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FEDUP

Jun 19
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South Africa SDI visits CODI, Thailand

By CORC, FEDUP, ISN, uTshani Fund No Comments

By Walter Fieuw (on behalf of CORC and uTshani Fund) and Melanie Manuel (ISN and FEDUP)

Between 9 – 13 June, the South African SDI Alliance visited a public organisation in the Thai government called the Community Organisations Development Institute (CODI) under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. The purpose of the exchange was to learn about the CODI experience in the institutionalisation of development finance and the creation of autonomous but recognised community organisations with the view of incorporating the lessons presented in this report in the development of a Cape Town city fund, with generous funding support from Comic Relief. We acknowledge with gratitude the guidance and organisation of the exchange by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights.

Download the Exchange Report to learn more about the visit and its implications for institution building in South Africa.

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When CODI was established in 2000, a survey report noted 63,796 community organizations nation-wide. Over the years, 42,199 organizations have cooperated with CODI along with 2,798 networks. Today over 4.6 million members participate directly and indirectly with CODI’s programmes (www.codi.co.th). Between 2003 and 2011, CODI’s slum upgrading programme Baan Mankong has delivered 874 projects at a value of US$147 million (average US$185,392 cost per project), benefitting 91,805 families previously living in slum conditions. 286 cities in 71 of the 77 provinces in Thailand are involved in this extensive urban and rural programme. The average repayment of these projects are 15 years, at an average of US$30 per month (depending on a number of variables). Communities have organised in independent cooperatives and savings schemes and the 2012 balance of these decentralised city fund accounts were US$7.8 million.

CODI employs more than 300 staff, of which more than 70% are field workers, working from eleven regional offices (up from five offices just one year ago) of 20 staff each serving 6-8 provinces per office. The headquarters in Bangkok, which employs 100 staff, consisting of a large financial accounting department, research and policy development, and technical support such as engineers, architects, surveyors, urban planners, and other built environment professionals.

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This learning exchange was centred around Baan Mankong projects in urban areas. ‘Baan Mankong Program’ (BMK) was launched in 2003 with an aim to solve problems of settlements and human security for poor communities countrywide. The program requires cooperation among concerned parties including local communities, government agencies, and private organizations with CODI acting as program facilitator and budget administrator.

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The Baan Mankong Program (meaning “Secure housing” in Thai) puts Thailand’s slum communities (and their community networks) at the center of a process of developing long-term, comprehensive solutions to problems of land and housing in Thai cities. CODI expressly attributes its ability to scale up to the networking that has been spurred between communities: “Baan Mankong has only been possible with the commitment by the central government to allow people to be the core actors and to decentralize the solution-finding process to cities and communities.” (www.codi.co.th).

Read more about the learning exchange by downloading the Exchange Report (5MB)

May 13
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SDI President Jockin Arputham in Cape Town

By FEDUP, ISN, News, SDI No Comments

Jockin Arputham, president of Shack / Slum Dwellers International (SDI) received a warm welcome from the South African Alliance in Cape Town yesterday on the last of his four-day visit. As a long-standing, much-valued friend of the Alliance he spent the day with community leaders in Khayelitsha and with representatives of the City of Cape Town and Western Cape Province.  Jockin spoke about the power of savings and the Indian Alliance’s partnership with the Municipality of Greater Mumbai. In this context, Jockin was accompanied by Rajiv Jalota, the Additional Municipal Commissioner for Projects in Greater Mumbai Municipality.

SDI President Jockin Arputham (Right) & Rajiv Jalota (Additional Municipal Commissioner for Greater Mumbai Municipality)

SDI President Jockin Arputham (Right) & Rajiv Jalota (Additional Municipal Commissioner for Greater Mumbai Municipality)

The Informal Settlement Network (ISN) has mobilised and profiled several settlements in Khayelitsha that are set to proceed on water, sanitation, drainage, re-blocking and community facility projects.  Jockin’s visit linked Khayelitsha’s community leaders – many of whom are fairly new to ISN and SDI processes – to the broader context of the South African Alliance and SDI as a global network.

Community Leaders greet Jockin

Community leaders welcome Jockin

Word of welcome by Tamara Hela, Community Leader from UT Gardens Khayelitsha

An official word of welcome by Tamara Hela, Community Leader from UT Gardens Khayelitsha

National coordinators of the South African Alliance’s two social movements, Patrick Maghebhula (ISN) and Rose Molokoane (FEDUP) welcomed Jockin by speaking about the Alliance’s history with the Indian Alliance. They referred to the South African slogan – Amandla Imali Nolwazi: Power is Money and Knowledge – and its roots in the relationship with India.

“This slogan started influencing me after we went to India (in 1991). We shared ideas around democracy with the Indians. We saw that after 40 years of democracy millions of people in India were extremely poor. We realized that if you sit around and wait for democracy it will come…but it will come with its own laws that might not cater for you. We need to do something to translate these laws to our own life. And so we learnt the experience of self-reliance from the Indians. We need to drive our own lives – and we do that with savings. This is how relationships with government were formed in India. Our savings and our information give us power to influence laws. We know, that yes, we may be poor, but we are not hopeless“

(Rose Molokoane, National FEDUP co-ordinator)

Rose Molokoane (National FEDUP co-ordinator)

Rose Molokoane (National FEDUP co-ordinator)

 

In the keynote address, Jockin emphasised that

“Savings are a life line. We talk about savings the whole time because money is what speaks.  But when you collect money – door to door – you also collect information. When you have information you can plan action and if you act, something will happen. This is why money and information guarantee us power.  We need to think about how to support ourselves”

As 40 – 50 % of Mumbai’s population – 19 million people – lives in slums, many millions do not have access to toilets. In fact, the ratio translates to about 1 toilet for every 800 people.  The NSDF has therefore been working together with Mr Jalota and the Municipality to construct community planned and -owned toilet facilities. This experience, Mr Jalota explained, would help to develop more policies for Greater Mumbai.

