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partnerships Archives - Page 3 of 5 - SASDI Alliance

Sep 18
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What is Area-Based Upgrading? A look at UT Wetland Area, Khayelitsha

By CORC, ISN No Comments

By Yolande Hendler & Moegsien Hendricks (on behalf of CORC)

Over the last ten years South Africa’s human settlement’s sector has seen significant shifts in government approach and policy toward rapid urbanisation and the resulting proliferation of informal settlements. Initially informal settlement policy concentrated on clearing housing backlogs through government subsidised houses in the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP). With the introduction of “Breaking New Ground” (BNG), government’s Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Sustainable Human Settlements in 2004, the in-situ upgrading of informal settlements was introduced. BNG’s accompanying Upgrading Informal Settlement’s Program (UISP) “recognises the value of informal settlement upgrading as a viable strategy for addressing inequality” (Reference).

A view on to UT Wetland

A view on to UT Wetland

While the implementation of UISP is varied and not without its shortcomings (read more here), informal settlement upgrading is establishing an increasing mark on governmental approach. Notably, national policies related to upgrading are not geared towards area-based or city-wide upgrading programs. Given that previous blogs have shared much of the Alliance’s work on informal settlement upgrading, this blog turns to the question of area-wide upgrading. In so doing, it looks at the SA SDI Alliance’s experiences in the upgrading of UT Wetlands area in Site B, Khayelitsha.

What is Area-Wide Upgrading ?

Area based-upgrading of informal settlements is about understanding how the informal settlement functions within the broader local area, city wide and even national context.  The purpose of the area-based approach is to recognise informal settlements as part of the broader urban neighbourhood and not isolated islands which are spatially and socially disconnected.

The work that the SA SDI Alliance is doing through reblocking, includes projects with an area based approach such as the UT Wetland. This project focuses on upgrading the wetland to a park facility,  a community hall, landscaping and improved access pathways. It impacts four settlements that directly benefit from this intervention.  It also provides the foundation for the incremental upgrade of these settlements, building on the connectivity and integration provided by the shared facility.

Initial community site analysis and first phase planning for upgrading UT Wetlands (2014)

Initial community site analysis and first phase planning for upgrading UT Wetlands (2014)

A look at UT Wetland as area-wide upgrade

Four settlements surround the wetland in UT section: UT Gardens, UT Litha Park, TT Section and TB Section. Thamara Hela, a community leader of UT Gardens, explains the leadership structure: each settlement is organised by a steering committee of 15 members, a total of 60 community leaders for the area. Through engaging with the Informal Settlement Network (ISN), each settlement conducted an enumeration, enabling each community to gather accurate data that it can use for community organisation and development purposes.

UT TT SECTION

The wetland is not only integral to the landscape but also to community life: regularly used municipal toilets and taps surround its borders, as well as a network of main pedestrian paths.  Due to structure density in the surrounding settlements, the wetland is often used as a meeting area, particularly by UT Gardens community.

In its current usage, however, the wetland also poses a threat to residents. Thamara speaks about the danger it poses for school children who use its surrounding paths to walk to school. Due to high reeds, visibility is poor so that children and pedestrians become easy targets of crime. The wetland also poses a health hazard: with many mosquitoes and large rats in the near vicinity (if not in structures themselves) cause illnesses. Many residents suffer from eczema and skin irritations.

Poor drainage and municipal toilets on border of Wetland

Poor drainage and municipal toilets on border of Wetland

Due to inadequate meeting space, UT Gardens identified the need for a large community hall, potentially situated on the wetlands. Through its affiliation to ISN the community used the tools of the SA SDI Alliance to organise itself. Supported by CORC’s technical team the steering committee therefore developed a community-centred site analysis and plans for a potential hall in February 2014. Over the next months the steering committee shared these with its surrounding neighbours, Litha Park, TT and TB sections – sparking a discussion on community access and ownership of the land.

After a lengthy engagement with various municipal departments, the wetland was declared a Category Z, indicating that it could not be rehabilitated. With growing disillusionment among community members, the four leadership committees met in April 2015 and developed a joint plan for a “UT Wetlands Park”. This plan was developed with the technical support of the Alliance’s Community Organisation Resource Centre and conceptualised as an area wide development initiative. The plan incorporates reduced flooding in the area, ensuring a play area for children (including a soccer area), partial reblocking, and improved health and quality of life due to drainage and engineering services. All four settlements elected a UT Wetlands Steering Committee, consisting of 17 members, 4 representatives from each settlement and one member on behalf of ISN liaison and communication.

UT Gardens measures shack sizes in preparation.

UT Gardens community members measure shack sizes in preparation.

Profiling & Enumeration in UT Gardens Khayelitsha, June 2013

Profiling & Enumeration in UT Gardens Khayelitsha

 

 

 

 

 

With the go-ahead concerning zoning and land use, the Wetlands steering committee and Alliance engaged numerous stakeholders between April and August 2015. This included presenting the plan to UT’s four communities and assessing their willingness for participation. It also included engaging municipal actors, Councillors and relevant line departments such as City Parks and ensuring the source of funding.

Taking stock: Experiences, Challenges, Successes

At present a sizeable amount of groundwork has been covered: in August 2015 the wetland steering committee developed detailed plans with ISN, CORC, Jakupa architects and City Parks. Long consultation delays and uncertainty regarding required permits presented a core challenge in project preparation. Scale is a further factor: working in large informal settlements can be challenging. Through carefully considered social processes, these challenges can be dealt with effectively when communities in the settlements are actively part of the process. In this sense spatial integration afforded by the area-wide upgrading approach in UT wetlands is also facilitating social integration through the collaboration of all four settlements.

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In addition, partnerships with local municipalities are an important success factor. In the wetland project, the City of Cape Town (CoCT) and in particular the City Parks Department played a critical role: the land is owned by the CoCT and they will take responsibility in partnership with the community to manage this facility.  The Alliance Memorandum of Understanding with the CoCT provided the context for a successful partnership at a local level with the City Parks Department. The lesson is that partnerships with municipalities are required at both a strategic political level and official / project implementation level.

The next steps include appointing an environmental engineer, landscape architect and obtaining an official permit from City Parks for implementation.

