Networking Event Count me in, for planning my city 23 March 2010 WUF 5 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

1. Community Land Information Program(CLIP)SHACK DWELLERS FEDERATION OF NAMIBIA (SDFN) / NAMIBIA HOUSING ACTION GROUP (NHAG) Networking Event Count me in, for planning my city 23 March 2010 WUF 5 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Presented by: Edith Mbanga (SDFN)

2. Who is SDFN? • The Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia is a network of saving schemes in Namibia established in 1998, working with Namibia Housing Action Group, their partner NGO • SDFN developed in response to the need of low-income households in acute need for secure living environments and basic services.

3. Reason of Community Land Information Programme (CLIP) • Increasing challenge for the poor to secure affordable Shelter, Land and Services in the Urban Areas • Land, shelter and basic services are not available to the poor as individual households, due to high costs of land developed with services. • Poor communities are responding to their own needs by collecting their own information.

5. The enumeration activity initiated by the saving groups in Namibia has become an important tool in empowering the poor to secure affordable land and shelter, through a community driven approach. • Initially saving groups only complete surveys in their groups as part of their land negotiations. • Following discussions between the Namibia Federation, their international network SDI and the late Honourable Pandeni, minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, the initiative became national and inclusive of all informal settlements

6. Community Land Information Programme (CLIP) • Partnership program including informal settlement communities, Local and Regional Authorities and Ministries • Information collected in informal settlements by the community for participatory development planning, aiming for upgrading including security of tenure, basic services and improved housing • First Phase of rapid profiling in all urban and emerging urban areas in Namibia completed and CLIP document launched in April 2009.

8. Results of CLIP Settlement Profiles • 110 urban and emerging urban areas covered • 235 informal settlement profiles collected • 134 884 informal structures • Estimate 541,119 people living without secure tenure • 43,920 households using bush as toilets and 56,320 households combine bush and toilets

9. Second Phase of Community Land Information Program • Second Phase of socio economic surveys and mapping started in 17 urban areas • Door to door enumerations and mapping and numbering of all structures in informal settlements in Namibia (data to be linked to GIS) • Local, Regional Authorities, Community or Local Development Committees and informal settlement communities commit themselves to the process • Training provided by Federation teams • Data kept by the community and the Local Authority • Communities analyse their own data and discuss the results in the community and with the local authority for development planning

10. Case study of Rehoboth: preparation • Federation CLIP team hold a meeting with the Council to explain the program • The CLIP team from the Hardap region, with councilors held a mass meeting in September with the community • The purpose of the program was explained to the community - to enable the households in informal settlements to collect information about their own needs and discuss it with the Town and Regional Councils

11. Case study of Rehoboth: implementation During the meetings the community identified members willing to collect the information – each block in the informal settlement had their own survey team We trained them to do the surveys and mapping, where after the team went into the field to do the numbering The information was transferred on big sheets and then verified with the community

15. The community learned to calculate the statistics on the big sheets - totals, percentages and averages After the first 150 houses, the CLIP team presented the results to the community during a meeting – also attended by the Local Authority

19. Rehoboth: way forward The community was able to identify their needs: the first one is toilets The second need is to improve their houses Affordability for land, services and houses is a serious constraint, as 55% of the heads of households in the second block are women Average incomes is N$705 (US$90) per month The local authority shared their development plans with the community and when the surveys off all the blocks are completed, the community will ensure that the development will be inclusive

20. Lessons learned Local Level: The communities prioritising their own needs, and they have information they can use when approaching the authority Communities are able to participate in the decision making of their own development National Level: For the first time there is information about all the informal settlements in Namibia and government is supporting the program Government becomes aware of the scale of the problem and the development programs like the sanitation strategy includes the process