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* REPORT : 114

REPORT OF SDI SUPPORT VISIT TO TANZANIA. HOSTED BY CCI AND THE TANZANIA FEDERATION OF THE URBAN POOR

16TH TO 18TH MAY 2007 – Dar-Es-Salaam

            The teams of visitors were:

 

  • Celine D’Cruz – SDI coordinator
  • SHAKER- leader from the National Slum Dwellers Federation of India
  • Jane Weru- SDI  board member/ Pamoja trust-Kenya
  • Michael Njuguna- Muungano federation member-Kenya
  • Salma Sheba- Pamoja Trust- Kenya
  • Julie Crespin- Actogether Uganda
  • Athuman Mutaasa - Ugandan federation member- Uganda

 

The purpose of this visit was to bring support to the Tanzania federation and their support organization CCI (Center for Community Initiative) as they negotiate pro-poor resettlement solutions for the squatters of Kurassini area in Dar-Es-Salaam with the local and the central government, and for better access to land and other basic services for the slum dwellers of Tanzania in general.

Day 1 – 16th May 2007

 

The visit started with a meeting at the Division municipal council where we met the Division planner, the lands officer and the valuer. We had a sharing of experiences from the two east African countries on how far we had gone with the local government and the central government in providing improved access to land and basic services to the urban poor. At this point, we could not benefit from the sharing of the Indian experience since their flight had been delayed.

We learnt that in Tanzania the land is government-owned and depends from the local government and there laws governing evictions or relocations. According to these regulations, those affected by evictions have to be compensated in cash after his/her structure has been valued, so that they can look for another accommodation or be able to buy a piece of land to settle. Yet only structure owners are eligible to receive compensation from the government. The tenants are not covered. It is to each structure owner to decide whether his/her tenants can also benefit from the compensation received. According to the land officer, the land offered for resettlement is outside the city centre and sold at market price, at around 600USD per plot: a price which the urban poor cannot afford. Moreover, the law gives those who buy a plot the obligation to develop it within the two following years, for the government will take the land back otherwise.

When asked whether they would consider the tenants who were to loose their accommodation the government officials answered that the tenants could move any where else. The three officers had no idea of who these urban poor were and even after Kenyans shared their experience about loaning for housing they felt the savers were not poor people.
Negotiations arguments from the Slum Dwellers teams were: that the government should consider their citizens, not just structure owners which are a minority and not the poorest; that when evicted, tenants will just go elsewhere create another slum, the problem will not be solve; that the MDG target 7 compels the Tanzanian government to improve the lives of slum dwellers by 2020; that the urban poor are a productive asset for the city.

Presently new plots are too big and too expensive for poor people to afford. CCI proposed the possibility of several urban poor sharing the cost of one plot between them so that the cost per household goes down. After further discussions, on considering providing land for the very poor the officers were able to say that cost would come down if they all worked together to see how people would share one plot without demarcations. This is something cci would look into.

Day 2 – 17th May 2007

In the morning, we met the Kurasini ward municipal workers with their chair person who is a federation member-mama Komba. This seems a good team to work with if only they would understand what the federation is and to whom it is suppose to benefit. Majority of them were seen as ward leaders and a lot of activities they carried out within Kurasini ward. After the sharing they agreed to interact further with the federation members so that they could understand and be able to mobilize more people to join saving and see how they could benefit within the Kurasini relocation plans.

After this first meeting we went to meet the federation members at Zambia-Cargo settlement where we met over 150 women and a few men waiting for us singing and dancing with joy. The federation shared how they had grown and spread to Arusha and Dodoma and the amount of saving they have been able to save both for daily saving and the Jenga account. I think the challenge here is to think through how to make use of their daily savings through loaning. This will enhance their livelihoods and also motivate other people to save since they can get touchable benefits. The saving scheme seems to be growing and the men are also interested in being members of the federation. The schemes should therefore focus on the issues that are affecting them so that it is different from other women groups. The cheerfulness of the Tanzanian federation impressed the Ugandan team. They not only came back with fresh ideas on how to improve savings and mobilization, but also with new ideas of songs and slogans to cheer and motivate the savers during meetings.

