1. PARTICIPATORY PLANNING AND POLICY INFLUENCE EXPERIENCES FROM NAMIBIA
PARTNERSHIP FOR ACTION CONFERENCE 15 AUGUST 2017
ANNA MULLER
NAMIBIA HOUSING ACTION GROUP

2. -1990 Pre-independence Namibia
Pre-Independence Housing was a top-driven/political managed process- which started to embark on a market approach by developing and selling houses to the “Low-income” households (previously only rental housing) through a semi-state institute
Experiences in Namibia of communities participating in their own housing process started in 1987 when the first community came together in Windhoek to find solutions to their housing problems (overcrowded rental rooms – no informal settlements.

3. Communities buying and developing blocks of land
Together, with the support service of Namibia Housing Action Group, they negotiated for affordable land where communities bought, planned and developed their own blocks of land
The first group bought and developed their land in 1992
As part of the negotiations process the community collect their own information .

4. Participatory Planning in Namibia
When the community initiated their own process, they designed their own house type and built a life size model for all the members to spatially experience the house they are dreaming off (34 sq meter plan)
The experience of the first group to embark on their own incremental housing developed inspired other communities to join leading to what became a national network in the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia – internationally linked through SDI to other country Federations

5. 1991- 2000 Government response to participatory initiatives
The first government program that recognised the community groups’ initiatives was the Build Together Programme (1992) where saving groups could borrow money as collectives to build their own houses through a self-managed process
The City of Windhoek sold blocks of land and also allowed the groups to use affordable planning and service levels on the condition that they maintain these themselves. By the end of the 1990s the City had a development and upgrading strategy in place to facilitate incremental development
The Flexible Land Tenure program, started in the mid 1990s consulted with the groups to develop a new Bill facilitating that communities could own land as collectives.

6. 2001-2016 Informal settlements and backyard formation increased
Landlessness and informal settlement formation increased to reach over 230 Informal settlements with over 150,000 households (25% of the population)
The network of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia reached all the towns
They enumerated the first informal settlement in Namibia and then communities started to do their own layouts

7. Participatory Planning start with participatory information collection :
Community Land Information Program (CLIP)
The profiling of informal settlements whereby informal settlement communities, Regional and Local Authorities, Ministries, academic institutions and NGOs - was nationalised with the encouragement of late Minister Pandeni in 2006 to address the lack of informal settlement information.
Objectives:
Develop a planning and development process through information collection where the informal settlement households in Namibia can become active partners in their own settlement upgrading
Develop a local and national database which can assist government and other stakeholders to address informal settlement upgrading

8. CLIP – informaation to plan for upgrading
The second phase of CLIP focuses household socio-economic surveys and structure maps
When this phase started to focus on city wide data collection, the information assisted communities to negotiate for settlement upgrading
Communities prepare their own layouts with technical support from NHAG and professionals
Greenwell Matongo C obtain the rights to upgrade their own informal settlement in Windhoek in 2004

9. Studio program with communities to plan for upgrading –
With the planning, land administration and architecture students of Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) the community, students, lecturers and community started to plan together new layouts for the informal settlements
Gobabis People Square was the first informal settlement where the layouts were prepared and re-blocking took place
During the first studio the site was analyzed, all the features mapped. The students work with community teams amongst 8 blocks identified in the features of the site
A new layout was prepared: this involved the planning for “making streets” and providing each household with a plot of land, providing open spaces for amenities

10. Lessons learned
Learned from the existing practices: Communities cannot work in isolation, without the support and partnership with the Local Authorities and other stakeholders.
Piloting is not sufficient – we need to plan for scaling up activities towards security of tenure and development rights

11. 2001-2017 Government Response to community processes
Updated housing policy includes the People’s Housing Process
Flexible Land Tenure Act of 2012 and regulations prepared
Mass Housing Program first phase implemented only contractor-built housing- excluding the urban poor
Review of the Mass Housing Programme aiming to become more inclusive – focusing on the 89% that cannot afford conventional housing – include community driven processes
Ministry participate in studios and learning and support community to install services
Participatory Slum Upgrading Program with UN Habitat

12. The way forward: Proposal for Scaling-up
Scaling up security of tenure and housing opportunities through a partnership approach focusing on co-production between organised communities, local and regional authorities, central government, and universities

13. Strategy towards working in Partnership
Partnerships are formed to enable:
- the scaling up of basic services, security of tenure and the construction of houses for low-income groups
- the collaboration with the saving groups and informal settlement communities, encouraging their active participation in achieving their own development priorities
- practical implementation
- joining of resources
- local ownership of the development
sharing and learning lessons to enable scaling up of the process – building capacity on different levels

14. NHAG, NUST, Association of Local Authorities, Government and other stakeholders towards implementing National Informal Settlement Upgrading
Stage one: Based on existing experience taking 3 years learning and capacity building for strategy formulation and increase experiences and relevant curriculums for formal and informal learning and training (including students, employees and communities) while implementing in 13 regions
Stage Two: Full scale implementation to cover all urban areas in Namibia

15. Activities:
Learning while doing – forming studios and practical training during the implementation of 3 existing and 11 new study sites (informal settlements in 14 towns) within a three year period.
Plan full scale up on demand driven basis – where the local authority and community implement CLIP and agreed to upgrading

16. Actions and outcomes include
1: Identification of learning sites 2: Information for development decisions 3: Locally driven settlement plans (Studios) 4: Secure tenure and basic service to enable housing development 5: Improved shelter 6 . Curricula for training developed 7: Strategy for National 10 year strategy in place

17. End of Presentation
Thank you accordingly.