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PRESS STATEMENT: Signing of a MoA with eThekwini Municipality

By News, Partnerships, Press No Comments

MEDIA RELEASE

4 September 2018

The South African Slum/Shack Dwellers International Alliance (SA SDI Alliance) enters into an agreement with Ethekwini Municipality

The SA SDI Aliiance (an alliance of 2 social movements and 2 support NGOs, namely the Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDUP), the Informal Settlement Network (ISN), the Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) and uTshani Fund), is proud of its longstanding partnership with the Durban metro going back over 20 years.  But this Memorandum of Agreement represents a major step upwards for this partnership giving it the basis for significantly scaling our work and improving the lives of tens of thousands of poor households.

We will endeavor to deliver on our side of the agreement across the city. However we must place it on record that we do not have a presence in all informal settlements in Ethekwini Metro. In many of these settlements we will have to work with other Community Based Organisations and networks. We welcome this – besides our international experience tells us that in order to upgrade settlements and build inclusive cities you need inclusive partnerships.

As the UN asserted in relation to the SDGs – we must leave no one behind. Not one single person. Not one family. Not one settlement and not one Organisation.

Issued by SA SDI Alliance
Kwanda Lande
Website: https://sasdialliance.org.za/
Email: research@corc.co.za
Facebook: South African SDI Alliance || Twitter: @SASDIAlliance

Southern African Slum Dwellers Strategise Ahead of World Urban Forum 2018

By News No Comments

By Kwanda Lande (on behalf of CORC)

On 11 February 2018, the ninth World Urban Forum (WUF9) will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. WUF9 will have a specific thematic focus on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA). This theme of implementation is particularly important to urban poor residents and federation leaders of SDI’s Southern African countries, especially as the NUA relates to informal settlements. 

Twice a year, representatives of SDI‘s Southern African urban poor federations (Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Zambia) gather as a regional “hub” to strategise, report, share challenges, and plan for mutual learning. The recent Southern African SDI hub took place between 15 – 18 November 2017 in Johannesburg. Given the timing of the hub ahead of WUF9, the Federations invited Zou Kota-Fredricks, the South African Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, and Parks Tau, president of UCLGA* and SALGA** to open the hub and engage in discussions on the implementation of the NUA.

*United Cities and Local Governments

** South African Local Government Association

SAMSUNG CSCDelegates of the Southern Africa Hub welcoming the Deputy Minister of Human Settlement Zou Kota-Fredericks

The experience of Southern African slum dwellers working towards the New Urban Agenda (NUA)

In 2015, SDI was invited through an initiative called the General Assembly of Partners (GAP), to participate in the process leading up to Habitat III, in October 2017. GAP served as a broad-based deliberative platform for non-governmental partners to develop consensus for joined outcomes for Habitat III. The primary intention was for civil society organisations to influence UN member states that adopted the NUA at Habitat III. As a result urban poor federations in the SDI network used this opportunity to ensure that their voice was heard in the development of the NUA and that their experiences and aspirations were known and considered.

In the lead up to Habitat III, SDI’s East and Southern African federations had a strong presence at the UN Habitat III Thematic Meeting on Informal Settlements in Pretoria in April 2016. The meeting culminated in the Pretoria Declaration on Informal Settlements. SDI federations advocated that the NUA commit to

  • Supporting the self-organising processes of communities (such as data collection and learning exchanges) to partner effectively with governments and other urban actors
  • Using community-collected informal settlement data as the basis of collaborative informal settlement policy making and development planning.

How Southern African slum dwellers view the NUA

The NUA provides a new framework that lays out how cities should be planned and managed to best promote sustainable urbanisation. It talks about strengthening and creating inclusive partnerships, and people centred development. It suggests that the voice of community organisations be heard. However, for urban poor residents, the challenge, is establishing and maintaining partnerships especially at the level of municipalities where most of community organising activities are taking place and where development is expected to happen. This means that urban poor residents are struggling to gain recognition from municipal systems, and that they have not found ways of institutionalising local government – community partnerships in decision making and planning processes.

In Cape Town, for example, the South African SDI Alliance had established a strong partnership with the local municipality and jointly implemented several upgrading initiatives. However, since the last upgrading project in 2014, it has taken more than three years to progress to the next one. One of the contributing factors to this delays relate to the lack of hand-over of the partnership to successive heads of departments and senior project managers. The consequences of which is the loss of institutional memory and knowledge of the working partnership in a time of high staff turn-over within the municipality. 

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Parks Tau, speaking at the Southern Africa hub meeting during a discussion on the implementation of the NUA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In conversation with Parks Tau and Zou Kota-Fredericks, SDI’s Southern African federation members highlighted their priority of a NUA that is localised, meaning “that we want partnerships at a local government level”. An example is SDI’s partnership with UCLG on the Know Your City campaign, which promotes community-collected data on informal settlements as the basis for partnerships between slum dwellers and their local governments. The Southern African federations expressed:

we want to work – together with government, UCLG and private sector – on collecting data and using this information to participate in decision making, implementation, and monitoring the implementation of the NUA. For example, in South Africa we want to see the Department of Human Settlements creating a forum that will meet more regularly to monitor the implementation of the NUA. This forum should be inclusive to the level that ensures that poor communities are involved.

The fact that government and civil society are working in the same space of local government with similar vision of community development demands a partnership. Both Parks Tau and Zou Kota-Fredericks, agreed for a local forum- South African forum. Parks also suggested for a Southern Africa forum that will sure case a partnership of government and civil society at that level.

At the start of 2018, before the World Urban Forum, we have to work together to convene a meeting to discuss a way forward on how we are going to work together and also to prepare a case study to present at the WUF9. The know your city campaign – data collection by communities is one tool that we are going to use to hold and strengthen our partnership. This will also be an opportunity for all partners to raise their expectations from this partnership. Parks Tau

The state of local government partnerships in some countries in the Southern Africa region

Southern African SDI federations spoke about the state of partnerships between themselves and their local governments as a way of offering some learning points on how to implement the NUA. Some of SDI’s federations have managed to establish well functioning partnerships: In Botswana, the partnership between the local government of Francistown and the Botswana Homeless and Poor People’s Federation involves community members and government collectively collecting community data, identifying and implementing projects. This has allowed the Botswana federation to conduct profiling and enumeration in Francsitown (Somerset West and Somerset East), identify and implement infrastructure projects together with local authorities. A major contributing factor to this work has been the presence of officials on the ground, working hand in hand with federation members around data collection.

