Women’s Health and Climate Justice in Nairobi, Kenya: A Community-Centered Study
Social workers are intimately involved with the many intersections of health and social justice. In Honor of NYC Climate Week, we sat down with CSSW Associate Professor Samantha C. Winter to learn more about her recent study, "Extreme weather should be defined according to impacts on climate-vulnerable communities," published in Nature Climate Change.
With a focus on Sub-Saharan and East Africa, Dr. Winter’s research explores the social, climatic, and environmental determinants that affect inequities in women’s health. While collecting data for their dissertation, Dr. Winter did a research assistantship with Dr. Robinson Ocharo at the University of Nairobi in the Department of Sociology and Social Work. Through engaging in qualitative research surrounding issues of water, sanitation, and menstruation in the informal settlement of Mathare almost a decade ago, they noticed that many women had already been organizing and sought to further engage with the work. Dr. Winter and their team started working more closely with these “community champions.” In the most recent study, 16 of the women worked as facilitators, data collectors, community organizers, and more.
“It is the cornerstone of what I do,” Dr. Winter shared when asked about the importance of community-based approaches. Without perspective from and meaningful engagement with the community, it is difficult to grasp how the lingering effects of oppressive institutions still present themselves daily. The informal settlements of Kibera and Mathare have a long history with settler colonialism; Dr. Winter discussed The 1922 Vagrancy Act as crucial to understanding the development of these informal settlements. The Act prohibited indigenous Africans from residing in Nairobi and excluded them from formal resources, including water and sanitation systems.
Because of this, many settlements exist in ecologically sensitive areas, such as riverbanks and wetlands. The women in these communities often bear the brunt of climate change and Extreme Weather Events (EWEs); yet, they are the first among their families and neighbors to mobilize, remaining profoundly resilient. In the midst of a crisis, they are leading clothing donations at local churches, facilitating security networks within their neighborhoods, finding healthcare alternatives, and more, on top of the emotional labor they continuously provide. Dr. Winter’s most recent study introduced “impact-based thresholds” to better define and respond to EWEs in the context of informal settlements. This collaborative approach ultimately leads to sound preparedness strategies within the region as well as a stronger focus on environmental sustainability.
Through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) P20 grant, Dr. Winter will co-lead the Anga Center for Climate Justice, Health Equity, and Community Well-being, a non hierarchical, international center with Professor David Ndetei, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Nairobi and founding director of the African Institute for Mental and Brain Health. The collaboration with Columbia Global Centers will include core components such as capacity building, community collaboration, research, administrative development, and more. The Anga center will also partner with universities and organizations in other East African countries, such as Uganda and Tanzania.
Dr. Winter recognizes that empathy and human relationships should remain at the forefront of social work practice and research. In perpetually challenging conventional methods, she hopes to not only expand the number of community members involved with studies such as this one, but create more jobs and opportunity for growth in real time.
