Nyumba Smart Micro-Loans in Kenya

In December 2020, the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF), UrbaMonde and UrbaSEN signed a partnership agreement to undertake a scoping exercise to explore experiences of citizen financing mechanisms for affordable housing delivery.

This short study – available in French and English – documents and disseminates 10 experiences, programs and projects of affordable housing production in Africa. Using bibliographic research and in-depth interviews, this work made it possible to analyze the capacity of projects and partners to be part of the public and private funding chain, and to mobilize the so-called “citizen finance” .

This week’s focus is on the Nyumba Smart Microloans in Kenya. The Nyumba Smart Micro-Loans are flexible, short-term housing microfinance loans to support the incremental building and home improvement process of low-income households. Loans are issued through women’s groups or individually by the micro-finance Trust, the biggest micro-finance bank of Kenya. This new financial product was developed with the support of The Building Assets, Unlocking Access project of Habitat for Humanity and Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter.

To find out more about the program in English or French, follow the links below.