This brochure uses Kenya to illustrate the integration of three sectors which, although they urgently need to be bundled in international cooperation, are still too seldom linked conceptually and practically – water, urbanisation and demographics. The brochure focuses on the dramatic urban crisis in Kenya. The Greater Nairobi area alone currently has 3.9 million inhabitants, and this number will almost double in the next 15 years. Many of Nairobi’s inhabitants live in low-income urban settlements, which – whether formal or informal – are increasingly taking on the nature of slums. More than halve of the inhabitants already lack access to acceptable drinking water supplies and sanitation, which particularly impacts women and children. This leads to growing vulnerability to water-transmitted diseases, and indirectly contributes to extreme poverty, unacceptable living conditions and a lack of prospects. One of the greatest challenges in the low-income areas of Nairobi is countering the problems of inadequate water supply and sanitation, which are being exacerbated by rapid urbanisation. The brochure shows the background to these problems, which politicians have neglected for decades, looks beneath the numbers to visualise the frequently invisible interactions and trends, e.g. between migration, poverty, urbanisation, water management, health and education. It becomes clear that access to water and sanitation is a central key to social and economic development. Improvements in the water sector accordingly have a major impact on many other development cooperation sectors and fields of policy. Demographic data and scenarios help decisionmakers from the spheres of politics, business and society to prepare now for the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Bibliographic information

Werchota, R. (2013). The growing urban crisis in Africa Water supply, sanitation and demographic challenges – the Kenyan case Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Germany

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