The Harare Slum Upgrading Upgrading Project (HSUP) started in 2010 through the signing of an MOU between the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation, Dialogue on Shelter and City of Harare. Through the partnership, the three parties were able to secure funding amounting to US$5million for five years to undertake slum upgrading interventions in the city. Under the project, the Harare parties focused on documenting the nature and extent of urban informality, reviewing the housing regulatory environment and developing innovative institutional arrangements for sustaining the slum upgrading operations among other interventions.
The Harare Slum Upgrading Project mapped, profiled and enumerated slums in and around Harare. This exercise was meant to take stock not only of the city’s challenges but also its asset - the urban poor! 63 slum were profiled during the five years of the project and this was followed by the crafting of settlement development plan for all the slums. Settlement development plans set out the action plan for responding to the development priorities identified during the citywide profiles.
The Harare Slum Upgrading Project had a huge thrust around developing enduring innovative financing mechanisms for supporting slum upgrading. To this end, the Harare Slum Upgrading Project developed the Harare Slum Upgrading Finance Facility - a citywide joint fund constituted by the three parties to the project (Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation, Dialogue on Shelter and City of Harare). The finance facility was capitalised to the tune of US$200,000.00 and to date has funded house construction and small business projects in Dzivarasekwa Extension, Hopley and Gunhill among other settlements. A total of 160 loans translating to US$237,800.00 have since been disbursed since November 2014 reaching out to 550 households. Out of these loans, 11 groups in Dzivarasekwa Extension, for instance, has accessed US$49,800.00 in both housing and business loans. Some of the innovations around HSUFF relate to the phased nature of the loans which reduce the burden of huge instalments for loan repayments. The self-selecting nature of the loan groups have also meant that existing social capital is utilised is a key component for financial inclusion.
The Harare Slum Upgrading Project started by constructing 32 densification models . Each year the project parties would reflect on the architectural designs with the aim of addressing affordability aspects and improving maximisation of space. To date, 250 houses are at various stages of construction out of the 431 allottees in Dzivarasekwa Extension. However, besides providing decent accommodation the construction process also acted as a training platform for Federation artisans. For instance, a total of 17 artisans including two women have been trade-tested as certified bricklayers by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education.
After an exchange visit with Chinhoyi Federation, ecological sanitation toilets were piloted in Dzivarasekwa Extension as part of incremental infrastructure upgrading. Prior to the introduction of the ‘ecosan’ toilets the residents were using pit latrines threatening contamination of underground water amidst the usage of shallow wells. The ‘ecosan’ were being constructed at an average cost of US$250.00 and by year 2015, 247 ‘ecosan' toilets had been built.
An early childhood programme run by the Federation community was launched under the Harare Slum Upgrading Project. Before the ECD initiative was introduced, a settlement profile was undertaken to assess the nature and extent of the needs relating to early childhood development. To date, the ECD centre, which is managed by six teachers from the community has an enrolment of 53 children and parents pay US$25.00 per month as fees.
The citywide slum upgrading processes taking place in Harare have also influenced similar interventions in Bulawayo. The process in Bulawayo started with an MOU that was signed by the alliance and the city in April 2015. The MOU outlined a work-plan for a range of upgrading-oriented activities beginning with citywide slum profiles. Fourteen months on, the partnership has profiled 10 690 households with an estimated population of 31 547 in eight settlements of the urban poor. In these settlements a variety of challenges were identified mainly security of tenure and water and sanitation but also together with huge opportunities for launching upgrading initiatives. An exchange visit to Cape Town, South Africa also added on to the rich experiences around upgrading by the partnership. After the slum profiles, a water and sanitation pilot project is now underway in Iminyela and here 97 individual water-borne toilets have been built through an arrangement with co-funding from the community and the Federation’s Gungano Urban Poor Fund. A second phase of scaling-up is now targeting an additional 110 households in Iminyela.
During its 5-year tenure the Harare Slum Upgrading Project has scooped a number of awards recognising the work that the partnership is doing towards making Harare an inclusive city. In 2012, the former Mayor of Harare, His Worship Mayor Masunda received the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour at the World Urban Forum (WUF6). The Scroll of Honour is a prestigious recognition given to an individual or organisation for outstanding contribution to human settlements. In 2015, and this time on the local scene, the City of Harare again bagged awards at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair for its exceptional role in forging strategic partnerships with stakeholders. Very recently in London, England the Harare Slum Upgrading Project earned a special mention for the City of Harare and was highly recommended under the ‘Excellence in City-led Transformation’ awards.