Emerging Strategies of Zimbabwe's Urban Poor: The Work of the Zimbabwe Homeless People's...

Moving Forward

Emerging strategies of Zimbabwe’s

Urban Poor

Moving Forward

Emerging Strategies of Zimbabwe’s Urban Poor

The Work of the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s

Federation and Dialogue on Shelter

Beth Chitekwe-Biti

Poverty is urbanizing

• The world is urbanizing-Sub-Saharan Africa more so than any other region in the world

• The real problem is not the scale of urbanization

• The problem is that urbanization has been almost completely decoupled from industrialization, even from development per se

– No new jobs are being created– No housing opportunities for the urban poor– No security of tenure– No infrastructure , health or educational facilities– Increased marginalization both socially and physically

• This context has been a recipe for the mass production of slums.

• For Southern Africa the proportion of urban dwellers who will/do live in slums and informal settlements at 72%

• Zimbabwe’s figure officially at 4% seems a drop in the ocean.

• However this is misleading as consistently ‘slums living’in the formal residential areas is never acknowledged.

• Occupancy rates as high as 12 families in one dwelling unit or the use of one toilet for 40 families are common phenomenon in places such as in Harare’s Mbare suburb.

Comparative Urbanization Rates

Zimbabwe Namibia South Africa Sub-Saharan

Africa

1975-1980 5.70 3.30 2.60 4.84

1980-1985 6.45 3.61 2.90 4.56

1985-1990 6.02 5.47 3.13 4.59

1990-1995 4.15 4.62 3.45 4.37

1995-2000 2.65 4.17 2.66 4.00

2000-2005 1.93 3.04 1.91 3.79

2005-2010 2.24 2.91 1.35 3.67

2010-2015 2.41 2.76 1.17 3.55

2015-2020 2.42 2.73 1.15 3.41

2020-2025 2.35 2.57 1.11 3.27

• The figures show slowing rates of urban growth

• This might be perceived as promising…positive finally

managing to keep urbanization in check?

• However if one looks at the fact that this slowing

down is happening when our urban economies are

least capable of absorbing more urban population

growth

• No employment opportunities and cash strapped

Local Authorities this is not so promising

• The economic crisis has aggravated this situation

• Additionally at local authority level policy has failed

to redress the distorted and paternalistic nature of

urban policies and law which impact the urban poor

negatively:-

• There seem to be an urban penalty

– assumption that the urban is advantaged hence

resources allocation and development priorities

should favour the rural areas.

– Post independence policies emphasis on rural

growth

• Land Redistribution discourse has always had

a rural bias.

• Urban land discussion in Zimbabwe have never

articulated the real nature of insecurities faced by

the urban landless

Effects of Policy

Restrictive by laws to control urban development makes it near impossible for a poor person to acquire housing in urban Zimbabwe

•Waiting List restrictions, use of historical data to measure housing demand•High standards for land and housing development

•By-laws that control trading making most informal trading illegal

Zimbabwe Homeless People’s

Federation and Dialogue on Shelter

• Alliance between a network of community

organizations and a Non Governmental

Organization

• Existing out of 45 000 urban poor households

organized in over 1300 community saving

collectives

• Articulating needs of the urban poor.

• Member of Shack/Slum Dwellers International

(SDI) a trans-continental network of urban poor

community federations.

Responding to:

• Urban Landlessness

– Insecurity of tenure –frequent evictions

– Resident in backyard shacks, squatter settlements

and hostel slums, urban nomadic

• Urban poverty

– Access to financial resources

– Marginalisation

– HIV/Aids, TB

KEY OBJECTIVES OF THE ALLIANCE

• Contribute to the realization people-driven development initiatives which set a precedent of constructive engagement with Govt.

• Strengthening and consolidation of savings networks through social facilitation, documentation and research, creating opportunities for learning.

• Building a pro-poor platform of social movements, consisting of slum dwellers throughout Zimbabwe -be they pragmatic, right based or welfare orientated.

• At the same time also creating a pro-poor platform that will include government officials, professionals, activists and social movements

Rooted in the following principles

• Determined to favour people-driven processes

which don’t bypass government but engage it

• Offers development solutions that are practical

and pragmatic, therefore:

• poor people understand what they are doing;

• partners of various nature and credo can agree on them

and cooperate;

• Government can more easily come on board

• Creates solidarity amongst urban poor

communities. Poor people become their own

social safety nets.

