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A dream come true for new homeowners.
Advocacy and Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals have certainly been a subject for discussion since the Make Poverty History campaign, amongst charities and the government. This sections shows how Habitat for Humanity is helping to turn these goals into reality …
Habitat for Humanity believes that decent housing is a fundamental human right and that inadequate housing impacts on:
- People's ability to work
- The education of their children
- Health, especially of mothers and children
- Gender equality (HFH works mostly with women)
We agree with the Department for International Development (DFID) that it should be "our moral and religious duty to ensure that we are part of a world where no one has to live in poverty; A world in which all have access to food, shelter, clean water; to a livelihood, health and education; A world in which the rights and dignity of every woman, man and child to live life to the full are respected". ( DFID Target 2015, halving world poverty. A Shared Vision of Reducing World Poverty).
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger |
Target 1 – Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day.
Through Habitat, low-income families gain ownership of land or security of tenure and a home, usually for the first time. By securing a capital asset for poor families, HFH enables them to access established financial and other vital services. We promote the livelihood approach to housing by influencing government policy on building codes to allow HFH homes to become legal living/commercial structures which allow the development of home-based enterprise, subletting of accommodation and making use of informal economies.
In the construction process, HFH also provides job creation through local manufacture of building materials, procurement of services and the use of artisans. This generates local enterprise, improves income and makes credit become available locally. Families are also given governance, financial and managerial skills along with basic construction training, all of which can be used for future employment. Our building codes promote the use of local materials, local manufacture and local techniques.
Target 2 – Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
When providing a safe, decent, affordable home in rural areas (and urban where possible) home-partners are provided with land to grow their own food. In urban areas a high proportion of slum dwellers' income is spent on rent and home ownership can actually reduce this amount thus freeing up more income for food. Decent housing also contributes to good health and healthy people are able to work more effectively. A HFH study in Sri Lanka tea plantations showed a significant drop in absenteeism in the communities that had received HFH improved housing versus those that still lived in estate houses.
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Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women |
Target 4 – Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
Over 70% of the home-partners working with HFH are women. They are locally elected to Management Committees, learn basic building skills and have the most influence over how the homes are built or renovated. Learning by example, many families are influenced by the leading role women take in HFH projects and research has shown that more girls are sent to school from home-partner families than from other families in the community. They also have more privacy to study at home and, as clean water is usually provided with the house, girls spend less time collecting water and more time on education. |
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Goal 4: Reduce child mortality |
Target 5 – Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five.
Safe, decent homes, basic health education and clean water and sanitation reduce sickness and illness amongst children and mothers. According to a study published in 2001 in the British Medical Journal, children under 5 years of age living in HFH houses in Malawi had 44% reduced risk of malaria, respiratory infection and gastrointestinal illness.
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Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases |
Target 7 – Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Working with HIV/AIDS affected orphans and communities in South Africa (funded by Comic Relief), Lesotho, Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania to provide education on prevention, legalising land rights, preparing wills and official documents and safe homes for orphans. Disseminating information across the HFH network to encourage other HFH offices to take up this programme.
Target 8 – Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
Clean water and sanitation for HFH homes reduces the risk of water-borne diseases such as dysentery and worm infections. The distribution and long-term maintenance of bed nets to beneficiaries in infected areas reduces incidence of malaria and dengue. Providing safe, decent homes reduces overcrowding and therefore lessens the risk of tuberculosis and meningitis. |
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GOAL 7: Ensure environmental sustainability |
Target 11 – Achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.
Significant up-scaling of renovation, upgrading and new home construction and provision of clean water and sanitation in urban slums of developing and transitional countries in …
Africa and Middle East – Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.
Asia/Pacific – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vanuatu, Vietnam.
Europe & Central Asia – Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Russia.
Latin America & Caribbean – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
HFH already has 30 years experience of working with poor communities and significantly improving their lives and, in recognition of the rapid expansion of urban slums, aims to scale up its urban work. It will collaborate with local governments, other civil society agencies and universities in forward planning for urban housing, integrated development planning, housing-based livelihood development, regulatory change, security of tenure (particularly of vulnerable groups) water and sanitation, housing micro-finance and shelter provision. |
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