SDI at WUF11

Join SDI at WUF11! Slum Dwellers International is excited to be attending this year’s World Urban Forum (WUF) for its eleventh session.

We are hosting an event entitled, ‘Recovery and Resilience: Community-led Strategies to Build Back Better in Informal Settlements’ and participating in a number of other events. Join SDI at WUF11!

This year’s theme is Transforming our Cities for a Better Urban Future. It is set to provide greater insights and clarity on the future of cities based on existing trends, challenges and opportunities. WUF aims to create a space for the sharing of ideas and insights to craft solutions and ways in which cities can be better prepared to address future pandemics and an array of other shocks. 

WUF examines one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. 

SDI Events at #WUF11

SDI is set to host a session entitled: ‘Recovery and Resilience: Community-led Strategies to Build Back Better in Informal Settlements’

When: Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Time: 16:30-18:00

Where: Multifunction Hall Room 17

Speakers: Beth Chitekwe-Biti, Joseph Kimani, Joseph Muturi, Melanie Chirwa, Michael Chanda, Rosę Molokoane, Sheila Magara, Theresa Carmpatana

Partner speakers: Louise Meincke – Plan International & Arne Janssen – Cities Alliance

SDI’s networking event at the upcoming WUF11 will showcase the innovative strategies implemented by SDI affiliates in 17 countries in responding to and recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, building on and creating meaningful partnerships between organised communities of the urban poor and other stakeholders that champion and institutionalise slum-friendly policy and practice for resilient cities.

Through a partnership supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Cities Alliance, SDI affiliates were supported to use their tools and methodologies to effectively and urgently respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic and pandemic responses such as government lockdowns highlighted and exacerbated the many chronic stresses urban poor communities live with and struggle against daily. As such, the strategies implemented by SDI’s urban poor federations are about more than Covid-19 response and recovery: they are about sustainable, inclusive, and pro-poor urban development that provides communities with meaningful opportunities to work with government and other stakeholders to address issues such as food security, access to livelihood opportunities, skills training, and basic services like water and sanitation, as well as the need for accurate slum data to drive government responses in times of crisis and beyond.

Speakers from SDI and key partner organisations will exchange approaches, strategies and outcomes achieved in order to highlight best practices that can guide future developments while demonstrating the power of meaningful partnerships with organised communities of the urban poor to address recovery from Covid-19 and the building of resilient communities and cities.

The session will also demonstrate that to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and build inclusive and resilient cities; urban planners and policymakers must learn from innovative strategies employed by the urban poor to find lasting solutions.

Learn more about the session here.

Other SDI at WUF11 events

Monday 27 June 2022

Want to build a Cities4Children Alliance in your city or country? Come find out how.

Time: 13:30 – 15:00 CET

Where: Multifunction Hall: Rm 19

Visioning platform for a Global Action Plan to tackle the Slum Challenge

Time: 13:30 – 15:00 CET

Where: Multifunction Hall: Rm 17

SDI representatives speaking: Joseph Muturi

Tuesday 28 June 2022

Reshaping Communities through Art

Time: 12:30 – 14:00 CET

Where: Room A (Voices for Cities event)

SDI Representatives speaking: James Tayler

Strengthening the resilience of urban communities: Our way forward

Time: 16:30 – 18:00 CET

Where: Multifunction Hall: Rm 4

SDI Representatives speaking: Christine Mutuku

Wednesday 29 June 2022

Claiming and producing housing rights: cross-regional experiences from grassroots organisations and international networks. Part 1

Time: 09:00 – 10:00 CET

Where: UrbaMonde Exhibition stand

SDI Representative speaking: James Tayler

Leave no one and no place behind: Addressing inequalities within and between cities through SDG localisation

Time: 10:45 – 12:15 CET

Where: Room A (Voices from Cities event)

SDI Representative speaking: Joseph Muturi

Dialogue w UCLG: Democratising global reporting processes: Lessons from a partnership for equality.