In Namibia, slum dwellers have managed to establish local government partnerships with municipalities such as Gobabis where the Shack Dwellers federation of Namibia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the local authority for upgrading Freedom Square informal settlement. This resulted in the Ministry of Rural Development contributing N$ 8 million and Gobabis local municipality contributing technical expertise. Officials of Gobabis municipality worked with the community of Freedom Square in data collection, community planning and implementation of different upgrading phases. In this project officials made sure that they were always on the ground. As a result they were quick to respond to projects issues. They did not impose solutions or approaches to solving problems but instead provided the necessary support for slum dwellers to implement their plans.

SAMSUNG CSCDelegates of the Southern Africa region hub meeting representing Urban poor federations form Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia, and  Zimbabwe.

What are the main priorities of the Southern African federations ahead of WUF9?

The WUF9 presents an opportunity for urban poor federations of the Southern Africa region to influence how the NUA is implemented.  The primary priority for federations in the Southern Africa regions include localised partnerships that are based on community-collected data. The Southern African federations want to work with government and civil society organisations on collecting informal settlement data and using it to participate in decision making, implementation, and to monitor the implementation of the NUA.

What does it mean to “Know Your City” in South Africa?

By Community-led Data Collection, News No Comments

By Yolande Hendler and Kwanda Lande (on behalf of CORC)

“What’s the difference when we collect data on our own informal settlements?” – a question that Melanie and Nozuko asked to a packed room of 150 people, including the South African Minister of Human SettIements, Lindiwe Sisulu. As urban poor residents and coordinators of social movements (FEDUP and ISN), it was noteworthy that both Nozuko and Melanie shared the stage with the minister as equals.

Nozuko Fulani speaking together with FEDUP Chairperson, Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and ISN's Melanie Johnson in a panel discussion on data collection from vulnerable population.

Nozuko (far right) sharing the stage with FEDUP Chairperson Rose Molokoane (far left), Minister Lindiwe Sisulu (centre left) and ISN’s Melanie Johnson (centre right) in a panel discussion on data collection from vulnerable population.

In a world in which digital data (including data on informal settlements) is increasingly collected and owned by “experts”, Melanie and Nozuko introduced a different narrative: “As FEDUP and ISN we have profiled 1500 informal settlements in South Africa over the past 20 years.” This is close to half the number informal settlements in South Africa (currently estimated at between 2700 and 3200).

On 7 September 2017, the South African SDI Alliance co-hosted the Digital Impact World Tour with SDI and the US-based Stanford Centre for Philanthropy and Civil Society in Cape Town’s Langa township. This one-day “stop” – the eighth on the tour and the first in Africa – discussed the role of data collection in the production of social change in the digital age, and in particular the power of community-gathered data for partnerships with local governments.

Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu, welcoming participants of the conference and setting the Setting the stage for a conversation to share ideas and experiences.

Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu, welcoming participants of the conference and setting the stage for a conversation to share ideas and experiences.

With people in attendance who represent fellow slum dweller social movements, civil society, funders, academics, government at all tiers and private sector actors, the event reinforced a commitment to ensure that urban poor communities are part of and shape the conversation. On behalf of informal settlement residents affiliated to FEDUP and ISN, Melanie and Nozuko spoke about the core of community-gathered data:

To us, data collection is about organising communities. We don’t just collect information but collect people too. The minute we start collecting data about ourselves, we begin to understand ourselves as a collective and in a fairly deeper way.

We understand the context of our settlements and we go deep into the household level when collecting data. When we profile and enumerate settlements, data is collected by community members living in that settlement. We make sure that we count everyone. This is why sometimes when you compare our data and government’s data they are totally different. We also communicate the data back to our communities in a way that communities understand – government does not always do this. 

This data helps us to make our own community based plans. It is about looking at problems from our point of view and finding solutions. It is about opening up a space to plan for our own upgrading. It is necessary for government to get involved because we do have solutions on the ground.

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Melanie speaking during panel discussion on data collection from vulnerable population  

Amidst conversations on digital dependencies and innovative digital organisations, the urgency for government to “get involved” and support community-gathered data was evident. This emerged strongly in contributions made by members of the broader SDI network, South African SDI Alliance, Social Justice Coalition and International Budget Partnership, a fellow social movement and partner in the sector, who spoke about community-gathered data through social audts.

Fellow partners making contributions based on their own experiences and the working that they are doing.

Fellow partners making contributions based on their own experiences and work that they are doing.

The task to the minister and all government representatives in the room was clear, whether local, provincial or national: commit to supporting the Know Your City campaign on community-gathered data for co-productive partnerships between slum dwellers and local governments.

Though organized urban poor communities have been profiling and enumerating their settlements for over 20 years, the campaign (launched in 2014) established a digital platform to house this data and anchor the coproduction of inclusive urban development by communities, city governments and global urban development actors.

We have the power, ability and knowledge to collect data and organise our communities but what we want is for government to walk with us. We already started but we need a partnership to scale up our efforts. We want support from government, non-government organisations, private sector and academia.

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Rose participating during the conference and emphasising the importance of partnerships between communities and government.

The minister committed to financially supporting the work of community-gathered data in cities across South Africa. For South African organisations and movements in the sector, THE next steps are clear: “We need to follow up the minister’s pledge to support data collection by informal settlement residents for all organisations” (Rose Molokoane, national SA Alliance coordinator).

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Minister Lindiwe Sisulu committing that her department will support communities in data collection of their settlements.

So what is the difference with community-gathered data? “It’s about organizing ourselves, understanding ourselves and our settlements. It’s about making our own development plans, partnering with our local governments and sharing a stage as equals. It’s about Knowing Our City.”

