The document summarizes the strategies of Zimbabwe's urban poor for securing housing and livelihoods. It discusses how the Zimbabwe Homeless People's Federation and Dialogue on Shelter organize communities to collect savings, map settlements, and partner with local authorities to negotiate for land and infrastructure. Through community-led enumerations, profiling of settlements, and land audits, the Federation makes the needs of the urban poor visible and advocates for tenure security. Their grassroots approach focuses on community skills-building, experimentation, and incremental development.

1. Moving Forward
Moving Forward
Emerging Strategies of Zimbabwe’s Urban Poor
The Work of the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s
Emerging strategies of Zimbabwe’s
Federation and Dialogue on Shelter
Urban Poor
Beth Chitekwe-Biti

2. Poverty is urbanizing
• The world is urbanizing-Sub-Saharan Africa more so than
any other region in the world
• The real problem is not the scale of urbanization
• The problem is that urbanization has been almost
completely decoupled from industrialization, even from
development per se
– No new jobs are being created
– No housing opportunities for the urban poor
– No security of tenure
– No infrastructure , health or educational facilities
– Increased marginalization both socially and physically
• This context has been a recipe for the mass production of
slums.

3. • For Southern Africa the proportion of urban dwellers
who will/do live in slums and informal settlements at
72%
• Zimbabwe’s figure officially at 4% seems a drop in the
ocean.
• However this is misleading as consistently ‘slums living’
in the formal residential areas is never acknowledged.
• Occupancy rates as high as 12 families in one dwelling
unit or the use of one toilet for 40 families are common
phenomenon in places such as in Harare’s Mbare
suburb.

4. Comparative Urbanization Rates
Zimbabwe Namibia South Africa Sub-Saharan
Africa
1975-1980 5.70 3.30 2.60 4.84
1980-1985 6.45 3.61 2.90 4.56
1985-1990 6.02 5.47 3.13 4.59
1990-1995 4.15 4.62 3.45 4.37
1995-2000 2.65 4.17 2.66 4.00
2000-2005 1.93 3.04 1.91 3.79
2005-2010 2.24 2.91 1.35 3.67
2010-2015 2.41 2.76 1.17 3.55
2015-2020 2.42 2.73 1.15 3.41
2020-2025 2.35 2.57 1.11 3.27

5. • The figures show slowing rates of urban growth
• This might be perceived as promising…positive finally
managing to keep urbanization in check?
• However if one looks at the fact that this slowing
down is happening when our urban economies are
least capable of absorbing more urban population
growth
• No employment opportunities and cash strapped
Local Authorities this is not so promising
• The economic crisis has aggravated this situation
• Additionally at local authority level policy has failed
to redress the distorted and paternalistic nature of
urban policies and law which impact the urban poor
negatively:-

6. • There seem to be an urban penalty
– assumption that the urban is advantaged hence
resources allocation and development priorities
should favour the rural areas.
– Post independence policies emphasis on rural
growth
• Land Redistribution discourse has always had
a rural bias.
• Urban land discussion in Zimbabwe have never
articulated the real nature of insecurities faced by
the urban landless

7. Effects of Policy
Restrictive by laws to control urban development
makes it near impossible for a poor person to
acquire housing in urban Zimbabwe
•Waiting List restrictions, use of historical data
to measure housing demand
•High standards for land and housing
development
•By-laws that control trading making most informal
trading illegal

8. Zimbabwe Homeless People’s
Federation and Dialogue on Shelter
• Alliance between a network of community
organizations and a Non Governmental
Organization
• Existing out of 45 000 urban poor households
organized in over 1300 community saving
collectives
• Articulating needs of the urban poor.
• Member of Shack/Slum Dwellers International
(SDI) a trans-continental network of urban poor
community federations.

9. Responding to:
• Urban Landlessness
– Insecurity of tenure –frequent evictions
– Resident in backyard shacks, squatter settlements
and hostel slums, urban nomadic
• Urban poverty
– Access to financial resources
– Marginalisation
– HIV/Aids, TB

10. KEY OBJECTIVES OF THE ALLIANCE
• Contribute to the realization people-driven
development initiatives which set a precedent of
constructive engagement with Govt.
• Strengthening and consolidation of savings networks
through social facilitation, documentation and
research, creating opportunities for learning.
• Building a pro-poor platform of social movements,
consisting of slum dwellers throughout Zimbabwe -
be they pragmatic, right based or welfare orientated.
• At the same time also creating a pro-poor platform
that will include government officials, professionals,
activists and social movements

11. Rooted in the following principles
• Determined to favour people-driven processes
which don’t bypass government but engage it
• Offers development solutions that are practical
and pragmatic, therefore:
• poor people understand what they are doing;
• partners of various nature and credo can agree on them
and cooperate;
• Government can more easily come on board
• Creates solidarity amongst urban poor
communities. Poor people become their own
social safety nets.