Time: 12:30 – 13:30 CET

Where: UCLG Booth

SDI Representative speaking: Beth Chitekwe-Biti, Joseph Muturi, James Tayler and others.

Leaving no one in cities behind: Addressing inequalities through resilient infrastructure

Time: 14:30 – 16:00 CET

Where: Multifunction Hall: Rm 18

SDI Representative speaking: Theresa Carampatana

Intergenerational dialogue on urban fragility and resilience

Time: 14:30 – 16:00 CET

Where: Multifunction Hall: Rm 2

SDI Representative speaking: James Tayler

Multi-Level action for equitable and sustainable cities

Time: 16:30 – 18:00 CET

Where: Multifunction Hall: Rm 1

SDI Representative speaking: Rose Molokoane

Thursday 30 June 2022

Claiming and producing housing rights: cross-regional experiences from grassroots organisations and international networks. Part 2

Time: 9:30 – 10:30 CET

Where: UrbaMonde Exhibition stand

SDI Representative Speaking: James Tayler

Dialogue: Transforming cities through innovative solutions and technologies

Time: 10:00 – 12:00 CET

Where: TBC

SDI Representative Speaking: Joseph Kimani

Civil Society and Grassroots Roundtable

Time: 13:30 – 15:30 CET

Where: Roundtable Room 1

SDI Representative Speaking: Melanie Chirwa, Christine Mutuku, Beth Chitekwe Biti, Joseph Kimani, Sheila Magara

Dialogue: Greener Urban Futures

Time: 10:00 – 12:00 CET

Where: Auditorium

SDI Representative Speaking: Rose Mo​​lokoane

Join SDI at WUF11! Visit WUF11 for the full programme and to register for the event virtually.

2019 Community-Led Habitat Award for Africa: Call for Submissions

We invite you to learn more about the 2019 Community-Led Habitat Award for Africa, an initiative of the CoHabitat Network, and submit your project today!

Deadline: 31 March 2019

In Africa, millions are faced with insecure and inadequate housing. But around the continent, there are inspiring examples of how communities are developing innovative and affordable housing solutions and upgrading their neighbourhoods sustainably.

The Community-Led Habitat Awards, an initiative of the CoHabitat Network, recognise inspiring community-driven habitat solutions from across the continent with the aim to advocate for the expansion of community-led urban development and housing.

Share your story to be part of a growing network of actors securing housing rights and implementing people-led habitat solutions.

Gain visibility and public exposure to advocate for the expansion of community-led housing.

Learn from your peers.

Participate in the World Habitat Awards.

Awards will be given in the following three categories:

• Best Project Award
• Best Video Award
• Best Partnership Award

More information regarding each category is available below. Submissions are welcome in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Visit co-habitat.net to apply!

Download the Co-habitat.net Tutorial here.

Deadline: 31 March 2019

BEST PROJECT AWARD

Award for best community-led habitat / upgrading project.

Open to all resident-led groups or grassroots organizations working on issues of habitat and the built environment. The nominated project must be already implemented and must have resulted in changes to the built environment (e.g. housing, infrastructure, public space).

Submission Process: Create project profile on co-habitat.net; upload project information, and photos, and submit.

Selection Process: Two-step selection process:

1. Shortlist of projects by committee of SDI representatives, community leaders, and academia
2. Shortlisted projects will be contacted for additional info/questions if needed.

Prize: 2-3 winning projects will be invited to the CoHabitat Network regional hub hosted at the UN Habitat Governing Council, 27 – 31 May in Nairobi to present winning projects and to share experiences with peers. The winning projects will be have the chance to enter the shortlist stage of the prestigious World Habitat Awards, organized by our partner World Habitat.

Visit co-habitat.net to apply!

Watch the Co-habitat.net Tutorial here or download it here.

Deadline: 31 March 2019

More information: contact@cohabitat.net

BEST VIDEO AWARD

Award for best video documentation of issues related to built environment & informality.

