project summary

The project aims to investigate the governance practices, impacts and diffusion of grassroots innovations, which are developing financial and monetary infrastructures for inclusive economic growth (among low-income micro-entrepreneurs and civil society organisations delivering critical services and goods) in urban informal settlements in African countries. It is informed by the case of community currencies in the informal settlements of Kenya’s three major cities (Mombasa, Nairobi and Kisumu). Running throughout four years, the project will use a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, all within a participatory action research approach. The project builds on collaborations with resident associations and community-based organisations in three informal settlements in Kisumu (Nyalenda, Manyatta and Obunga), the local non-profit Grassroots Economics Foundation, and the Kisumu County Council. The project brings together monetary and grassroots innovation studies in interdisciplinary research, contributing to the development and diffusion of financial and monetary infrastructures for urban informal settlements, and indicating a novel route for social enterprise and development aid.

Facts

PERIOD: 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2025
PROJECT CODE: 18-11-CBS
COUNTRIES: Kenya
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Ester Barinaga
TOTAL GRANT: 8,856,626 DKK