Am I the owner of my own kambashu?
Spanish Ambassador, Her Excellency Mrs Carmen Díez (centre front) flanked by the Director of the Rural Development Centre, Mr John Kasheeta and Alderman Boas Ekandjo of the City of Windhoek. They are accompanied by the delegates to a meeting of local communities living in informal settlements.
Her Excellency, Mrs. Carmen Díez, the Spanish Ambassador together with Mr. Jona Kasheeta, Director of Rural Development from the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, as well as representatives of the relevant local authorities, participated in the handover celebration of the Community Land Information Programme.
The project focuses on gathering information about the communities living in informal settlements in the four pilot areas, Windhoek, Gobabis, Grootfontein and Omaruru. The residents in these settlements identified their priorities and provided information for development assistance.
Using a GIS backbone, the project aims to produce detailed maps for a comprehensive shack and household registration. The ultimate aim is to use this information to channel development assistance into those areas where the impact will be greatest. Once a detailed map of residences and residents in informal settlements are used as a planning tool, monitoring outcomes and progress becomes more efficient.
According to current CLIP estimates, half a million people are living in informal settlements mostly as a result of the migration to urban areas. For the government, this uncontrolled movement of people poses many problems, particularly in terms of the provision of housing. The sensus and mapping are done with the cooperation of shack dwellers associations in the target areas.