Are you a young person living in an informal settlement? Have you made a film to draw attention to your settlement and how to overcome its challenges? Do you want to win a prize for the Best Community Activist Film and be flown to Nairobi to receive it?  Then enter the 2019 Community-Led Habitat Awards ASAP!

An award for best video documentation of issues related to built environment & informality open to all Know Your City TV teams and any other and other civic media teams for documentation of issues related to the built environment and urban informality.

Submission Process: Create a partner profile on co-habitat.net for the your youth media team; upload video and link video to project profile.

Project Assessment Criteria:

• Technical quality of the production: Quality of the production in terms of sound, camerawork and editing
• Creative approach to storytelling
• Social impact: call to action or take-home message

Selection Process: The public will be able to vote for their favourite Video on co-habitat.net between April 1^st and 25^th.

Prize: Invitation to the CoHabitat Network regional hub hosted at the UN Habitat Governing Council, 27 – 31 May in Nairobi to present winning project and to share experiences with peers. The winning team will produce a short video during the regional hub to be shared via all CoHabitat Network digital platforms.

Visit co-habitat.net to apply!

Watch the Co-habitat.net Tutorial here or download it here.

Deadline: 31 March 2019

More information: contact@cohabitat.net

BEST PARTNERSHIP AWARD

Award for best partnership between a community-based organization of the urban poor & local government.

Organized communities of the urban poor are invited to nominate public authorities or government officials for best partnerships, policies, public programs, MoUs, upgrading projects/plans that demonstrate active community participation and partnership.

Submission Process: Create a partner profile for the federation, support NGO (and public authority) on co-habitat.net for; upload description on the Partnership.

Assessment Criteria:

• Community leadership: What was the degree of community participation in formulating the policy, program, MoU related to this partnership?
• Scalability: Is the partnership more of a one-time subsidy or a sustainable financial mechanism that would allow for large-scale impact?
• Replicability: Can the Partnership be replicated in other countries or cities or is it very context-specific?)
• Leverage: To what degree has this partnership leveraged additional resources for the community, e.g. technical support, land, funds for housing / upgrading projects, etc.
• Impact: What has the impact of this partnership been to date on the lived experience / built environment of the urban poor?
• Political independence: Is the Partnership dependent on a particular political setting, government official, or momentum, or is it formalised to the extent that it can they be sustained through political changes?

Selection Process: A committee of SDI representatives, community leaders, and academia will assess the submitted Partnerships.

Prize: Invitation to UN Habitat Governing Council, 27 – 31 May in Nairobi, and to CoHabitat Network regional hub to present winning project and to share experiences with peers. The winning partnerships will be featured in a short video produced during the event by SDI’s winning media / KYC.TV team.

Visit co-habitat.net to apply!

Watch the Co-habitat.net Tutorial here or download it here.

Deadline: 31 March 2019

More information contact@cohabitat.net 

WHO ARE WE?

CoHabitat Network is a network of community-led housing organisations and allies from across the world, working together to implement housing rights through collective, non-speculative, people-led solutions. We want to make community-led housing more widespread and attainable, so that communities are empowered to improve their homes, neighbourhoods and lives.

Slum Dwellers International (SDI) is the regional focal point for the CoHabitat Network in Africa and hosts of the first edition of the Community Habitat Award.

SDI is a network of community-based organisations of the urban poor in over 30 countries and hundreds of cities and towns across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In each country where SDI has a presence, affiliate organisations come together at the community, city and national level to form federations of the urban poor that drive a bottom-up change agenda for inclusive cities. The federations comprise thousands of the most vulnerable women, men, and youth who are mobilized around dynamic savings schemes networked to drive a collective, bottom-up change agenda for inclusive and resilient cities and to influence global development. Federations use tools and strategies such as daily savings, peer-to-peer exchanges, community profiling, enumeration, and mapping to organize a critical mass of urban poor communities in cities of the Global South – enabling them to engage with local and national government as partners in development rather than beneficiaries, and to shift development agendas to be more inclusive and pro-poor and ultimately more resilient and sustainable. Organized communities co-produce citywide strategies for securing tenure and increasing access to basic services, housing, and livelihoods with their local and national governments.

