Women with disabilities share their stories to advocate for disability-inclusive policy in Nairobi’s climate-affected communities.
The heavy floods, which struck Kenya’s capital Nairobi in the extended long rains season of March to May 2024 remain etched in the minds of many residents of Nairobi’s informal settlements, who saw their homes and livelihoods destroyed to catastrophic flooding. In total, an estimated 281,835 people (56,367 families) were displaced from their homes – Nairobi’s informal settlements, home to thousands of lower income families, were most impacted.
Among those affected by Nairobi’s April 2024 floods were many residents with disabilities, who were left stranded, and faced lack of access to emergency healthcare, and heightened vulnerability to waterborne disease due to reduced mobility and to poor sanitation in their areas. Their stories – which typically go unheard, underreported, and unaccounted for in policy – were recorded, and told by nine young women with disabilities who themselves reside in Nairobi’s informal settlements, as part of the Hear Me See Me programme. The objective: to gather insight, and advocate for the needs of populations with disabilities to be incorporated in future response.
Elevating the needs of people with disabilities through photography and storytelling so that their needs are accounted for by policy makers
Hear Me See Me is the first project of its kind, and a collaboration between the international development organisation, Sightsavers and Lensational, in partnership with the Gifted Community Centre (GCC), an organisation of people with disabilities based in Nairobi. The programme’s overarching goal is to influence policy makers to ensure future disaster preparedness plans are inclusive of all people, by elevating the experiences of people with disabilities through photography.
Over the course of six months, the programme saw Lensational train a cohort of nine young women with disabilities who reside in Nairobi’s informal settlements, and who themselves had experienced difficulties preparing and recovering from climate disasters.
Through photography and storytelling training, the cohort captured their and their community’s experiences of the 2024 catastrophic floods and gathered insights on their and their communities’ needs, and on what concrete actions may help them prepare for and recover from climate disasters in the future.
The Hear Me See Me Cohort
Brenda Nabututu, Caterina Nyambura, Christine Atieno, Loise Bonyo, Patricia Kamanthe, Sarah Nyaboke, Tabitha Kabura, Teresia Mugure, and Veronica Kayanja are the nine young women with disabilities who formed the cohort of the Hear Me See Me programme. Having lived in areas faced with accessibility challenges and poor infrastructure themselves, all women were best place to record and share their communities’ experiences.
As women with disabilities residing in Nairobi’s informal settlements, our cohort members were eager to participate in a project, which could create meaningful change for their community. Documenting the experiences of their peers allowed them to reflect on their own experience, and to build community.
Project Impact
All nine women in the programme cohort presented their final stories covering the impact of the 2024 floods on a member of the community in a dedicated workshop and policy dialogue in Nairobi in August of 2025. The event also featured a photo exhibition showcasing highlights of their photo stories.
Through their photographic projects and through discussions with policy makers, the cohort advocated for rebuilding and building of inclusive infrastructure such as wider alleyways and bridges, and for wider provision of assistive devices, which can unlock freedom for so many in difficult times. Among other themes, they made the case for free emergency healthcare provision to people with disability in the immediate aftermath of climate disasters, and unearthed new insights, such as the disproportionate impact of climate disasters on mental health of populations already at risk.
As a key outcome of the policy dialogue, a technical working group was formed to address the gaps identified in disaster risk reduction planning, with a particular focus on the needs of persons with disabilities.