Jockin founded the National Slum Dwellers Federation of India (NSDF) in the 1970s. Often referred to as the “grandfather” of the global slum dwellers movement, Jockin was educated by the slums, living on the streets for much of his childhood with no formal education. For more than 30 years, Jockin has worked in slums and shantytowns throughout India and around the world. After working as a carpenter in Mumbai, he became involved in organising the community where he lived and worked (Reference). He helped found SDI and has been awarded many prestigious global awards, most recently the Skoll Foundation award for social entrepreneurship. On behalf of SDI Jockin has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jockin Arputham, SDI President

Jockin Arputham, SDI President

Apr 17
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FEDUP and uTshani Fund introduce ‘Project Permaculture’

By FEDUP, uTshani Fund No Comments

By Barbara Torresi (on behalf of uTshani Fund)

f. Trainers Site Visit November 2013

While the provision of housing to the poorest of the poor remains uTshani Fund’s main objective, it has become increasingly indisputable that, to be effective and for its effects to be long-lasting, the fight against a multifactoral phenomenon like poverty must take place on multiple fronts. This is particularly true in metropolitan areas, where shelter is but one of the necessities that the surging masses of rural-to-urban migrants are in short supply of. With dwindling job opportunities, even the satisfaction of a fundamental human need like adequate nutrition has become uncertain, as has the achievement of the well-being determinants (education, employment, health) that normally cascade from access to a balanced diet.

To use a practical example, when children are undernourished their learning ability suffers, and so does their capacity to stay in school in the face of more pressing concerns such as putting bread on the family table. Similarly, malnutrition renders adults susceptible to a host of chronic ailments, which can dramatically decrease their opportunities to secure  or keep a job in an already crowded employment market. And the lower people’s income, the worse their diet – a vicious circle that exemplifies the sinister self-replicating nature of dependency and economic deprivation.

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Second week of training

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was with all of the above in mind that uTshani Fund and Fedup began to look at ways to work poverty alleviation measures such as income generation and skills training into the Alliance’s saving and upgrading rituals. A perfect opportunity to tackle more than one issue at once – and therefore to reap the benefits of synergic action – was seized by uTshani in June 2013, when the organisation won a grant by the South African National Lottery to teach informal settlement dwellers, and in particular women and other vulnerable individuals, the skills required to grow fruit and vegetables right at their doorstep. Since it provides participants with the ability to cultivate fresh produce for both their own consumption and resale in local markets, the program offers the dual advantage of addressing the issue of food security together with that of the chronic lack of income generating opportunities in the townships.

In actual fact, the scope of Project Permaculture is even larger, since the establishment of horticultural gardens in day-care centres is enabling Fedup and uTshani to not only create sustainable job opportunities in deprived communities, but also to provide education for children in disadvantaged areas, to improve the health of the urban poor, to enhance the physical environment in which slum dwellers live, to teach children from a young age the value of working with nature, and to pilot a livelihood program that can be replicated in other Federation groups.

In other words, Project Permaculture is a sustainable and scalable strategy that targets some of the major issues currently affecting the country’s most deprived urban areas.

d. 1st week training Group 1 photos

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From a practical point of view the project, which is run by uTshani Fund’s partner Rucore and is currently in its concluding stages, started in October 2013 and took place in various settlements of the Eastern Cape (Queenstown and Port Elizabeth), Western Cape (Mossel Bay, Khayelitsha, Philippi), Gauteng (Garuankua, Nigel, Soweto, Orange Farm), and the North West (Oukasie and Hartebees). Training was divided into two phases. The first phase consisted of a six day workshop during which starter packs containing the required materials (spades, hosepipes, fencing, water tanks, shade nets, gutters, compost, manure, fruit trees, seeding trays, herbs, seeds, and posters) were handed out to the beneficiaries. After participants were given a chance to put in practice what they had learnt and to get their gardens started, Rucore conducted a second six day training session in January 2013 to troubleshoot problems and fine-tune skills.

To date, 54 Fedup members (43 of which women) have been directly capacitated by the permaculture program, but in reality the enterprise’s indirect benefits are farther reaching, since it is estimated that between 250 and 300 individuals will take advantage of the improved diets and larger incomes that the workshop attendees will be able to secure through the monetisation of their new skills. As one woman put it,

“What I learned will help my sons grow into strong and healthy adults with the ability to look after their own families and children”.

So here is proof, if any was needed, that not only poverty but also ingenuous ways to mitigate this scourge can, with the help of commitment and organisation, become powerful self-replicating forces.

Group picture at first week of training

Group picture at first week of training

 

Apr 11
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SA SDI Alliance at World Urban Forum 7 in Colombia

By CORC, FEDUP, ISN, SDI, uTshani Fund No Comments

By Ariana MacPherson (on behalf of SDI secretariat) and Yolande Hendler (on behalf of CORC) 

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Today marks the last day of the 7th World Urban Forum (WUF), which took place in Medellin, Colombia from 5-11 April 2014. Patrick Maghebula, Rose Molokoane and Marlene Don – national co-ordinators of the South African Alliance – attended the forum together with numerous members affiliated to Shack / Slum Dwellers International (SDI).  Convened by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), WUF is regarded as the ‘World’s Premier Conference on Cities’ that examines the most pressing issues concerning “human settlements, including rapid urbanization and its impact on cities, communities, economies, climate change and policies” (WUF 7).  Given that the design, governance and infrastructure of cities directly impacts on social, cultural and economic inequality, this year’s forum was themed “Urban Equity in Development – Cities for Life’.

Delegates on Day 1

SDI affiliates from Africa, Asia and Latin America on day one at WUF7 in Medellin

SDI launches the ‘Know Your City’ campaign

A lot of discussion at the past week’s WUF focused on the use of data as a key tool in the development of inclusive, sustainable cities. Key to this discussion is how data can be used in the cities of Africa, Asia and Latin America, most of which still face major challenges around urban poverty and whose city development strategies, for the most part, continue to exclude the large majority of these cities’ populations – the urban poor.

But at SDI’s networking event on Wednesday, a strategically different approach to data was presented and discussed. The ‘Know Your City’ campaign – a global campaign for gathering citywide data on slums as the basis for inclusive partnerships between the urban poor and their local governments – was presented as a critical component of the push for urban data. When communities of the urban poor collect data about their own communities, in partnership with their local and national governments, they are armed with the necessary tools to become key players developing urban development strategies that take into account the realities and needs of the city’s urban poor majority.

SDI-affiliated federations of the urban poor have been collecting information about themselves for decades. This data has led to upgrading projects in affiliates across Africa, Asia and Latin America, and has formed the basis of large-scale slum upgrading interventions in India, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and more recently, Uganda. Read more about the ‘Know your City’ campaign here.

