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Urban Construction

According to a 2007 UN Report, nearly 1 billion people live in slums. This is predicted to grow to around 2 billion by 2030: Each week, more than a million people move to the cities of the world in search of a better life. In the next 25 years, 95% of urbanisation will take place in the cities of the developing world.

Those living cheek by jowl in slums are likely to suffer ill health, through poor living conditions and also the rapid spread of disease, including HIV/AIDS: A good proportion of slum households are headed by women or girls, who are either forced to earn a living through prostitution, or are subject to rape.

One of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce the number of people living in urban slums by 100 million by 2015. But it is not just a question of moving people out of the slums, of building more houses, or improving infrastructure, although these are important elements.

The same report cites that “Slum policies should be integrated with broader, people-focused urban poverty reduction policies that deal with the varied aspects of poverty, including employment and incomes, shelter, food, health, education and access to basic urban infrastructure and services.”

Habitat for Humanity recognises the pressing need for solutions to urbanisation housing needs, and that this needs to be part of a broader holistic support programme.

Malawi Slum Transformation

A recent proposal for a project in Malawi illustrates our approach: Malawi suffers from one of the highest rates of urbanisation in Africa, at 6.3% it is over three times the global rate, and twice the average rate of urbanisation in Africa. The infrastructure of Malawi’s cities of Lilongwe and Mzuzu cannot cope, and 70-90% of Malawi’s urban population live in slum conditions.

Habitat for Humanity proposes a partnership with the Government of Malawi and other non-governmental organisations, in which slum dwellers are supported with a range of initiatives, of which shelter is just one:

• Land tenure and house building - so families have a safe, decent, permanent place to live
• Water kiosks – to ensure families have a ready supply of safe drinking water, reducing risk of disease, and a means of earning an income
• Mosquito nets – to reduce risk of malaria, a common killer in Malawi
• Fruit trees – to help stabilize the soil, improve the environment, provide families with food and a means of earning an income
• 10km of road – to enable families to reach community services and access employment more easily

(Link to a homepartner story)