Changing the Narrative on Resilience: A feminist critique of resilience as applied to gender-based violence in Kibera

Abstract

This thesis offers a feminist critique of how resilience is framed by organisations in relation to the experiences of women facing gender-based violence (GBV) in Kibera, Nairobi. Although resilience is often celebrated in development and humanitarian discourse as a form of empowerment, feminist scholars have argued that it can shift responsibility for structural injustice onto individuals. Drawing on a case study with ethnographic elements conducted between February and April 2025, this study examines how women in Kibera experience resilience in their everyday lives and how organisations, influenced by donor agendas, frame it in their interventions. Using in-depth interviews, a focus group, and discourse analysis of policy documents, the research reveals a tension between organisational narratives and lived realities. For women in Kibera, resilience is experienced less as empowering and more as endurance – a necessity for survival within a context that normalises violence. In contrast, organisational discourses frame resilience as both a strength to desire and an end goal. The study argues that such framings risk obscuring accountability for structural inequalities and highlights the need to ground resilience interventions in the lived experiences of those most affected by GBV.