Bringing Global Best Practices to Transform Kenya’s Slum Electrification Program

Over 2 million people are estimated to live in informal settlements in Kenya’s urban areas. Unlike in poor rural areas, people in urban poor communities often have access to electricity. The problem is that it is illegal, unreliable, and unsafe. In poor areas of Nairobi, such as the informal settlements of Mathare, Kibera, and Kayole, electric fires and deaths by electrocution are common. As Kenya Power worked to bring power to informal settlements, the World Bank and the global partnership on output-based aid provided support by offering a subsidy for each household connection after it is independently verified.