Project Report: Gongeleni Aantu, Goreangab, Windhoek, Namibia

1.  LAUNCH DATE:  2002

2.  LOCATION:  Gongeleni Aantu, Goreangab, Windhoek, Namibia 

 Gongeleni Aantu is a savings group of 34 households in Goreangab, 30 minutes away from Windhoek city centre. It is a formal settlement in close proximity to Greenwell Matongo C Informal Settlement.

3. IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATIONS:   Municipality, NHAG, Twahangana Fund, UPFI

4.  BASIC FUNDING DETAILS:

Expenditure to date:  21 housing loans totaling N$ 430,000, plus services, technical support and exchanges

5.  CONTACT DETAILS:

Mara (Federation), Hendrina (NHAG)

6. CONTEXT: 

Goreangab is a formal settlement, situated in a beautiful hilly environment near the Goreangab dam. The land became available in 2003, when the Windhoek Municipality informed families in the informal settlements of Freedomland and Babilon that they could apply for stands in this new area. Since then informal settlements have formed all around Goreangab, Greenwell Matongo C being the biggest with about 450 registered houses out of a total of more than 3000 households. The land still belongs to the municipality. Dwellers will only receive tenure, once their loans are repaid. The agreements between Erf occupants ant the municipality are either individual or through savings groups.

7.  WHO DOES THIS IMPACT?:  Gongoleni Aantu comprises 34 members, of which 10 are active. 21 houses have been built to the total value of about N$430,000.  In line with the Federation’s strategy of breaking projects up into smaller sizes, this project serves about 150 beneficiaries directly. Indirectly a much larger number is reached through illegal electricity income generation with areas which have not yet received basic services.

8. PROJECT DESCRIPTION:  

Gongeleni Aantu is one of eleven savings groups in Goreangab. The savings group is run by the seamstress Hanna Eisis who like most others in her group arrived in 2003 from a far away settlement where she was renting. The group first applied for basic services, because savings contributions for house loans were not yet in place. Every Erf today has a water tap, electricity was supplied in 2007.  The federation has built a total of 21 houses,17 are 34m2 in size, the four pensioners’ homes are slightly smaller at 20m2. All houses sit on 180m2 plots. The group is unlikely to extend due to all available stands being occupied.

The development was undertaken in three phases. The first group built eight houses, worth N$ 20,000. The next group built nine houses for the price of 23,000 N$. The pensioners’ houses cost N$ 17,000. The loan repayment plan which is being facilitated by the federation runs over eleven years. Monthly house repayments range from N$200 upwards. NHAG manages the Twahangoa Fund which in turn is financed through the Namibian Government and SDI’s UPFI. Recently the Namibian Government has increased their contributions from N$ 1 mio. per year to about N$ 3 mio which alleviates fund repayments to SDI.

NHAG has furthermore provided technical support during the building process and exchanges thereafter.