The use of 'typical families' to explore livelihoods and service provision in urban informal settlements, South Africa

In South Africa a government housing subsidy scheme exists which allows beneficiaries access to a R16 000 grant which is usually 'project-linked'. The South African NGO, Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) was commissioned to monitor the impact of such schemes over four years to feed into policy recommendations. As a part of this project, participatory methodologies were used in four urban settings with three objectives in mind. The first was to test the use of some participatory tools in an urban setting, in particular the 'typical families' tool. The second was to gain a greater understanding of livelihoods and vulnerabilities in these typically poor but diverse communities. The third was to gain a more in-depth understanding of the impact of service provision on individuals, households and communities. The paper describes the nature and use of the 'typical families' tool from which characteristics of vulnerability and poverty unique to the community emerge. Additionally, concerns about whether participants would be willing to engage with the exercises and what type of results they would generate are discussed.