Co(mmunity)-finance facilities as a tool for local democratic space

By CORC, Publications No Comments

By Yolande Hendler (on behalf of CORC)

With the 2016 municipal elections around the corner, the relationship between elected representatives and local citizenries could not be more topical. For some, the relationship is a largely passive space, which has lead to mistrust between different groups. For others it is a space that requires the building of meaningful partnerships, participation, and an active citizenry. As a member of the Good Governance Learning Network (GGLN), we have joined fellow civil society organisations in exploring these questions in the 2016 State of Local Governance Publication: (Re)claiming Local Democratic Space. 

Screen Shot 2016-07-19 at 10.57.15 AM

CORC’s contribution (on behalf of the SA Alliance) engages with the notable lack of community participation and in-situ practice in the national Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP). The paper is titled Co(mmunity) finance as a tool for local democratic space: The Cape Town City Fund and is based on robust experiences of community saving as a lever for co-finance and an enabler of inclusionary practice (See p.51-61). It suggests the need for an innovative co-finance instrument that enables a collaborative platform between urban poor communities, intermediary organisations and local governments to co-navigate in-situ informal settlement upgrading projects.

The GGLN is an initiative that brings together civil society organisations working in the field of local governance. Once a year the network produces the The State of Local Governance Publication which presents a civil society based assessment of the key challenges, debates and areas of progress with regard to governance and development at the local level in South Africa. 

http://ggln.org.za/state-of-local-governance-reclaiming-local-democratic-space-2016.pdf

We want to be viewed as equals: Reblocking KwaMathambo, Durban

By ISN No Comments

By Arnotte Payne* (on behalf of CORC)

View of KwaMthambo settlement in Durban

View of KwaMthambo settlement in Durban

Kwa-Mathambo informal settlement is located in a suburban area of Red-hill on Old North Coast Road in Durban. When the settlement was enumerated in 2012, it consisted of 294 shacks with a total population of 565 people—most of whom were employed in the city center or nearby residential areas. Since then Mathambo leader, Ndodeni Dengo, estimates the population to be close to 800.Situated close to the city centre and industrial areas, the settlement’s advantageous location grants residents convenient access to schools, employment opportunities, and transportation. Despite these amenities, poor environmental and health conditions in Mathambo pose serious risks for residents.

Mathambo experienced a serious fire in March 2016 which required 37 structures to be rebuilt. The reconstruction also offered an opportunity to pilot a reblocking layout in Mathambo which can serve as an example of reblocking during continued negotiations for a partnership between the Human Settlements Department and the Informal Settlement Network in eThekwini Municipality.

Mathambo after the 2016 fire

Mathambo after the 2016 fire

A view into life in Mathambo

Firstly, inadequate water and sanitation services—causing odors to emanate from dirty water—have led to cases of Tuberculosis. Prior to the re-blocking project, the entire community was served by only two ablution facilities—one for males, the other for females—with two showers. Secondly, low lying shacks were highly vulnerable to flooding from accumulated water runoff, given the steep topography of the land on which Mathambo lies. Thirdly, fires have repeatedly devastated the settlement. The first fire took place in 2013, destroying 258 shacks. In response, the municipality rebuilt 229 structures in the form of a transit camp and left 29 families homeless.

The 44 shacks that were not affected by fire remained prone to future environmental disasters given the precariousness of construction materials—a combination of zinc, tarp, planks and plastics—and the layout of the shacks. In March 2016, the settlement experienced a second fire—displacing 40 families whose shacks, belongings, and identity documents were burned. Though it was not the primary impetus, the second fire expedited the process of re-blocking Mathambo.

This section of KwaMathambo burnt down in the 2016 fire.

Beyond environmental and health hazards, the settlement faces challenges including crime, harassment by police, low-paying employment opportunities given residents’ low levels of education, and the absence of facilities such as a community hall, church, crèche, learning centre and a community office given limited space in the settlement. Furthermore, despite the development of a municipal electrification program, electricity has proven to be a continued problem—leading some community members to resort to illegal wire connections which have caused fatalities. Furthermore, some residents contend with issues relating to unplanned children, contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, and alcohol and drug abuse.

Damage caused by the 2016 fire

Damage caused by the 2016 fire

What it takes to mobilise a community 

As the ISN began to mobilise the community, there was a certain level of resistance from transit camp dwellers, many of whom were wary of the municipality. Skepticism of the municipality–and its willingness to participate in the improvement process–largely stemmed from public neglect experienced following the first fire. The poor design of the municipal transit camp worsened conditions in Mathambo, particularly extrapolating issues relating to drainage and sanitation.  

Given environmental conditions, the municipality has indicated that the settlement is slated for eventual re-location within an unspecified timeframe—which residents speculate may signify over ten years time. The lack of transparency regarding future plans for the settlement contributed to the perception among residents that local politicians would often promise improvements in advance of elections—leveraging community members as voting tools—while failing to actually implement basic and necessary public services. 

What the Enumeration Revealed

During the process of enumerating the settlement, it became clear that the settlement urgently needed taps, toilet facilities and a proper drainage system. Despite initial resistance, through a series of community meetings, residents and community leaders – in cooperation with the Planning Division of eThekwini Municipality – identified re-blocking as a viable solution to improve conditions in Mathambo. To mediate relations between stakeholders, the ISN hosted meetings with members of the community, the land owner, neighbours, the Ward Councillor, the chairperson of the Rates Committee, and the municipality’s Planning Division.

Mathambo prepares for Reblocking 

Mathambo community leaders present their reblocked layout to visitors.

Mathambo community leaders use wooden boxes to speak about their reblocked layout to visitors.

Re-blocking was planned as a Community Upgrading Finance Facility (CUFF) project, cooperatively funded by community members who practice two types of savings: participating in FEDUP livelihood programs and contributing to a community savings pool accessible to members at the year’s end. At the time of the most recent fire, the community had demonstrated their strong capacity for savings, with R8100 saved with a formal banking institution. To meet the community’s urgent needs in light of the second fire, CUFF issued a loan for the purchase of building materials—which is currently being repaid by the community in instalments. 

