Social innovation and grassroots-based organizations: their role in social governance processes in cities of the South, the case for Kenya

摘要

Past governance models, such as public service models, private interventions as well as management techniques have been used in the provision of urban goods and services in developing countries; they have however proved to be inadequate approaches for meeting the basic needs of the growing urban populations. Although current approaches towards governance consider the participation of multiple urban actors these have not been integrated within coherent development frameworks which undermines their overall structural impact. This paper realises that innovative approaches towards governance require that multiple agencies act in co-ordination and proposes that grassroots-based organisations have an important role to play in countering the increasing social polarisation found in rapidly urbanising cities in the South. The concept of social innovation is examined as the basis for meeting the basic needs of the urban population specifically considering the Kenyan case of the urban poor in the rapidly urbanising city of Nairobi. Social innovation is important for the significant role it plays in the governance transformation process through involving grassroots-based organisations and by empowering them in order to be able to address the needs of the urban poor within an alternative urban development framework.