The key argument of this presentation is unless there are following key components to ensure that local government functions and community voices are heard

1. National Upgrading Support Programme
and Informal Settlement Upgrading
Exchange Workshop:
Urban Challenges and City
Management – Lessons and
Experience
Luanda, 28-30 July 2015

2. Local Governance and Participation: The Logic of this
presentation
The key argument of this presentation is unless there are
following key components to ensure that local government
functions and community voices are heard:
• Understanding urbanisation and the role of cities
• Fiscal and funding limitations
• Making the case for informal settlement upgrading
• Getting national political support for local government
and communities in upgrading
• Recognising the weaknesses of local government and
communities and providing technical assistance
• Capacity building for communities
• Inter-African and international communities of practice
and dialogue

3. Running to keep up
Need (‘Backlog’) / Production 1994 August
2012
Households needing adequate
shelter
1.5m 2.3m
Subsidised houses / units produced - 2.65
• Urbanisation is irreversible – demographic increase,
migration to towns and cities - RSA overall is now an urban
country, 60%+ population is urban (Census 2011)
• Great achievements but…

4. Period Human Settlement
Development Grant
expenditure
Serviced sites and
units delivered
1994-2005 $ 3,095 bn 1.62 m
2005-2009 $ 3, 558 bn 1.21 m
2009-2012/13 $ 4,260 bn 0.71 m
Source: Presidency Sustainable Human Settlements Inputs Report March 2013
Cost effectiveness…
• Due to building cost escalation, increases in subsidy quantum,
shortages of suitable land, capacity constraints
• Emphasis on ‘eradication’ – standardisation of approach, ‘one
house up, one shack down’, ‘one house, one stand’, focus on
top-structures

5. Rising expenditure, diminishing outputs
• Latest Finance & Fiscal Commission report 21 October 2013 – current
approach is ‘unsustainable’
• Would require $87,8bn to ‘eradicate’ current backlog with formal
housing - 2014/15 NDHS budget is $3,05bn, so would take over 30
years

6. 300
estimate
1994
1066
2001
2628
2010
• Nationally 10 shack fires each day, over 200 deaths p.a.
• 2.5% HIV annual incidence rate – 1.1% in urban formal
areas
• Diarrhoea-related infant mortality up to 10 times higher
than urban formal areas
• Official estimates over 40% unemployment compared to
26% national average
Informal settlements are an EMERGENCY

7. 10
34
2
32
27
107
111
82
173
155
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
A shelter crisis… and a security crisis?
• Major Service delivery protests in South Africa 2004 – 2013
• From two per month to average 16 per month since 2008, with
increasing violence…
Source:MunicipalIQJanuary2014

8. A Brief History of the National Upgrading Support Programme
• In 2008 an evaluation was made of the South
African Inform Settlements Upgrading
Programme and projects nationally
• It was funded by the Cities Alliance to produce
a an upgrading framework and technical
support programme. Initial funding of $500 000
• 9 major projects and 20 others were evaluated
and over 120 officials interviewed
• The report was submitted to the Department of
Human Settlements and a presentation to the
Presidency.

9. The Federal Response: participatory upgrading at scale
• MSTF Outcome 8 Delivery Agreement Original
national targets: 400 000 households in well-located
informal settlements to receive basic services and
secure tenure by 2014, implement NUSP. New Target
2200 settlements categorised 2014 -2018.
• Cabinet Lekgotla 2011: Integrated upgrading
programmes in 45 municipalities
• National Development Plan 2030: expand upgrading
programme, create new instruments for tenure &
regularisation
• ALL to be produced by participatory planning
• Annual Budget of $10m per annum allocated over 6
year period for technical support.

10. National Development Plan – in detail
• Expand national programme on informal settlement
upgrade - municipalities to introduce local level
programmes
• Develop legal instruments to regularise informal
settlements (eg special zones in land-use
management schemes) and recognise rights of
residence
• Set minimum health and safety standards and then progressively
upgrade these standards as ‘regularised informal settlements’ are
brought into mainstream urban fabric.
• Strengthen community organisation to support participatory
regularisation and upgrade programme.
• Channel resources into community facilities, public infrastructure and
public spaces, and not just into housing.

11. • Structured in situ upgrading of informal
settlements (as opposed to relocation)
• Recognise and formalise tenure rights
• Provide affordable and scalable basic
services – including negotiable service levels
• Community empowerment, promote social
and economic integration, build social capital
through participative processes
National Housing Code - incremental upgrading
Emphasis on working with communities – partners rather
than ‘beneficiaries’, co-production rather than top-down
delivery, change of relationship between state and
informality, importance of ‘meaningful participation’

12. • Promote incremental upgrading as a major
complementary housing programme, in line
with Part 3 NHC (where possible, in-situ)
• Support Delivery Agreement target to improve
basic infrastructure, services and land tenure
for 400 000 informal settlement households
by 2014 (target complete and updated)
• Improve programmatic approach to
upgrading, strengthening coordination with
other sectors and partners
• Strengthen capacity of government and
professional practitioners to implement
community-based incremental upgrading
National Upgrading Support Programme: objectives

13. • Provision of technical assistance to provinces
and municipalities for the development and
implementation of upgrading programmes
and projects
• Capacity building and training to practitioners,
councillors and community members in the
field of informal settlement upgrading
• Knowledge services and information
dissemination to the upgrading community of
practice
NUSP ACTIVITIES

14. • Mindset and attitudes towards informality need
to change, with commitment to participatory
development away from clientelism
• Very weak on participative planning, sustainable
livelihoods and securing community partners in
development
• Need to embed socio-technical approach –
social (participatory, consultative, co-production,
community-based planning) with technical
(layout and design, services and infrastructure)
• Capacitating municipal officials , politicians and
practitioners at scale is essential
Challenges…

15. • There is still reluctance to deal with informality by
government. Nevertheless there is a national upgrading
framework and support framework.
• On participative planning 80% of the municipalities have
received technical assistance nearly 1000 settlement
plans. However budgets for basic services remain slow
to release. They still like the big projects
• Being able to secure enough community partners
remains. A 14 day course has been developed to try and
solve this problem.
• A major problem remains unfunded mandates for local
government reluctance to decentralise the human
settlements functions.
Implementation Challenges

16. … just follow the arrow
Way forward…