Sep 04
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Sharing Knowledge from the Bottom-Up: SDI visits Cape Town Learning Center

By CORC, FEDUP, ISN, SDI No Comments

By Yolande Hendler (on behalf of CORC)

Horizontal learning exchanges form a significant pillar of bottom-up knowledge sharing and a mobilisation tool used by informal settlement dwellers across the Shack/ Slum Dwellers International network. Exchanges are a development tool, which

“help people deal with the root issues of poverty and homelessness and work out their own means to participate in decision-making which affects their lives, locally, nationally & globally. In exchange people are not being trained to do things. They decide themselves what to pick up and what to discard, by visiting others in the same boat. It’s learning without an agenda…on-site, direct from the source, unfiltered”

(Tom Kerr, SDI Secretariat)

In recent years the SDI network has streamlined learning and experience sharing from open ended exchange interaction to a city-level focus in which learning, capacity-building and monitoring is concentrated on four city-level centers of learning. These (Cape Town and Kampala, Mumbai and Accra) were identified due to their capacity to operate at the city scale and demonstrate productive partnerships with government. This blog focuses on a recent visit by the SDI management committee to the Cape Town learning centre, and engages with questions raised by community members around the nature of learning and knowledge sharing in the SDI network.

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Joseph Muturi, from the Kenyan SDI Alliance poses a question to FEDUP / ISN leadership.

The first morning saw national community leaders from the SDI Alliances of Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe join the South African Alliance , SDI President, Jockin Arputham, and deputy president, Rose Molokoane, in exploring the approach of community-driven process in South Africa. The South African community movements, FEDUP and ISN, spoke about their involvements in respective community projects relating to land access and negotiation, People’s Housing Process (PHP), security of tenure, ensuring access to basic services, informal settlement upgrading, and income generation projects.

When asked what FEDUP and ISN see as particular achievements, FEDUP’s regional leader in the Western Cape Province, Thozama Nomnga, spoke of the Federation’s Income Generation Program (FIGP), which is funded through a revolving loan fund established through FEDUP’s national savings. As much as the FIGP funds are drawn from savings, the program also grows FEDUP’s membership and strengthens savings practice as personal savings are a prerequisite to accessing a loan.

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Visiting a savings group and learning about FIGP in Samora Machel.

During the morning, the group visited a savings scheme in Samora Machel township in Cape Town as well as FEDUP’s Vusi Ntsuntsha group. After a warm welcome at Samora Machel, the savings group facilitator, treasurers and collectors spoke about the FIGP, how loan groups are formed, how loans are allocated and the respective finances are calculated. Savings group members showcased their small businesses – ranging from tailored shwe-shwe Dresses, to tuck-shop goods, beaded jewellery and crafts, fat-cakes and chicken. From Samora Machel the visitors travelled to Vusi Ntsuntsha group, hearing about the group’s successful negotiation for land, and the challenges ahead in terms of securing tenure and housing sites. Hassan Kiberu, from the National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda (NSDFU) motivated the group to keep unity and hope:

“By unity we win. When you give up you won’t win. We joined the Federation in Uganda because we have so many problems. Like you, there are many that we haven’t tackled yet. It is important that you are firm, don’t lose hope and keep on saving.”

Income Generation businesses by the Samora Macheal savings scheme

FIGP businesses in Samora Macheal.

The remainder of the day was spent in a packed community structure in Khayelitsha where representatives from more than 5 communities had gathered to share their experiences in informal settlement upgrading, community generated data collection, design, mapping, planning and negotiation with local government. The visitors were introduced to an area-wide upgrading approach around a wetland and the accompanying lengthy negotiations with local government. They also heard about a completed reblocking upgrade in Flamingo Crescent informal settlement and the process of planning for reblocking in three additional settlements.

In conversations and questions posed throughout the day – a recurring interest occurred among community participants concerning the nature of ‘learning’, the necessity for transparent sharing during  community exchanges and what it means to be an “SDI learning centre”. Joseph Muturi from the Kenyan Alliance’s Federation, Muungano Wa Wanavijiji, raised the value of sharing challenges as freely and as frequently as successes.

“How can we learn from each other if we don’t share our challenges? We know that we can learn from every SDI country. In learning centres there is something specific we can learn. But we don’t expect them to be perfect –there will always be challenges, and we need to learn from them.”

Community gathering in Khayelitsha on informal settlement upgrading.

Community gathering in Khayelitsha on informal settlement upgrading.

On this note, ISN shared the difficulties of navigating tensions between steering committees and communities, the rivalry between different civic organisations, varying levels of co-operation from Councillors and long delays by city councils that cause disillusionment in communities. Kenyan representatives spoke about their ability to secure tenure for 10 000 informal settlement dwellers through bio-metric data collection, using mobile phones – learnt from the interaction between Ugandan Federation members and their City officials. In reflecting on the exchange, Nkokheli Ncambele, provincial ISN coordinator, echoes the value of bottom-up knowledge generation in exchanges:

“It was very beneficial to be exposed to savings and the FIGP businesses – we managed to send a successful message to community leaders in Khayelitsha about upgrading and savings. We learnt how other countries use their profiling data to engage with the City. We need to do the same”.

Aug 28
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FEDUP wins national Govan Mbeki award

By FEDUP, uTshani Fund No Comments

By Yolande Hendler (on behalf of CORC)

It is a pleasure to announce FEDUP’s award for best enhanced People’s Housing Process (ePHP) project at this year’s national Govan Mbeki Awards ceremony hosted by the Department of Human Settlements in Cape Town. FEDUP national coordinator, Rose Molokoane, received the award for the Mafikeng 200 housing project on behalf of FEDUP North West on 13 August 2015.

Rose Molokoane (left) with Bukiwe Matakane (CORC Savings Support) and Thozama Nomga (Western Cape FEDUP Coordinator)

Rose Molokoane (left) with Bukiwe Matakane (CORC Savings Support) and Thozama Nomga (Western Cape FEDUP Coordinator)

Govan Mbeki Awards

The annual award ceremony (established in 2006) aims “to promote and inculcate a culture of excellence within the human settlement sector in the delivery of quality human settlements and dignity to South Africans” (Reference). It acknowledges excellent achievements on a Provincial and National level in order to showcase the department’s work at both tiers and to promote best practice. (Read more here.)

FEDUPs partnership with Human Settlements

This is FEDUP’s fourth consecutive Govan Mbeki Award since 2012 and its first national award for ePHP, following provincial Govan Mbeki awards for housing projects in the North West (2012 & 2013), Kwa-Zulu Natal (2012), Gauteng (2013), and Patrick Magebhula Hunsley’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2014). The string of awards is testament to the partnership FEDUP has been building with various tiers of Human Settlements since democratic transition. Particular milestones in FEDUP’s advocacy with government are marked by government’s adoption of the People’s Housing Process (later ePHP) as a policy approach in 1998 and the Department’s long-term subsidy pledge to FEDUP in 2006. FEDUP, uTshani Fund and then national minister of housing, Lindiwe Sisulu, signed the pledge for 1000 housing subsidies per province in South Africa.