The World Habitat Awards recognize and highlight innovative, outstanding, and sometimes revolutionary housing ideas, projects, and programs from across the world. Every year, two winners receive £10,000 each and a trophy, presented at a global UN-Habitat event.

urbaMonde is a non-profit organization supporting cooperative housing solutions in Switzerland and France and facilitating the CoHabitat Network globally.

Co-habitat.net is a collaborative and interactive database of community-led housing and habitat projects. Join the network and interact with a growing community of peers!

More information: co-habitat.net

Questions: contact@co-habitat.net

How to apply :

Download a tutorial on how to apply here.

Download the project call here:

Lessons from Namibia: A week with one of SDI’s oldest Federations

This month, SDI co-founder Joel Bolnick spent ten days with the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia and its support NGO the Namibia Housing Action Group during his overland trip across Africa. These two organisations comprise the Namibia SDI Alliance, one of the oldest and most mature affiliates in the SDI network. There is much to be learned from the Namibia SDI Alliance as they continue to influence urban development policy and practice in through innovative, community-driven practices and a commitment to pro-poor, participatory, bottom-up processes. Click above to follow in Joel’s footsteps from self-build projects in Keetmanshoop to the federation’s National Forum in Windhoek to the precedent setting Freedom Square upgrading project in Gobabis.

New Beginnings for Stoneridge Evictees in Harare

Organize

In January 2016 over 3,000 Arlington families were evicted by the Central Government and re-settled in Stoneridge without proper shelter or basic services. The Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation and its support NGO Dialogue on Shelter commenced an emergency shelter project in December 2016 aimed at providing emergency transitional housing to 231 of the most needy families. While the project was catalyzed as an emergency response, the federation will ensure efforts are focused on long term tenure security, shelter, and services for the community. The community has organized themselves into 14 savings schemes and community teams were organized including technical, security, and savings. Twenty community members were trained to erect structures on bricks to increase lifespan the of the structure. Flooring was constructed from a layer of 100-250 bricks contributed by the household.

Collaborate

The Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation and the City of Harare worked in close partnership on the project. The District Assistant’s office played a key role in all community activities, such as beneficiary identification and selection and distribution of wooden cabins to the beneficiaries. A technical team of 24 members including local authority officials (the District Administrator and the Councillor of Stoneridge, two staff from Dialogue On Shelter, three members of the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation, and fourteen Stoneridge residents was established to manage the project and agree on project beneficiaries.

Thrive

The families now living in new homes in Stoneridge are negotiating with government to ensure their tenure is now secure. They are living in safe housing and have been able to reunite with children sent to live with other relatives following the eviction. With brick floors and raised foundations, the families say they are better able to withstand periods of heavy rain than they were in their previous location. Using their savings, the families have begun to make improvement to their basic homes and have even started growing small vegetable gardens. Community exchange programs are underway to support the community to identify the most effective sanitation solution for their settlement. In particular, Stoneridge families now interact with other federation communities such as Dzivarasekwa Extension and Gunhill. These communities have secured tenure and collaborated with the city authorities to improve services.

The Zimbabwe slum dweller federation efforts contribute to improved city resilience by reducing human vulnerability, improving access to safe and affordable housing, building skills and offering training among the urban poor, and the building of cohesive communities.

Building Resilience Brick-by-Brick in Namibia

Organize

As of this year, the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) has organized 724 groups in 86 cities. The federation has been recognized for decades of strength as an organizer of informal communities around savings and self-build housing in Namibia. These efforts were recognized in 2015 by a campaign launched by the honourable Monica Geingos, First Lady of Namibia, and the CEO of Standard Bank Namibia. The Buy A Brick campaign sells eraser bricks in Standard Bank branches and donates money raised to the federation for construction of permanent houses for low and no-income Namibians in order to “erase shacks in Namibia”. Federation organizing was crucial to shaping this innovative Corporate Social Investment (CSI) program that is unique in its capacity to support the efforts of the poor to improve their homes and cities.

