Ms Wacuka Hurt is Director of Policy and Partnerships at Kidogo. Ms. King is Director of Education and Early Childhood Development at RTI International’s Center for International Development.
Across Kenya, millions of parents wake up each morning weighing one question: who will care for my child while I go to work?
In communities like Gikomba, Kangemi, Dandora, and every corner of Nairobi City, parents open their stalls, drive matatu shared taxis or head to offices only after ensuring their children are looked after. Thousands of families in Nairobi place their trust in small, informal childcare centers run by women within their communities. These informal childcare centers form the backbone of Nairobi’s invisible care economy, one that enables Nairobi’s bustling economy to function. Yet the work of informal daycares is unrecognized, unsupported and uncounted. For too long, this invisible care economy has lacked recognition and investment.
Like many families around the world, Kenyan families lack affordable, high-quality, licensed childcare options. The World Bank estimates that as many as 40 percent of young children globally –nearly 350 million children – need childcare but do not have access to it.[1] An invisible care economy has emerged to meet the needs of working families, including an estimated 60 percent of Nairobi’s residents who live in informal settlements.[2] Informal childcare centers are essential to the city’s social and economic fabric, enabling parents, especially women, to earn their livelihoods.
To meet these growing needs, a combination of good tools, policies and principles related to childcare can allow all families and children in Kenya to thrive.
Why Childcare Matters for Kenya’s Future
Despite the developmental benefits of quality childcare, many Kenyan children are spending their earliest years in settings that do not meet basic safety standards and lack appropriate adult engagement and play opportunities. Quality childcare is out of reach financially for many.
The gap is wide between what it costs to provide safe, stimulating childcare and what parents can afford to pay, especially in low-income neighborhoods. Typical livelihood activities in informal Kenyan communities are often referred to as “jua kali” (hot sun) work. These include market trading, street vending, casual labor, welding, domestic work and recycling. These jobs typically earn roughly KES 220– 800 per day. Meanwhile, childcare fees range from KES 30 to KES 350 per day. As a result of this imbalance between income and childcare cost, many children spend their days in overcrowded and under-resourced environments. Parents do not want their children to be in low-quality care, but they have no quality options they can afford. Evidence suggests that a substantial portion of mothers in Nairobi do not engage in paid work because they cannot afford quality childcare.[3] To support healthy development of children, encourage women’s participation in the workforce and unlock Nairobi’s full potential, the county must bridge this childcare gap.
Making the Invisible Visible: A Childcare Mapping Tool
Recognizing the challenge before them, the Nairobi County Government partnered with Kidogo, a social enterprise, to co-create a Childcare Mapping Tool. This first-of-its-kind digital system for the County will combine a mobile data collection app with a county-owned digital dashboard. Trained Community Health Promoters will use the app to collect geo-tagged, standardized data at childcare sites, including indicators on staff qualifications, physical infrastructure, daily routines and availability of age-appropriate materials. The data collection will include unregistered providers that have not been represented in government records previously. The dashboard will then translate this data into actionable information about childcare availability, where gaps are most acute, and what providers need to improve quality.
With support from the Hilton Foundation, Kidogo’s role has been critical in helping informal childcare providers overcome their fear of engagement with the government, due to the risk of penalties for operating an unregistered business. As a trusted community partner, Kidogo reassured providers that the mapping effort was designed to unlock support, not enforcement, and participation would lead to pathways to training, resources and eventual licensure. This trust-based approach has allowed the County to capture accurate data on a sector of the economy that has long operated beyond the reach of government oversight and outside of collaborative efforts to improve outcomes for children and families.
For the County, this data will enable smarter decision-making: targeting quality improvement investments, prioritizing underserved areas, integrating childcare into health and early childhood programming and aligning county action with Kenya’s National Care and Integrated ECD policies. By turning informal, fragmented care into visible system-level data, the Childcare Mapping Tool lays the groundwork for evidence-based public investment.
The data dashboard will also aid parents and families in the long-term, as Nairobi County and Kidogo plan to develop a public-facing functionality of the dashboard that families can access. The public-facing dashboard will enable parents to see childcare providers in their communities alongside easy-to-understand information on key aspects of quality at those providers. This transparency will allow parents to make more informed decisions about childcare and have greater confidence in their choices.
Vision for an Improved Childcare System
The Nairobi County government recognizes that affordable, quality childcare is a shared responsibility, in which government provides leadership, sets quality standards and expands financial support to families; philanthropies and private sector partners invest in innovation and quality improvement;communities have a voice in shaping services to meet their needs; and social enterprises like Kidogo contribute proven models, training and technical support. The following principles may be useful to guide the development of Nairobi’s childcare system.
Nairobi’s Potential to Lead
Childcare is not a private luxury; it is a public good that keeps cities running. Nairobi County is inviting partners to join hands in expanding access to affordable childcare through public–private partnerships and community-led childcare models that combine quality, affordability, and local ownership. By making childcare visible, valued, and viable, Nairobi County can build a city that truly works for every family. When Nairobi parents wake up in the morning, they will not have to worry about childcare; they will have confidence in their choice.
[1] Devercelli, AE & Beaton-Day, F. (2021.) Better Jobs and Brighter Futures: Investing in Childcare to Build Human Capital. World Bank Group. Accessible at https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstreams/a5e7a52e-115c-5dd1-97e6-c1b062c945c9/download.
[2] CFK Africa. (n.d.). Estimates of Nairobi’s population living in informal settlements. CFK Africa, Nairobi
[3] Clark, S., Kabiru, C. W., Laszlo, S., & Muthuri, S. (2019). The impact of childcare on poor urban women’s economic empowerment in Africa. Demography, 56(4), 1247–1272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-019-00793-3