Mafikeng 200 Govan Mbeki Award

Mafikeng 200 Govan Mbeki Award

FEDUP’s partnership has thus been key in instituting an alternative approach to housing provision: the ePHP is community-centred and community–driven, activating communities as central role players. It outperforms developer-built subsidised housing in size, cost and quality, generates employment and construction skills and elevates the voice of the urban poor. Read more here. The remainder of this blog will detail FEDUP’s Mafikeng 200 housing project and explore what a continuing future partnership with the Department could like.

Mafikeng 200 project in North West

The Mafikeng housing project is a result of FEDUP’s 2006 pledge agreement with the national department. Within the pledge, the North West provincial department had allocated 1000 housing subsidies to FEDUP of which the movement decided to use 200 in various settlements in Mafikeng. FEDUP entered negotiations with the provincial government, preparing a contract, business plans and geo-technical investigation. At first, the geo-technical report deemed the ground in one of the Mafikeng settlements as too dolomitic for house construction. After FEDUP members engaged in further negotiations construction was approved. Molokoane recounts,

“Although we had challenges with the Department, our partnership is strong, especially with the regional manager who helped us bridge challenges, guiding us and giving us relevant people to correct our mistakes. We are not saying that we are perfect in building houses. But the good thing is that it empowers our communities, gives confidence and grows trust between communities and government”

Mafikeng Network Meeting in March 2015

Mafikeng Network Meeting in March 2015

At the core of the project and the strong partnership with the provincial department are daily savings – a tool that brings communities together, enabling individuals to identify and share challenges as well as find solutions. This was particularly the case in the North West where FEDUP members used their community savings (housed in FEDUP’s Urban Poor Fund), to attract more members, to leverage government support and create a sense of ownership.

“When we talk of a community owning a project we are referring to Mafikeng. Mafikeng members have now formed seven savings groups, and spend their own savings on monthly gatherings: hiring transport, equipment and cooking food.”

(Rose Molokoane, national FEDUP coordinator)

Savings report back to more than 150 savers gathered in Mafikeng.

Savings report back to more than 150 savers gathered in Mafikeng.

Using their own savings, Mafikeng group members prepare a meal for all members at the Network meeting

Using their own savings, Mafikeng group members prepare a meal for all members at the Network meeting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Future Partnership on Upgrading

For Molokoane, the Mafikeng 200 project won the Govan Mbeki Award due the partnerships FEDUP had established with Mafikeng Municipality, the North West and National Department of Human Settlements.

“The partnership between these four stakeholders illustrates that working together, we can do better. The Department realised Mafikeng is a good example of PHP and ePHP because people are doing it for themselves. National government supports this because with some there is still a dependency syndrome that obliges government to provide. Through FEDUP we try and change this mind set: government should do it with us, not for us.”

In looking ahead, Molokoane speaks about the significant alliance between FEDUP and the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) as well as the necessity for all tiers of government to recognise informal settlement upgrading in its own right and as clearly distinct from housing projects.

“People have the right to basic services over and above getting a house. Government needs to recognise the need for security of tenure and basic services for communities in informal settlements. If they give us [the SA SDI Alliance] the space to do this [informal settlement upgrading], people can change their conditions and the face of their communities. We have a long way to go with government, so we need to join hands as poor people. Our vision is basic services, security of tenure, providing an opportunity to build, then people should organise themselves to build their own houses.”

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Aug 05
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SA Alliance in Botswana: Building a strong urban poor Federation

By CORC, FEDUP, SDI No Comments

By Kwanele Sibanda (on behalf of CORC)

For the Shack / Slum Dwellers International (SDI) network, horizontal exchanges between savings groups and communities present an opportunity for bottom-up learning and mutual support. While each SDI affiliate shares the same tools and practices for community organisation and people-centred development, the use of these tools is shaped by local socio-economic and political contexts. Exchanges, therefore, also explore how new-found insights can be adapted to realities “back home”.

As an SDI learning centre, the SA SDI Alliance and FEDUP in particular have supported the growth of the Botswana SDI Alliance, the Botswana Homeless and Poor People’s Federation and support NGO. This blog reflects the workings of an international exchange, strategies for partnership building, and the necessities of rooting the strength of a Federation in daily saving, strong trust and cohesiveness on the ground.

Gointse (Trust for Community Initiatives) explains partnership with Stanbic

Gointse (Trust for Community Initiatives) explains partnership with Stanbic

Background of the Exchange

The SDI exchange to Botswana by the South African delegates was originally aimed at supporting the federation of Botswana in making a presentation to the new Minister of Local Government and Rural Affairs. In spite of efforts made by the Minister to meet the federation, the set meeting coincided with an emergency that he described as critical and could not be postponed.

From the previous visit of the South African delegates dated 16 – 19 October 2014, the Botswana federation has shown growth and determination to work with resources at their disposal. The federation of Francistown has been very influential in the growth of the federation, nationally. The Francistown Federation started off by influencing their local City Council especially the Town Clerk who in turn is now taking a lead in introducing the federation to officials in other cities as well as different government departments. The attempt to meet the Minister was through the efforts of the Francistown Town Clerk and the local supporting NGO (Trust for Community Initiatives).

As the meeting with the Minister was postponed at the 11th hour, the federation members from Francistown and the SA SDI Alliance used the opportunity to visit a fairly new local saving scheme (Boiteko Saving Scheme).

BOITEKO SAVING SCHEME MEETING.

Boiteko saving scheme meeting took place in Gaborone . A message of appreciation was given to the saving scheme members for attending the meeting even though it was scheduled within a short period of time. Amongst the issues discussed, the following was the most pressing for the saving scheme in Botswana as a whole.

