Nairobi, 2 March 2020— UN-Habitat has announced that, in collaboration with JICA , it will conduct a survey on the impacts of COVID-19 on the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya and Kampala in Uganda.

“Across the globe, COVID-19 has threatened and challenged the resilience of cities and communities, endangering sectors of the urban continuum. The Impact of the pandemic is multidimensional and has resulted in the worst social and economic drawbacks in decades. Urban centres are bearing the burden of the crisis, much straining with health systems, inadequate water and sanitation, poor housing conditions and other challenges,” the agency announced.

The announcement said that the proposed project comprises four pillars: Vulnerability Mapping and Household Survey on Slum Living Condition, AMP Counter Survey in CBD of Nairobi, Solid Waste Management Assessment in Kiambu, and Implementing Pilot Projects selected. The survey intends to collect data, information related to COVID-19 infection risks and their impacts, to inform effective measures for reducing infection risks in the proposed areas (public transport, slum/informal settlements and on solid waste management) and on how to mitigate the impacts on the vulnerable livelihood.

“Vulnerability mapping exercise involves clarifying problems and the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable people, such as slum dwellers, in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kampala. It will include conducting household surveys, mapping public facilities, and disseminating questionnaires regarding urban basic services and COVID-19 impact on their lives. The AMP counter survey clarifies public transport and passenger flow around Nairobi CBD to understand the change in public transport usage before and after COVID-19 and identify the high-risk nodes like collection points,” UN-Habitat said.

Waste Management Assessment is conducted in Kiambu County, Kenya. The exercise employs the "Waste Wise Cities Tool" developed by UN-Habitat to collect data. The tool is designed to monitor SDGs indicator 11.6.1 (Proportion of municipal solid waste collected and managed in controlled facilities out of total municipal solid waste generated by cities). The exercise will also involve undertaking stakeholder meetings, discussions with waste collection companies, recycling companies, waste pickers, CBOs, and local governments to understand the general challenges of waste management and the impacts of COVID-19 in the waste chain. Throughout the components pilot projects to mitigate impacts of COVID19 on each sector are selected and implemented.