Collaborate

In 2017, the collaboration raised N$2 million – representing a 43% increase from the previous year and supporting the construction of 54 houses by the federation. The funds received are loaned to communities through the federation’s Urban Poor Fund at a monthly interest rate of 0.5%. Repayments feed the revolving fund in order to extend more finance to the poorest and to construct more homes. Federation members in Namibia have become experts in the art of housing construction and settlement upgrading. With support from its support NGO, Namibia Action Housing Group (NAHG), the Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS), and the Namibia University of Science and Technology, the federation is highly adept at facilitating planning studios and collaborating with students and local officials in hands-on approaches to inclusive settlement upgrading.

Thrive

The federation aims to build 1,000 homes per year and the Buy A Brick campaign aims to mobilize the private sector to support the urban poor to achieve this goal. Standard Bank has admirably committed to support the federation through this campaign for as long as the need for housing among the urban poor persists. When the general public, the government, organized communities, local NGOs, and the private sector come together in such efforts the potential for scale is infinite. Through peer-to-peer exchange, SDI seeks to encourage replication of this inspired initiative throughout the network.

The Namibia shack dweller federation efforts contribute to improved city resilience by demonstrating effective multi-stakeholder collaboration, supporting integrated shelter planning, and empowering urban poor stakeholders. Skills building in planning and construction and improved access to safe and affordable housing are all indicators of improved resilience.

First Lady hands over houses to Namibia Federation

Breakthrough and Struggle: Land, Housing and Backyarders in Tiryville, Eastern Cape

By Dolly Cedras (on behalf of FEDUP)*

When you look down the hill, there’s a flat piece of land called Lapland. That’s where we used to live before we moved to Tiryville. At the time Tiryville already had bank financed houses and some open land where we built our shacks..

I lived in my shack for 16 years, and in 2002, after I managed to buy the plot next to my shack I thought about building a house. I went to the municipality to ask for help but they said I needed to get other people to join me. I then found out that the area was zoned for bank-financed houses and not for low-cost housing. So I wrote a letter to the then Minister of Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu, and asked if the area could be rezoned from private ownership into an RDP project area.

One day I met Mama Chawe who was part of the Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDUP). She said to me: “I can see that you are struggling to get a house. Come over and listen.” She told me about the rituals of FEDUP and the agreement with uTshani Fund [as a financial bridging institution for government subsidised housing]. So I listened and she said I should join FEDUP. I got my green savings boekie [little book] from Mama Chawe for R8. And that is how in 2003 I joined the movement now called FEDUP and began saving.

On their next visit from Port Elizabeth, FEDUP national leaders called a meeting and told us more about the movement and the People’s Housing Process (PHP). We were introduced to the Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) and together we soon met with the municipality to begin negotiating for our subsidy to build FEDUP-led PHP houses. We convinced them by first building my house [a show house]. The inspector was happy with the quality and so we had many more meetings with the municipality, CORC and uTshani. Eventually we managed to get a contract of 48 PHP houses for the FEDUP members in Tiryville.

We started construction in December 2014. At the moment [July 2015] we have already completed 17 houses and 7 further houses are half-way built. When the foundations were built there was a delay in the construction process because the engineers changed the floor plans. So far the construction process has been quite smooth and we haven’t had many problems with the municipality.

Most of the challenges we experienced were in the community. Many were upset that our houses looked so nice. But they did not know that our houses were FEDUP and not municipality built. [Due to FEDUP’s 2006 pledge agreement with the national and provincial department of human settlements, eligible FEDUP members are able to gain direct access to their housing subsidy through the PHP instrument. This enables FEDUP members to build bigger houses (50m2) than the municipality (35-40m2)]. Some neighbours still come to ask about the houses. Others decided to join FEDUP savings scheme too.

Although some of us have houses many of our FEDUP members in Tiryville are backyarders because they weren’t able to buy plots. Leana Caesar coordinates the FEDUP backyarder group in Tiryville.