  • Botswana has a law that disregards the nature/circumstances under which a group is established and wishes to have financial transactions that it be registered as a company. This act poses a challenge to the federation because of tax related burdens, registration process and other financial burdens that may be required by the law.
  • The groups have since resorted to opening bank accounts using one member of the group under conditions that include a letter to the bank stipulating that he is termed account holder and merely represents the group and can only undertake financial transactions authorised by two named signatories of the group’s choice. Boiteko Saving Scheme is no exception to the challenge.
Group photo after meeting with Boiteko Saving Scheme members

Group photo after meeting with Boiteko Saving Scheme members

  • The saving scheme was established in February 2015 with 27 members at its highest. Without seeking information internally, new members went to various government departments to find out if the poor people’s movement was registered. Upon realization of the other, word spread, dispute ensued, and sixteen members shunned the group leaving unity of the remaining on the canvas. The group currently stands at 11 members  and has a total of  P2 000 in savings up to date.
  •  In July 2015 the federation allegedly made a presentation at a Public Service Event where different Ministers were present. The presentation was broadcast on national television (BTV) and was seen by members that had forsaken the group. It is believed that the publication of the presentation somehow proved the authenticity of the organization as opposed to unfounded, simmering rumors.
  • The groups are being supported by the local NGO in opening bank accounts. The members of the new group expressed their need for support as they are not yet well versed of the other components in the alliance other than savings.
  • Savings Report
Total Number of saving schemes 55
Women 1 191
Men 122
Total Savings P276, 136.23
Total UPF P31, 473.94
Funds used to start income generating projects P260, 926.66
      Inputs made by the SA SDI alliance and Francistown delegates
  • Within groups, it is always ideal to have manageable numbers; however it is wise to be aware that numbers matter in influencing policies such as that currently affecting them on opening of bank accounts.
  • In making presentations, follow all levels of influential structures starting with the local chiefs so that your process is well understood and no one feels undermined.
  • Make daily collections a norm so as to bond as savings members and generally improve your savings.
  • Use the small projects  you are already doing to demonstrate to  government and other institutions your interest and how you wish to scale it up.Make use of  government resources like the ‘Poverty eradication programme’.
  • Start programmes for supporting other savings schemes because you tend to learn more when you share more.
  •  Choose honest people  to handle your finances to avoid jeopardizing the organisations name
  • Avoid making long meetings that will discourage attendance.
  • Members need to understand the power of working collectively.
  • Save with a goal and make good use of the savings . It is normally pointless to be endowed with savings that remain untapped when challenges prevail or opportunities present themselves.
Far Right - Sarah Mulaudzi (FEDUP) sharing her savings experience

Far Right – Sarah Mulaudzi (FEDUP) sharing her savings experience

WAY FORWARD

  • The federation of Botswana has to draft a programme were it will be supported in areas that include mobilization, savings recording system and explaining the different components in the alliance.
  • Once the meeting is confirmed with the Minister, leaders should prepare themselves for a presentation and should include in the agenda the policy requiring them to register in order to open bank accounts.
  • Each region has to start writing stories about the different projects and activities that they are doing.
Jul 16
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How Sporong community negotiated service delivery in Gauteng

By ISN No Comments

By Kwanele Sibanda (on behalf of CORC)

According to how the Informal Settlment Network (ISN) demarcates Midvaal informal settlements; Sporong informal settlement falls under cluster 3. Sporong is a relatively small informal settlement with 17 households and holds a population of about 70 people. The settlement falls under Boltonwold that is about 10kms out of Meyerton. It is one amongst a number of Midvaal informal settlements located in secluded farm areas with residents living in abject poverty.

Many hands make light work - installing toilets in Sporong.

Many hands make light work – installing toilets in Sporong.

 

The first tenant of Sporong is Ntate Tladi Mokgobo. He has lived in the settlement for over 50years. He settled on the land when he was given permission by the owner to construct a shack and pay a monthly rental fee. The steady growth was experienced as more farm workers from nearby farms needed accommodation. Currently, all tenants pay R100 per month to the landlord, for the informal structures they reside in (shacks). The R100 per month rental fee might be viewed as affordable; however the recent eviction of one of the tenants suggests that affordability is not for all. The provision of informal structures by a private landlord to rent coupled with no basic services was insidious. The first settler expressed an in depth understanding of the alliance and its approach to ameliorating challenges in informal settlements. He furthermore asserted that any community’s failure to cooperate with such interventions makes a folly act.

From each one of the three clusters of Midvaal, one settlement was chosen for a pilot project. Out of the profiling exercise, prioritized projects were identified. The main objective of undertaking the pilots is that of demonstrating to the Municipality what is of interest to the communities and their efforts with the aim of negotiating and scaling up relevant service delivery.

Savings mobilization

Savings mobilization

In the context of Sporong, the prioritized project was that of toilets. The settlement of about 70 residents has been using a nearby bush as their toilet and they describe the situation as demeaning. The two pit toilets that were put up by the Municipality got filled up years back and have never been drained. The sanitation challenge is one that is mirrored in informal settlements across Midvaal.

ISN and FEDUP’s intervention was that of engaging the community leaders and community at large with the aim of motivating them to start working towards self-sustenance. Upon verifying with the leaders that the toilet project is a priority as indicated in the profile; the project was then scheduled. Community participation and resources in form of tools were put to good use and the top structures of the full pit latrines were repositioned. The toilet project ran concurrently with the savings mobilization. The savings team was led by Rosy and Nompi. With the women of Sporong, the two aforementioned; shared the history of the SDI alliance, savings and how they have personally benefitted from being members of savings groups. The FedUp leaders currently await a date for the savings implementation.

Full pit toilet dismantled

Full pit toilet dismantled

Repositioning and assembling the top structure

Repositioning and assembling the top structure

Jun 26
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Alliance and Community Architects Network plan inclusive cities in Philippines

By CORC, FEDUP, ISN, SDI No Comments

By Andiswa Meke (on behalf of CORC)

From 16-23 June 2015, the SA SDI Alliance joined community designers and architects for the third regional workshop of the Community Architects Network (CAN) in Metro Manila, Philippines. The Alliance team consisted of 3 FEDUP and ISN community members who are involved in managing community construction as well as two of CORC’s community architects. The workshop was hosted by CAN’s Philippine Alliance organisations of HPFI (Homeless People’s Federation Philippines Inc.), TAMPEI (technical Assistance Movemnet for People and Environment Inc.) and PACSII (Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives, Inc.),

CAN 8

The theme of the 2015 workshop was “Together we CAN! People Planning for future inclusive cities”, emphasizing that strong partnership can yield excellent achievements. There was an estimate of one hundred attendees from different countries (representatives from public institutions, academia, CBOs and NGOs). The workshop spanned eight days and involved several activities: getting to know the Philippine context, sharing various country experiences updates on approaches and experiences of community architecture, reflection sessions and exhibits.