To prevent future fires, the project incorporated emergency precautions such as fire-resilient construction materials and fire detectors, while also improving access ways to facilitate entering and exiting the settlement. Additionally, the re-blocked layout will accommodate space for the 29 households displaced—and still shelterless— in the aftermath of the 2013 fire. 

Mathambo residents begin reconstruction in the reblocked layout.

Mathambo residents begin reconstruction in the reblocked layout.

Furthermore, re-blocking will improve the layout plan of the settlement, regenerating the neighbourhood’s “legibility” in the surrounding suburban environment. The project will enable the people of this settlement to take ownership of their upgraded facilities, potentially solving the challenge of service vandalism. Given that the city has identified a few informal settlements for electrification, the reblocking project may also influence the city’s potential selection of Mathambo as a beneficiary.

As of June 2016, structures have been constructed in accordance with the newly designed community layout, windows have been fitted, and in some cases, floors have been cemented with materials provided by the municipality. To address the persistent challenge of flooding, plans are being developed to construct retaining walls, walkways, proper drainage to control water and eradicate property damage during heavy rains.

Mathambo settlement leader Ndodeni Dengo (left)

Mathambo settlement leader Ndodeni Dengo (left)

The potential of partnership with eThekwini Municipality

The project represents a positive step towards a relationship between Mathambo and the eThekwini Municipality that is free of political divisiveness, while also demonstrating residents’ capacities to mobilise towards improving conditions in the settlement while waiting for government housing. Through engaging with the ISN and jointly financing the project through CUFF, the project has also strengthened the relationship between Mathambo and the SA SDI Alliance.

“The government must begin to have respect for us and stop looking at us as a nuisance and a voting tool but a significant part of the bigger community who can bring about positive national change through ordinary people aspiring to do extra ordinary things by fulfilling their vision. We want to be viewed as equals to formal residents so we will teach the formal residents and municipality how we would like to be treated and how we would like to be heard and included in their decision-making as well as be part of the governments programs whether it be housing, livelihoods or development.”  

Ultimately, the community would like for the government to integrate Mathambo into the neighbouring formal area by constructing in-situ houses. Given the settlement’s favourable location, re-location should be considered as a last resort. Community members believe that the successful partial re-blocking of Mathambo—the first settlement to be re-blocked in KwaZulu Natal— can serve as a precedent to inspire future projects in the eThekwini Municipality and elsewhere.

*Compiled by Ava Hoffman (on behalf of CORC)

A Photo Story: Community-led Enumeration in Action

By Community-led Data Collection, CORC No Comments

By Ava Rose Hoffman and Yolande Hendler (on behalf of CORC)

A variety of methodologies exist for gathering data on informal settlements.  The SA SDI Alliance follows the practice of community administered enumerations and community-led settlement mapping using GIS technology. An enumeration refers to a detailed household level surveys that engages community members on socio-economic and demographic data. For the Alliance, the community-led process during enumerations is critical: when a mobilised community collects its own data, the data obtained reflects far higher degrees of accuracy than any census or survey run by ‘outsiders’ would.

In early 2016, the SA SDI Alliance partnered with the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements to conduct community-led enumerations of select informal settlements located along or near the N2 Highway. The settlements included in the ongoing enumeration project are: Kanana, Barcelona, Europe, Vukuzenzele, Lusaka, GxaGxa and Kosovo. The socio-economic information gathered through the enumeration includes demographic data, employment status, education, access to government grants, access to basic services and access to government, social and community infrastructure, among others. The mapping of GIS coordinates includes logging GPS coordinates for every household, for existing basic services, communal facilities, economic points of interest and transport routes.

The enumerations therefore provide an updated settlement profile that can form the basis for any future upgrading plans. The data collection exercise serves as a means of mobilising communities, equipping members with accurate information that can be used to advocate for development priorities. When enumerations are conducted in partnership with organised poor communities, governments gain accurate and more comprehensive data that can be used as a basis for future upgrading plans.

This photo story depicts the enumeration process, from shack numbering and service mapping to training sessions of community enumerators and household-level surveying.

Despite the rain, the numbering team gathers in Kosovo to review their plan of action with CORC’s enumerations coordinator, Blessing Mancitshana.

The numbering team in Kosovo convenes with Blessing on another day.

The numbering team in Kosovo convenes with Blessing on a sunny day before setting out to number shacks for the day.

Before setting out to number shacks, the numbering team reviews the settlement layout map.

One team reviews the settlement layout map.

Each shack in the community is spray-painted with a number. In this case, the number is preceded by "A" to refer to the section of the settlement, given Kosovo's large size.

Each shack in the community is spray-painted with a number. In this case, the number is preceded by “A” to refer to the section of the settlement, given Kosovo’s large size.

Shack by shack, the numbers are marked on the community layout map.

Shack by shack, the numbers are marked on the community layout map.

Community enumerators learn the basics of conducting a household-level survey using a data collection device called the Trimble during an enumerations training workshop.

Community enumerators participate in an a training workshop, guided by Blessing.

The Trimble is a device used for data capturing during household-level surveying

For the first time, enumerators make use of the Trimble, a device used for data capturing during household-level surveying

Blessing reviews how to work the Trimble device with a community enumerator in Gxagxa

Blessing reviews how to work the Trimble device with a community enumerator in Gxagxa

The enumerations teams in Gxagxa get to work, going from shack to shack to conduct the detailed household-level survey

The enumerations teams in Gxagxa get to work, going from shack to shack to conduct the detailed household-level survey.

A community enumerator begins the survey.

A community enumerator begins the survey.

The survey includes socio-demographic information about members of the household and their livelihoods

The survey includes socio-demographic information about members of the household and their livelihoods.

 

 

Reflections on re-blocking: Why community participation is key

By CORC, ISN No Comments

By Ava Rose Hoffman (on behalf of CORC)

In this blog, the SA SDI Alliance speaks with Nkokheli Ncambele—ISN Coordinator of the Western Cape—to learn about how the participation process functions on the ground during informal settlement upgrading, and in particular, reblocking initiatives . Reflecting upon the Alliance’s early experiences with re-blocking in Sheffield Road (2010-2011) and Mtshini Wam (2012-2013), Nkokheli highlights the value of building partnerships between informal settlements, support NGOs, and local governments.