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Patrick Maghebhula (Informal Settlement Network National Co-ordinator)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SA Alliance on People Centred Strategies, Community-Collected Data and Partnerships with Local Governments

On Monday, Patrick Maghebhula joined alliance leaders from Kenya and Uganda in a discussion around how to put poor people at the centre of strategies on urban development. They highlighted how organised urban poor communities triggered new institutional responses to poverty in their cities and how urban poor communities across the Global South are developing relationships with governments that can lead to scaling up slum upgrading and improving quality of life.

Rose moderated an event on “Creating Resilient & Equitable Cities through Partnerships for Community –Collected Data” on Tuesday. The focus was on the critical role of such partnerships at the city-wide and global scale which can serve as a means to explore how data collected by the poor, about the poor and for the poor can become standard benchmarking data used by urban policy makers and planners. The key point was that every city can and should be generating data about urban poor communities with urban poor communities.

Yesterday’s UNDP event on “Strong Local Government for Development through Partnerships in Ghana, South Africa & Uganda” highlighted a new partnership between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and SDI. This partnership aims to support deliberative engagements between local governments and organised slum dweller communities to build a base of data and skills. This approach is based on the experience that, all too often, city development initiatives have been based on a narrow comprehension of the cultural and socio-economic dynamics of the urban poor. However, informal settlement communities have begun organizing and networking at city wide and national scales in order to catalyse innovations with formal authorities for responding to land, sanitation, shelter, and opportunities for employment.

Rose song SDI networking session

Rose Molokoane begins the SDI networking session with a song

At today’s event, Marlene joins the discussion on “Smart Cities from the Bottom Up” which will look at the scarcity of hard data on which communities, governments and international agencies base development decisions. The discussion will elaborate on how community-driven profiling, enumerations, GIS mapping and data management are some core methodologies of urban poor federations such as the South African Alliance and other federations linked to SDI. By working together with experts in urban data analysis and research at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) the data collected by slum dwellers becomes of a standard suitable for local poverty analysis, advocacy and planning.

As WUF7 comes to a close, it is all the more evident that

“There cannot be transformation of the city if slum dwellers are not integrated” (Rose Molokoane, National Co-ordinator SA SDI Alliance)

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Rose Molokoane (National Co-ordinator, Federation of the Urban Poor)

Mar 28
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Amandla Imali Nolwazi! Alliance marches to eThekwini Municipality

By CORC, FEDUP, ISN, uTshani Fund No Comments

After weeks of preparation and community mobilization, thousands of shack dwellers gathered on Durban’s Dinuzulu Square early on Monday morning, 24 March 2014. As people arrived by foot, mini-bus taxi and on numerous busses, they were met by songs of protest sounding from an ever-growing crowd of shack dwellers affiliated to the Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP) and the Informal Settlement Network (ISN).  The mass of black and white t-shirts, placards, banners and cardboard signs bore powerful messages

“Did you know the majority of people in eThekwini are still without title deeds?”

“Phambili nge community participation – Forward with community participation!”

“No Upgrading without Us!”

These messages pointed to the purpose of the march: to hand over an agreement of co-operation to eThekwini Municipality which outlined a more inclusive, implementable and participatory partnership between the municipality and organized groups of shack dwellers affiliated to FEDUP and ISN.

First marchers gather at Dinuzulu Square

First marchers gather at Dinuzulu Square

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Dinuzulu Square to the City Hall

The date of the march coincided with national celebrations around Human Rights Day. Most shack dwellers in eThekwini municipality and the country, however, do not benefit tangibly from the achievement of human rights in South Africa. Land acquisition, housing, water and sanitation, refuse removal, access to electricity and informal settlement upgrading are urgent and daily recurring concerns. For shack dwellers in eThekwini municipality these issues are particularly expressed in the lack of a meaningful engagement between themselves and the municipality.  The march, therefore, aimed to set the scene for an inclusive and participatory working relationship.

 

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A crowd of about 2500 marchers set off from Dinuzulu Square at 11h00, marching in peaceful and powerful protest, singing and loud hailing slogans that express the hardships of life in informal settlements and the power of organised communities. In the mid-day heat of a bright summer’s day, the streets of Durban CBD came to a standstill as shopkeepers, pedestrians and on-lookers absorbed the lively and determined atmosphere. The slogan was clear:

“Amandla, Imali Nolwazi, eish! Ayilumi Mayihlafuna” – Power is Money and Knowledge! Eish! You can’t bite while you are chewing!

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The alliance slogan directly speaks to the low response many urban poor communities receive from local municipalities.  ISN community leader Sifiso Nobani, explains that

“We chose to march because this is the only language that the municipality understands. Roads will be closed and people and businesses will take notice of us”

After 2km, the marchers, representing numerous informal settlement communities in eThekwini gathered in front of the City Hall to hand over the Agreement of Co-operation.

Towards an Agreement of Co-operation

The agreement was drafted as a response to some of the most pressing challenges faced by the urban poor in eThekwini. Sithembile Doncabe, FEDUP savings scheme leader, explains that

“ We are sick and tired of living in informal settlements. We are losing our dignity. We want to raise our dignity. We are citizens. We want houses. But they are not listening to us”

Ma Mkhabela, provincial FEDUP coordinator adds,

“There is some commitment from the municipality but they keep pulling back. When we meet in joint working groups once a month, municipality members are often missing. The provincial and national response is better. The problem is that our ‘partnership’ with the municipality is not a written one”

“We don’t know anything about the municipality’s plans for upgrading our settlements. We need to be informed about time lines and planning. We want to be independent communities. We have rituals that help us, like enumerations that show that one shack does not equal one family. If we have a chance to submit this information to the municipality we can develop our country nicely, like the constitution says!”

At Durban City Hall

At Durban City Hall

The co-operation agreement outlined these concerns in more detail. They relate to: a lack of updated facts and figures concerning the urban poor, a slow approach to land acquisition and assembly for informal settlements, inadequate delivery of basic services and disaster management, inadequate inclusion of the urban poor in municipal budgeting and planning processes, lack of municipal commitment to Joint Working Group structures to deal with uTshani Fund old debt and Pledge Housing implementation, limited social development, poverty alleviation, livelihood generation and nutritional programs as well as inadequate access to finance in funding community based upgrading projects. The agreement of co-operation also outlines the purpose and joint activities for future collaboration, emphasizing practical and implementable suggestions.

Several provincial alliance members shared their experiences around lobbying and mobilization with the marchers. Joe Nene, advisor to the Mayor, then joined national coordinators Rose Molokoane (FEDUP), Mzwanele Zulu and Patrick Magebhula (ISN) as the agreement was read out and handed over.