The group split to do community fieldwork in two locations in Metro Manila, the heritage site Intramuros and Muntinlupa City. The SA SDI Alliance members had the honor to work on more than two groups and with different communities. The Alliance sent five members to attend with the aim of exposing them to the programme and gaining knowledge to apply in South African community upgrading. The alliance looked to build and strengthen partnerships and lobby potential stakeholders.

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CAN Background

CAN is a regional network of community architects that focuses on improving the living conditions of poor communities in Asian countries through community-based projects under the Coalition of Community Action Program (ACCA) regarding people housing, city-wide upgrading and recovery from disaster . CAN has opened opportunities for interested young professionals, academic institutes NGOs, CBO`s to come and engage with design skills to support communities in finding solutions to their own needs.

CAN 2013 Workshop: PEOPLE CAN MAKE CHANGE

In 2013, a workshop of the same nature took place under the theme “People CAN make change and progress”, where communities were introduced to bringing about change through acquiring tools, skills and information. Communities were taught different skills from mapping and savings to profiling. After the ten day workshop, the community members and architects came up with solutions that would push local government towards building avenues that would represent the people as well as a building plan that would be community driven and understood. The network strongly believes that the role of community architects is to build the capability of people through participatory design and planning so that people themselves become the solution.

CAN 2015 workshop: TOGETHER WE CAN

On the opening day, the host city Intramuros held a number of talks that gave an overview of Philippines informal settlements and introduced city-wide development approaches in Asian cities. The delegates were split into groups and sent to different cities around the Philippines. The purpose was for delegates to identify and resolve issues and share knowledge around the communities.

A public forum took place on the eighth day, where all groups presented their findings and suggestions and were given the opportunity to select the best plan for each community and share their experiences surrounding their visit.

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Challenges for the re-blocking group in informal settlement Sitio Pagkakaisa, Manila

  • Community members who don’t want re-blocking.
  • Critical challenge was the materials the houses were built in, which would not be easy to remove. In some informal settlements people have already secured land tenure with their subsidy money and their savings, they now fear that they will be unable to build houses once the re-blocking takes place

Challenges for the Intramuros, Manila

  • Finding a solution to better the high density of the settlements
  • The most challenging part was designing an upgrading plan that would address the needs and embrace the heritage of the Intramorous communities
  • Issue of land tenure and people living in private land deemed as a major challenge in upgrading –related processes.

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Learning points

  • A community’s knowledge of its settlement is essential for drafting development plans and interacting with government officials about pressing issues in informal settlements. The community seemed informed of the development plan and where they are lacking in terms of services.
  • The partnership between local officials and the community is vital. It is kept strong to an extent that the municipality is willing to communicate and engage with communities regarding housing and informal settlement upgrading.
  • When community leaders have a good relationship with community members, they make informed decision together.
  • Savings is the pillar of creating communal consistency in the informal settlement
  • SA SDI Alliance members learnt how to engage with problem solving in the context of a different country, how to use existing SDI tools in a completely different setting and an approach to building communities with a strong heritage value who showcase this in their planning.
SA SDI Alliance Team

SA SDI Alliance Team

Outcomes of the exchange

  • Intramuros: Suggestions for sustainable and participatory options for informal settlements in Intramuros heritage site, in context of its revitalization plan.
  • Muntinlupa: Suggestions for holistic solutions for informal settlements located in high risk zones with insecurity of tenure
  • CAN delegates managed to advocacy for interaction between Muntinlupa City and its Barangays.
  • New CAN attendees were exposed to the practical implementation of SDI rituals
  • CAN delegates gained membership of the CAN
Jun 18
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From Re-blocking to Housing: Lwazi Park – CPUT Studio 2015

By CORC, ISN No Comments

By Yolande Hendler & Andiswa Meke (on behalf of CORC)

In April 2015, the community of Lwazi Park embarked on a four-week design studio that investigated affordable solutions for incrementally improving dwelling structures in the settlement. Through its affiliation to the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) and Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), the community partnered with fourth year students of Architectural Technology from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) as well as a visiting group of students from the Reunion Island arm of the Ecolé National Superier d’Architecture Montpellier (ENSAM).

CPUT & Reunion Students visit Lwazi Park.

CPUT & Reunion Students visit Lwazi Park.

Lwazi Park Informal Settlement

Lwazi Park is situated in Gugulethu, near the N2 freeway in Cape Town. The settlement is now home to thirty-eight households and a primary school adjacent to the area. Its first inhabitants are alleged to have occupied the space in the mid- 1990s, when they built informal dwellings near the Lotus River. In 2001 the informal settlement stretched from Klipfontein Road up to the Eastern edge of Gugulethu. Lwazi Park is characterized by canals that were built fifty years ago, with the purpose of draining the flood plains for communities who were forcibly removed from the city centre during the apartheid era. Today, these canals are polluted and flood every rainy season.

View of Lwazi Park canal

View of Lwazi Park canal

Past Studios Paving the Way for Lwazi Park

The relationship between Lwazi Park community and the SA SDI Alliance dates to 2011, when the community, Alliance and City of Cape Town began to address a pending relocation of the informal settlement. Click here for more background. CPUT’s architectural technology students first participated in joint design studios with ISN & CORC in 2011 working on subsequent collaborative design in Vygieskraal and Manenberg.

The 2015 Lwazi Park studio was convened as a response to the community’s desire to explore options for further in situ upgrading after re-blocking in 2011. This is one of the first Alliance studios focused on incremental housing typologies for a settlement that has already undergone re-blocking. The studio thus reflects the incremental and cumulative nature of informal settlement upgrading. Perhaps even more significantly it speaks to a context-specific and community-centred approach.

Lwazi Park after reblocking in 2011

Lwazi Park after reblocking in 2011

Within the Alliance, studios play a significant role. On the one hand they support community negotiations with local authorities: through a collaborative approach studios bring about community-informed design typologies. On the other, they challenge and extend existing disciplinary norms in architectural thought and practice. CPUT Lecturer, Rudolf Perold, explains that such approaches are anomalies in

“the field of architecture, which often does not make provision for design in informal areas let alone consider the community’s lived context as informing appropriate and relevant design solutions*.”

In this sense collaborative design studios generate ideas and debate on alternative housing design and delivery options that address residential environments within existing and challenging urban conditions.

