Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia

https://www.nbc.na/news/first-lady-hands-over-houses-members-shack-dwellers-federation-coast.16592

Federation members Reflecting on the profiling and enumeration process : Pictures Okahandja Park Community members drawing settlement Map as part of settlement profile Anastasia Chimwandi , showing federation members on how data is captured online  Meme Ronnie and Meme Wenky on the importance of Mapping with the GPS  Ms Rosalinda Hendricks reflects: “It all started off with information collection amongst ourselves as federation members who are saving, we developed a questionnaire for profiling, collected information in 235 informal settlements, which was published 2009 with the support of the Ministry of Regional Local Government, Housing and Rural Development at that time. We further also carried out enumerations, interviewing each household in different informal settlements so we can use the data to inform the local authority on the affordability of residents in accessing services, and negotiating for buying land.” read the entire post here on the Slum dwell...

Minister of Urban and Rural Development says government is committed to uplift the living conditions of all citizens. Sophia Shaningwa says government needs a helping hand from other stakeholders in order to address the housing backlog in the country. She was speaking at the occasion on Friday the 16th October where the First Lady of the Republic of Namibia and patron of the federation Monica Geingos officially handed over 36 houses to members of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia at Omuthiya in the Oshikoto Region. Besides handing over the Houses, Geingos and Shaningwa participated in the servicing of plots and making bricks for 29 new houses to be constructed at Omuthiya.

Persistence, celebration and the First Lady's help have turned around the fortunes of women's savings organisations helping to meet Namibia's housing needs. Read more: http://www.iied.org/namibias- women-lead-way-housing- development#.VfKrPxeRtWA.email

Watch Video here.... http://namibia-shackdwellers.blogspot.com/2015/08/community-driven-sanitation-project.html

Read more on the event in the Namibian by Following the link bellow . Article  in the  Namibian Newspaper

“I have not seen an institution as serious as the federation. I am happy with what you have achieved,” “Do not give up engaging the government. If you fall down, stand up again. I assure you that there will come a time that they will hear what you say. Rome was not build in one day. Never give up, ” said Khomas Regional Governor, Laura McLeod-Katjirua in her speech during SDFN national meeting on the 13th of June 2015. The purpose of the meeting was to share 6 months regional progress reports and plans on savings, projects, repayments of loans and enumerations. Watch video here   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAPLyetWXGU

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The Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia(SDFN) National Facilitator Ms Edith Mbanga  gave a presentation to 2 nd and 3 rd year land management students at the polytechnic of Namibia on the SDFN’s link to the Flexible land Tenure Act , Act no 4 of 2012. Educating future professionals on the community’s process and creating a platform for the students to engage the SDFN directly. The lecture was proposed by Professor Wolfgang Werner. Ms Mbanga informed the students : The Flexible Land Tenure Act, Act 4 of 2012 was initiated a long way after the Shack Dwellers of Namibia (SDFN) saving groups started organising themselves in 1987. The SDFN was consulted on the act before it was finalized. The act was only passed in parliament in November 2012; currently regulations are being formulated spearheaded by the Ministry of Land and Resettlement. Background The SDFN has 19 540 in 14 Regions with 602 saving groups. The Groups have a total of N$16 999 112.28 from their daily saving...

   Anna Muller and Rosalinda Hendricks participated as part of the Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) as the Namibian delegation to the Forum.   Their participation was financed by MRLGHRD (Accommodation and other costs in Medellin) and SDI (Air Tickets).   This support by the MRLGHRD is highly appreciated as a demonstration of the partnership between the government and community actors.  The forum started on 5 April 2014 with the WUF7 exhibition and parallel events and the official opening (attendance only by invitation) took place on Monday 7 April.   Included is a short reflection on the events attended and experiences of the Forum. Link for Full WUF Report

Studio 2 – Participatory Layout Design Following the first studio the community was anxious to embark on the second studio.  These studios have increased in importance considering the introduction of the Mass Housing initiative of the Government of Namibia; NHAG-SDFN proposed the participatory planning process of communities to be a cornerstone for informal settlement upgrading.  The second studio took place from 7 to 10 March 2014, involving the same group of town planning students from the Polytechnic of Namibia that participated in the first studio during September 2013, now doing layout planning as third year town planning students.  The learning during this studio was not limited to academic participants but included officials from the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, the Opuwo Mayor and Property Officer representing team members from the UN-Habitat Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme, a Community Development offi...

The exchange was initiated by Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) supporting NGO for the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN), in order to expose municipal officials, the federation members and the NGO itself to upgrading that comes as a result of the enumerations. The municipal officials and community members on the exchange are directly or indirectly exposed to the Community Land Information Program (CLIP) Namibia’s version of the enumeration in their towns. Upgrading as a result of the enumeration has not yet taken place. Cape Town and Stellenbosch was going to provide a great platform for the exchange delegates to learn and influence a change in mind-set and promoting a bottom up approach to planning procedures in their local authorities and influence national government policy in the future. Read more on the SDI BLOG http://www.sdinet.org/blog/2013/04/25/using-enumerations-upgrading-namibia-cape-town-lea/