Mr. Nene received the agreement, emphasizing that he could not promise a signature but that it would be passed on to the mayoral office, which would respond within seven days.

As communities wait for a response from the municipality, Ma Mkhabela is clear,

“We want to plan together with the municipality so that they know our priorities. They need to talk to us. There’s nothing for us without us. We want to know that we have agreed together”.

Joe Nene (Advisor to the Mayor), Patrick Magebhula and Mzwanele Zulu (ISN national coordinators)

Joe Nene (Advisor to the Mayor), Patrick Magebhula and Mzwanele Zulu (ISN national coordinators)

Mar 15
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Re-blocking Kuku Town Informal Settlement

By CORC, FEDUP, iKhayalami, ISN, uTshani Fund No Comments
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View of Kuku Town in the process of re-blocking

Kuku Town informal settlement is located on a little triangle of open land opposite the railway line in Kensington, Cape Town. It is also home to about 50 people that make up 20 households.  The past week has been an eventful one as community members have seen the physical layout of their settlement transform day by day. They have taken down their old homes, structures made largely from pieces of old wood, plastic, cardboard and aluminium that were a safety risk, especially during fires.  Together with iKhayalami, an Alliance partner and support NGO the community cleared and levelled the ground as the more fire-resistant structures were erected.

3 years of preparation

Over the last three years Kuku Town prepared for upgrading by building up a relationship with the City of Cape Town, the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) and Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC). During this time the Alliance also established a partnership with Habitat for Humanity South Africa (HFHSA). In establishing its interaction with the City, the community partnered with the alliance to organise and mobilise itself. Community members were actively involved in modeling, planning and mapping the re-blocked layout as well as collecting savings to contribute to the re-blocked structures. They gathered knowledge and experience about upgrading in community exchanges and collected information about Kuku Town in community-run profile and enumeration surveys.

Re-blocking: an Alliance approach and a City policy

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Community-drafted plan of Kuku Town before re-blocking

‘Re-blocking’ is a term used by the South African SDI Alliance to refer to the reconfiguration and repositioning of shacks in very dense informal settlements in accordance with a community-drafted spatial framework. Generally, re-blocking occurs in “clusters” identified by the community, which result in “courtyards”, ensure a safer environment and generally provide space for local government to install better services.

As Kuku Town is a small and dense settlement the re-blocked layout had to consider creative options. Together with CORCs technical team community designers erected the new structures along the sides of the neighbouring walls with a few re-blocked structures in the centre, opening up an L-shaped pathway throughout the settlement that enables public space and easy vehicle access in emergency situations. HFHSA stepped in at a crucial time to support the re-blocking process by sourcing G5 fill material to raise the new structures and mitigate potential flooding. As part of the community’s re-blocking proposal, the City agreed to install one-on-one water and sanitation services for every structure. This made a big difference to the 50 families who previously had to share 2 taps and 4 toilets.

The re-blocking of Kuku Town is also part of three pilot projects the City of Cape Town sought to support in the coming financial year after it adopted re-blocking as an official policy on 5 November 2013. The City thus indicated a long-term commitment of resources to re-blocking projects, to departmental alignment and to meaningful interventions in informal settlements.

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Community designed re-blocking plan for Kuku Town

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mobilising the community, engaging the City

In 2006 Kuku Town first appeared on the City’s informal settlement database, after a community leader engaged local councilors around poor service delivery. Later, in mid-2011 after the City and ISN / CORC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the community joined the ISN network and clarified a way forward for collaborative partnership with the City.

ISN community leader, Nkokheli Ncambele explains that the interaction between ISN and Kuku Town began when the PFO (Principal Field Officer) of the City’s Informal Settlement Management Department introduced Kuku Town community leaders to other upgrading processes in the informal settlements of Burundi and Sheffield Road. These exchanges provided an opportunity to learn, ask questions and share experiences about informal settlement upgrading. Once community leaders had met with the city and ISN a big meeting took place in Kuku Town to explain upgrading to the community.

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Mzwanele Zulu (ISN), City officials, Verona Joseph (Community leader)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some initial resistance the community decided to opt for re-blocking. This meant that they needed to start saving toward contributing to their own structures.Verona Joseph, Kuku Town community leader, explains that

“over 3 years we managed to save R 15 000. Most people in our community are above 50 years. Only 3 are employed and 5 get a pension. But even the old people managed to save money”

64-year old Auntie Hana Olyn and her husband Piet Jordaan, remember how

“when we collected two bottles we would save the deposit from one bottle. We also collected tins, did the gardening or ironed people’s clothes. This is how we managed to save quickly. Most people could earn R 100 a day. Some of this they used for savings.”

Most community members chose 12m2 and 20m2 structures for which they respectively needed to save R740 and R1000.  The remaining cost of the structure was covered by the Community Upgrading Finance Facility (CUFF). Savings are recorded in personal savings books and are deposited in a community savings account. Regular bank reconciliations are communicated to the group.

 

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Verona and Auntie Hana Olyn in her new home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Community savings records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In April 2012 community members also led an enumeration in Kuku Town through which they gathered relevant, verifiable, and specific data that was used to build models and draft the re-blocking plans. For Verona, the enumeration brought about another success:

“Before the enumeration we had people from different families staying in one structure. Only some of them were registered with the council. I wanted to push for every family to get their own structure. The problem was that some people did not qualify because they were not registered with the council. But with the enumeration we re-counted everyone and got them re-registered.  This was the most important thing! The council then agreed that every family could have its own structure.”

 “As a community we are more comfortable now”

Lydia and Verona, both on the leadership committee, agree that this is one of the biggest changes.

 “We don’t have rats any more and when it rains we won’t lose our clothes. But people’s way of life is also changing. It was a struggle to convince them, but now they have other things to focus on – they are fixing things in their homes. With the new structures everyone’s lives will pick up because this is a very upgraded informal settlement now”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feb 12
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A Decade after BNG: Does UISP work?

By CORC, FEDUP, ISN, News, uTshani Fund No Comments

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By Walter Fieuw (on behalf of CORC/uTshani Fund)

South Africa celebrates two decades of independence this year. It is also a decade after the then-Department of Housing issued its guiding framework document, Breaking New Ground (BNG): A Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Sustainable Human Settlements. Since 2004, when BNG was introduced and all subsequent National Housing Codes were amended to give meaning to the concepts and principles contained therein, we have experienced escalated protests in informal settlements around the country. These “service delivery protests” are often in response to lack of basic services. Politicians claim to have radically improved access to water and sanitation, but these claims can not be validated, and the devil lies in the detail. Its a critical time to reflect on housing praxis ten years after Breaking New Ground, and in this blog post we consider Part 3 of the National Housing Code: the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP).