Organizing

•One settlement household at a time•One settlement at a time•One city city at a time•Local community networks•National Federation•45 000 households•1300 community saving schemes•35 Local Authority Areas

Characteristics of the work of the

federation

• Partnerships with government while protecting

their autonomy

– Large-scale programs are not possible without government

support and without obtaining secure tenure

• Active agents of Development not clients or

beneficiaries

– alter their previously negative perceptions about low-income

people and their organizations.

– Local Authority departments and staff and staff from donor

agencies, often view the poor as “clients” or “beneficiaries”, not

as the active agents, whose individual and community processes

can, with appropriate support, really make a difference

Centrality of the role of women

The Power of Information•Settlement Profiling

Gathering the oral history of a settlementGathering information on why people moved from when they moved and when

• Carrying out Community SurveysCollaborating with the state in gathering informationCommunity carrying out surveysMobilizing to articulate needs collectivelyVerification

•Mapping of settlement•Ensure visibility of the invisible

•Land Audits•Land use•Land ownership•Land Cost

Year 2000 2003

No of Families 1069 1364

Total Population 2841 5993

No of People/Water tap

218 428

No of toilets Nil Nil

% Population in Informal employment

71% 88%

Resources of the urban poor matter

• Community Savings

• Urban Poor Funds

• Community skills

and knowledge

• Sweat equity

• Networks and

Exchanges

• Negotiation

• Space for innovation

and experimentation

Building Community Skills

Laying sewer pipes in Mutare

Partnering with Local Authorities

City official on site-Mutare

Establishing and developing trust

Often depended upon individual change agents

Developing pilots together

Moving forward and institutionalizing relationship

Institutionalizing relations with government

SDI National

Federation

National

Federation

Ministry of Local

Government/Hous

ing and Social

Amenities

Ministry of Local

Government/Hous

ing and Social

Amenities

Regional Federation Local AuthorityLocal Authority

Community Saving Schemes

City/Town Local Authority

Dialogue on

Shelter

Dialogue on

Shelter

MOU will result in:

• Central government to making land available

to organized communities of the urban poor

through LA-an initial of 5000 plots

• Nationwide enumeration process carried our

by ZiHoPFe with support from SDI to establish

credible figures of the extend of urban

landlessness-recognition of ‘nomadic’ and

sunset squatter/slum settlements (a

consequence of Murambatsvina)

• Collaboration in reviewing National Housing

Policy

Experimentation and Innovation

Building adobe clay with Hatcliffe Extension, Harare

Securing TenureNo evictions or forced relocation

Upgrading is better and more cost effective

Where relocation is inevitable, social networks, livelihood strategies should be taken into account.

Securing livelihoods-insecurity of informal incomes

Negotiation and and pragmatic solutions

Innovative tenure solutions to protect the vulnerable against the vagaries of the market-community land titling

Incremental Development

Surviving the crisis

• Social Protection

– Prioritizing the poorest and most vulnerable

– Strong community networks

– HIV/Health program

– Burial societies

– Small loans for emergencies

– Food savings

– Batter trading

– Community contacts and networks

• Economic

– Small business loans

– Indexing of loans to counter effects of inflation –Imba to

Imba

Priorities in moving ForwardRecognition of the urbanization of poverty

Recognition also that the solutions are there

Building on the existing through:-Prioritizing equitable urban land allocation systems.Redressing tenure insecurity-developing pro-poor tenure instruments-communal land titles protect the most vulnerable

Securing livelihoods of the urban poor-repel urban by-laws that penalize informal trading

Housing construction will boost economic growth, however the financing urban services-infrastructure and housing should use mechanism that work for the urban poor-

small loans managed by the poor work better than market based solutionsUrban poor funds with contribution from the government and the urban poor-hot and cold money

Cont…

• Time to act LA unrealistic building standard.

Incremental development works

• Capacity of LA to discharge duties

– Control or enablers of development

– Staff shortages, culture

• At community level-healing of fractured

communities that are suspicious of each other

and of the state-this will take time