Prioritizing Adequate Housing - Media Breakfast, 26/06/12 Imperial Royale Hotel

Last Tuesday morning, on the 26th of June, a media engagement breakfast was organized by SSA:UHSNET in collaboration with Uganda Cooperative Alliance- Housing Cooperatives Project (UCA-HCDP) at the Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala. The media, key-government officials and other actors within the human settlement sector gathered for a breakfast meeting on the topic: Prioritizing Adequate Housing. It was aimed at ensuring different stakeholders, particularly the media, to know about the current challenges within the housing sector and engage in advocating for it to be given priority on the national agenda.

Various presentations were given on the topic of prioritizing adequate housing. Topics discussed ranged from current plans to build more affordable houses to the role of government in the future. Guest of Honour was the Minister of State for Housing: Hon. Sam Engola. The Minister explained some of the current plans within the housing sector, as building new affordable houses in every district the upcoming years, and identified opportunities, like Public Private Partnership arrangements for funds and financing. After the presentations the media and some other stakeholders were given the chance to ask (critical) questions.

Key finding was that adequate housing is equal to sustainable development. With a multiplier effect of between 5-12, which means that every UGX invested in housing generates an effect of between 5-12 UGX, housing could become a major economic drive. The challenge is providing the necessary funds. SSA:UHSNET chairman Mr. Byaruhanga emphasized once again that active government intervention is needed in the housing sector, only through the government adequate and affordable housing for ALL can be achieved.

The government made some important promises. First of all the minister pledged that government would re-enter in the issue of providing social housing, particularly in the new districts. This certainly is promising, as we as SSA:UHSNET believe that active government intervention is needed to provide more affordable houses. Moreover the Director of Housing pledged to ensure transformation of informal settlements in Uganda, meaning that government will improve infrastructure and services in these settlements. If realized this will be a very big improvement for people living in informal settlements.

The media can also play an important role in Prioritizing Adequate Housing. Sharing materials and information is an effective way to make more people aware of the issue of adequate housing.

We thank all participants for their contribution and participation.

Ugandans told to save for Houses!

Flavia Nassaka a reporter of the East African Business Week ran a captivating story that the Network is pleased to share with the rest of the world and it reads...
Kampala, Uganda-stakeholders in the human settlement sector have urged the public to participate in income generating activities so that they can accumulate savings that can aid them build a house.
"People should engage in activities that can enable them at least save Shs500 ($0.2) a day, through saving people can be able to build a reasonable three-bed room house", said Mr. Emmanuel Byaruhanga, the chairman Uganda Human Settlement network (UHSNET) during a settlements' exhibition  in Kampala recently.
Among the items show cased was a banner which the stake holders and the public have to sign and present to Parliament before Independence Day. Byaruhanga who advises the low income earners who can't raise resources to construct a house solely to build formal settlements through cooperatives, says a three-bedroom house is cost effective, gender friendly and also health sensitive if well planned.
UHSNET is a network comprised of civil society organizations, individuals, and private sector stakeholders working together with the main purpose of lobbying, advocating and sharing information for better policies, programs and practices towards sustainable improvement of human settlements. Atleast 60% of Ugandans in urban areas  live in slums with low  latrine coverage. The high level of  congestion creates pressure on land leading to degradation.
"The existence of poor households in Uganda's urban areas should be blamed on the government since there is no political will to support the housing sector. Only 0.3% of the budget was allocated to the land, housing and urban development ministry", said Mr. Charles Ofwono Chairman Foundation for Rural Housing, an organization that advocates for transforming rural settlements.
Ofwono says that in some parts of Eastern Uganda, grass species such as the spear grass are extinct because of the poor housing facilities since most homesteads use grass for roofing than iron sheets.
"Uganda's population has been growing at an annual rate of 3.2% to the current 30 million people while the urban areas have registered an annual rate of 5.1%. At this rate, Uganda will have a population of about 68 millions by 2035, 30% of which will be in the urban areas", said Samuel Babara, Commissioner Urban Development.
With such a population increase on the limited land of about 241038 sq km, Ugandans are urged to venture into building storied buildings such that the rest of the land is left free for practicing large scale agriculture since farming is the greatest foreign exchange earner for the economy.
You can also read this article on the officail website of the East African Business Week: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.newspapersites.net/newspaper/east-african-business-week.asp

Showcase event! Please make sure you attend!

Did you know housing is a human right?

The right to adequate housing has been recognized in numerous texts at both the international and the regional level. At the international level, the two most important texts are the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. At the regional level, the most important texts are the various African instruments for the protection of the rights of the child and of women.

At an international level

1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

2. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)

3. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)

4. Conventions Protecting Particularly Vulnerable Groups

    Women
    Children
    Tribal and Indigenous Peoples
    Refugees
    Migrants

5. International Declarations regarding Africa

    The African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights (1990)
    The African Charter of the Rights and Well Being of the Child (1990)
    The Protocol of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003)
    Uganda’s Constitution

There a lot more legislation that declares housing a human right and it is your right to know where you stand; what you are entitled to; how you can demand for your rights; and how you can have your needs met by the relevant stakeholders.
Find out more today!

