By Matilda Atieno
The County Government of Kisumu strengthened its defense strategy against climate change during a five-day technical validation and capacity-building workshop recently held in Kisumu. The workshop, convened by the County Government, UNDP, and partners under the Resilient Urban Futures Project, brought together county departments, the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), and local stakeholders to review and advance key urban resilience documents.
The event, which included the formal validation of the Updated Kisumu City Climate Risk Profile, was notably graced by the Chief Officer for Public Service, Special Programs and Public Communications, Mr. Timothy Nyakwamba Kagwang. He emphasized that the sessions were significant to strengthening Kisumu City’s urban resilience, highlighting the County’s commitment to building a safer, more sustainable urban future.
The core of the workshop involved reviewing evidence based on climate threats, including floods, heatwaves, shoreline erosion, and drought, across the city’s 14 wards. A central finding of the updated Climate Risk Profile that framed the discussions was the alarming future threat of flooding.
The data confirmed that floods already affect wards such as Nyalenda A and Nyalenda B. Furthermore, the projections are deeply concerning: if current trends continue, over 70,000 residents are projected to live in flood-prone zones by 2045. The exposure of critical infrastructure is also significant, with 43% of the road network, 16% of health facilities, and 22% of schools intersecting flood-risk areas. This threat is set to worsen rapidly, as a worrying trend indicates that the increasing frequency of extreme rainfall, above-normal heatwaves, and associated outcomes, such as floods, are projected to rise rapidly over the next 2–3 decades.
Actionable Tools for City Management
The intensive sessions focused on transforming these complex risk assessments into actionable tools for city management and policy decision-making. This comprehensive approach was organized around three main areas: Foundational Planning, Digital Preparedness, and Technical Capacity.
Foundational Planning and Environmental Management
The week began with a focus on Wetlands Management, co-creating the Dunga–Nyamthoi Wetlands Management Plan. This crucial plan recognizes the wetlands as essential natural flood buffers for the city, vital for biodiversity conservation and mitigating riverine and shoreline flooding from Lake Victoria. Wednesday’s session advanced Risk-Informed Planning through the formal validation of the updated Risks Cross-Referenced Kisumu City Land Use Master Plan. This update mandates that future construction must actively consider flood and climate risks. Discussions also included the development of a Gender-Responsive Building Code and standards for Resilient Construction.
GIS and Early Warning Systems (EWS)
A major component of the training focused on leveraging technology. Participants were taken through the GIS workflows that underpin the climate statistics, including satellite-based hazard mapping, lake shoreline change, and infrastructure exposure analysis. The sessions used these layers to interrogate hotspot maps for settlements, roads, health facilities, and schools. The workshops also served as a practical review of the new Flood Preparedness Web and Mobile Platform. This Early Warning System (EWS) platform named Kisumu Watch, which is currently available on the Google Play Store for testing, demonstrates how the climate and exposure indices can be translated into ward-level alerts and dashboards to support the EOC’s real-time decision-making.
Sustaining Technical Capacity
The final day focused on Capacity Building to ensure the new systems are maintained for long-term effectiveness. Training was provided on the Maintenance of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Databases and GIS Data. This empowered County technical staff to continuously monitor and analyse geospatial data, anchoring the city’s resilience efforts in sustainable local expertise.
Upon completion, the updated climate risk profile, the early warning system, and the enhanced capacity of staff will be critical in informing the next course of action in mitigating the impacts of climate change in Kisumu City. The success of the Resilient Urban Futures Project highlights the strong partnership between the UNDP and the County Government of Kisumu, moving the city from merely managing disasters to actively preventing them through data-driven planning and digital innovation.
