A few years later…
By David Osogo, African Population and Health Research Center
Shakur Njeru, a community leader in Nairobi’s Viwandani informal settlement, has become a Twitter sensation with his regular tweets about the Kansoul Farm, as they fondly refer to their Urban Farming Training and Resource Center. Shakur leads the Viwandani Comprehensive Community Organization (VICCO), one of the 21 community organized groups (COGs) that the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is working with as part of the HealthyFoodAfrica (HFA) project, Food System Lab for Nairobi. VICCO is a youth group based in the Sinai area, in the heart of Nairobi’s Viwandani informal settlement. The group currently has 23 members (8 females and 15 males). They initially had a small vegetable farm along the banks of the Ngong River which has had a remarkable transformation over the past two years thanks to the HealthyFoodAfrica project.
VICCO’s farm now has a regular vegetable production, enough to feed the group members and the neighbouring community. They produce spinach, sukuma wiki (kale), onions, coriander (dhania), tomatoes and traditional green leafy vegetables. Members of the Viwandani community have unlimited access to the farm for inspiration, capacity building and mentoring, as well as free produce. Stories have been told in the community about households that now have kitchen gardens courtesy of VICCO. Although more work needs to be done to achieve community food self-sufficiency through kitchen gardens, the current efforts are a manifestation of the possibilities and great inspiration at the community level towards the much-touted goal of zero hunger goal by 2030!
The story of VICCO is not isolated. In fact, it is the story of the Viwandani and Korogocho informal settlements in Nairobi, where the other 20 groups ply their trade. The Food Systems Lab for Nairobi has empowered community groups to demonstrate the practicality of food production in limited spaces in informal settlements of Nairobi using innovative modern techniques. This has led to the production of a variety of crops and poultry, providing both eggs and meat. All of the community groups have reported sharing the food among members, and community members. Some have also reported selling and sharing with neighbouring schools, in the spirit of Ubuntu.
As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins… Indeed, within these first few steps, we have clearly visualized what the light at the end of the transformative food systems tunnel might look like. And as the old saying goes, only time will tell!