1.1 Conceptual framework

The community capitals framework is a widely proposed tool to comprehensively identify community assets [9,10]. By assessing both the physical and non-physical resources and understanding how they are linked, the CCF intends to generate a positive cumulative effect that results in the accumulation of further capital [10]. To support a detailed evaluation, the CCF groups these assets into seven thematic categories: natural, cultural, human, social, political, financial, and built capital (see Figure 1).

Natural capital encompasses environmental assets specific to a location, such as climate, geographic setting, natural resources, scenery, and visual appeal [10]. Cultural capital refers to understanding of the world, including their traditions and language [21,22]. Human capital includes demographic characteristics along with individuals’ abilities, knowledge, and skills [23]. Social capital is defined by the connections, networks, and relationships among people and organizations that enable them to achieve shared goals [4]. Political capital relates to influence, representation, participation, resource distribution, and organizational structures [10]. Financial capital refers to economic resources like loans, investments, and assistance [24]. Built capital, or infrastructure, includes the equipment and facilities that support human activities [24].

Marginalized workers depend on community capitals as primary survival mechanisms when formal economic opportunities are unavailable. Evidence across multiple contexts demonstrates this pattern. Street vendors in Harare used social capital across three levels: personal relationships, supplier-buyer networks, and organizational membership as essential livelihood resources [10, 17]. Immigrant workers relied heavily on bonding social capital through family and ethnic networks as initial “survival” resources [13]. Gulag survivors in Africa depended on community capitals for continued survival despite marginalization [17]. Freelance audiovisual workers accumulated social and knowledge capital to gain employability and bargaining power in precarious conditions [10]. However, effectiveness varies by context [13, 25]. There are three principles of community capitals [10,13,17,25] applicable to our study:

1. Inclusive access: It opens doors for everyone to invest in and grow their local economy.

2. Equity and fairness: It levels the playing field by offering returns on investment

3. Shared prosperity: It balances the needs of all stakeholders to ensure that when a local business succeeds, the entire community thrives together.

CCF cannot generate an effect as it is not an active agent. However, alignment and investment of these capitals by actors including the informal workers generates cumulative effects, with the CCF serving as the analytical lens.

Figure 1: Community capitals framework.

2.1 Study design

This was a case study design using a qualitative approach. We designed this study guided by the community capitals framework. As such, questions in the study tools probed the community capitals framework: natural, cultural, human, social, financial, political, and built capitals. Community capitals formed the basis for our objectives, research questions, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of findings.

2.2 Study setting

From a population of 350,000 in the 1962 census to 4,397,073 in the 2019 census, Nairobi typifies the rapid urbanization and population explosion in sub-Saharan Africa [27]. We conducted this study in Nairobi, which is the capital and largest city of Kenya. Informal settlements in Nairobi are characterized by unmet needs in access to basic amenities of healthcare, sanitation, water, solid waste management and education [28] by the marginalized and vulnerable groups like people with a disability, older persons, and children [28]. The consequence of the rapid and uncontrolled population explosion is the proliferation of informal settlements in Nairobi, with upwards of 60 percent of Nairobi residents estimated to be living in slums and contributing to increasing urbanization and the need for employment opportunities. Our study covered two informal settlements: Korogocho and Viwandani informal settlements in Nairobi, in the regions covered by Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) initiated in 2002 by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Study sites (source: authors, 2022).

2.3 Target population, sampling, and sample size

The populations of interest were service providers in five sectors that were identified and described in the governance diaries as priority basic needs [28]. The sectors included education, healthcare, water, sanitation, and solid waste management. Through a stakeholder mapping exercise, we developed a stakeholder database that depicts actors/service providers [30]. The stakeholder mapping exercise was a critical step in our study, designed to identify and categorize key actors and service providers involved in community development within the study area. The identification of prospective stakeholders necessitated a review of scholarly works, conversations with leaders within the community, and dialogues with knowledgeable local individuals. The initial compilation of stakeholder information was later improved and confirmed through discussions with individuals participating in the governance diaries data collection [28] with marginalized and vulnerable groups and during community advisory consultations with community leaders [31]. This ensured that the stakeholder database accurately represented the key actors and their roles within the community. From the service providers in the validated database, we purposively selected providers who had the longest tenure (on average 8 years). Longer time in service delivery meant more depth in knowledge on the subject matter. Consequently, we selected 4 education providers, 2 healthcare providers, 4 water providers, 4 sanitation providers, and 4 solid waste management providers as study participants in each of the study sites. Two sub-County officials in each study site were also selected purposively as study participants if they had vast experience in the study sites, portrayed by their longer stay in serving the studied communities. After collecting data from 40 participants who had worked in their respective fields for over eight years, we found that no additional significant information emerged, indicating that saturation had been reached. This enabled us to understand community capitals.

