In Kibera, one of the largest informal settlements in Africa, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the NGO CFK Africa has begun helping landlords to spot and respond to domestic violence and sexual assault.
Siama Yusuf, senior programme officer for girls empowerment at CFK Africa, told RFI: “Kibera faces a persistent high level of gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy and sexual abuse.”
And this reflects broader national trends, she adds, with the situation intensified by poverty and overcrowding in informal settlements such as Kibera.
“Violence often happens behind closed doors and goes unreported due to stigma, fear of retaliation, lack of trust in institutions and the belief that such issues are private family matters,” she explained.
Little by little, however, thanks to the way the charity is supporting landlords, some parts of Kenya are becoming safer places for women, as awareness on how to address the violence grows.
Lessons for improvement
In 2025, landlords working with the charity made 92 referrals to the authorities, helping survivors of violence with life-saving support services.
While landlords might once have dismissed signs of domestic violence in the homes of their tenants as a private matter, CFK Africa’s training teaches them how to intervene.
One owner said that after this training, he knew that he was entitled to go and investigate upon hearing cries from inside one of his properties – where he found a father sexually assaulting his four-year-old daughter. Thanks to the landlord’s intervention, she survived.
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