Never before has civil society, urban sector NGOs and new state institutions been as interested in the upgrading agenda. An example of this was the Isandla Institute and African Centre for Cities conference in 15 and 16 October 2013 titled ‘Partnership-Based Incremental Upgrading of Informal Settlements in South Africa’. ISN and CORC, as part of the South African Alliance linked to SDI, have made strides in upgrading and have received a number of awards for its work in Langrug, Stellenbosch Municipality (UISP Phase 3) and Mtshini Wam (incremental upgrading). Other social movements such as Abahlali baseMjondolo traditionally lobbying only for housing and land have also called for alternatives, of which settlement upgrading and governance reform are primary.

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UISP in retrospect

UISP has been through various iterations since 2004, with major amendments in 2007 and 2009. Academics such as Marie Huchzermeyer has called attention to various progressive elements of the policy being removed. Part 3 of the National Housing Code (2009) argues that informal settlement upgrading is ‘one of the Government’s prime development initiatives and that upgrading projects should be dealt with on a priority basis’ (DHS 2009:25). However, the application of UISP before the establishment of National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP)[1], Outcome 8 of the Presidency, and perhaps to a lesser extent Chapter 8 of the National Development Plan has been extremely weak.

There has also been varied interpretations on how UISP should be applied to different types of informal settlements. Cape Town, as an example, illustrates this point, and two examples – one quite bottom-up, participatory and empowering, and the other top-down and “modernist” – are worth considering. Hangberg in Houtbay was one of the City’s first UISP projects. It had all the right elements to make it a successful upgrading: strong and transparent community leadership and structures, mediation and capacity building by an urban sector NGO Development Action Group, and a strong political will by the City’s mayor and line departments. After moving through Phases 1 and 2, the project broke down in draconian police violence in 2010. Ever since, there has been little progress. The other example is the N2 Gateway Project, which was also packaged as a UISP. Here government departments eradicated the Joe Slovo informal settlement in 2004, moving many residents to Temporary Relocation Areas (TRA), to stabilise and rehabilitate the land. The project was challenged in the Constitutional Court, and the state was forced to house the relocated families. Needless to say, many still remain in the TRAs.

Often times its not so much about the “What?”, but about the “How?”. The UISP does not yet solve many of the complex issues that informal settlements represent, since it falls back on very linear logics. If the UISP were to be restructured, it needs to consider the following themes, which is followed by more practical recommendations for restructuring the programme.

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Themes to be addressed by the UISP

Theme 1: Partnership approach: Most Metros, where the majority of informal settlements are located, have been accredited as housing developers. The City’s role as the developer is essential, but local democratic structures need to be create to facilitate effective upgrading. There should be a stated recognition and budgetary allocation to allow for intermediary support, such as NGOs, community networks, organisational development consultants and mediators (in conflict cases). Without intermediation, the ideals and goals of developing partnerships will remain rhetoric with no execution power.

Theme 2: Area-based planning. Upgrading (brownfields development) is not the same as housing (greenfields development). Grants need to be available for communities to work closely alongside experienced urban designers, planners, architects, surveyors, engineers, transport planners to plan at the neighbourhood scale, and not individual sites for housing consolidation. At the neighbourhood scale, the metro needs to demonstrate how the UISP project will interact with other public investments in the built/urban fabric, which is guided by the Integrated Development Plan, Spatial Development Framework, the Built Environment Performance Plan (BEPP), and a number of other grants such as the Integrated City Development Grant (Treasury) and the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG). This also connects with Treasury’s new Urban Network Strategy, which understands the remaking of the apartheid city by means of prioritised investment in new nodes and development corridors.

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National Treasury’s Integrated City Development Grant utilises the “Urban Network Strategy”

Theme 3: New tenure arrangements: The UISP is currently locked into a reverse greenfields development trajectory: people have occupied the land, they should be removed, trunk services to be installed, houses to be built, and the community needs to move back onto the land. The reality is that informal settlement upgrading is brownfields development, and the phasing of development needs to be planned in partnership with the community. Incremental upgrading means that more allocations for temporary accommodation is required. Design proposals by Cape Town based architecture firm ARG Design in respect to very dense informal settlement upgrading point to the need for “roll-over” accommodation in disruptive times of infrastructure development. The work of ISN and CORC, with partners University of Johannesburg and 26’10 South Architects on Marlboro in Johannesburg, also make proposals for upgrading in industrial areas. This also means that alternative tenure arrangements other than individual ownership needs to be further developed and local municipal officials needs training and capacity development to apply these new tenure arrangements.

Theme 4: New kinds of consolidation housing: The provision of Community Residential Units (CRU) is an option under phase 4 (housing consolidation) of the UISP and falls under Social and Rental Interventions of the National Housing Code (DHS 2009). Higher density and social and rental housing needs to be provided for, and government needs to prioritise a move away from the 40x40x40 housing paradigm: 40sqm house, 40km outside the city, where you spend 40% of your income to get to work.

Theme 5: Analysis of patterns of informality in a metro region: By having strong local design and implementation plans for individual informal settlements, patterns in metropolitan areas can be analysed. This is important to transport apartheid spatialities. It might become clear that in one metro, informal settlements are concentrated along prominent transport corridors, which might be core informants to a metro’s Transit-Orientated Development (TOD) strategies. Other areas, such as mining town, will have a very different needs and requirements for upgrading informal settlements. The link between individual settlements are the city-region might not be a UISP function, but a clear link between settlement grants (UISP, Access to Basic Services) and city restructuring grants (ICDG, USDG, Transport Grants, etc) needs to be clearly articulated for UISP is have maximum impact.