2.4 Data collection process

We collected data from March 1 to May 25, 2022, using in-depth interview guides. We selected Research Assistants with support from community advisory committees [31]. Specifically, they were chosen if they were endorsed by community in the study sites and if they had some experience in qualitative research. We opted for Research Assistants from the community who are insiders. Insider researchers are native to the setting and are sometimes perceived to be too close and thereby do not attain the distance and objectivity necessary for valid research [32]. To ensure the integrity and depth of our data collection, we incorporated a dedicated reflexivity process focused on our use of community-embedded Research Assistants. To safeguard analytical objectivity, we maintained a rigorous supervision structure, including regular debriefing sessions and a collaborative thematic review process. This allowed us to critically examine how the Research assistants’ positionality influenced the interviews while ensuring that our final interpretations remained grounded in the authentic lived experiences of the service providers. We challenged the limitations of using insider Research Assistants in this study. Insider knowledge in whatever research tradition is not only valid and useful but also provides important knowledge, which approaches used by outsiders may not uncover [33]. In our view, insider research is not problematic in itself and is respectable research in whatever paradigm it is undertaken.

Given the often marginalized and vulnerable status of residents in these communities, it was essential to establish trust and build rapport. We engaged community leaders and gatekeepers to gain access and facilitate introductions to the community and to the study participants. We were flexible and adaptable to accommodate rapidly changing circumstances in informal settlements, including changes in operational hours due to fire outbreaks, overwhelmed service providers, and closure of service provision. Data were collected through in-depth interviews (IDIs) [26], using an IDI guide which had questions on community capitals in the workplace, including the seven capitals. We conducted face to-face interviews in English or in Swahili as needed at a quiet location convenient to the participants, which were mainly at their workplaces, and for the convenience of the study participants. Research Assistants recorded the interviews using a digital recorder and backed them up with handwritten records. These interviews lasted for approximately 1 hour. The study was designed to answer the following three overarching questions (Table 1):

1. Asset forms and prioritization of capitals: How do informal service providers in Nairobi’s settlements identify, mobilize and prioritize different forms of community capital to deliver essential services?

2. System navigation: In what ways do these capitals enable workers to navigate the structural and governance challenges inherent in informal urban environments?

3. Capital Interplay: How do specific capitals interact (e.g., “spiraling up”) to create sustainable outcomes or “leveraged” solutions in neglected urban spaces?

2.5 Data quality control

Project researchers reviewed all audio files in real time to ensure the completeness and depth of the interviews and provided feedback to the Research Assistants, who were trained for 5 days on study aims, data collection procedures, study tools, and study ethics. The training also enlightened the Research Assistants on objectivity in data collection despite their insider perspectives. Researchers and Research Assistants held daily debriefing sessions to determine the key emerging themes, probing techniques, and general progress.

2.6 Data management and analysis

Audio recordings from the IDIs were converted from Swahili to English through translation and transcription, with each interview saved as a separate Microsoft 365 Word file. To maintain privacy and prepare for analysis, these outputs were labeled with numerical codes. Subsequently, the transcripts were loaded into NVivo version 12 software (QSR International, Chadstone, Australia) for the purpose of coding and analysis. Each transcript was assigned a distinct identifier that included the participant group, research location, and gender to further protect anonymity and facilitate nuanced analysis.

Our analytical approach employed framework analysis [34], drawing upon the principles of community capitals [26,35] (Figure 1). Framework analysis is suitable for studies with defined research questions, a predetermined sample, and key areas of interest [34]. The initial phase of our framework analysis involved researchers listening to the recordings to gain familiarity with the data related to community capitals. To ensure consistency in coding, two researchers (a seasoned qualitative researcher and an anthropologist) along with five co-researchers who were involved in data collection, collaboratively developed a coding framework by independently reviewing the transcripts in NVivo 12 to establish intercoder reliability. Following the creation of the initial coding framework, the research team convened to discuss the identified themes, with discrepancies resolved through consensus-building sessions. We adopted a deductive coding process based on the seven capitals. Two researchers then proceeded with the coding, charting, mapping, and interpretation of the transcripts.

2.7 Ethical considerations

AMREF Health Africa’s Ethics and Scientific Review Committee (ESRC), REF: AMREF-ESRC P747/2020, approved this study. We obtained a research permit from the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI), REF: NACOSTI/P/20/7726. Approval was also sought from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and APHRC internal ethical review committees as part of the larger Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity (ARISE) Hub funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Before participating in an interview, all participants provided informed written consent from Research Assistants. The interviews were conducted in quiet spaces for privacy and confidentiality and for the quality of the audio files.