Lwazi Park Studio Content: incremental housing typologies

In practice, the studio comprised a site visit to Lwazi Park and two collaborative design instances between community representatives, students and Alliance representatives (ISN & CORC) who provided social support and facilitation. The students were tasked to develop a spatial development/master plan for the settlement’s in-situ upgrading to two to three story residential buildings as well as housing typologies that would respond to the social needs and spatial context of Lwazi Park community.

Lwazi Park community leader engages students around their questions.

Lwazi Park community leader engages students around their questions.

During the site visit community members introduced students to the physical layout and context of their settlement, lived realities, daily challenges and needs. These include the lack of a multipurpose / community hall or a nearby school. A central concern was the lack of funding provided by the city to help improve the standard of living. The community also expressed a desire for a safe place for their children to play in. A further concern related to drug abuse by the youth and the unsettling rate of crime.

Once the site visit had been completed and some preliminary insight gathered from community members, the design process began. CPUT lecturer Rudolf Perold explains,

“Their [the students’] point of departure was the community representatives’ assertion that they were set on obtaining tenure security and upgrading their settlement. Having had to adjust their approach based on the input received (albeit not representative of the entire community’s wishes) the complexity of balancing the community’s needs with your own design intent became clear”.

Challenges and Learning Points

In reflecting on the studio, CPUT lecturer Rudolf Perold highlights learning points for the students

  • The relationship between designer and occupant was crucial to the design process and triggered an empathy which contributed to the success of the design outcomes
  • The situated knowledge of community representatives and the Alliance proved integral to the development of the site layout and housing typologies
  • Students were sensitized to lived realities in informal settlements
  • “These experiences show that designers require a broadened skill set if they are to prove themselves useful in a context of mediation between poor urban communities and local government…- acting, as Stephen Lamb of Design-Change says, as interpreter of community needs rather than the holder of professional knowledge”

  • CPUT-based studio with input by community representatives, ISN & CORC.

CPUT-based studio with input by community representatives, ISN & CORC.

In addition a CPUT student added,

“Realising how people adapted to their living conditions in Lwazi Park and how these conditions push people to learn to survive, was a learning curve for me.”

For both the students and the Alliance a core challenge was experienced by the lacking attendance of enough community representatives in campus-based contact sessions. The students gained some community input during the site visit, which helped to contextualize and ground their work. The lack of community representation, however, speaks to a need for more social facilitation between the different actors involved so that the jointly designed plans can indeed be presented to the municipality.

  • CPUT quotations taken from “Perold.R., Devish, O., Verbeeck, G. 2015. Informal Capacities: Broadening Design Practice to Support Community –Driven Transitions to Sustainable Urbanism. Working Paper.
Presentations of master plans and housing typologies

Presentations of master plans and housing typologies

Final Student Presentations

Final Student Presentations

Jun 12
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Partnership in Mossel Bay: FEDUP and Provincial Minister launch houses

By FEDUP, uTshani Fund No Comments

By Yolande Hendler (on behalf of CORC)

FEDUP savers, Norman Bless, Provincial Minister and Municipal representatives infront of Norman Bles' new house

FEDUP savers, Norman Bless, Provincial Minister and Municipal representatives infront of Norman Bles’ new house

It’s a rainy June afternoon in KwaNonqaba, an area of informal settlements and state-subsidised housing on the outskirts of Mossel Bay. Singing arises from a tent pitched nearby a newly finished house – FEDUP members awaiting the arrival of Western Cape MEC for Human Settlements, Bonginkosi Madikizela. Among the group is FEDUP saver, Norman Bles, homeowner of the newly finished house. The day marks the official opening of his house – as well as four additional FEDUP houses. It also marks a breakthrough in the relationship between Mossel Bay municipality and the local groups of FEDUP savers – the beginnings of a partnership after over a decade of negotiations.

FEDUP savers celebrating the house opening and new partnership formation

FEDUP savers celebrating the house opening and new partnership formation

Tracing FEDUP’s history in Mossel Bay

Thozama Nomnga, Western Cape coordinator for FEDUP, recounts how in the early 1990s the movement had built 33 houses in partnership with the municipality. After a period of disengagement, FEDUP returned to Mossel Bay in 2006, re-connected with old savings schemes and the municipality, particularly around the KwaNonqaba housing project, which, at the time, was pegged at 110 houses. Due to changes in leadership and member affiliation to savings schemes, the municipality eventually pledged 35 houses in 2013. On 2 June 2015, the completion of the first 5 houses was officially celebrated along with the formal opening of the new house of Norman Bles.

Tracing the story of FEDUP’s Norman Bles

FEDUP member, Norman Bles, with his family infront of the newly finished house.

FEDUP member, Norman Bles, with his family infront of the newly finished house.

 

As Norman Bles, reflects on his journey with FEDUP, he explains that he has been waiting for a house since 1993. Originally from Mandela Zone 5, he began saving with (what is now called) FEDUP in 1993. Over the years he left and re-joined the Federation several times – in the early 1990s due to a perceived lack of municipal support for housing and later due to uncertainties in the saving group leadership. During the constant changes in membership and saving participation, Norman speaks about his encounter with a fellow saver, who emphasised the importance of savings. This encouraged him to re-join the movement and eventually form his own savings scheme.

“Because we liked the Federation and understood the rituals of SDI [Shack/Slum Dwellers International], I went back to my house, talked to the people and said, ‘Let’s open a savings group in my house.” Other people joined us and we have been saving until now”

(Norman Bles, FEDUP homeowner, Mossel Bay)

He explains how together with FEDUP he continued negotiating with the municipality for housing.

“We kept negotiating because I wanted a bigger house [than] the small houses the municipality was building. The promise that we would get bigger houses with uTshani Fund [FEDUP] is what gave me hope to continue saving. I have a wife and kids who now have a place to sleep. It is no longer in a small shack. Today there is no rain that will get my children.”

(Norman Bles, FEDUP homeowner)

Launching a house, building a partnership

 

At the launch itself, Western Cape FEDUP leader, Thozama Nomnga, described the day as “the start of a partnership with Mossel Bay municipality.” Both the minister and Mossel Bay Head of Department (HoD) for Human Settlements echoed this sentiment. In particular, the minister emphasised that the government needed to acknowledge its setbacks and work harder at making [housing opportunities] happen:

“What you are doing [as an Alliance] is directly in line with our strategic objectives in the Western Cape. You have proven that you have the capacity to do this thing [build your own houses]! Why can’t we use the Alliance to do these things in a number of settlements so we can really become partners. It might only be 5 houses but there are more coming. We want to change the landscape.”