How has the re-blocking process enabled residents to better engage with city officials or service providers in the long run? Has the re-blocking process enabled citizens to become more knowledgeable about how to interact with the state?

In our project called Sheffield Road, the government was saying [to community members] that they can’t do anything in the road reserve. But when the community started engaging with the municipality, the community learned how to negotiate with the city, [using] their tools—starting from profiling and enumerations. The enumeration is what helped them identify their problem, and then they start engaging [with the City]. Through the engagement they decided to start reblocking cluster one. When they finished Cluster One, everyone in the community was saying, ‘This thing is working, we want this thing [reblocking.’ Then they started rolling it out in the community. While they were in Cluster 3, the government saw the value of re-blocking, and then they came and installed 15 toilets that were not there before. So, that exercise [served to] teach a lesson to the government, and teach a lesson to the community.

Community members discuss the re-blocked design in Sheffield Road

Community members discuss the re-blocked design in Sheffield Road

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Mtshini Wam, each and every winter they [the community] experienced flooding. And when they went to government, government was saying they can’t do anything [improvements] there because there is no space. And the community started organizing their general meetings, and trying to find a solution. Because, remember, they are the ones living in those conditions, so they had to come [up] with the solutions, and their solution was re-blocking. They went on an exchange to Sheffield Road to see what other communities were doing. When they came back, they started engaging with the people [in their community], and the technical teams of CORC and ISN went to Mtshini Wam and started helping them [with] how to design their community [reblocked layout]. At the end of the day, even if you can go today to Mtshini Wam, they will tell you that this re-blocking, it helped us a lot because, they were living in bad conditions. They were affected by their health because of the gray water that was smelling.

How did that engagement or negotiation with the state play out after the re-blocking was complete? Was there any continued engagement between the community and the state after the process was complete?

There is always a question of, ‘What else after this? What are we going to do?’ Obviously engagement is still happening between the community and the municipality, because, remember, these people, they don’t have a title deed. So they have to negotiate for the title deed. So now, their engagement is on another level. It’s not on the level of shelter; it’s on another level of getting houses, adequate houses. I remember they finished their design, where they said what they want: double stories where everyone can fit. And they even went to Joe Slovo in Langa to see how the design of Joe Slovo looked like, because it’s what they want to implement in their community.

Do you think the re-blocking projects have helped to change power dynamics within communities or empower more vulnerable members of communities?

I think firstly, what re-blocking brings to the community is security. It brings the trust between the community itself, because where they were residing before, no one would know their neighbours. But after the re-blocking, now, everyone is known in the community. It’s a community, its not an informal settlement anymore, it’s a community where the people of that community have pride in what they did. It also brings trust to the leadership—the leaders are the ones who will take us to the house.

Who would you define as vulnerable members of a community? Do you think that re-blocking has helped those vulnerable members get more of a voice in their communities?

I’m not going to answer your question directly, but I will always come out with an explanation.

If you go to Mtshini Wam, there were people that were not having income, not even a cent—so they were vulnerable in the sense that they don’t receive anything— [while] other community members were working, and received income. When we started, there were people that were vulnerable, and you can see that their situation is very bad, but once we brought the re-blocking concept, where we manage to employ 45 people, those that were vulnerable earn something. It’s where they change their lives, you know. And now, there is no one—I can guarantee to you today—that is very vulnerable. Everyone is in the same level because of re-blocking. That’s why I’m saying, re-blocking, it brings a lot of things. It brings job opportunities, it brings basic services, it’s not only about changing the structure, it’s about what government can play in your community when you say, ‘I want re-blocking.’

A community where no one is working, and no one is receiving a grant—that is what I call a vulnerable community, because there is no income.

Community members at work in Mtshini Wam re-blocking

Community members at work in Mtshini Wam’s re-blocking process

How did communities and the City change through the process of re-blocking? What was that mutual learning process like?

What I can say is that, the city has changed through the system that the people brought… The government at that time would tell the community: ‘We are going to put the toilet here.’ But the challenge of that community is not a toilet. The community wants electricity. So, once we start engaging with the government, in 2010, it’s when the government started listening, now that the people know what they want. We are not fighting with their ideas, but we want them to listen to us. Because we are the ones who are residing in those conditions. We are the ones who are walking in the dark at night.

It shows that people learn a lot and the city learned, because the city put a lot of basic services in different communities. The communities that started before 1994, they’ve got basic services now. It shows that the city learned how to listen to the people. And the people know how to engage with the city now. Because the leadership—you will find different leadership going to see the mayor, you will find that the mayor is going to the communities—there is that engagement now. Re-blocking and engagement—having the ISN involved—changed a lot of people.

Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Ms. Kota-Fredericks, visits the newly re-blocked Mtshini Wam in 2012

Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Ms. Kota-Fredericks, visits the newly re-blocked Mtshini Wam in 2012

Learning Space: Lessons from the ISN on building a strong social movement

By CORC, ISN No Comments

by Ava Rose Hoffman (on behalf of CORC)

In 2016, the SA SDI Alliance began a new series of participatory learning spaces intended for FEDUP and ISN community leaders and CORC staff to collaboratively strengthen understandings of government structures, processes, laws, and principles. These sessions serve to equip professionals and community leaders alike with information applicable to government partnership meetings. Furthermore, the sessions prepare community leaders to better report back on project preparation processes to their respective communities.

How do learning spaces function?

Each session is facilitated by an individual, but the sessions are guided with the intention for SA SDI Alliance professionals and community leaders to learn from one another, particularly through the experiential lens that community leaders bring to the table.

The first learning space of the year took place on 22 January 2016 and focused on “how government works.” This session worked through the roles and responsibilities of government, the structure of government on national, provincial, and local levels, and the division of powers between legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The second learning space took place on 29 January 2016 and explored “how laws and policies are made.” During this session, participants examined the difference between laws and policies, Green Papers, White Papers, Bills, and Acts, in addition to becoming familiar with the Draft White Paper on Human Settlements—which was the primary topic of the third session, held on 5 February 2016.

