By D, KNA
Small scale traders and hawkers in Shauriyako estate in Homa Bay town have benefited from the construction of vending platforms and shades.
The platforms built under the Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP) will provide dignified trading spaces for hundreds of small-scale traders including vegetable vendors (mama mbogas).
Jacinta Akinyi, 34, a mother of four in Shauri Yako, said the vending platform has been a game changer. She recalls how selling vegetables in the scorching sun by the roadside often meant struggling against dust, rain, and theft.
Today, with a proper stall, she serves her customers in dignity, her income has doubled, and she can finally make meaning full savings.
The vending platforms project has also injected new life into the local economy through its labour-intensive approach during construction.
Hundreds of youths and women have been hired to take part in the construction.
This not only provides short-term jobs but ensures that residents are part of the effort to rebuild their neighbourhoods
The Project’s Coordinator, Maam Norsea Bayer told the traders to safe guard the infrastructure against vandalism.
“The vending platforms are also well lit to ensure continued trading after dusk. Previously poor lighting promoted insecurity and the estate was a hot bed of crime especially in the undignified trading spaces”, noted Bayer.
The project is funded by the World Bank, the French Development Agency (AFD), and the Government of Kenya.