(Bonginkosi Madikizela, Western Cape MEC for Human Settlements)

Thozama Nomnga, Western Cape FEDUP coordinator

Thozama Nomnga, Western Cape FEDUP coordinator

 

Johan van Zyl, Mossel Bay HoD, speaks of the municipality’s mindset shift that enabled a more people-centred approach. While previous municipal programs and approaches were characterised by little coordination and cooperation between the municipality and communities, a meeting initiated by the provincial minister introduced an alternative view of community engagement. Coupled with a successful Govan Mbeki Award, a national reorientation toward more community support and continuous negotiation, the municipal mindset in Mossel Bay began to change:

“[We] have to have partnerships. Municipalities and government can’t do anything on their own….That is why the minister [indicated] that these initiatives will be supported by government to create more housing opportunities”

What underpins a partnership?

KZN FEDUP Coordinator, MaMKhabela

KZN FEDUP Coordinator, MaMKhabela

 

While FEDUP celebrated the completion of 5 houses, the road ahead is a long one. After over a decade of negotiations with Mossel Bay municipality and repeated submissions of project plans, the municipality seems receptive to a community-centred approach and to the People’s Housing Process (PHP). For Thozama, this certainly indicates the potential for partnership. Yet in order to build a strong partnership, the challenges need to be addressed – particularly in terms of delays in implementation. What underpins a people-centred partnership then?

“As FEDUP are are not saying people must grab land. People need to negotiate with government. We respect the government and our councillors. But the government also needs to respect us as communities. Because if we are not there, there will be no government”.

(KZN FEDUP leader, MamKhabela, at the Mossel Bay launch)

Jun 05
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Building Continuity: Denver Community and University of Johannesburg Studio 2015

By CORC, FEDUP, ISN No Comments

By Motebang Matsela (on behalf of CORC)

From 27 April to 22 May 2015, the community of Denver informal settlement in Johannesburg partnered with students from the University of Johannesburg’s (UJs) Department of Architecture in a collaborative design studio. Such studios focus on co-producing ideas, scenarios, plans and typologies on informal settlement upgrading and housing. Denver’s first collaborative studio took place in 2014. It was the first of consecutive, annual studios that would build on previous work and span a period of 3-5 years. The 2015 studio therefore started where the last studio ended, focusing on establishing tangible outputs such as a collaborative design handbook and a catalogue of dwelling typologies.

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Co-producing Ideas: Denver Studio 2014

In 2014 the studio catalysed the generation of co-produced mapping and socio-demographic data on the settlement. The aim was to formulate community action plans (CAPs) for Denver Settlement in an effort to encourage short-term community initiatives and to support further productive discussion with local government agencies and other stakeholders regarding incremental upgrading in informal settlements. It also introduced students to the necessity and value of planning with communities, shifting the focus from traditional ‘top down’ delivery towards ‘responsive’, community-orientated approaches. For more background on the settlement and the 2014 studio click here.

Aerial view of Denver informal settlements

Aerial view of Denver informal settlements

A growing partnership

The idea of co-production suggests the involvement of different stakeholders. For this studio, therefore, the role players included Denver community members and leadership, the Ward Councillor and community representative, a collective of community volunteers assembled at various stages of the long-term studio, Aformal Terrain in partnership with the Department of Architecture at UJ and its students and the Alliance’s ISN, FEDUP and CORC who offered technical and social support and facilitation.

Unlike previous studios that customarily take place in informal settlements, the Denver studio had to change venue when xenophobic violence broke out in Johannesburg. The socio-political atmosphere of the violence and hostel raiding was deemed an unsafe environment to operate under.

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As indicated, the collaborative outcomes are valuable aspects of the studio’s work. Based on the experience of last year’s studio, Gauteng’s ISN leaders highlighted the need for community members to gain tangible skills throughout the studio and upgrading process just as the students do. Each stage (module) of the studio therefore couples a community member’s practical participation in the studio with project management skills. In this year’s studio, more emphasis was placed on community participation and benefit.

This led to a revision of the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) formalising the partnership between the SA SDI Alliance and UJ’s Architecture Department.

Some of the changes were highlighted in terms of:

  • The precedence of the relationship between Denver community and SA SDI Alliance
  • Denver community decisions will be respected and take priority within this project
  • Any data generated by the community residents will remain the property of the residents. Copies of any formal information packages generated from the studio engagement will be made available to community leadership.
  • All parties agree to inform each other in writing around documentation, marketing or exhibiting of the Denver project. The documentation will sufficiently acknowledge the role of each party and most importantly the residents’

Building Continuity: Denver Studio 2015

The objective of this studio was to incrementally build on the content of the 2014 studio, creating continuity and ongoing engagement between past and future studios. It also aimed to develop a collaborative design ‘handbook’; a catalogue of typologies of dwellings in informal settlements with related strategies for improvement through self-build, co-ops, CBOs, local government assistance, infrastructure etc.

This investigation focused on three main issues;

  • site (the physical)
  • planning (spatial and developmental)
  • policy (strategies from governmental level)

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The intention was that these three focal areas would form a broad scale critical inquiry into current upper strategies for informal settlement upgrading and as a starting point suggested possible linkages with existing bottom-up initiatives.

It is envisioned that the outcomes will come to fulfilment in various forms through the studio process over the next 3-5 years in the form of awareness and knowledge packs about the settlement, site handbooks and guides on in-situ upgrading at various scales (shelter, site, policy, planning etc.), design studies for future densification and longer term formal development. A number of other valuable outputs not limited to this list will be determined through the studio process.

These potential outputs aim to bridge the gap between current bottom-up and top-down strategies already active in Denver – aiming to ‘connect’ community initiatives and local government intentions in more productive conversations toward improvement.

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The studios final presentations tabled prototype-scenarios generated in response to a three-week focused research exercise focusing on 3 scales;

  • Dwelling-and-Neighbourhood,
  • Planning
  • Policy

In this final week (loosely termed ‘rapid design prototyping’) students worked in mixed groups, integrating information from the 3 earlier foci with the aim of generating scenarios for the potential improvement of Denver Informal Settlement. It is intended that these scenarios become useful tools for engagement with the residents of Denver in focused workshops and engagements during the course of this year.

May 25
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‘An eye for an eye makes the world blind’ – FEDUP/ ISN say NO to Xenophobia

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

Authored by SA SDI Alliance

Following the outbreak of xenophobic violence in Gauteng in April 2015, the Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDUP) and the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) – both members of the SA SDI Alliance – hosted a dialogue on 24 – 25 April 2015 to say NO to Xenophobia.

