Namibian Community Land Information Program with SDI support

January – June 2007

During the past 6 months the Namibian community built their capacity on various levels with the support of African counterparts from Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe, mainly focusing on the new information collection program in the country.

Namibia has been struggling for years to obtain a complete picture of the scope of urban informal shelter. During the Namibian National Housing Conference in November 2006 representatives of the SDI delegation from India, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi met with the Namibian Minister of Regional, Local Government and Housing and Rural Development (MRLGHRD), John Pandeni. The group discussed the possibilities of the SDI and City Alliance supporting the Namibian Federation to do a national settlement profiling. The minister agreed to support such an activity and this resulted in a Namibian Community Land Information Program (CLIP) initiated in January 2007 with the support of the SDI.

Informal Settlement Profiling:

A large team of 20 people including Namibians from other regions, four South Africans and three Kenyans started in January 07 with the Settlement Profiling Program in Rundu, Kavango region. This second largest Namibian town in the poorest region in Namibia is 800 kilometers north of Windhoek on the Kavango River on the border with Angola. As part of an intensive week of learning and training, a local team from the members was established to do the settlement profiling and the 12 informal settlement profiles were completed by the members in that town within two weeks after the training.  Basic information on the number of households, the amenities and services available and location was addressed, in the line of the Cape Town Settlement Profiles. The Local Authority and Regional Councilors, met during the training exchange, gave their support to the process and councilors and staff participated in the first community meetings to introduce the activity. The profiling process opened opportunities for members of the community to rethink the development processes in their settlements. Most of the inhabitants are entrenched in a traditional rural society where decisions and development are mostly top-down. The profile process opened communities’ insights into their role they can play in development when sharing and discussing their living conditions in the settlements with other saving group members who could respond on the actions they are taking to improve theirs. 

Following this training exercise a national Community Land Information Team was established to take the work further and the profiles have now started in 11 of the 13 regions covering 20 urban areas and 63 informal settlements. (As this report is being prepared the 12^th region also started with the work). A renewal of Federation processes driven by a network team in Hardap, made it the first region to complete their settlement profiles. The households estimated to live in the urban areas during the profiling are already 50,000 which is already higher than the about 34,000 referred to in the census report. (And only 20% of the urban areas are covered so far). This still is to be verified with enumerations and shack counts, but the indication in Rundu is that the community was not far out with their estimates. 

Enumerations:  Door to door enumerations as part of the CLIP program started in Namibia in March following exchanges between Namibia and Kenya. Four Namibians, including a Regional Councilor, Rundu Town Planning Official, two members from the northern parts and the NHAG coordinator, shared with Pamoja Trust staff and members the finalization of the Mweiga town enumerations in the Central Province of Kenya which was done in cooperation with the department of Physical Planning. The Kenyans also facilitated a visit to Kambi Moto houses in Nairobi, and a community meeting with the saving group was attended. Discussions with Pamoja Trust gave an insight in the linkages between the enumerations and the upgrading process. Federation members also learned data entry on computers from members working in the Kariobangi Center on data entry.

Through the discussions and participation in the enumeration process and data entry the Namibians were able to get an overview of the enumeration process in Kenya and with the support of David Methenge and Erickson Sunday from Kenya the enumerations started a week later in Rundu. The Kenyan team supported the Namibians to do the preparation for the survey, and data entry as well as training community members to do house numbering and enumerations. The Town Planning official of Rundu Town Council assisted with the identification of the blocks. About 30 members were trained in Kehemu in Rundu and 3,000 surveys were completed. Unfortunately the entry of data by the members is not matching the collection yet, due to lack of computers (provided by Lux-Development and a member), and the fact that the faulty electricity box and the community center could not be fixed by the electrical company. Sauyema also started on the enumeration. Six towns are now ready to do enumerations linked to upgrading (three of those approached us already to assist with informal settlement upgrading).  

Stakeholders:  Numerous meetings took place in Windhoek with the MRLGHRD staff and other ministries to obtain the commitment of the government and other stakeholders in the program. The recent distribution of information letters from the Ministry to all the local and regional councils, are opening more doors for the SDFN to continue with the work. The Habitat Research and Development Centre (HRDC) established by the ministry to facilitate research on technology and other habitat issues, will be the focal point for collecting information on a national basis and training the local authorities to establish their own data bases. The government supported with the printing of the survey forms and of recent the staff of the Habitat Division of MRLGHRD are taking a keen interest in the program and have started to participate in the exchanges as they are responsible to develop a Habitat Data Base. Two Town Councils, Rehoboth and Okahandja also participated in exchanges to Rundu to learn more of the enumeration process. The aim is to develop these key local authorities and their communities as learning centers in each region to enable the councils and members to share their experiences and skills.