“As the backyarders in Tiryville we identified some land which the municipality identified too. But up to this moment we have not yet received any response to our land submissions. The challenge is that the municipality does not know the real number of FEDUP backyarders. There are 970 people in Tiryville that do not have houses. 212 are FEDUP backyarders. But the municipality thinks that the number is only 170 people. The actual problem is that we are waiting for land so that FEDUP can help us.

In the meantime the other backyarders are saving. They believe in the principles of the Federation. Others have not joined FEDUP because they’ve given up hope. It’s been years that we’ve been trying to push this process. For example, my first application for a house was in 2001 (14 years earlier)”

(Liana Caesar, Tiryville backyarder coordinator)

I know the frustrations that Liana speaks about. There was a time where we needed to each pay R 40 for housing subsidy forms. Do you know how much money I’ve spent on driving to and fro from the municipality in Port Elizabeth? When the municipality did not have forms for us we went and printed them ourselves at the Internet café. I needed to keep hope. I’m telling you, this breakthrough with the municipality is a praying matter.

Almost all of us in Tiryville receive grants and pensions. In fact all 48 beneficiaries are unemployed. Many of us try and make a little bit of income. Some sell cookies and tea; I am a seamstress. I can’t tell you if each of the 48 households will remain FEDUP members. But I can say that I like FEDUP. You know, the municipality was often not very responsive to our requests. But FEDUP had an ear to listen to me. No one else could have given me my beautiful blue house!

* Documented and compiled by Yolande Hendler (on behalf of CORC)

Launch of Upgrading at Flamingo Crescent with Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille

**Cross posted from the SA SDI Alliance blog**

Authored by CORC

“People said Flamingo Crescent [Upgrading] will never happen. But today is here and this is the proof that it has happened – one cannot do it alone we need to work as a collective!”

– Melanie Manuel, Informal Settlement Network (ISN) Co-ordinator

Last week’s upgrading launch at Flamingo Crescent informal settlement celebrated the completion of re-blocking, installation of water, sanitation and electricity services for each of Flamingo’s 104 households, the unveiling of Flamingo’s first formal street names and opening of the settlement’s own crèche, Little Paradise. Moreover it marked a milestone in an ongoing upgrading process, showcasing what is possible when communities, intermediaries, governments and stakeholders form partnerships.

Delegates from community organisations and networks, the Mayor of the City of Cape Town, delegates from various government departments, ward and sub-council politicians, NGOs and support organisations gathered in the Lansdowne Civic Centre from 11:00 on Monday 10 February.

The re-blocking project is lauded as a successful demonstration of community-led, participatory planning, collaborative implementation and improvement of informal settlements. The uniqueness of the project was that despite the settlement’s density no one was displaced and grossly inconvenienced during the implementation of upgrading 104 structures.

Flamingo Crescent before and after re-blocking and upgrading. 

First engagements around Flamingo Crescent 

First engagements began in 2012 after the City of Cape Town signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the SA SDI Alliance around joint community-led upgrading of 22 informal settlements, of which Flamingo Crescent is the third, having built on the experiences of Mtshini Wamand Kuku Town. It differs from the previous two in the severity of its socio-economic challenges – high levels of crime, unemployment, violence and poverty. Given these circumstances the Alliance’s Informal Settlement Network (ISN) facilitated implementation and engagement between the City and the community.

Melanie Manuel (Flamingo Crescent ISN facilitator) shared,

“When we started the partnership with the City of Cape Town in 2011 in Vygieskraal it was a day of celebration and no one knew the hardships that would lie ahead. As time went on we realised we fundamentally believe in community participation, a bottom up approach because we know communities understand their settlements best.”

Read more background here.

The Launch: Messages on Upgrading and Inclusion in Services

At the launch, the first speaker, Councillor Anthea Green shared,

“Since 2012 I have said that we need to upgrade Flamingo Crescent, despite resistance from the rate payers and residents’ groups. We were committed to work with the community, and now this is a transformed settlement”.