“When Xenophobia broke out the Catholic Church approached ISN & FEDUP for support because people were fleeing their homes. We decided on a dialogue because we realised that there was a problem on the ground.“

(Sipho Vanga, ISN Coordinator in Gauteng)

ISN facilitators in Holomisa settlement, Gauteng (2014). Sipho Vanga (third from left)

ISN facilitators in Holomisa settlement, Gauteng (2014). Sipho Vanga (third from left)

The dialogue was titled, ‘Is it really xenophobia or violent protest?’ It brought together 32 informal settlement leaders from Johannesburg (COJ) and Ekurhuleni Municipalities (EMM) in Gauteng Province. Represented settlements included Sicelo, Slovo Park, Delport, Marathon, Makause, Ramaphosa, Holomisa (COJ), Holomisa (EMM), Mandela, Kanana Park, Meriting, Denver, Zacharia Park, Siphamandla, Tinasonke and Thembakhoza. In a press release statement, FEDUP & ISN explained,

“In order to try and avoid violent protest and xenophobic acts we will host a series of dialogues with the leadership of informal settlements AND those affected by xenophobia to discuss social ills with the aim to facilitate the integration of affected people back into our communities.

(ISN/FEDUP Press Release)

The program spread over two days and sought to find a common understanding of xenophobia and its causes in South Africa and to propose possible solutions to stop violence and discrimination. Topics of discussion included:

  • Xenophobia
  • Unemployment
  • Social Stereo Typing
  • Crime
  • Gender
  • Water & Sanitation
  • Upgrading
  • Land Tenure
  • Youth
  • Poverty

Day 1: Dialogue on Xenophobia’s Causes and Challenges

The first day engaged Gauteng’s informal settlement leaders who gave voice to their communities’ grievances, perceptions and concerns. Leaders shared first-hand experience of xenophobic violence, their respective perceptions of root causes and avenues of response.

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As community leaders spoke about experiences and community perceptions in their settlements they highlighted some perceived frustrations relating to:

  • Crime

“Illegal immigrants commit crimes and cannot be identified because their finger prints are not in the system”

  • Lack of employment

“Capitalists employ foreigners over locals because foreigners are willing to work harder and earn below the minimum wage.”

“Foreigners operate … businesses without licences because they can afford to bribe… authorities that approach them.”

“South Africans cannot compete with foreigners who are in a position of purchasing bulk commodities that automatically reduce purchase prices.”

  • Drugs & Poverty

“Foreigner mostly bring in and deal drugs that make a huge contribution to the poverty cycle.”

  • Low service provision and development

“The government uses foreigners as an excuse to not develop a number of areas. Yet when foreigners are displaced from communities, it is the government that advocates for their re-integration.”

Dialogue participants explained that jealousy drives locals as they perceive themselves as unable to compete with skills, knowledge and experience brought into the country by foreigners. For leaders this easy influx was connected to poorly protected borders. As “government only listens when communities take extreme measures” leaders explained that xenophobia was a new discovery by South Africans to ensure that their voices are heard and to catalyse service delivery. Some leaders criticised government for using informal settlements as “refugee camps”. They attributed the lack of service delivery to government’s reluctance to undertake upgrading in settlements that are home to foreign nationals.

“It is crystal clear that informal settlement residents are ignored and side-lined by government at all levels. Government has failed us completely in all areas of service delivery. Yet, we are always trying our level best, no matter what, to meet, plan and partner with government AND we will never stop trying!”

(FEDUP-ISN Press Release)

As the discussion unfolded, leaders analysed the matter in terms of their own context and role within it, recognising that “maintaining peace should start with leaders themselves”. They acknowledged that foreigners did not invade their communities but mostly settled through negotiation with respective community leaders while others rented from South Africans. Despite initially expressed frustration, participants concluded that “an eye for an eye only makes the world blind” and adopted a stance of saying “NO TO XENOPHOBIA”.

Day 2: Supporting the Displaced

Day two’s discussions included members of the police, business forums, perpetrators and affected people. Those affected explained that they had come to South Africa to improve their lives and not to sell drugs. Participants agreed that community members would help each other to communicate openly about illegal activity.

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Leaders furthermore agreed that no further violence should be experienced. They recommended that illegal immigrants try return to their home countries and apply for relevant travel documents. A further recommendation related to the need for consultative public engagements (between communities and relevant government officials) on integration plans for legal immigrants.

Dialogue participants had previously expressed a growing concern with government’s limited interest in engaging relevant community structures to identify the root causes of xenophobic violence in order to find ways of ameliorating it through community-led processes. Leaders decided that going forward, ISN & FEDUP should facilitate engagements with local authorities and jointly advocate for peace and integration in communities. Community leaders would draft a Memorandum detailing the grievances.

“We are apologetic for what happened in the country. That is why we held dialogues. ISN and FEDUP play an important role: we are not going to sit and watch xenophobia happen. Some foreigners – like our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe – belong to SDI [Shack Dwellers International), just like us. The solution is to create space for leaders to engage in dialogue. ISN&FEDUP should pressure government to deliver and CORC should be the middle man between us.”

(Sipho Vanga, ISN Co-ordinator Gauteng)

Outlook: Negotiation not Violence

For ISN National Co-ordinator, Mzwanele Zulu,

“The root cause of xenophobia is apartheid. It is something we can’t run away from – discrimination and apartheid realities are still present: people live in conditions where there is no transformation. There has been human rights transformation and perhaps some psychological transformation but no change in living conditions. Political, social and economic issues – especially the high unemployment rate – affect people and cause high levels of frustration.”

Mzwanele Zulu, National ISN Coordinator

Mzwanele Zulu, National ISN Coordinator

When cities act as engines of economic growth based on neo-liberal policies and programs they result in more inequality and poverty. Access to serviced, well-located land becomes increasingly difficult, as urban land markets are exclusionary by nature. More people are forced to access land informally and experience diminished opportunities to access employment, health, education, basic services and housing. In addition people experience diminished levels of political and administrative accountability. It is in this particular political and economic context in which informal settlement communities are trying to make sense of the chaos, their inequality and poverty.

“To address issues relating to informal settlement upgrading, urban poverty and development, the state needs CBOs, social movements and NGOs to work with. The same applies to xenophobia. We need drastic contributions from the state in terms of human and financial support. But the state’s response needs to be exercised through partnership with local channels.”

(Mzwanele Zulu, ISN National Co-ordinator)