Homeowners’ environmental attitude and humanitarian support during flooding in the Mavoko peri-urban settlements of Nairobi metropolis, Kenya

Abstract

It has been observed that as human settlement activities in peri-urban areas increase, flooding incidents have been noted to escalate. Although the government appreciates community participation; and has encouraged and supported local community driven initiatives towards disaster response, paticipaticipation by individual households in humanitarian assistance to the disaster victims in peri-urban settlements is reported to be low. The objective of this paper was to examine the relationship between the homeowners’ environmental attitude and the level of humanitarian support given during flooding in Mavoko. The study targeted heads of household; the general public; officials of government and quasi-government institutions as well as professional and residents associations responsible for environment, settlement and disaster mitigation; leaders of religeous and community organisations and societies responsible for emergency management and humanitarian support in Machakos and Nairobi Counties. The study took a survey design and used multistage random, snowballing, purposive and quota sampling techniques to identify participants. The study used mixed methods to collect quantitative and qualitative data using questionnaire, interview guide, document analysis, focus group discussions and observation. Data were analysed through descriptive analysis, Nomothetic evaluation, Chi-square test at a level of significance of 95% (α = 0.05), and Crammer’s V analysis. The study revealed that there was a significant relationship between the homeowners’ environmental attitude and the level of humanitarian support given during flooding. The study recommends that policy makers and settlement planers, together with other players, to packages that will generate generating attitudinal and behavioural change.