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A community plan presented by Umlazi community, eThekwini

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Professional layout plan design by ARG Design, Kosovo informal settlement, Cape Town

Practical recommendations:

We agree that the phased approach to upgrading is essential, and the logic and structure that the four phases of the UISP is sensible and binds the metro to a progressive and forward looking programme of action. Recommendations are made for each of the four phases:

Phase 1: Application

In addition to the listed activities:

  • Increase community participation grants from 5% to 12% of subsidy quantum
  • Options for new governance arrangements between communities and city officials/departments facilitated by intermediary players (e.g. NGOs)
  • In their business plan, Metros need to demonstrate how UISP plans fit into public investment into the region, citing the IDP, SDF, District and Local Spatial Plans, BEPP, Integration Zones of the ICDG, and sectoral plans (e.g. Transport, Economic Development, Industrial Action Plans, etc)
  • Research into the informal market for demand and supply factors of informal housing including intra- and inter “push and pull” factors

Phase 2: Project Initiation

In addition to the prioritisation of rapid delivery of interim basic services, studies commissioned, and other priorities already mentioned (typically water taps and toilets):

  • Structuring of tenure arrangements (multiple options that ties back into major Land Use Management and Planning)
  • Allocations for interim housing and intra-settlement relocation (ensure zero displacement)
  • Set up block committees that drive local needs assessment through enumeration, profiling, spatial mapping and action planning
  • Representatives of block committees serve on project steering committee

Phase 3: Project Implementation

In addition to the prioritisation of full services (trunk infrastructure, roads, amenities, etc):

  • Project steering committee (read: a special task team) mandated, constituted and multi-party planning and project managing
  • Line departments and formal IDP and public participation processes of the Metro needs to be aligned to the Project Steering Committee’s workplan
  • Consultants appointed by the Metro to be accountable to the Steering Committee

Phase 4: Housing Consolidation 

See recommendations under themes 3 and 4

 In conclusion

UISP remains government’s formal response to the progressive and forward looking ideas contained in the Breaking New Ground framework document. The recommendations presented in this blog is based on a partnership approach, and recognises that structures and delegated authority and tasks are required for upgrading projects to be successful. Only when people living, using and dreaming about the future of their settlements are made to be central actors in the development process, can upgrading truly succeed.

 

[1] The NUSP has four main activity streams: 1) policy promotion and refinement (raise the profile of UISP and refine and improve implementation); 2) networks and forums (fill the knowledge gap and improve information flows by establishing ‘community of practice’); 3) tools and information (furnish practitioners with good practice and shared experiences over and above the guiding framework of the National Housing Code (DHS 2009)); and 4) technical assistance (help provinces and municipalities develop upgrading programmes at project level) (DPME 2010b:48).

 

Feb 11
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FEDUP’s Gogo Mohale saved up for “the house of her dreams”

By FEDUP, uTshani Fund No Comments

By Patrick Matsemela (on behalf of FEDUP)

2013 was a special year for Gogo Mmapule Mohale.  After she saved for 14 years, we began building her house in Maboloka in North West Province. She started saving with the Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP)  in 1999. FEDUP is a women-led social movement that empowers communities to start community saving schemes. It is also one of two social movements that forms the South African Shack Dwellers Alliance. At meetings Gogo Mmapule Mohale would always tell other members,

“I am not in a hurry. I know that I will have the house of my dreams. What needs to happen is that we must negotiate with government for more support”

Now, Gogo Mohale is 87 years old and received her house.

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Gogo Mohale in front of her old house

 

 

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Gogo Mohale’s new house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FEDUP – North West Network

In the North West, the FEDUP network is formed by four to six savings groups. We have six local facilitators and one regional facilitator. Federation network members meet once a month, where they bring different reports from different savings groups. They also share information on their different groups and compile a report for the regional meeting. The report also requests support on issues raised in network meetings.

Through FEDUP saving schemes, communities can develop their own knowledge and capacities, build houses and acquire land. In South Africa FEDUP has about 1500 savings and credit groups which range from a minimum of 15 to a maximum 500 members. If communities save small amounts of money, collect information and use this to negotiate with government they have a better chance of securing entitlements, strengthening themselves and leading their own development plans. FEDUP has used its collective power to lobby government and access the housing subsidy programme. In this way it strongly influenced the governments’s low-income housing policy, the People’s Housing Process (PHP) and later, the enhanced People’s Housing Process (ePHP). uTshani Fund is FEDUPs own housing finance facility and account administrator.

A FEDUP member calculates our her savings at our network meeting in Mafikeng (North West Province)

 

The North West / FEDUP Pledge

Gogo’s house was one of 200 hundred houses that were pledged to be built in Maboloka. The Maboloka project was part of several housing projects in Mafikeng Municipality in North West Province which was part of a national housing pledge signed in 2006 between uTshani Fund and the National Department of Housing and then minister, Lindiwe Sisulu. The pledge was for 1000 subsidies with which to build houses throughout South Africa. The other projects in North West Province were in Lethabong, Jericho&Legonyane, Oukasie Lethabile, Mafikeng and Madinyane.

Lethabong, for example, would receive 96 subsidy houses. As FEDUP we managed to build 89 houses. For this we won the runner up to the North West award for best enhanced People’s Housing Process (ePHP).  For us as FEDUP the PHP needs to be focused on the community. The most important thing about this project was that it was led by the community. We want them to lead the construction, administration and project management. This happens through the Community Construction Management Team (CCMT) which is formed by community members who hold the positions of project manager, procurement officer, bookkeeper, administrator and community liaison officer.  The houses that FEDUP members receive are bigger (54m²) than RDP houses (36m² or 40m²).

We are happy that after so many years of saving together, Gogo Mohale now has her own house. For other FEDUP savings groups to achieve what Gogo Mohale did, we still need more support from government.

 

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The CCMT team manages construction

 

 

 

 

Jan 20
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2012 / 2013 CORC Annual Report

By CORC, FEDUP, ISN, Publications, uTshani Fund No Comments

Cover

With great pleasure CORC ‘s annual report looks back on an event-filled 2012-2013 which set the scene for community mobilisations, beginning and continuing partnerships with government, valuable developments on urban sustainability and our documentation strategies. However, the past year was also marked by the effects of the global financial crisis which were acutely felt by urban poor communities in the form of rapid urbanisation and a continuing lack of government service delivery.  By supporting urban poor informal settlements CORC supports communities in building a “platform of the urban poor”.

In this report outlines an overview of CORC’s general activities and supportive role to its alliance partners, the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) and the Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP) both of which are social movements involved in community-led upgrading processes. You will get an impression of dynamics around community savings, community mobilisations, enumerations, international events and exchanges. Please note that detailed project reports can be found in the separate publication, Masikhase: Community Upgrading Finance Facility (CUFF).