In the afternoon, we met with the two Indian delegates who had just arrived from Mumbai. A meeting with all exchanges participants, CCI and leaders from the Tanzanian federation was held in a room of Peacock Hotel. The Kurasini situation was explained to the Indians. The Tanzanian federation leaders introduced themselves and the different savings groups active in the cities they come from. Then, Shaker shared the Indian experience on enumeration and negotiating resettlement solutions for slum dwellers. Celine made a presentation on the different steps through which the Indian federation approach a new settlement and gather the necessary information that will help them negotiate with the authorities. All participants were then invited to reflect on a strategy to deal with Kurasini eviction, which are planned to start in June 2007. This is an opportunity for the Tanzanian federation to get together and learn how to negotiate better solutions for the urban poor. 
Some of the points on which the participants agreed was to enumerate the whole of Kurasini settlement (only a part of it was enumerated so far) and prepare a report to present to the government. In the meantime, the federation and CCI should pursue negotiations with the authorities and present alternatives.

Day 3 – 18th May 2007

Day three we visited kurasini ward office where we met the area councilor. Initially he seemed not to know any thing about the relocation and was comfortable with structure owners being compensated and moving to another place a way from he ward. This seems not to count for his votes since every thing will be taken care of by the council. He did not mind about the tenants whom are never provided for yet they are the majority and the most poor and vulnerable. After discussion with him and showing him how the relocation would safeguard his votes he agreed to work with the federation and cci and see how they can support the vulnerable groups.

The Indian team showed the Tanzanian federation leaders and the Ugandan and Kenyan participants some of the maps they had produced with the enumeration information of a similar case to Kurasini eviction in the port of Mumbai. He also showed the questionnaire used for settlement profile and enumeration (household survey / business survey) in this case, as well as the ID cards issued for each household of the settlement. He explained how the resettlement took place: families were shifted in high-rise flats just outside the area of which they were to be evicted. The government offered the land and paid for most of construction costs. The rest was paid from donor funds.

We later visited the Mamboani and Zamcargo settlements of Kurasini ward for the team to see the real situation on the ground. This was astonishing for those whom it was their first time to visit Tanzania. Mamboani settlement is next to the major sewerage and during the rains the waste over flows to the settlement therefore posing a big health problem. This issue should be addressed with the relocation though there are rumors that some of them were compensated but never moved. There should be ways of relocating and making sure there is no gentrification. The Kurasini settlement also houses some more wealthy people although poor tenants remain the majority. In Zamcargo they live between the Zambia fuel storage tanks and the Indian Ocean, which is quite beautiful but they have been served with notice to move. All houses are marked with red cross. Compensation to the structure owners is being awaited but the challenge is the tenants. With all what we had seen and heard we needed to reflect and come up with the way forward.

The final meeting was held in CCI offices with Ugandan, Kenyan and Indian visitors, the Tanzanian federation leaders and the CCI team.

 

ISSUES IMMERGING AND POSSIBLE WAY FORWARD

  • This is a new idea in Tanzania to improve relocation plans where the government believes that laws/rules are adequate since they are to compensate people and the money can be used to buy land at market price. CCI and the federation should create awareness by targeting key local government officials to acknowledge that this is no solution for the very poor, and help them buy in the idea of relocation and availing affordable land for the very poor/vulnerable groups.

 

  • Mobilization of the community is crucial and especially the tenants, this can be done as enumeration happens in the whole of Kurasini area. This should be done without raising hopes that land will be bought for them.
  • The federation should start scouting for land that is vacant and they start negotiating with the government.
  • The cci should facilitate discussion on alternative land ownership and housing designs and engage professionals as part of lobbing and creating awareness. This should accumulate to a housing exhibition where different models are displayed.

 

  • There should be enumeration for the whole of Kurasini and any other informal settlement within the city.
    • Tanzania should have moments of thinking through and see what is possible and in seek for SDI support any time. Otherwise the ball is in their court.