Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia

The Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia(SDFN)  received   support from the NAMSOV Community Trust (NCT) on  Friday 11th December at a Gala dinner .  NCT contributed N$200,000.00  to the Standard Bank/ Shack dwellers buy a brick   initiative. The SDFN Patron,  Her Excellency M rs. Monica Geingos, First Lady of the Republic of Namibia    and Mrs E lizabeth  Amakali SDFN Member  received the donation on behalf of the SDFN .  Mrs Geingos emphasizing the importance of supporting communities who are working towards their own housing with support from local authorities  Ms Amakali Member of the Shack Dwellers Federation  receiving the brick as a token of support from the first lady with Mr Sebby Kankondi Bidvest Namibia CEO right and  left   Namsov Community Trust Bursary student looking on 

Remains from house relocated  Community Meeting  , Final Update on relocation. Settlement is divided into 8 blocks , the block representatives will be the ones heading the relocation , assisted by the data entry team and the land measuring , to identify the pegs and verify household information . Everyone is getting a plot ! Ouma Elizabeth Kakau , first resident to shift structure according to layout . She has lived in the settlement since 2009 and is happy about the development  Listening in on the relocation discussion  Aerial Images for relocation sites  Youth Involvement Important for progress  final layout viewed by community 

Short update from the community members working on the data collection and entry .   My name is Rosalia Haiduwa, I was born in Gobabis on the 17 th  of June 1997 in freedom square. My parents lived here for 27 years. So I have a little bit of a story to share to the world about Freedom Square how we worked together as one team. The process started with the numbering of houses, giving numbers to structures. After we finished giving numbers, we divided ourselves into groups to start with the enumeration process, walking from house to house to collect information about people living there. So as soon as we were done with the survey, we started doing data entry, putting information that we collected into computers. After doing all the data entry we started verifying the information that we entered in computers to see if they are correct. As we were done , we started with map work. Map work was challenging to people that did not understand. We...

Community Members identifying new relocation sites   Freedom Square informal settlement residents are preparing to register their land rights as part of the Flexible Land Tenure system using the  Social Tenure Domain Model . The different components of the act was explained to the community by Mr Peter Rutsch (download copy  Flexible Land Tenure Act, Act 4 of 2012 ) , explaining the differences between starter tile and Land-hold Title .  Freedom square residents have been residing in the settlement for more than 15 years without any security of tenure, facing possible evictions from the municipality. Through partnership and community enumerations, the Gobabis municipality reconsidered the planning decisions on relocation's . The planning for the area was done through the Association of African Planning( AAPS ) studio's with Town and Regional Planning Students from the polytechnic of Namibia and the community on the design of the settlement which was ...

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