The initial work started in areas where there are project funding committed for upgrading work that include NHAG/SDFN as partners. Financial support for the processes as part of upgrading preparation are received from Lux Development in Katima Mulilo and Rundu, and a UNDP project in Okahandja. IIED funds were also received as part of the SDI support to the work.

During their Kenyan visit, the Namibians observed the links the Kenyans made with their Ministry in supporting settlement upgrading with keen interest. During a subsequent meeting with the head of the Town Planning Division of the MRLGHRD, there was no positive response to town planners playing an active role in the CLIP program itself, due to their lack of staff. He recognized the importance of the program in bringing light on the real need for urban development in Namibia, since the government budget allocation for supporting land development is not at all able to meet the needs on the ground.

Profiling in Kalkrand (Hardap Region)

If you travel from Cape Town to Windhoek by car and you are going too fast because you are only 200 kilometres from Windhoek, you might get a speed fine in Kalkrand because you did not recognize it as an urban area with lower speed limits. But, behind the petrol station and visible formal buildinga there are four informal settlements with the names Papagaai Street (Parrot Street), Vergenoeg (Far enough – quite a popular name in Namibia –usually for remote farms!!), Donkerhoek (Dark Corner) and Dink Aan (Think About) - not visible from the main road.

As Edith Mbanga recall her visit: There was already an initiative to form a saving group, but the seed did not bring any fruit. During April four federation members, two from Windhoek and two from Rehoboth, made an appointment to meet with the council. As we arrived four councilors plus the village secretary were already waiting for us. After listening to the Federation members, the councilors immediately organize a bakkie (small truck) and driver with a loudspeaker to inform the community to come together for the meetings. The team split in two, went with the councilors to meet the community and two members within the community immediately volunteered to combine the profile and with the assistance of the visitors the information was shared and recorded. The councilors supported with the verification of the information. Some members of the community heard about the houses being built in their neighbouring town, Rehoboth and were very keen to start saving. Two saving groups were established.

Increase in activities in Kavango and Caprivi regions and Zimbabweans assisting with new challenges.

During the past 6 months the people participating in savings in Namibia increased with almost 25% to reach about 20,000 households participating in saving. Significant increases took place mainly in Rundu and Katima where the CLIP program started, and to the astonishment of us all, also Hardap region, which had no growth and very little activities the past 5 years. The last mentioned was achieved through a team that started to manage collectively the activities in the region. The Zambesi Saving Scheme in Katima Mulilo also completed the first 37 houses in the Caprivi region after initially being supported by the Zimbabwean Federation from Vic Falls in construction training. Another 40 houses are planned to be built during the next 6 months. Women are taking actively part in the construction of the houses.

The expansion of saving groups in Rundu and Katima Mulilo are bringing new challenges for accountability in saving groups, and facilitating the federation activities. The two regions also have their specific challenges, namely Kavango with the highest poverty level and remaining political difficulties in Caprivi on ethnic lines. The Zimbabweans visited the region in June and they were involved in addressing leadership issues, inclusiveness and small business development. The rural saving groups in Kapako constituency (Kavango) in the rural area built 4 markets following skills training with the Zimbabweans in 2006 and some further bookkeeping training was given to the member of the group. It was possible to identify a member to share her skills with other people operating small businesses at the market. During the visits the groups also assist each other to check their books and report to each other.

Leadership issues were also addressed, especially in the role the existing facilitators have to play in informing the community about the federation activities and processes.

Namibia: Community Land Information Program: Informal Settlements Interim report July 07

No:	Region	No:	Urban Area	No:	Settlement	Estimated Number	Estimated	Creches	Schools	Clinics /	Comm
						Of Households	Population number			Hospitals	halls
1	Caprivi	1	Katima Mulilo	1	Cow Boy	1,000	7,000	2	0	1	0
				2	Mahohoma	260	1,500	0	0	0	0
				3	Choto	report outstanding
				4	Ngoma	report outstanding
				5	Makaravani east	report outstanding
2	Erongo	2	Omaruru	1	Oruwe Ngatunge Pamwe	63	300	0	0	0	0
			(Municipality)
3	Hardap	3	Rehoboth	1	Block E. Extension 1	300	3,500	2	0	1	0
			(Town)	2	Block E. Extension 2,3&4	1,000	3,500	3	2	0	1
				3	Block E. Extension 5&6	1,500	6,000	0	0	0	0
				1	Papagaai Street	300	800	2	2	0	0
		4	Kalkrand	2	Vergenoeg	With papagaai
			(Village)	3	Donkerhoek	report outstanding
				4	Dink Aan	report outstanding
		5	Stampriet (Village)	1	Stampriet	500	2,500	0	0	0	0
		6	Hoachanas (Settlement)	1	Hoachanas	200	1,000	0	0	0	0
		7	Kriess (Settlement)	1	Kriess	55	275	0	0	0	0
		8	Gibeon	1	Gibeon Helena Pieters	300	1,500	0	0	0	0
			(Village)		Section