Resources

Article focuses on the lowest-income groups of Khartoum and their struggle to find shelter in the city. After giving an overview of housing conditions and the ways in which poorer groups find accommodation, the author describes the legal and illegal housing submarkets. He argues that understanding these is essential in order to change housing and living conditions. Discussion then turns to government attitudes toward housing problems, and the description of the development of two low-income housing areas in Khartoum. Very little emphasis is placed on participation and nowhere is PRA or RRA methodology mentioned. In the conclusions, the author states that community participation is a realistic alternative to current policies, and that low-income groups have used it successfully for a long time. The author argues that limited public resources could be best put toward supporting community-based organisations who work to improve infrastructure and basic services.

This paper considers the suitability of a housing project in Cordoba, Argentina for poor women-headed households. The project was designed to rehouse squatters who occupied land needed for public works. The paper considers the planning and the implementation of this project and examines the extent to which women-headed households participated in the project, documenting a considerable number of "hidden" women headed households. The objectives of the research were to make women and their needs visible, and to contribute towards developing a greater understanding of how women are affected by social housing policies directed at the poor urban sectors. Research methods used include interviews with women heads of households and key informants. The paper concludes with recommendations on how housing and human settlements policies can become gender-aware.

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.