3.1 Theme 1: Forms of community capitals

The CCF included seven forms of community capitals, natural capital, cultural capital, human capital, social capital, political capital, financial capital, and built capital. Specific examples of each form of capital summarized from the literature can be seen in Figure 1. For all cases studied, human capital was most frequently leveraged and valued, followed by social capital, financial capital, and political capital. In particular, human capital concerns the retention of a skilled workforce. The second most frequently valued type of capital employed was social capital. To get things done in their communities, the study participants drew heavily on their networks of like-minded service providers, and individuals had to raise funds and obtain some sort of political support for their efforts in order to achieve their goals. Cultural and built capitals were the least frequently mentioned (Figure 3). The low implementation of cultural capital may have been the reason some forms of development and service delivery were stagnating in the informal settlements. Although this interpretation is relatively simplistic, it does give us a sense of the interrelatedness of the community capitals.

3.1.2 Social capital

Social capital refers to the connections and relationships between community members and organizations that enable them to come together and effect change [37]. It can be understood in terms of norms of reciprocity and mutual trust [4,36]. Building social capital involves encouraging community adaptability, responsibility, and initiative, as well as fostering interactions that strengthen members’ commitment to their group’s values and goals [36].

This was the second most valued capital among the study participants (Figure 3). Solid waste workers contributed to social capital by collaborating with residents and community organizations to manage waste effectively, fostering cooperation and trust within the community. Manual pit emptiers built social capital by engaging with residents to address sanitation issues, promoting shared responsibility and collective action for improving public health. Education service providers enhanced social capital through their interactions with learners, families, and community groups, fostering a sense of trust and cooperation in the pursuit of educational goals. Healthcare providers contributed to social capital by establishing rapport with community members, promoting health-seeking behaviors, and encouraging collective efforts to address healthcare challenges. Water service providers strengthened social capital by engaging with residents to ensure access to clean water, fostering a sense of community ownership and responsibility for water resource management.

We work in groups while desludging a toilet, we also need to liaise with residents here to know the facilities that need emptying. And it is not only us, solid waste handlers, education providers, health workers, and water service providers also work in groups. Oftentimes, workers in this setting foster cooperation, trust, and shared responsibility among residents and community organizations, thereby promoting collective action and improving urban development and overall community well-being. (IDI, sanitation service provider)

Further discussions with manual emptiers who put more emphasis on social capital described how they could not operate independently. From their illustration, when a pit latrine was full, the latrine owner would inform an emptier, who would in turn contact other manual emptiers through informal means and existing peer contacts. There appeared to be no formal advertising procedures. Study participants described that the size of a team was a minimum of two people for a household pit, but a team could be up to five people for a public latrine. A team could include both men and women, although they did not carry out the same tasks and were not equally rewarded.

We, the emptiers, know ourselves. We are usually friends from the same tribe. When one of us gets information about emptying they inform two or more other friends to assist in the emptying. (IDI, sanitation service provider)

One of us gets into the pit through an inserted ladder to dig and/or collect the fecal matter and other non-fecal stuff into a bucket which is then pulled by one or two persons. In a team of two persons, there is exchange of roles between the two. When exhausted, a digger inside the pit will come up to replace the collector on the top of the pit who then descends into the pit to replace the first digger, until the task is completed. (IDI, sanitation service provider)

Figure 3: Number of unique group of participants who identified a particular capital, as it related to service delivery.

3.2 Theme 2: How and why informal workers drive urban transformation through community capital

In our analysis of community capitals, we move beyond merely identifying their presence to emphasize the how and why behind their mobilization, illustrating that informal workers acted as intentional agents of urban transformation.

Service providers mobilized human capital by applying specialized technical skills and personal qualities like honesty and a strong work ethic to fill gaps in essential service delivery. This mobilization was critical because, in the absence of formal state support, the individual competencies of workers became the primary engine for community survival. As one education provider noted,

Workers mobilized social capital by cultivating deep seated networks of trust and norms of reciprocity which allowed them to undertake tasks that were impossible in isolation. This mobilization was essential to navigate high risk environments, a sentiment echoed by a sanitation provider who explained that

Financial capital was mobilized not just as currency but as liquid resources generated through service fees and reinvested into community capacity. This occurred because constant reinvestment was the only way to sustain operations. A solid waste worker emphasized this necessity by stating,

Providers mobilized political capital by participating in community meetings and advocating for improved policies to protect their operations from marginalization. This was mobilized to secure a voice in urban governance, with one participant highlighting that:

Natural capital was mobilized by utilizing local environmental assets, such as waste streams or boreholes, as the accessible raw materials in neglected spaces. Workers relied on these resources because they served as the foundational stock for service delivery.

Built capital was mobilized through the creation and maintenance of physical infrastructure, such as classrooms and water kiosks, which anchored all other community activities. It was mobilized as a physical necessity for safety and stability.