SSA- UHSNET members trained in Documentation and Communication

On 18^th – 19^th April 2012, SSA- UHSNET successfully conducted a two day training of members in documentation and communication. The overall aim of the training was to equip member participants with skills in documentation and communication to ensure there is effective case study dissemination in the human settlements sector.

Among other benefits, the training was able to:

• Equip individuals from member organizations with adequate knowledge and skills to understand and apply effective documentation and communication techniques  
• Help participants to understand how to engage with media, and be creative in best practice reporting 
• Initiate a follow up process to support members in the documentation practices.

We bring to you some of the captions and a pictorial report of the training that took place:

     The facilitator takes the attentive participants through the first part of the training.

      Participants chat the way forward for a group work assignment

   The facilitator emphasizes the importance of engaging proper photography skills in media and documentation.

    The facilitator attends to a question from one of the participants.

The facilitator takes the participants through a lecture on handling and use of a camera as a tool for documentation. Participants cannot wait to try out the camera tricks.

      A participant tries out one of the cameras as the facilitator looks on.

Learning Journey with KIEMP

In our first post SSA: UHSNET would like to give a summary a learning journey the Network has undertaken in partnership with KIEMP (Kampala Integrated Environmental Planning and Management Project) and members of its Water, Sanitation and Environment Working Group. The goal of the learning journey was to view first hand the projects KIEMP has implemented in 3 separate areas around Kampala, to give members an opportunity to learn best practices in the area of water, sanitation, waste management, urban agriculture and infrastructure development.
Setting off from the Secretariat, the team headed to KIEMP sites. Along the way, the Programme Assistant Ineke, gave member a brief of the project background and modalities to set the mood for the deliberations of the day. KIEMP is a project that has run for a period of five years, as a partnership between the Belgian and Ugandan Government

The trip began in Bwaise looking at drainage systems that have been constructed throughout the community.

An 800+ metre Drainage system built by KIEMP

It was remarkable to see the change that the drainage systems had brought in place. the project manager who walked the team through the area informed members that despite still facing flooding the periods of flooding were less destructive as the drainage systems helped to channel the water out of the area after a while.

As the group walked through the community KIEMP pointed out the level of flooding that used to be in the area before the drainage system was constructed. Flooding in this area used to be so severe that is was common to have 3 or 4 feet of water, as the lines on houses indicate. Some houses had sunk into the ground, which is a swamp, and been abandoned.

House that has been abandoned and sunk into the ground

After viewing several more of the areas where drainage systems have assisted the community in reducing flooding, the group visited a pre-paid water meter installed by BTC (Belgian Development Agency). BTC is one of the key funders of KIEMP along with the government of Uganda.

Water and Sanitation Working Group listening to explanation of how the system operates

The area of Bwaise also suffers from poor sanitation issues: despite the existence of sub-standard structures that are used as toilets sanitation was found greatly lacking.

 Toilet in Bwaise

KIEMP, also built toilets that address the specific needs of Bwaise. The public toilets are controlled by caretakers and the community have structures in place to guide their use and sustainability.

Toilet in Bwaise that KEIMP built

KIEMP informed the group that the toilets they had built did have quite a high budget due to the specific requirements needed to address the flooding in the area. As a result the toilets are raised, but are also water proof.

As the group moved through the community, they also saw the much larger channels that have been built that subsequently feed into the channel that takes the water out of the community and into the main channels out of the city.

Wider drainage system that feeds into main line

The main channel, also known as the Lubigi channel, is being widened significantly as part of the Kampala Institutional Infrastructure Development Project with funding from the World Bank/International Development Agency.

Lubigi channel being widened

From Bwaise the group then traveled to Kisenyi II to visit an urban agriculture and infrastructure project. KIEMP has also been directly involved in improving key infrastructural components of these communities. In  Kisenyi II they have tarmacked some key roads.

View from Kisenyi II looking back on the city center

 One of the urban agricultural projects that has been implemented is the use of 'food towers'. These structures use small spaces to create large yields of vegetable and herbs. This particular project was implemented in partnership with KCCA's Urban Agriculutre Office.

Working Group discusses benefits of food towers

 Also in Kisenyi II, KIEMP explained their sack garden project.

Sack Gardens thriving in Kisenyi II

The final community visit was in Katwe, where KIEMP shared best practices in involving communities and community administration to best achieve results. In Katwe, the project was constructing drainage systems that infringed on peoples land. Community consensus had to be reached which required engaging the area as a whole to embrace its benefits. As a result of the drainage system and tarmacking of the main road, business and quality of life has improved in the area. Overall today's visit achieved its goal of educating members on the types of projects KIEMP has been involved in and also the challenges and successes in each area visit. SSA: UHSNET would like to thank KIEMP for taking the time to show the members of the Water and Sanitation Working Group their projects.

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