| dc.description.abstract | Rapid urbanization in Nairobi has intensified food insecurity, especially in informal
settlements like Kibera, where 85% of residents face chronic hunger. Vertical gardening
has emerged as a grassroots solution to these challenges, offering a localized, spaceefficient
method for improving household food security. The study investigates how
vertical gardening contributes to the four dimensions of food security—availability,
access, utilization, and stability—while also exploring embedded gender dynamics.
The study employed a multi-method qualitative design, including in-depth interviews,
focus group discussions, unstructured observations, and key informant interviews.
These approaches were used to unpack labor regimes, household experiences, and
the perceived value of vertical gardening in Kibera’s informal settlements. Vertical
gardening was found to: Enhance availability through crop diversification and continuous
production cycles, improve access by reducing reliance on market purchases and
enabling surplus sales, support utilization via improved dietary diversity and safer food
preparation and strengthen stability by buffering households against economic and
climatic shocks. Households practicing vertical gardening reported greater resilience
and nutritional security, with women playing a central role in garden maintenance
and intra-household food distribution. Vertical gardening is not merely a survival
strategy. It represents a transformative practice that fosters urban resilience, gender
empowerment, and community solidarity. However, its scalability is constrained by
insecure land tenure, limited water access, and inadequate institutional support. The
paper calls for targeted investments in training, microfinance, and policy integration
to embed vertical gardening within broader urban food system reforms. | en_US |