In addition to comments from our regional offices and a financial overview, the report also contains updated developments on our existing partnerships and new working relationships with government. Partnerships with local governments include the City of Cape Town, Stellenbosch Municipality (mature partnerships), City of Joburg Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Midvaal Municipality (partnerships in progress), Breedevalley and Drakenstein Municipalities (signs of potential working relationships).

“We know that when the poor are not involved in development decisions they will care less about their surroundings or even use their initiative to resist paying for their services. our new approach means we will build partnerships with communities, and to give them ‘voice and choice’ in the design and construction of settlements that build sustainable livelihoods and can fulfil their needs” Deputy minister of Human Settlements, Ms. Zoe Kota-Fredericks”

As CORC supports communities making meaningful alternatives to change the structural causes of informality we aim to shift the focus of service delivery from government to partnerships and collaborative relationships.  This year, our work with organised communities, academic and non-governmental partners therefore centred on realising issues of urban sustainability. Some of these include the Solid Waste Network, partnering with Habitat for Humanity South Africa in establishing a city fund or introducing solar electrification in informal settlements.

The report outlines some of the successes and challenges of building coalitions of the urban poor in the contexts of landlessness, homelessness and urban poverty. We wish to congratulate our community partners for the number of awards and nominations for projects delivered, the hard work of collecting data and the patience of building partnerships.

CORC wishes to thank international donor organisations for believing in the vision and supporting the work of the SA SDI Alliance. These donors include:

  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: (“Aligning communities and government”)
  • Ford Foundation (“Promoting Transparent Effective and Accountable Government”)
  • Charles Steward Mott Foundation (“General Purposes” and “Learning through Practice”)
  • Comic Relief (Ikhayalethu grant)
  • Misereor (“Building partnerships between communities and local authorities”)
Jan 16
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More about the FEDUP and ISN joint charter

By CORC, FEDUP, ISN, uTshani Fund No Comments

One of the main events in the calendar of the SA SDI Alliance in 2013 was the National Conference, which brought together FEDUP and ISN affiliated groups from across the country. At this 4 day conference, which was also attended by senior government officials, the two social movements made a commitment to a much closer working relationship in the context of landlessness, homelessness and urban poverty. Read more about the National Conference in this blog post.

Pre-eminence is given to the joint action-orientated charters of the two social movements, and this blog post aims to give a historical background to the emergence, peaks and troughs, and the horizon of the future of these national social movements.

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The struggle years *

The 1980s was a decade marked by open conflict between the white-minority apartheid regime and a sustained mobilisation of the black majority. Liberation movements such as the United Democratic Front (UDF), founded in 1983 with the slogan “UDF Unites, Apartheid Divides”, was at the forefront of making urban space ungovernable through protests, strikes, rent and service charge boycotts, and other forms of direct and confrontational politics (Seekings 2001:21). Other marginalised racial groups such as Indians and coloureds were also centrally involved in the mobilisation against apartheid, having been displaced by major spatial reconstruction through the 1913 Land Act and the 1950 Group Areas Act. Church- and faith-based groups also played a significant role in promoting the ideals of a free and fair society, and took advantages of the slightly more lenient conditions due to recognised religious freedom.

By 1986 the beleaguered apartheid state called a State of Emergency, which saw tens of thousands of opponents detained. Movements such as the UDF, which played a role in forging a sense of unity and coherence in community based organisations (CBOs), significantly enhanced and escalated the opposition against apartheid, by that time led by exiled African National Congress (ANC) diaspora, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and smaller anti-apartheid groupings under the banner of Black Consciousness.

uMfelandaWonye WaBantu BaseMjondolo is born *

In 1994, these savings schemes united to form the new social movement, uMfelandaWonye WaBantu BaseMjondolo, or the South African Homeless People’s Federation (SAHPF). Khan and Pieterse (2004) have further observed that the SAHPF advanced a “people-controlled development [which] is about fostering self-replicable and self-reliant social development practices” (2004:10). South Africa’s first democratic elections saw the ANC voted into power, the SAHPF was an important actor in the urban sector, uniting communities around the common struggle against homelessness, landlessness and poverty.

On 26 November 1995, President Nelson Mandela visited the SA Homeless People’s Federation. In his speech, he said

“In approaching this task we have learned a great deal from the people – from those who are the biggest providers of housing in the country, the homeless themselves. We have learned the value of partnership between ourselves and the people in their communities. We recognise the efforts but into housing by the people themselves. We are proud of the way our people use their initiative, mobilise their meagre resources, sharpen their skills, and put in their labour, in order to provide shelter for their families. Government has committed itself to supporting the people’s housing process. We will provide mechanisms and funds to support it in such a way that the standard of housing can improve – particularly for the poorest of our people”

Despite the lack of “an enabling environment”, the SAHPF engaged the first minister of the Department of Housing and member of the Communist Party, Joe Slovo. At a national meeting with the SAHPF, Minister Slovo remarked, “Look here, show us the way and we will support you. We will rely on your creativity and energy. You have our hearts with you” (SA SDI Alliance 2008:9). A subsequent agreement with the National Housing Board placed the uTshani Fund as a conduit for housing subsidies. This arrangement was called the ‘uTshani Agreement’ (Ley 2009:261). Through this agreement, the Provincial Housing Board – who, at that time, was responsible as the “developer” of housing projects – paid the eligible beneficiary’s capital subsidy into the uTshani Fund, allowing the Federation to oversee implementation. This was a radical departure from mainstream housing delivery supply, in which private companies secured contracts through an open tendering process, to build the agreed number of houses (Khan and Pieterse 2004; UN Habitat 2006).

The Pledge agreement *

In the period 1996 – 2000, the Federation constructed more than 7,000 in the informal settlements of South African cities and uTshani Fund administrated more than R60 million in loans and subsidies. In the period 2000 – 2005, uTshani Fund was financially crippled, since state agencies no longer honoured the uTshani Agreement. Housing delivery slowed down rapidly, and the uTshani Fund only constructed 300 houses between 2004 – 2007 (Mitlin 2008b:20). Despite the financial constraints, SAHPF was able to demonstrate to government a compelling argument: Poor people were able to build larger and better quality houses with the same capital subsidy compared to the private sector housing contracts.