12. Organizing
•One settlement household at a
time
•One settlement at a time
•One city city at a time
•Local community networks
•National Federation
•45 000 households
•1300 community saving
schemes
•35 Local Authority Areas

13. Characteristics of the work of the
federation
• Partnerships with government while protecting
their autonomy
– Large-scale programs are not possible without government
support and without obtaining secure tenure
• Active agents of Development not clients or
beneficiaries
– alter their previously negative perceptions about low-income
people and their organizations.
– Local Authority departments and staff and staff from donor
agencies, often view the poor as “clients” or “beneficiaries”, not
as the active agents, whose individual and community processes
can, with appropriate support, really make a difference

14. Centrality of the role of women

15. The Power of Information
•Settlement Profiling
Gathering the oral history of a
settlement
Gathering information on why
people moved from when they
moved and when
• Carrying out Community Surveys
Collaborating with the state in
gathering information
Community carrying out surveys
Mobilizing to articulate needs
collectively
Verification
•Mapping of settlement
•Ensure visibility of the invisible
•Land Audits
•Land use
•Land ownership
•Land Cost
Year 2000 2003
No of Families 1069 1364
Total Population 2841 5993
No of
People/Water tap
218 428
No of toilets Nil Nil
% Population in
Informal
employment
71% 88%

16. Resources of the urban poor matter
• Community Savings
• Urban Poor Funds
• Community skills
and knowledge
• Sweat equity
• Networks and
Exchanges
• Negotiation
• Space for innovation
and experimentation

17. Building Community Skills
Laying sewer pipes in Mutare

18. Partnering with Local Authorities
City official on site-Mutare
Establishing and developing trust
Often depended upon individual
change agents
Developing pilots together
Moving forward and
institutionalizing relationship

19. Institutionalizing relations with government
National
Federation
SDI National
Federation
Ministry of Local
Government/Hous
Ministry of Local
Government/Hous
ing and Social
Amenities
ing and Social
Amenities
Regional Federation LLooccaall AAuutthhoorriittyy
Community Saving
Schemes
City/Town Local
Authority
Dialogue on
Dialogue on
Shelter
Shelter

20. MOU will result in:
• Central government to making land available
to organized communities of the urban poor
through LA-an initial of 5000 plots
• Nationwide enumeration process carried our
by ZiHoPFe with support from SDI to establish
credible figures of the extend of urban
landlessness-recognition of ‘nomadic’ and
sunset squatter/slum settlements (a
consequence of Murambatsvina)
• Collaboration in reviewing National Housing
Policy

21. Experimentation and Innovation
Building adobe clay with Hatcliffe Extension, Harare

22. Securing Tenure
No evictions or forced relocation
Upgrading is better and more cost effective
Where relocation is inevitable, social networks, livelihood
strategies should be taken into account.
Securing livelihoods-insecurity of informal incomes
Negotiation and and pragmatic solutions
Innovative tenure solutions to protect the vulnerable
against the vagaries of the market-community land titling

23. Incremental Development

24. Surviving the crisis
• Social Protection
– Prioritizing the poorest and most vulnerable
– Strong community networks
– HIV/Health program
– Burial societies
– Small loans for emergencies
– Food savings
– Batter trading
– Community contacts and networks
• Economic
– Small business loans
– Indexing of loans to counter effects of inflation –Imba to
Imba

25. Priorities in moving Forward
Recognition of the urbanization of poverty
Recognition also that the solutions are there
Building on the existing through:-
Prioritizing equitable urban land allocation systems.
Redressing tenure insecurity-developing pro-poor tenure
instruments-communal land titles protect the most vulnerable
Securing livelihoods of the urban poor-repel urban by-laws that
penalize informal trading
Housing construction will boost economic growth, however the
financing urban services-infrastructure and housing should use
mechanism that work for the urban poor-small
loans managed by the poor work better than market based
solutions
Urban poor funds with contribution from the government and the
urban poor-hot and cold money

26. Cont…
• Time to act LA unrealistic building standard.
Incremental development works
• Capacity of LA to discharge duties
– Control or enablers of development
– Staff shortages, culture
• At community level-healing of fractured
communities that are suspicious of each other
and of the state-this will take time