The fourth learning space of the 2016 series, held on 15 April 2016 at the community hall in Khayelitsha Site B, focused on the key principles of building a strong social movement composed of informal settlement dwellers.

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Learning Space in Khayelitsha Site B on 22 April 2016

Facilitated by Nkokhleli Ncambele, Informal Settlement Network (ISN) Coordinator of the Western Cape, the session focused on the organisational structure of the ISN, ensuring that the community leaders present grasp a clear understanding of their responsibilities as participants and leaders in the ISN as a social movement.

Nkokheli Ncambele, ISN Coordinator of the Western Cape, facilitating the learning space

Guiding Principles of the ISN
 
The most recent session kicked off with Nkokheli’s description of the fundamental pillars of the ISN:

  • Accountability & Transparency

To enhance efficiency and transparency, the organisational structure of the ISN is divided into community, subregional, regional, provincial, and national levels. As Nkokheli stated:

“The community leadership is accountable to their community because wherever they go—like when they go to meet with the City of Cape Town—they have to come back and report to the community. If you don’t do that, you’re not accountable. Every leader has to go back and report to his community.”
Furthermore, to ensure transparency and accountability, community leaders are driven by what Nkokheli calls a “community mandate”—the specific needs, goals, and interests that the community leader advances on behalf of the community:
“If you don’t have a community mandate that is going to drive you, when someone doesn’t have a mandate, who is going to hold you accountable? But if you have a mandate, this is very important to you.”
  • Availability and Commitment
When projects are initiated, Nkokheli recounted that communities often first ask:
“‘When is this project going to start? The second question: how many people are going to be employed? Then the community says, ‘Please, leadership, make sure that our people are benefiting from the project.’”

When communities ask questions of their leaders, leaders must ensure that their actions align with the collective interest of the community.

  • Love 

Nkokheli emphasised the necessity of love and compassion in the ISN: “Whatever we do, we do it with love. Without love, you can’t build an organization.”

  • Trust

Finally, Nkokheli spoke of the trust that communities vest in their leaders to advocate on their behalf: “We trust you [leaders] that you’re going to deliver.”

Understanding the Roles and Responsibilities of ISN Leaders

Next, Nkokheli proceeded to delve into the organisational structure of the ISN, detailing the roles and responsibilities of leaders on each of the five levels composing the movement.

  • Community level

On a community level, a minimum of fifteen leaders are elected to represent the community. If a community is large, it will be divided into a number of sections. The participation of community leaders is indispensable for the planning and implementation of a project in a community.

  • Subregional level

Nkokheli described:

“The subregion is where all the community mandates go. From there, the community mandates go to the regions. For example, here in Khayelitsha we’ve got 5 subregions: Site C, Site B, Enkanini, Endloveni and Strand. When they come together they form a region. If you are leading on a regional level or a subregional level, you’re not only focusing on your community, you’re focusing on Site B—you are a leader of Site B, not a leader of your community.”

When a community seeks to advocate its needs, it must first express them to local community leaders, who then conveys the community’s interests to the subregional leaders. In turn, subregional leaders “have the duty to go and put pressure on the regional leadership.”

  • Regional level
Similarly, on a regional level, Nkokheli emphasised that leaders must be accountable not only to their own communities but to the entire region:
“I want us to think about our communities, but once you are serving on the subregional or regional level, you are not thinking about your community alone… On a regional level, your focus is on all of Khayelitsha.”

Regional leaders, in turn, report to the provincial leadership.

  • Provincial level
Currently, the Western Cape provincial leadership is composed of eight active members (including Nkokheli himself). When provincial leaders are elected, representatives from all regions must be present. Once again, Nkokheli emphasised the misperception that an individual from a certain community serving in the provincial leadership represents their respective community—which is not the case. While a leader might be inclined to serve the interests of their own community, like subregional and regional leaders, provincial leaders mustn’t focus on the needs of their home community alone:
“Look at me: my community has many problems. But my focus is not on my own community, but on the Western Cape at large.”
  • National level

While a national leadership structure does exist, the ISN largely operates more locally, spearheaded by the provincial leadership. Nkokheli articulated: “You have to have a strategy to be in or lead this movement.” Integral to this strategy, according to Nkokheli, is understanding the dynamics between community movements (like the ISN) and politics. Nkokheli stated:

“It’s important for us as a social movement to be just a social movement, not to be a political movement. You don’t talk politics, you talk community development.”

Project Development Step-by-Step: From community mandate to project realisation

1. “You can’t do anything in any particular community without consulting its leaders”.The active engagement and participation of community leaders is the cornerstone of initiating and implementing an upgrading project. Furthermore, communities must demonstrate readiness and commitment by developing savings schemes. Nkokheli emphasised: “You can’t just want a project without community savings. How can we approve that project without community savings?”

2. Next, on a subregional level, decision making must involve representation from each affected community. The subregional level is highly important, as the subregional leaders are responsible for reporting back to their communities. In turn, the communities must articulate their needs and interests:

“The community has the responsibility of giving a mandate to these people. If a community says, we want a project, they tell the leadership, ‘We want re-blocking,’ and then the leadership should come here in the subregion and say ‘Our community wants a project.’”
3. Next, the subregional coordinator is responsible for approaching the regional leadership. For example, the subregional coordinator might say:
“‘In our subregion, we’ve got 6 communities that are requesting a project. They’ve done profiling, enumerations, and they’ve started their community savings.’ The duty of regional leaders is to come to the provincial level and say, ‘In our region, we’ve got 15 community that want projects.’”
At this point, a decision must be made: how many settlements can be supported. Based on that evaluation of community preparedness, technical feasibility and local government engagement, CORC becomes involved in the project planning process, advancing towards the next steps of project implementation. After Nkokheli explained these steps, he opened up the forum for questions, conversation and debate. Concluding the session, Nkokheli remarked on the power of collaboration in leadership structures: “When you bring different leaders together, you find something and you learn something.”

Implemented project: re-blocking in a section of Khayelitsha Site B

Project in action: Khayelitsha Site B’s nearly complete new community hall

Community leaders in Khayelitsha Site B at the learning space

 

Reflections on H3 Pretoria: Can we Implement Progressive Outcomes?