Informal settlements not only face substandard basic services like water, sanitation and electricity but are also cut off from functions of city administration such as receiving a residential address. The re-blocking project allowed the City and the Post Office to give Flamingo Crescent street names and addresses, after the community made this requirement upfront in their development plan.

Gerald Blankenberg, regional director of the Post Office, said that the Post Office Act and other regulations require the post office to expand addresses to underserviced communities.

“Informal communities are often times socially and economically disconnected from basic administrative functions, and therefore a residential address will give the Post Office an opportunity to serve the community with dignity”, he said.

In the keynote address, Mayor Patricia de Lille emphasised the significant role of Flamingo community’s steering committee, the Alliance’s ISN and Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) in the success of the project. She, however, expressed concern about the slow pace of project implementation, emphasizing the need to boost municipal and community capacity to ensure the roll out of more projects in the City’s 200 informal settlements.

“The aim of re-blocking is the improvement of informal settlements while people wait for a housing opportunity”, she observed.

In closing of the ceremony, the Mayor handed over certificates of tenure to community members, ensuring formal recognition of residence and tenure security.

City of Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille with Flamingo Crescent community leader, Maria Matthews. 

The Impact of Upgrading : Before and After

Before re-blocking, the community of 405 residents had access to only 14 chemical toilets (of which 7 were serviced) and 2 water taps. There was no electricity so that contained fires in tin drums dotted the settlement’s dusty pathways. The community was especially concerned about the safety of its children playing in the busy street.

Re-blocking restructured space in the settlement, opening courtyard areas and clearly designated access roads, enabling the City of Cape Town to install individual water, sanitation and electricity services per household. What sets Flamingo apart from previous projects are its paved pathways, with official road names as well as the construction of a crèche.

The community contributed 20% to the cost of its structures through community-based daily savings. During the implementation phase, 20 jobs were created through the Expanded Public Works Programme.

Flamingo Crescent before and after. 

Into the Future: Community voices on Partnership and City Fund

“Since 2010 we have been thinking about improvements in our settlement. This is when we got in touch with ISN, who introduced us to CORC, and we then made a partnership with the City [of Cape Town] We explained what we wanted from the city – our own taps, toilets and electricity. But we needed to come together and draft our own plans”.

(Maria Matthews, Flamingo Community Leader)

Through the SA SDI Alliance the community additionally partnered with several organisations. iKhayalami supported the community, ISN/FEDUP and CORC around training community members and top structure construction. The community established the re-blocked layout and community-based maps in partnership with students from Cape Peninsula University of Technology and support staff from CORC. With the support of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI, USA) the community drew up plans for the crèche. Habitat for Humanity South Africa contributed to construction by supplying the roof sheets and windows. The Centre for Early Childhood Development (CECD) donated funds to build the crèche. CECD will also support around the training and registration of the crèche.

From Melanie’s speech it was clear,

“This project is successful because of the methodologies we use. We allow communities to do their own designs. The community also made a [financial] contribution [in a settlement] where 95% of community members were unemployed. How do we change the mind-sets of people who are still waiting for adequate housing? Let’s change the way we are living now while we are waiting for housing to come.”

(Melanie Manuel, ISN Facilitator)

Important as settlement improvement is in itself, the methodology is just as significant. Moreover, Flamingo Crescent serves as a precedent for informal settlement upgrading on a larger scale. The day ended with the community leading the Mayor through their settlement, unveiling Flamingo’s new street names and officially opening the Little Paradise crèche together. It is Melanie Manuel’s closing words that speak of the future:

 “We need to look at a holistic plan for the metro. Let’s look at how we can reach basic services much quicker and how we can scale up. The Alliance projects do not only focus on reblocking but on basic services in every form. The Alliance has designed a City Fund with which communities can directly access money for upgrading in Cape Town. In Flamingo the Aliance’s Community Upgrading Finance Facility (CUFF) helped us match the 20% that each community member contributed to their structure. This kind of facility on a city-level will go a long way – we challenge the City to continue partnering with us and match our contributions in the City Fund!”