Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia

The planning for the freedom square informal settlement was preceded by three very important rituals , which did not form part of the planning studios as such , but were critical to building bridges for the community and local authority to reach a common understanding on the way forward . These include - enumerations  exchanges  building of partnerships : watch the video for the planning process 

   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

Through the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN), informal settlers of Tweetheni and Ehangano in Okuryangava together with the Polytechnic of Namibia’s Architecture students and lecturers started a participatory planning workshop on the 8th of April 2014 for the preparations of working models for housing solutions for these two communities. Windhoek experienced uncontrolled urban growth since independence. The situation is further aggravated by authorities not succeeding in delivering sufficient land for housing, to keep pace with the influx. Many new residents therefore had to find their own solutions by settling in informal settlements, legally or not, without security of tenure and access to water and sanitation, and Okuryangava is no exception to that.  The Tweetheni and Ehangano communities were relocated from single Quarters in 2000 due to upgrading purposes. Others came from Otjomuise, Ombili and Kilimanjaro and are leasing land from the City of Windhoek for a...

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...

2013 Students Studio VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL