Category: Namibia

Enter the Resilience Through Our Eyes photo call

Let’s use a different lens to tell the story of Africa’s urban resilience!

If you are a young, aspiring photographer living in Nairobi, Mwanza, Accra, Windhoek or Lusaka, here is your chance to take your passion for storytelling to the next level!

Enter the Resilience Through Our Eyes photo call to document urban resilience with mentorship and support. This training programme is being offered by the Resilience Initiative Africa (RIA), which aims to strengthen urban resilience by helping African communities understand risks and prevent disasters.

In support of this mission, RIA is offering intensive training to 12 budding photographers, preferably from informal settlements. Applicants need to be available to attend a three-day in-person training session in November and participate in a three-month mentorship and fieldwork programme between December 2025 and February 2026.

This intensive skills development programme will culminate in the Resilience Through Our Eyes photographic exhibition in March 2026.

You can apply if you:

• Are 18 to 35 years of age
• Live in Nairobi, Mwanza, Accra, Windhoek or Lusaka
• Live in an informal settlement and are part of a federation
• Are passionate about using photography and visual storytelling to document resilience in vulnerable communities
• Are available to attend the theory and practical components of the training
• Possess at least basic photography skills (advantageous)

How to apply:

• Submit three of your best photos
• Write a paragraph explaining why you’re a good fit for the Resilience Through Our Eyes photographic training programme

To apply, please click here to enter.

Deadline: 24 October 2025

From Recovery to Resilience: Community-led Responses to Covid-19 in Informal Settlements

In 2020, as Covid-19 spread rapidly across the cities where SDI is active, federations recognised the need for both urgent responses to the acute humanitarian crises facing their communities and longer-term strategies to engage with government and other stakeholders to address the prolonged effects of this global crisis. Through a partnership supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Cities Alliance , and Slum Dwellers International (SDI) we were able to channel much needed resources to organised communities of the urban poor in 17 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to facilitate these processes.

Over the past 20 months, the Covid-19 pandemic and pandemic responses such as government lockdowns have highlighted and exacerbated many of the chronic stresses urban poor communities live with and struggle against daily. As such, the strategies supported by this SDI / Cities Alliance partnership 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.

SDI’s urban poor federations have shown that they have the social networks and systems in place to respond efficiently and effectively to disasters and chronic stressors. They have demonstrated their critical role to governments and development partners as reliable actors at the forefront of provision of information on and services to the most vulnerable. Indeed, with lockdowns and government restrictions, many external organisations were unable to access the vulnerable communities where SDI federations live and work, highlighting the immense value of working directly with these communities. 

The following examples highlight how federations have the information, knowledge, and skills to work with government and other stakeholders to implement effective, scalable solutions to chronic and acute urban challenges.

Improved public health and safety

Many residents in slums live in overcrowded homes without access to on-site water or sanitation and face the constant threat of forced eviction. This means that preventative Covid-19 measures such as hand-washing, disinfecting, physical distancing, and quarantine are often impossible for the urban poor.

Outcome Story: Bridging Knowledge and PPE Gaps in Tanzania

There was a gap in knowledge on Covid-19 awareness, especially in informal settlements. Through this project, federation teams have been able to provide support to ensure that communities and schools awareness and knowledge on the pandemic is enhanced and precautions are being taken against the pandemic. This went hand in hand with the provision of hand washing facilities and PPE in places which had no facilities such as in market places and schools. 

This has contributed to behavior change in terms of improving hygiene as a way to stop the spread of Covid-19. Communities now have the knowledge and facilities to wash hands. Correct information sharing around Covid-19 has helped groups such as boda boda drivers (motorcycle taxis), food vendors, and school children which had limited access to information about the pandemic. Interactions with such groups provided an opportunity for them to ask questions and seek clarifications, which enhanced their understanding on prevention and treatment methods. Another significant outcome is the recognition of the Tanzanian SDI Alliance as a partner in addressing pandemics by the government. This has improved the relationship and established new ones with other units/departments within the municipalities such as the public health unit and the regional office. These relationships will help to provide more engagement and opportunities for the federation, and the alliance in general as well to discuss and negotiate further interventions related to the health and public safety of people living in informal settlements. The pandemic has taught us lessons on hygiene promotion, in particular hand washing behaviors, which is a serious issue the community needs to practice beyond the pandemic.

The federation led the process of planning and implementation of these activities and interventions. This included gathering information from different groups on the pandemic, identifying needs, and supporting awareness as facilitators in schools, markets, households, and settlements.

In Ghana, the federation was able to identify and map Covid-19 hotspots. Community members were trained to manufacture and install hand washing stations for community use within these hotspots. Additionally, the grant enabled the installation of in-yard water connections to poor and vulnerable households in slums/informal settlements to increase access to water supply. In Zambia, the federation was able to support provisional WASH interventions and set precedents for water provision to slum communities through community-led processes. Through the provision of water storage and hand-washing facilities in slums, communities are now able to regularly wash their hands in public places and this also enabled market committees to enforce preventive regulations since the infrastructure to wash hands is now available. At the household level the Zambia Alliance identified 75 women with health vulnerabilities who are at greater risk when collecting water from congested public taps. Additionally, through engagement meetings with water trusts and utility companies the federation was able to lobby for pro-poor water subsidies.

Enhanced livelihoods

Despite the negative effect and impact to individuals, communities, and countries the Covid-19 response actions have also brought opportunities with them. Some which came as a result of this programme are income generating projects, for example liquid soap-making and sewing of reusable face masks respectively have equipped community members with skills which some families are now using to earn a living. Federation members in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe were trained in sewing reusable face masks and the production of liquid soap and sanitizers. In Malawi, federation women and youth trained in design and tailoring produced and distributed 17,300 reusable face masks to vulnerable members of the community and primary school going children.

Outcome Story: Building Resilient Livelihoods in Zambia

The Zambia SDI Alliance facilitated trainings to capacitate slum dwellers with skills necessary to build resilient livelihoods. The trainings were conducted in two typologies namely sack gardening/organic farming and metal fabrication. Sack gardening involves the use of biodegradable waste in urban agriculture to provide nutritional support and sustainable livelihoods. At household level, sack gardens significantly reduced food shortages and helped in reducing garbage that has been indiscriminately disposed of in informal settlements, thereby creating healthy and safe environments. Sack gardens have a lower production cost as their main input is organic waste, which is readily available in informal settlements. The sack gardening enterprise consumes about 20 tons of organic waste in a month and with the plans to scale up production, the enterprises will be a significant consumer of garbage being produced in informal settlements. Besides the environmental benefits of the enterprises, slum dwellers secured resilient livelihoods that are set to provide employment to more slum dwellers when the intervention is scaled up.

Metal fabrication training also brought some positive changes to youths, as it created an opportunity for them to produce products that are on demand as well as helping their communities to meet their community demands. Currently the enterprise has been  instrumental in harnessing fabrication techniques for  Covid-19 prevention. The enterprise created a touch-less hand washing facility that has special features to avoid contact with the facility. The facilities have since been distributed into public spaces as well as for other interested organizations. The enterprise has created a viable livelihood for the unemployed youths and this intervention will continue into all settlements to create local technology that can easily be managed and maintained locally.

Pro-poor data driven development

SDI affiliates adapted Know Your City profiling and mapping tools to gather household and settlement level data on the impacts of Covid-19 on the urban poor. In Zimbabwe, youth were trained on data collection tools used to collect information on the level of awareness and community preparedness to Covid-19 as well as the pandemic’s impact on community members in terms of livelihoods, housing, and WASH. In the Philippines, the federation undertook a vulnerability mapping of 22 communities in which localized Covid-19 hotspot maps were produced and included the identification of households with vulnerable groups such as seniors, children, persons with disabilities, and pregnant women. In Botswana, the federation interviewed 33 savings groups to gather information on how Covid-19 has impacted the livelihoods and savings of urban poor communities. Findings revealed that many members stopped saving due to loss of employment and income. Most of the small businesses collapsed during the first lockdown and many of the street vendors that would travel across the border to buy their goods were no longer able to work with borders being closed. Students also faced hardships due to disruptions in education. Findings also showed that schools not only provide education but also provide students with social development skills. The pandemic has contributed to an increase in psychological and economic pressure leaving many without jobs or the ability to put food on the table, which has also highlighted the spike in gender-based violence.

Outcome Story: Using Community Data to Improve Basic Service Access in India

As part of this project, slum profiling and collecting data on community toilets was undertaken from 10 settlements across 10 cities. While conducting these profiles, Mahila Milan leaders realized the different issues communities are facing in the area of water, sanitation, drainage, jobs, etc. They found out which settlements have or lack access to toilets, what water facilities are available to residents, what mechanisms are in place to collect garbage, and how people are dealing with job issues. In Pimpri, Mahila Milan leader Rehana highlighted how in one of the settlements the community toilet that was constructed in 2018 was neither connected to the main sewer line nor was maintained properly which meant people were facing difficulties using the toilet. The women in the settlement approached the local councilor, spoke to him about the problem, and sought his support to fix it. In her own settlement, the drainage water enters people’s homes especially during the rains giving rise to many water borne diseases and skin infections. The dirty water from the community toilet as well as drainage water from individual houses is let out into one drainage line that causes this problem. They have been approaching the local councilor for the last five months but there was no relief. They again visited the local councilor and said that if you don’t take it up then we will have to approach the ward. We work for an NGO and are aware of all the processes and procedures that need to be done to sort out issues. They then got in touch with the health department in the ward office, did site visits, and within eight days they had laid down new drainage pipes. Six such pipes need to be laid down in the settlement in different places which will be completed soon.  

Similarly, the Mahila Milan leaders from Surat were facing drainage issues where water would overflow onto the roads and into the homes. Coordinating and negotiating with the local councilor and ward, they were able to resolve the problem.

In both cities these problems arose during lockdown and community members could not travel to the ward office. However, the Mahila Milan women were adamant to resolve their problems and so they started communicating with the officials via phone on a daily basis until the problem was resolved. At times the officials try to avoid these women, don’t take their calls, and say they forgot what it was about, but the women say even if we have to call them 100 times, we do that and should keep doing it. This is a way of showing how serious the organization and communities are about resolving their own issues, how accountable the leaders feel for their own settlement and people, and how this can be a means of strengthening their relationship with the city and authorities. The end result has been that these women are now called by the city to help them with certain programs or implementing schemes that benefit the city as well as communities. They also get an opportunity to start thinking of upgrading their settlements in different ways.

The Sierra Leone SDI Alliance, in consultation with Freetown City Council (FCC), developed an app (FISCOVIDATA) and live dashboard in which communities can identify hotspots and link to government service providers in real time. The mobile app and dashboard provides two-way communication – it relays information to appropriate authorities and notifies communities of actions taken. Piloted in 10 specific slums, this community-based approach has proven that empowering communities to mobilise actions for response and mitigation of health pandemics, is an effective way to mitigate the spread. This resulted in the reversal of the spread of Covid-19 in these settlements. This work has attracted the interest of other partners, namely Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC) and College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) to collaboratively work with DICOVERC to develop the app further so as to intervene in any future health emergencies.

Institutional collaboration between the urban poor and government

The need to address basic services, health needs, and decent shelter is critical in the Covid-19 fight and this project supported communities to highlight their plight and push for meaningful change. Applying rules created for the formal city into an informal settlement is challenging and may paralyze the action. Agreements need to be reached and governments need to find flexibility on policies and regulations so that formal interventions can take place in informal settlements. In South Africa, the Federation in the North West province started to implement the Asivikelane campaign in October 2021. The campaign collects data about basic service delivery (water, sanitation, and waste removal) in 21 informal settlements and uses this information to pressurize local municipalities to deliver. Fifteen settlements were mobilized to select 35 representatives to join a meeting with the Madibeng Administrator, the Department of Electricity, the Department of Human Settlements, and the Housing Development Agency as a united front. Through multiple engagements, the SA SDI Alliance is now in the process of signing an official MOU with the Madibeng municipality that will bind the municipality to the working partnership with the Federation in terms of addressing informal settlement upgrading, housing delivery, and formalizing structures.

Namibian Federation & Namibian Housing Action Group: Responses to COVID-19

On behalf of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) and Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) – SDI presents the work to fight COVID-19 across Namibia.

In the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic the Namibian Alliance (Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia and Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG)) alongside the National Alliance for Informal Settlement Upgrading, have been able to pivot the partnership through facilitating open communication through various channels for communities to receive pertinent updates from local & central government. The Namibian Alliance is positioned as critical to the response plan from the Ministry of Health for community mobilisation and peer to peer learning enabling improved directed health messaging.

Edith Mbanga, Federation leader in Namibia speaks about the community-led responses taken. “As SDFN when COVID-19 came to our ears we look at it as a serious issue that needs to be addressed to make sure our communities understand. With support from NHAG we requested a training from the Ministry of Health & Social Services. Twenty members were trained to educate communities about COVID-19 symptoms and how they can protect themselves from the virus. We are working together with MoH & SS as Federation teams, with homeless people that were living near the river and under the bridges.”

Active cities include the Khomas region, Erongo region, and the Oshana region, with the following priority areas and needs identified: PPE, soaps, hand sanitizers, masks, gloves, buckets and the installation of tippy taps. Food parcels for the households where their source of income has been heavily affected are crucial during lockdown, and for the foreseeable future. Federation have also participated in training in proper hygiene protocols under COVID-19, developing pamphlets and fact sheets being distributed in various languages. The Federation also joined the Psycho-Social Support group led by Ministry of Health & SS to train and deploy volunteers to assist in relocation of street dwellers in Windhoek.

Edith Mbanga reflects on the economic threat to livelihoods of those in the informal economy as Namibia remains in lockdown until the 4th May 2020. “Because of lockdown, communities who are selling at the markets lost their income – that launched in Namibia this year by Namibian Alliance. We fought for the market to be open with locations for cleaning and sanitizing with authorities at the markets. A team of more than 20 members will educate the informal workers to make the markets clean every morning. They will work at the market 3 days per week. We can use this as an opportunity for us to talk to the people, and hear from them what their plans after lockdown because this is a temporary thing, there is a lot that we are doing.”

The Standard Bank of Namibia through the Buy-a-Brick initiative with the Namibian Alliance has donated water tanks and hand sanitizers to NHAG for distribution to communities living in informal settlements. The general public is encouraged to make donations into the Standard Buy-a-Brick account for further support in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 in the informal settlements.

Namibia Housing Action Group is a Namibian Service Organisation that aims to support and add value to the activities and processes of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia in achieving their mission. It strives to facilitate change in the livelihoods of urban and rural poor through pioneering pro-poor development approaches. Community mobilisation, project management & delivery, lobbying & advocacy, financial resilience & asset building, and data & mapping are the core competencies of the Namibian Alliance that they have been developing for over twenty years.

Please keep following SDI as we highlight the initiatives of SDI affiliates across Africa, Asia & Latin America in the fight against COVID-19 to support the most vulnerable throughout this pandemic.

Follow the 2019 Community-Led Habitat Awardees

Last year SDI and the CoHabitat Network launched the inaugural Community-Led Habitat Awards for Africa. The awards 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.

Five awards were given in 2019 to the following categories:

• Best Project Award (3 winning projects)
• Best Partnership Award (1 winning partnership)
• Best Short Film (1 winning film)

Click here to read more about each of the winning community-led habitat projects.

Each of the winning teams were awarded $1,000 for continued learning to leverage visibility of the project within their country. Below find an update from each of the awardees on continued local recognition facilitates by the CoHabitat Award.

Best Project Awardees 

Walukuba Material Building Training Center (Uganda).

The Uganda Alliance used their prize money to capitalize on the training center, by igniting activities and projects that can further benefit from the center within Jinja. These included:

• The signing of a charter for Walukuba Building Material Training Center and Community Hall. The training center had been lacking clear roles and responsibilities on the day-to-day management of the center. In August 2019, a stakeholder meeting was convened and a charter was developed and signed to ensure proper and sustainable management of the center.
• Near the training center is the Kawama Housing Project. This project had been stalled for some year, however the Uganda Alliance was able to assess how much land is still available for the housing project to ensure proper planning.
• The Uganda Alliance undertook a structural assessment of the existing Kawana housing structure that is intended to accommodate 30 families who have been living in transit houses. A structural engineer visited the housing site to assess the structural strength to build more than one floor for the housing project.

Dzivarasekwa Slum Upgrading Project (Zimbabwe).

The Zimbabwe Alliance planned to capitalize on their award by establishing and consolidating the position of the project as a key slum upgrading learning ground for communities, government, universities and other stakeholders across the country. By inviting targeted local authority officials and government, a celebration event was scheduled to demonstrate and influence policy regarding informal settlement responses in Zimbabwe. The event was scheduled for August but has been postponed due to unavailability of key government and council officials.

Home Improvement/Upgrading Project in Flood-prone areas // Appui á la reconstruction de l’Habitat en zone sinistrée (Senegal).

The Senegalese Federation (FSH) and urbaSEN took the award as an opportunity to present their most recent program to key government officials, ministries, and non-governmental organizations in Dakar. The PING-GIRI project seeks to mitigate flood risks in six municipalities of the suburbs of Dakar, in which the Federation is active, and to finance small-scale urban upgrading projects through the Federation’s revolving fund, which to date has allowed 350 families to rehabilitate their homes. The extension of the revolving fund mechanism to semi-collective sanitation and urban upgrading projects in the public space, designed and implemented by savings groups, is an ambitious step for the Senegalese Federation. The award allowed for gaining greater visibility and recognition of the achievements of the Federation, which are essential for leveraging public support and collaboration for upcoming activities.

Best Partnership Awardee 

A Multiple Partnership Approach for Community-led Housing and Services in Namibia.

The Namibia SDI Alliance used their award money to host a ceremony with local officials and leverage the recognition of a partnership approach to housing during the opening of houses in Okongo-north. During the ceremony, Standard Bank handed over the Buy-A-Brick contribution of 13 million rand to the Namibian federation!

Best Short Film Awardee

Undevelopment: Forced Evictions in Nigeria

The Nigerian federation has screened “Undevelopment” almost a dozen times in a variety of different forums. There have been community screenings in Lagos (Orisunmibare, Ago Egun Bariga, Arobadade, Tarkwa Bay), and in Port Harcourt (Deinma Polo). It has also been screened at the Federation General Meeting in Lagos and Port Harcourt, the West Africa Storytelling for Change KYC TV Summit, and also at a Media For Advocacy Training the team led in August for other CSOs in Lagos.

Additionally, “Undevelopment” was screened the week of September 16, 2019 in Abuja for a collection of civil society organizations and UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing at the Norwegian Ambassador’s residence as part of an advocacy push for legislation prohibiting forced evictions and displacement.

Winners of the 2019 Community Led Habitat Award for Africa

SDI is excited to announce the winners of the 2019 Community-Led Habitat Awards: Project Call for Africa, an initiative of the CoHabitat Network implemented in partnership with urbaMonde and World Habitat. The aim of the call was to highlight innovations produced in relation to community-led habitat and the built environment. The winning teams will be awarded USD 1000 for continued learning to leverage visibility of the project and will present their project or partnership at the inaugural Habitat Assembly in Nairobi later this month.

The call was open to all resident-led or grassroots organizations, with three award categories available:

• Best Project Award (2-3 winning projects)
• Best Partnership Award (1 winning partnership)
• Best Short Film (1 winning film)

The following have been selected as winners in the Best Project category:

Walukuba Material Building Training Center (Uganda). The Jinja Material Training Center is a social enterprise and a resource center for Incremental Upgrading in Jinja. The project was established by National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda (NSDFU), ACTogether and SDI. It is comprised of a materials workshop used for the production of innovative low cost building materials and training, a community hall for the Walukuba Community, a hostel for trainees and Federation visitors, and a selection of demonstration projects such as sanitation units and a demo house. The three-story hostel and community hall were constructed entirely from products produced on site. Project impact includes: Skills-training on production and improvement of low-cost housing materials; income-generation through the hostel; and community-building, both through project planning and implementation and thanks to the provision of a community hall as part of the project itself.

Dzivarasekwa Slum Upgrading Project (Zimbabwe). The Dzivarasekwa Slum Upgrading Project is a housing project based in the community of Dzivarasekwa extension. This projects forms part of the greater Harare Slum Upgrading Project which is being implemented by the alliance of the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation and Dialogue on Shelter for the Homeless Trust, in partnership with the City of Harare and the Zimbabwe central government. Construction began in 2011 and is still ongoing with 480 families as primary beneficiaries of land for housing development, leading to secure tenure and provision of adequate water and sanitation facilities among other essential services.

Home Improvement/Upgrading Project in Flood-prone areas // Appui á la reconstruction de l’Habitat en zone sinistrée (Senegal). A home improvement and reconstruction programme stewarded through the federation’s revolving fund,  benefitting to date more than 300 households affected by floods. The programme provides an opportunity for low-income communities in the suburbs of Dakar to improve and rebuild their homes through an affordable financing mechanism and with technical support. The programme is currently being expanded to include community-wide infrastructure and sanitation projects. To date, 313 home improvements have been completed, in addition to 80 micro-projects. Another 300+ home improvements are in the planning phase. 5000 savings group members have been mobilised, and 100 local craftsmen trained in construction skills.

The winner in the Best Partnership category is Namibia for “A Multiple Partnership Approach for Community-led Housing and Services in Namibia.” Partners include: Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia, Namibia Housing Action Group, Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Local, Regional and National Government of Namibia, and private sector.

The Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) has, over a number of years, formed an active partnership with the Namibian government in order to work together towards pro-poor, participatory housing and urban upgrading policies – including financing, land tenure and participatory planning and upgrading aspects. Today, SDFN is negotiating conditions and the framing of the policies. It manages the urban poor fund and negotiates partnerships with third actors. In addition, SDFN is working to forge new partnerships with the private sector Standard Bank who started the a Buy-a-Brick public fundraising campaign, as well as a partnership with Ohorongo Cement Factory, First National Bank and Pupkewitz Foundation with donations of N$3 million a year. They have contributed N$ 10 million since 2016.

The impact of this partnership has been far-reaching, and has included the development of a pro-poor housing development program resulting in the construction of houses throughout all the regions of Namibia and an Informal Settlement Upgrading in Gobabis for more than 1,000 households. In addition,  a Memorandum of Understanding exists between SDFN and Namibian government for the collection of settlement data to be undertaken by the federation, and the peoples’ housing process is included in the National Housing Policy as updated in 2009. Building on the experiences of community, the Flexible Land Tenure Act of 2012 was approved to cater to the community to register their blocks of land. The Namibia government has, since the year 2000, assisted 2,284 households to obtain housing through donations of N$ 59.6 million which forms 35% of the N$ 165.3 million channeled through Twahangana Fund – the Namibian urban poor fund – to more than 10,000 households to build houses, install services and improve incomes. The community contributed 37% to the fund through repayment (N$58.9 million) and their own contributions (N$2,2 million).

There was a very close call in the Best Short Film category, where the Nigeria and Kenya KYC.TV teams tied as winners of the Audience Award, with each team mobilising over a thousand votes. The award for overall Best Film was given to Nigeria, for their film “Undevelopment: Forced Evictions in Nigeria,” with a special mention to Uganda for their submission.

“Undevelopment” focuses on the impact of forced eviction, defined by the United Nations as “the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection.” The Nigeria federation has compiled data on 114 forced evictions in Nigeria since 1973. This video seeks to bring the scourge of forced evictions to the forefront of the Nigerian social and political conscience. It weaves together the stories of eight evictees as they describe life before, during, and after eviction, and makes an appeal for more inclusive urban development. The video draws on footage collected over several years and countless contributions of many individuals from Justice Empowerment Initiatives and the Nigerian federation. Elijah Atinkpo, who lost his home in the forced eviction Otodo Gbame eviction of 2017, led the visioning and post-production processes.

We are inspired and encouraged by the response to this year’s Community Led Habitat Awards and look forward to watching as winners continue to spread the learning from their projects to still more communities. Stay tuned for news of the 2020 CLH Awards. We are excited to continue on with this initiative.

Zambia federation & government travel to Namibia for community-led housing & upgrading exchange

Zambia is a fast developing lower middle-income country with an estimated population of 16.9 million people and a growth rate of 3 per cent per annum. It is estimated that close to 40 per cent of the Zambian population reside in urban areas with an annual growth rate of 4.37 per cent.

As a result of the rapid urbanization the country is currently experiencing, there has been an unprecedented demand for adequate housing for the growing population that local authorities are unable to meet owing to limited financial and human resource constraints. According to UN-Habitat projections, Zambia faces a housing backlog of 1.3 million housing units, and because conventional housing is beyond the reach of the vast majority, it is estimated that close to 70% per cent of Zambia’s urban population resides in informal settlements that are characterized by appalling conditions such as poor/dilapidated housing, inadequate water and sanitation, lack of security of tenure, and other basic services.

Against this grim background, Peoples Process on Housing and Poverty in Zambia (PPHPZ) and its grassroots partner Zambia Homeless and Poor People’s Federation (ZHPPF) with over 10 years experience in providing micro-finance to poor urban slum dwellers to construct low income housing strategically entered into a partnership with the National Housing Authority (NHA) that saw a Memorandum of Understanding being signed in May 2016 aimed at providing sustainable and affordable housing deliberately to low income earners and the urban poor in Zambia.

Despite the MOU being signed in 2016 and ring fenced government funding for the project to the tune of $600,000.00 per annum, the initiative succumbed to government bureaucracy with regards to the disbursement of funds. However, in January 2019, the government through the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development (MHID), has established a steering committee that seeks to oversee the fruition of the low cost housing initiative between PPHPZ/ZHPPF and NHA.

Following the establishment of this steering committee, there have been subsequent meetings and field visits between MHID, NHA and PPHPZ/ZHPPA. In readiness for the implementation of the initiative that will be a first of its kind in Zambia, the partners undertook a learning exchange to Namibia with support from SDI from the 25th of February to the 1st of March 2019. In the SDI network, Namibia has become a learning hub for affiliates owing to the significant strides they have made in harnessing government and private sector resources for low cost housing construction as well as incremental participatory upgrading.

The exchange made time and space for both federations to present the impact of their work to date, for the Zambian delegation to visit a number of projects in Windhoek and Gobabis, for discussion of the experience of each federation (and their respective governments) with regards to community-led housing, and for the government officials to learn from one another.

By the end of the learning exchange, it was clear that the challenges of urban informality are similar in kind but vary in magnitude in both Zambia and Namibia. The two countries are still grappling with addressing the prevention and upgrading of slums, whilst on the other hand grappling with providing decent and affordable housing to the vast majority.

A major hindrance for the urban poor and governments to invest in improved housing and upgrading often borders on the unavailability of financial resources. However, it is indisputable from the Namibian experiences that the concept of community-managed revolving funds is a tried and tested concept that can have a huge impact in transforming the lives of the urban poor. Community managed revolving funds prove to the government, private sector and other likeminded stakeholders that the urban poor are not “beggars” and mere recipients of development, but instead, they are the key drivers to their own development by contributing their own meager resources and sweat equity to the development process.

It was learnt that community based housing approaches significantly reduce the overall landing costs of the housing units as compared to using private contractors who are profit driven and this escalates the housing costs to be borne by the end users. Community based housing approaches reduce the landing costs by using economies of scale through bulk purchasing of negotiated construction materials, and these cost savings trickle down to the beneficiaries. Additionally, the costs are reduced through the sweat equity provided by beneficiaries in aspects such as making their own bricks, surveying their own land and digging trenches for laying water and sewer pipes.

It was clear from the case of Namibia that NGOs and Federations have demonstrated capacity to manage donor and government funds that may be attributed to their years of experience and robust management systems. The housing projects being funded by the government through the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development as well as private sector funds from banks such as FNB and Standard Bank are being channeled directly to the Twahangana Fund and disbursements are made in a timely because NGOs have less bureaucracy for procurement as compared to government process which often delays the implementation of projects.

All the above lessons are replicable in the Zambian context, and the proposed tripartite housing project in Zambia between NHA, MHID, PPHPZ and the Zambia Federation will continue being given technical support from the SDI network.

The key action points for the Zambia delegation will include but not limited to:

• Debrief meeting of the learning exchange with the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development and the Permanent Secretary.
• Formally establish Steering Committee and draw up TORs.
• Finalize layout plans and housing designs.
• Finalize the revision of the MoU and sign off by end of March 2019.
• Arrange a field visit to selected Zambia Federation housing project sites.

Click here to read the full exchange report. 

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.

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

Southern African Slum Dwellers Strategise Ahead of World Urban Forum 2018

[caption id="attachment_4974" align="alignnone" width="610"] Delegates of the Southern Africa Hub welcoming the South African Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Zou Kota-Fredericks.[/caption]