By CORC, ISN, SDI No Comments

by Ava Rose Hoffman, Yolande Hendler and Skye Dobson (on behalf of CORC)

From 7-8 April 2016, the SA SDI Alliance together with Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) participated in the United Nations Habitat III Thematic Conference on Informal Settlements in Pretoria, advocating for the inclusion of  the voices of the urban poor in crafting the “New Urban Agenda” (NUA).

SDI Team

SDI Team

The Problem of Mass Housing, The Potential of Informal Settlements

In his opening address, Dr. Joan Clos, emphasised that informal settlements and housing should be “put at the centre” politically and physically. Mass housing projects on the periphery of cities would need to be diminished because without economic activity and mixed (land) use they become dormitory neighbourhoods for the poor. Clos suggested that urbanisation needed to be used as a tool for socio-economic development through well-planned and managed cities, proposing that the following three dimensions of urbanisation need to be considered:

  • The Legal Dimension (requiring new rules and regulations)
  • The Physical Dimension (spatial planning and land use)
  • The Financial Dimension (enabling economic design and finance)

While Clos noted that each dimension requires strategic instruments to address the “proliferation of slum dwellers”, we wonder where the “Social Dimension” featured in this discussion. The absence of shack dwellers as central agents and decision makers in planning, implementation and access to finance produces limited and brittle results. The South African Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, alluded to this effect: “We [the Department of Human Settlements] experienced challenges from time to time because we did not always understand the environment we were going in to. We are looking to adjust this legislation.” Whereas adjusted legislation carries some impact, the underlying value lies within the experience that informs strategic contributions of slum dwellers themselves.

Opening address by Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN Habitat

Opening address by Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN Habitat

Where Planning Falls Short…

However, what purpose do master plans render if they are not implemented? And, how do we rethink the relationship between living spaces and workplaces? In a panel on the role of urban planning and land use, Julian Baskin (Head of Program Unit at Cities Alliance) emphasised that the urban agenda was not only about housing but how we access cities and livelihoods. Slum dwellers are no longer waiting for government, Baskin explained, but are organising themselves, forming their own plans and collecting their own data.

Slum dwellers are arriving at local governments around secondary cities saying, ‘We have our own information, partner with us’. When you have people in communities who understand plans and how to control their own development, you suddenly gain multiple planners….National governments need to build enabling legislation for cities, between local governments and communities, so that planning can be transferred to slum dwellers themselves.

Informal Settlements: Productive Centres for Resident Organising and Livelihoods

In two side events, community leaders affiliated to SDI spoke of the connection between informal settlements, livelihoods and mobilisation strategies through savings and data collection. The conversation was grounded by the very personal account of Catherine, a young mother from Johannesburg who spoke of her experience as a waste picker and recycler. In a soft, and, at moments, shaky voice, she recounted,

“I am a waste picker because this is how I support my children. This is how my mother supported us. I mainly work with cardboard and scale it every day. For 1Kg I am paid 90c.”

Catherine

Catherine

Based on Catherine’s account and a further presentation by SDI partner movement, Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (WIEGO), it was evident that daily life in informal settlements significantly co-exists and intersects with livelihood activities such as waste picking, street vending and home based work. Therefore,

  • Informal settlements are spaces of productivity and economic activity: homes are productive assets that contribute to economic livelihoods.
  • Basic services are inputs for informal workers’ productivity and function as a direct link to livelihoods.
  • Informal settlements are intricately connected to economic migrants and livelihood opportunities.

Rose Molokoane, Coordinator of FEDUP and Deputy President of SDI spoke about the broader involvement and mobilisation of shack dwellers in global discussions on development:

“As informal settlers we ask ourselves, what was achieved by the MDGs discussed twenty years ago ? Will the SDGs really attend to the needs of poor people in informal settlements? People who are planning for us without us are making a mistake. Informal settlements keep growing because most of the time we are taken as the subject of discussion without including us in the discussion… We use the power of savings and information about our informal settlements to organise ourselves, to reach out to our communities, to do something and to allow government to meet us half way” (Rose Molokoane, SDI & SA SDI Alliance)

Victoria Okoye (WIEGO) and Rose Molokoane on the left,

Victoria Okoye (WIEGO) and Rose Molokoane on the left,

As a collective of global movements, WIEGO, SDI and the Huairou Commission seek to ensure that the NUA promotes inclusion and produces equitable social and economic outcomes. Some of these include:

  • Recognition of all forms of work, both informal and formal
  • Greater access to affordable financial services, training new technologies and decent and secure workplaces for all women and men
  • Adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services
  • Security of tenure for the urban poor and a stop to all forced evictions

Know Your City: Community Collected Data for Collaborative City Planning

With panelists clad in Know Your City T-shirts and the presentation of a KnowYourCity explanatory video set to an upbeat soundtrack, the mood was set for a different kind of panel. Thus far, the voices of informal settlement dwellers had been sparse in the conference. That was, until the Know Your City side event.

SDI’s Know Your City (KYC) campaign emphasises that the “data revolution” is central to the New Urban Agenda (NUA). It constitutes a true data revolution as shack dwellers are organised across the Global South not only to gather invaluable data on informal settlements, but to use it as the foundation for partnerships and collaborative urban planning. While “partnerships” between communities and government are widely accepted as critical to the success of the NUA, the mechanisms for actually realising productive partnerships are poorly understood. The KYC campaign has proven a highly effective strategy for catalysing such partnership and sustained dialogue between communities and government.

Mzwanele Zulu and Joyce Lungu, community leaders of urban poor federations in South Africa and Zambia, spoke of their experience profiling, enumerating and mapping their cities. Joyce spoke of the Zambian federation’s work to profile Lusaka through the strong organisational capacity in slum dweller communities. While the challenge for non-residents concerned entering and gathering reliable data, the power this information constituted for residents was evident when it was shared with government partners in the city council to identify incremental upgrading of settlements through prioritising needs and projects.