Though least leveraged, cultural capital was mobilized by drawing on community traditions and collective knowledge to ensure services were culturally appropriate. This mobilization was necessary to bridge the gap between modernization and heritage.

4.1 Strengths and limitations of the study

A key strength of the CCF lies in its inherent flexibility and compatibility, largely because the framework encompasses a comprehensive array of different domains. While our study offers critical insights into the community capitals framework within an urban setting, its reliance on a qualitative design limits our ability to quantify or draw statistical inferences from the observed phenomena. However, we adopted this approach specifically to address a deficiency in quantitative research, which often overlooks the intangible assets, such as cultural capital, that are vital to informal economies. To mitigate the specific constraints of our case study design, which focuses on only two settlements (Korogocho and Viwandani), we purposively selected these sites for their diverse socio-economic profiles to capture a broad spectrum of the informal experience. Furthermore, while the frequency counts used to rank the capitals are interpretive rather than definitive, we triangulated these metrics with in-depth qualitative narratives to provide a more nuanced and accurate context. Finally, we countered the potential for social desirability bias stemming from the use of insider Research Assistants by maintaining rigorous reflexivity throughout the data collection and analysis phases, ensuring our interpretations remained grounded in the participants’ authentic lived experiences.

4.2 Conclusion

Informal settlements are often viewed as sources of problems, but this study highlights their wealth of resources. Community capital, encompassing human, social, financial, cultural, and built capitals, offers a powerful tool for positive change. This study highlights the interconnectedness of community capitals and their potential to drive positive change. By understanding these interconnected assets, policymakers, practitioners, and communities can work together to implement effective interventions that support development and improve quality of life. When utilizing the community capitals framework, it is essential to consider not only the assets themselves but also the stories and experiences that accompany them. These narratives provide valuable insights into the diverse perspectives and values within the community and creates a more inclusive and representative understanding of community capital.

The study offers valuable insights into the potential of community capital to enhance service delivery. When community members, policymakers and service providers recognize the interdependencies of community capitals, they can create strategies that better leverage these assets. This may involve providing capacity-development opportunities to enhance human capital, fostering social cohesion and trust, supporting community-led initiatives, preserving cultural heritage, and investing in infrastructure development. By working collaboratively with local communities and harnessing the power of community capital, it is possible to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of service delivery, ultimately leading to better outcomes for residents in informal settlements.

This study demonstrates the utility of community capital as a strategic tool for service providers. When service providers comprehend the seven capital types within their communities, they are better equipped to hone their strategies, establish rapport with stakeholders, and locate avenues for cooperation. Community capital is akin to a “community bank,” in which each capital form constitutes a precious resource that can be strategically invested, consumed, or wasted. It is from recognizing the importance of these resources and utilizing them effectively that service providers can implement more impactful and sustainable initiatives, empowering communities and enhancing service delivery. CCF offers a systemic approach to evaluation, going beyond project-specific goals to assess the overall well-being of the community and its systems.

Leveraging community capitals for sustainable urban development by necessitating moving from concrete structural shifts and recognition to action, which we have outlined through four distinct policy pathways. First, we advocate for formal certification for providers to validate the specialized human capital and essential services they already deliver to the city. Second, their active inclusion in county planning processes ensures that urban development is informed by the lived realities of informal settlements. Third, providing targeted infrastructure support—such as safe disposal sites and water kiosks—is critical to enhancing the built capital that sustains their operations. Finally, we propose legal backing for cooperatives to strengthen social capital and collective bargaining power, allowing these workers to transition from marginalized actors to recognized partners in sustainable urban governance. By adopting these pathways, policymakers can transform the “community bank” of informal assets into a cornerstone of equitable urban growth.

The relevance of cultural capital, ranked last by study participants, provides a useful area for further study to explore its drivers.

AI utilization

AI was used minimally, solely for basic grammar and spell-checking during the final drafting phase. No AI tools were used for data analysis, interpretation, or the generation of original content.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the AMREF Africa Ethics and Scientific Review Committee (ESRC/P747/2019; Date: 8 February 2020) and the National Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NACOSTI/P/20/7726; Date: 20 November 2020).

Competing interests

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. The funding sponsors had no role in the design of the study in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Funding

GCRF Accountability funded the project activities through the UKRI Collective Fund award with award reference ES/S00811X/1.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, IC; methodology, IC, CK and BM; software, IC; validation, IC, CK and BM; formal analysis, IC; investigation, IC, CK and BM; resources, BM and CK; data curation, IC; writing—original draft and preparation, IC; writing—review and editing, IC, CK and BM. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data availability

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available because other manuscripts are still being written using the same data.

Acknowledgements

We extend our gratitude to our study participants who agreed to participate in this study. We also thank the research team, community leaders in the study settings, APHRC staff, and ARISE consortium members for their guidance and input during this project.