After a significant revision of the terms to which housing subsidies were allocated to the Federation, a new era broke with the Department of Human Settlements. Six Provinces signed the Pledge and those were: Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal, North West, Limpopo and Free State. Each of these provinces pledged to ring-fence 1,000 subsidies for FEDUP groups, tallying more than R220 million (more than US$ 30 million). The agreement stipulated that provinces would pay top structure subsidies (roughly 40% of the subsidy quantum) upfront and provide serviced greenfield plots (remaining 60% of the subsidy quantum). However, many provinces were uncomfortable with these arrangements, and in most cases, uTshani Fund continued to pre-finance loans to FEDUP groups, and retrospectively claim back subsidies back into the revolving fund.

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The emergence of the Informal Settlement Network *

At the same time, a daunting realisation pressed national coordinators: “… for every Federation member with tenure security, there were another 20 without land” (FEDUP 2010:5). At this point, “the men in the Federation decided to reach out to community organisations of the urban poor, to form the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) and to use Federation capacities and [practices] to start to upgrade these settlements as well” (ibid). A series of dialogues were organised in 2008/09 starting in Johannesburg and Durban.

The growth of informal settlements over the past two decades have by far exceeded government’s efforts to deliver better services, provide adequate housing and mitigate against disasters and vulnerability. The Informal Settlement Network (ISN) has responded to the urban and land crises in South Africa by mobilizing communities around internal capabilities and capacities, and around specific settlement issues relating the incremental upgrading, tenure regularization and land. Building solidarity and unity among the urban poor, the ISN aims to creating a change process by connecting “political opportunity structures” (cf Tarrow 1996 cited in Bradlow 2013) to partnership formations with government.

The FEDUP-ISN alliance *

ISN and FEDUP have in common a shared value system and practices that build community capacity and generates knowledge. These practices are widely employed by all country federations in the Shack / Slum Dwellers International (SDI) network.

There is a reciprocal relationship between ISN and FEDUP, and the agencies and practices of the two national social movements complement one another. It is worth citing an internal concept note at length to illustrate the working relationship:

ISN networks and links communities around specific needs and issues, especially land and access to basic services. When the need arises for information gathering and savings mobilization, FEDUP moves in to establish women’s savings collectives, forge links with formal institutions and to leverage development finance. ISN plays the lead political role, which is oriented towards a people-centered engagement with a democratically-elected government” (SA SDI Alliance 2010:6).

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A learning network *

Peer-to-peer horizontal exchanges are central to building networks and platforms of the urban poor. This is also the primary learning space, and communities that have generated learning on a certain aspect become “learning centers”. FEDUP and uTshani Fund’s experience in building strong local capacity to drive projects in the form of the Community Construction Management Teams (CCMTs)  (Each CCMT has a bookkeeper, a procurement officer, and administration assistance and a project coordinator) could be compared to ISN “learning centres”.

Organising dynamics FEDUP Community Construction Management Teams (CCMTs) ISN Learning Centre
Primary modality of community mobilisation Woman’s saving schemes Woman’s saving schemes and socio-spatial data collection
Governance structure Highly organised and roles and responsibly defined Open governance structure with undefined roles and responsibilities
Purpose Project management and coordination Learning and reflection
Project focus Housing developments and subsidy allocation Informal settlement upgrading and growing the network
Outcome Effective project management and pre-financed subsidy recovery Nodes of experience towards city-wide upgrading agenda

Charting the way forward

The Joint FEDUP-ISN charter has special relevance for the future. Drawing on the two movements’ particular qualities has the potential to define a strong bottom-up and people-centred approach to addressing some of the most daunting challenges cities and towns face in the post-apartheid era: the growth and continued marginalisation of “informality” and the urban poor.

ISN understands its vision “to create solidarity and unity among the urban poor by building a national network in order to make the flow of resources and planning of cities more inclusive and pro poor.” ISN’s core focus areas of mobilisation (profiling), governance (establishing committees), networking (exchanges), knowledge generation (enumeration) and partnership development with government agencies creates a strong platform for sustained engagement. This process lends itself for an authentic “bottom-up agglomeration” of local community based organisations. By introducing locally responsive knowledge generating tools,

FEDUP, as a founding member of the SDI network, regards itself “an affiliate of the SDI network, FEDUP is a nationwide federation of slum dwellers in South Africa dedicated to building united, organized communities, to address homelessness, landlessness and creating sustainable and self-reliant communities led by women through informal and formal incremental human settlement upgrading.” The gendered-focus and -sensitive mobilisation by which FEDUP sets up saving schemes and CCMTs  has a lot of potential to

The Joint Charter draws together the synergies created in these social movements two decades of experience. The Charter not only commits the social movements to the SDI organising principles, but also localises the agenda:

Wherever possible the skills, expertise and experience of both social movements shall be used to help further the vision, mission and goals of either movement. In practice this means the formation of joint working teams supported to sharpen and implement the agreed SDI rituals in all informal settlements of South Africa. FEDUP and ISN agree to wherever possible, conduct joint planning sessions that would allow for resources to be maximized through efficient use

The Charter ends by saying “the ISN shall strive to open up spaces within communities for FEDUP to establish new savings groups.  The FEDUP shall strive to support ISN in their communities and promote the ideals of a networked movement of the urban poor”. Considering the historical narrative framed in this blog, the charters are a reminder of the part, and starts to create a roadmap for the future.

* Excerpts taken from: Fieuw, W. forthcoming. A Politics of Resolve: people-centre development in South Africa .

Selected reference list:

  • Bradlow, B. 2013. Quiet Conflict: Social Movements, Institutional Change, and Upgrading Informal Settlements in South Africa. Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on May 23, 2013 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in City Planning. MIT
  • Khan, F and Pieterse, E. 2004. The Homeless People’s Alliance: Purposive Creation and Ambiguated Realities. A case study for the UKZN project entitled: Globalisation, Marginalisation and New Social Movements in post-Apartheid South Africa. Durban: University of Kwa-Zulu Natal
  • Ley, A. 2009. Housing as Governance: Interfaces between local government and civic society organisations in Cape Town, South Africa. Dr‐Ing thesis, Von der Fakultät VI – Planen Bauen Umwelt der Technischen Universität Berlin
  • Mitlin, D. 2008b. Urban Poor Funds: development by the people for the people. Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas Series, Working Paper 18. London: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
  • South African SDI Alliance (SA SDI Alliance). 2011a. uTshani Buyakhuluma: the grassroots are talking. June 2011, Vol.1, No. 2.
  • United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN – Habitat). 2006. Analytical Persepctives of Pro-Poor Slum Upgrading Frameworks. Nairobi