Kisumu, Kenya
Aside the Victoria Lake, Kenya's 3rd largest city (260 million in population), Kisumu is located.
The capital Nairobi hosts most visitors, businesses, and is a hub for NGOs, while Mombasa is expanding its port and receives many seasonal visitors being paired with Tanzania's Zanzibar. However, not too many have found its way to Kisumu.
I made a visit in 2016!
3 take aways
01. Solar power, the only way to have light after the sun goes down
Zooming in from a global to local perpectives for a minute. While the Western part of the world, commits to lower its GHG emissions the reality, for people I met in Kenya's rural areas as well as on remote islands in the Philippines, only includes renewable energy ( hydro, solar, waves and wind).
Many don't have electricity in Kisumu. During a homestay, it was evident that things we take for granted in the Nordics are not to be taken for granted. The nearest waterhole was several kilometers away, but when the sun went down around 6-8pm, it went dark. It was the first time I've been sitting in a room without any type of lightning holding conversations with perhaps 6-10 people in a room. The next week, we bought a little solar power lamp in the market to hand over to the family, but I wished I would have bought an entire solar panel system to the building/ceiling.
Policy challenge/market opportunity I:
addressing environmental aspects
There are entire markets that would benefit from (and demand) the solutions we take for granted, and that sometimes within politics are not invested in due to "oversupply" (in the homemarket) or other cost aspects.
02. Labour market(s) and the importance of technology in rural areas
Fishing was the main profession. In the 3rd largest city in Kenya, the main profession was in 2016-2017 fishing which is risky with mainly men loosing their lives due to the nature (or lack of safety) of the work.
I met a girl who lost her father to fishing, they owned a house and additional assets were a cow, aspiring to become a lawyer one day. After her father's death, and loosing the revenue stream from fishing, the cow was now the asset they lived off. She showed me her notebook, which was as covered as a DYI formula note-card / formula sheet for a Statistics I & II exam. Opportunity is truly a privilege.
Policy challenge/market opportunity II:
addressing economic aspects
Due to the risks within fishing and territorial conflicts and regulations around the Victoria Lake, farming became an increasingly larger practice, to which technology (phones and apps) that enable information about 1) weather, 2) market locations, and 3) market prices, to only mention a few items, helped farmers. Still, much in terms of fertilizers and other types of equipments was demanded and needed.
03. Entreprenurship, microinvestments, and shaping a bank system
While I met a young women who aspired to become a lawyer, many women in her mother's generation did not work, or sold the fish captured by their husbands, in the local market. Many women did not have an income source or profession. I also met tribes who rather wanted to cattle their 200 - 300 cow herd, and saw the (new) mandatory schooling regulation as a hurdle for their way of living. Their education was an informal 1-year away from the family to learn to predict rain, learn about the crops for their cattle, and to recognize animals as well as important herbs.
Policy challenge/market opportunity III:
addressing social aspects
Entrepreneurship/side-businesses, in addition to their cattle was a valuable way to get their household's finances in order. To provide microloans (or investments) to clusters of women who took on the financial commitment together was a way to "better secure" the lending practices. Those loans or investments really made the difference for those women and their children. As for the girl who lost their father to fishing, it was an opportunity for the family to earn an income and, hopefully, in the future be able to send the oldest daughter univerisity.