Translating policies into informal settlements' critical services: Reframing, anchoring and muddling through
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Publication Date
2016Author
Jaan‐Henrik Kain, Belinda Nyakinya, Nicholas Odhiambo, Michael Oloko, John Omolo, Silas Otieno, Patrik Zapata, María José Zapata Campos
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This paper examines how policies and plans are translated into informal settlementsˈ practice. It builds on literature on policy
implementation practice and organization studies, and more particularly, it applies the concepts of reframing, anchoring and
muddling through. The paper is informed by the case of Kisumu City in Kenya and its Kisumu Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan and its implementation on Kisumuˈs informal settlements. The plan was funded by the Swedish International Development Agency through the United Nations Human Settlement Programme and implemented from 2007 to 2009. The study is
based on action research carried out by a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary group of researchers, through focus groups, participatory workshops, collaborative action, in-depth interviews, document analysis and observations. The paper examines what
original aspects of Kisumu Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan were translated, that is, which ones faded out and which
ones became stabilized into and travel as ‘best practices’ to other locations. The paper shows how the generation of ‘best practices’ can be loosely coupled with the practices that policy seeks to change. It concludes, in line with previous research in the
field, how successful policy implementation is based on cultural and political interpretations rather on evidence of improved
practices.