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Korogocho is one of the largest slum neighbourhoods of Nairobi, Kenya. Home to 150,000 to 200,000 people pressed into 1.5 square kilometres, northeast of the city centre, Korogocho was founded as a shanty town on the then outskirts of the city. Korogocho. BEGA KWA BEGA Development project. Accessed 2009-06-02 Background. Korogocho Slum Upgrading Programme (KSUP). Government of Kenya. 15 January 2009.
In 2009 it was estimated to be the fourth largest slum in Nairobi, after Kibera, Mathare Valley and Mukuru kwa Njenga.Kenya-Italy swap benefits Korogocho slums. Millicent Muthoni, The Standard. 15 January 2009.
As Korogocho expanded, it grew onto private land, and almost half its land is now owned privately.
Small scale farming is commonly practiced, despite the crowded conditions. There is no system of street lighting, resulting in increased insecurity and the construction of special lighted safe areas by government and NGOs. Nairobi's Lady of the lamp. The Independent (London) 16 June 2007. There is a Kenyan Police station, along with the chieftaincy at the very centre of Korogocho village. Crime is endemic, and law enforcement in the shanty towns are poor. Organised crime groups are said to operate here. In 2004 the diplomat Osward Banda was murdered and his five-year-old son, tied to his dead father, was left in his car in a Korogocho street. Gunmen bind boy to his father's bloody body. Reuters. November 25, 2004.
An education centre has been set up in Korogocho called the " Caretakers Orphans Education Centre" CEOC funded by charitable donations in the UK to help HIV orphaned children gain an education,food, and basic medical attention. https://web.archive.org/web/20110129230728/http://thebusinessphone.com/the-caretakers-orphans-education-centre/
Korogocho is one of two informal settlements included in the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) operated by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) since 2002. The NUHDSS collects data on demographic events (births, deaths, and migrations), health outcomes (morbidity, cause of death through verbal autopsy, child vaccination, and nutrition) and socio-economic outcomes (marriage, education, livelihood, and housing characteristics). It is the source for numerous research publications indexed on the APHRC website. (The other informal settlement included in NUHDSS is Viwandani.)
The Government of Kenya created a development body in 2008 focused solely upon improving the lives of Korogocho residents, the Korogocho Slum Upgrading Programme (KSUP) . The KSUP is funded through the Italian Government as part of a debt swaps scheme and involves representatives from UNHabitat, local government and federal government. Local representation for the people of Korogocho was to be guaranteed through the establishment of a Koch Resident's Committee (KRC) consisting of 6 residents from each of the 8 'villages' in Koch, totaling 48 people.
It was headed by a Chairman (Peter Kinyanjui), Secretary (John Okello alias Ali Okello) and Treasurer (Nyaga, a former enforcer and gangster). Membership of the KRC is supposed to be through democratic election every two years. However, an election was due in November 2010 but the current members refused to stand down and have turned themselves into a Community Based Organization (CBO), unlawfully, since the money they control is not for their personal use.
Although the KRC was set up to be a representative body for Koch residents, the Committee has, over the last two years, turned into a corrupt organization headed by self-interested individuals who wield significant power because of the large amounts of money and resources they have access to.Other KRC members include Hawa Dima
Korogocho came to popular attention in some parts of the west following the marketing of several export based craft and clothing companies which were founded there, Kenyan Company Launches a Line of Environment-Friendly Footwear. CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Aired August 26, 2001 Pulling Up by Their Sandal Straps. Jennifer Friedlin, Wired Magazine. 06.26.2003 while the 2007 Seventh World Social Forum ended its Nairobi summit with a half marathon which was begun, symbolically, in Korogocho slum. What did we achieve? Another world is possible. The World Social Forum is a small part of the road to it. Sasha Simic, the Guardian (London) 27 January 2007.
The residents of Korogocho are increasingly organizing their own development projects. One example is Komb Green Solutions, a community-based organization funded in 2017 to engage youth in improving the environment of the community. A group of young men formed Suluhu Hub in 2018 to create short films about life in Korogocho. They seek to empower youths to avoid criminal activities through peer mentorship programs. KochFM is a nonprofit community radio station registered as a community-based organization (CBO) in 2006. It was established so that community residents could tell their own stories and counter negative images presented in other media.
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