNN
Objectives of the study
Methodology
TTyyppeess ooff vviioolleennccee
Spatial manifestations of violence
Tipping points
Violence chains

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To understand the nature of the qualitative tipping points
Determine potential means to prevent urban conflict from
tipping over into violence
To identify policy entry points that would allow the
implementation of violence the break the lliinnkkss iinn vviioolleennccee
chains

4. METHODOLOGY
Why Kawangware, Kibera, and Mukuru? Known violence
hotspots at the city level, access, familiarity and safety for
researchers
Relatively understudied, significance of Kibera
Purposively identified groups
The Participatory VViioolleennccee AApppprraaiissaall::
74 focus groups (19, 37, and 18 for Kawangware, Kibera, and
Mukuru respectively),
8 in-depth interviews, feedback workshops
Conducted over 5 weeks in March- April 2011

5. Focus Group Discussion in Raila
Village in Kibera

6. TYPES OF VIOLENCE
POLITICAL VIOLENCE IS NOT HOMOGENOUS
In all 3 communities virtually everyone was
ruthlessly harassed by Admin Police
In Kibera youth used as cheap method to unleash violence;
tenants occupied structures without ppaayyiinngg rreenntt ffoorr aatt
least 5 years
In Mukuru most tenants moved to safer areas
In Kawangware Kikuyu landlords increased rents by up to
400% for Luo/Luhyia tenants

7. Types and relative prevalence of violence

8. Nature of violence
Political violence is the main type of violence but not the
only one
Policy makers focus on political violence means that other
forms of violence e.g. GBV are invisibilized
Communities with less political violence aarree sseeeenn aass lleessss
violent

9. SPATIAL MANIFESTATION

13. TIPPING POINTS

14. Important institutions

15. Tipping points
An institutional focus shows that conflicts tips into violence in all
3 settlements (put this text after the table)
OP tips conflict into violence while NGOS, FBOs work to tip it
back into conflict
Chiefs/OP are able to keep landlord-tenant ccoonnfflliicctt ffrroomm
tipping into violence

16. Landlord-tenant conflicts tip into violence
when:
Ethicized
Squatters do not have further space for development
Rents are perceived to have been arbitrarily and unfairly
Tenants rreeffuussee ttoo ppaayy rreennttss
BUT Elders can tip landlord-tenant violence back to conflicts;
while chiefs cannot

17. VIOLENCE CHAINS

18. Politics Tribalism
Loss of
property
Displaceme
nt
Deaths
Poverty
Burning
houses
Lack of
food
Rape
Political
fights

19. Violence chains
Useful in showing the linkages rather than categories
Chains vary in strength; where there are stronger chains,
communities are perceived as more violent
Where there stronger chains, ethnic violence is frequently the
driver determining linkages in chain from political ttoo llaannddlloorrdd--
tenant violence, e.g. Kibera.
Communities with weak links, where ethnic violence is not a
driver, are seen as less violent e.g. Kawangware and Mukuru

20. THANK YOU