Page 528 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

Sustainable Development Cases in Africa Chapter j 23 497

Conservation agriculture will be introduced and scaled in 10 locations,
which will be augmented by rainwater collection that is expected to pro-
vide 1 million liters of water annually. Additionally, over 530,000 ha of
degraded land will undergo ecological restoration and reforestation.
Overall the project aims to directly benefit the lives of 4000 farmers
through access to reliable and profitable markets and indirectly benefit
20,000 local citizens with access to food and measures to mitigate climate
change (NDF, 2017).
3. NDF has partnered with the World Bank to increase capacity, efficiency,
and quality of electricity supply to all areas of Kenya. The objective of the
project is to focus on off-grid electrification through renewable energies to
reduce the use of fossil fuels, in particular, diesel power stations. The
project will also promote the use of solar energy for the purposes of rural
electrification. The NDF has pledged to directly finance two specific pieces
of the project:
a. Assistance of Kenya Power in design and installation of hybrid energy
systems to replace use of diesel generation
b. Provision of basic energy services to rural schools and households
through solar facilities as well as solar charging stations to allow for use
of portable lanterns in both schools and homes.

The total project cost is estimated to be around 4 million EUR, with
financing coming from the local areas, the Kenyan government, and interna-
tional agencies such as the International Development Association and the
Japanese International Cooperation Agency. This project will have significant
impacts on education, literacy, and poverty alleviation in the rural areas of
Kenya (NDF, 2017).
At the local level, communities are contributing to realizing Kenya’s Vision
2030. One classic example is the urban center Nairobi. Upon adoption of
Vision 2030, Nairobi and its metropolitan area adopted Nairobi Metro 2030 to
follow the nation’s goals of development and growth. The growing urban
center working to create a rapid transit system and increase mobility while
decreasing congestion, but other options are being proposed to contribute to
Nairobi’s overall sustainability. First is the use of recycled tires and plastics to
build sidewalks. In 2010, an estimated 34,000 tons of tires were either burned
or reused in ways that polluted the air, soil, and water in Kenya, and this
number is expected to increase with the infrastructure improvements under
Vision 2030. Use of the tires for sidewalks provides a number of benefits:
l Flexibility: rubber sidewalks can move with both shifting soil and tree
roots
l Safety: the surface is softer for pedestrian traffic
l Porousness: rubber allows rain water to seep through and reach the soil
underneath, aiding in drainage
l Low maintenance