Mzwanele Zulu appreciated the large audience at the event, but gave an impassioned plea for more government officials to make the effort to attend the panels of informal dwellers. He highlighted the critical role of household level enumerations in organising his community in Joe Slovo, Cape Town.  Initially, the government claimed there were too many shack dwellers to accommodate in the planned upgrade and advised on relocations to the outskirts of the city. The enumeration revealed the actual population to be far smaller and negotiations with government resulted in an agreement to undertake an in situ development. The enumeration data was also vital to the beneficiary registration process – something often mismanaged in upgrading projects, often at the expense of the poorest residents.

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Joyce Lungu, Zambian Federation Leader

Julian Baskin (of Cities Alliance) reminded the audience that a tremendous change is required to create an environment that catalyses the efforts of the urban poor to improve their communities instead of simply “controlling” urban poor communities. He applauded the efforts of organised slum dweller communities in SDI to gather critical data, plan for settlement improvements and seek partnerships with government. To meet the demand of informal settlement upgrading in the Global South, partnerships that bring the efforts of a billion slum dwellers to the service of city development will be essential.

CORC Deputy Director, Charlton Ziervogel, wrapped up the discussion by explaining the process undertaken by the SDI network to standardise profiling data. Such standardisation makes it possible to aggregate data at the regional and global level which is currently hosted on SDI’s Know Your City online platform. In South Africa, FEDUP and the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) are working on two government tenders to gather data on hundreds of informal settlements in the Western Cape. Affiliates in Uganda and Kenya are making similar progress. These cases serve as powerful examples of authentic government partnership and a data revolution that chooses communities over consultants to gather data and serve as the foundation for inclusive, collaborative planning.

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Know Your City Side Event

How Can we Implement Progressive Outcomes? 

The two day thematic meeting ended with the adoption of the Pretoria Declaration on Informal Settlements, which is considered as official input on informal settlements to the New Urban Agenda. UN Habitat also launched its “Up for Slum Dwellers – Transforming a Billion Lives’ campaign, hosted by UN Habitat’s Participatory Slum Upgrading Program (PSUP) and the World Urban Campaign with the aim to bring about a new paradigm regarding global responses to slum upgrading.

In its current version, the Pretoria Declaration presents progressive and people-centred recommendations that relate to embracing the importance of in-situ participatory slum upgrading approaches, pursuing a focus on people-centred partnerships as suggested by “People-Public-Private Partnerships”, using participatory and inclusive approaches to developing policy, strengthening the role of local government and recognising civil society as a key actor in participatory processes. The Declaration also emphasises that the NUA should be action-oriented and implementable.

Although the declaration indicates that action should be concentrated at the local government level and that UN Habitat support to states occurs through tools such as the PSUP (See Point 9 in the Declaration), “the how” remains a strong concern for members of the South African SDI Alliance, and SDI network. While the SDI network and “Know Your City” approach was characterised by a strong presence and the message of “plan with us, not for us” was well received the mechanisms for implementation remain unclear:

“We have this beautiful constitution, but how will South African municipalities act? Politicians and officials talk very nicely – I hope that they will open doors for us when we engage them. Since I joined ISN in 2009 we are battling to sign Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with municipalities for upgrading. We only have the MoU with the City of Cape Town and eight provincial agreements with national government, but those are for the People’s Housing Process and not for upgrading. Do we know what is really happening on the ground or are we just becoming advocates of theory?” (Mzwanele Zulu, SA SDI Alliance)

“The highlight for me was making sure that our voices and messages were heard. Part of my concern was when I looked at the expenses of this event. There are a lot of people who don’t have and here is our government spending so much money on this event. But when you go and ask them to assist poor people you don’t get that response” (Melanie Manuel, SA SDI Alliance)

Watch Rose Molokoane’s input to the NUA on behalf of SDI here.

The Pretoria Declaration on Informal Settlements: Perspectives from the urban poor

By News, SDI No Comments

On 8 April 2016, SDI leader Rose Molokoane delivered an address on the New Urban Agenda at the final plenary session of the UN Habitat III Thematic Meeting on Informal Settlements in Pretoria. The thematic meeting took place in preparation for the upcoming UN Habitat III Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development, to be held in Quito, Ecuador in October 2016.

The plenary session in which Rose spoke was entitled: “Together transforming a billion lives: Participatory approaches in planning, implementing, and monitoring informal settlement/slum upgrading.”

Watch the speech here:

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/163418761[/vimeo]

As a founding leader of the Shack Dwellers International (SDI), a network of slum dweller federations spanning 38 countries, I understand the critical need for increased focus on informal settlements in the urban agenda as this is where close to a billion of our brothers and sisters live. We’re not the subjects of this discussion. We are part of this discussion.

As chair of the Grassroots Constituency Group of the General Assembly of Partners, representing slum dwellers, informal workers, organised youth and marginalised women in our cities, I am very pleased to take part in this Thematic Meeting on Informal Settlements towards Habitat III and the New Urban Agenda. This is OUR agenda. I only wish this whole venue was full of slum dwellers.

We call for specific mention in the New Urban Agenda of the urgent need to combat the spatial, social and economic exclusion of informal settlements and the informal sector in cities and to mobilise the requisite resources to address this.

This will require a New Urban Agenda that commits itself to support the process of organizing communities to partner effectively with governments and other urban actors. We must find ways of institutionalising these partnerships in the decision making and planning process. Do you Know Your City? This should be the question we ask our communities, our politicians and our technocrats.

We urge partners to recognise the role informal settlement dwellers must play in the implementation of scalable efforts to build urban resilience and promote climate change mitigation and adaptation at the local level.

Effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda demands robust partnerships between local governments and organised communities of the urban poor. These must be at the core of policy making and development planning and implementation in cities and stress the need to strengthen existing cooperation mechanisms, platforms, and partnership arrangements.

Community-collected slum data should form the basis of collaborative informal settlement policy making and development planning, and is a critical tool to implement, monitor and evaluate the SDGs in cities across the globe. When organised informal settlement dwellers gather these data, they become active and organised citizens with the capacity to engage in action-oriented partnerships.

We are going to change this world by hook or by crook.

In solidarity,

Rose Molokoane, SDI
Chair
Grassroots Constituency Group
General Assembly of Partners