Supporting Participation, Accountability and Community Empowerment (SPACE)
Funding partner: We Effect
Project Duration: 2023-2025
The project was part of a broader programme called Livelihoods and the Right to Food (LRF). We Effect adheres to the UN definition of the right to food: “The right to food is realized when every man, woman, and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or the means for its procurement” (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1999). Accordingly, this project was one of the initiatives supported by We Effect in Uganda under the Livelihoods and Right to Food programme. The project aimed to contribute to the transformation of the informal sector as envisioned in Uganda’s National Development Plan III, advance the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, and support Africa Agenda 2063 by promoting well-planned and managed urbanization as a driver for sustainable development. The project emphasized inclusiveness and the principle of leaving no one behind, strengthening human settlements policies, laws, and plans at both national and regional levels, building the capacity of stakeholders to demand equitable service delivery, and fostering more productive communities for the socio-economic development of cities and urban areas.
Promoting Inclusive Human Settlements in Uganda (PIHS)
Funding Partner: We Effect
Project duration: 2018-2022
The project was aimed at empowering organizations and institutions that influence the participatory development of human settlements. It sought to create platforms for meaningful engagement between rights holders and duty bearers, ensuring inclusive participation and rights holder–led development processes in Uganda, as well as across East and Southern Africa. The overall goal was to contribute to a human settlements sector that benefits poor women, men, and young people in Uganda.
Assessing the impacts of women’s dispossession from land and home.
Funding partner: Housing and Land Rights Network of Habitat International Coalition (HIC-HLRN)
Project duration: 2019-2021
The Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN), together with its partners, strengthened the capacity of member organizations and local communities in three countries (India, Kenya, and Uganda) to apply tested tools and methodologies for quantifying and documenting the full costs, losses, and damages resulting from violations of women’s rights to access, use, and control land for housing and other livelihood activities. The Women’s Land and Home Project applied international human rights standards as a normative framework for identifying such violations, assessing the resulting deprivations, and supporting strategies aimed at securing women’s land and housing rights, including access to appropriate remedies.
Skills for Sustainable Housing and Households.
Funding partner: Skills Development Facility- Private Sector Foundation Uganda (SDF-PSFU).
Project duration: 2019- 2020
The project aimed to equip participants with practical skills and tools to independently develop sustainable housing solutions and improve their household livelihoods. It also sought to enhance their productivity, marketing, and sales capacity, thereby increasing their income levels. Through a series of trainings, the project built the skills of 40 community members. The first component focused on the production of alternative building materials and environmentally friendly household products. Beneficiaries were trained in making cooking briquettes, Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSBs), and packaging materials.
Housing Investment Chronicles Project (HIC)
Funding Partner: Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF)
Project duration: 2018
With the aim of stimulating the development of housing finance instruments that are more responsive to household needs, resources, and spending patterns, the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF) launched the Housing Investment Chronicles project and partnered with SSA to implement it in Uganda. The Housing Investment Chronicles (HIC) applied qualitative research methods to document the housing investment strategies of low-income households in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area. The research profiled selected households by examining key aspects such as timelines, financing mechanisms, housing typologies, land ownership and titling, investment priorities, and the key barriers to accessing housing finance.
Promoting Housing Rights Awareness in Uganda’s Informal Settlements (PHRA)
Funding partner: We Effect
Project duration: 2017
The project aimed to raise awareness and empower communities to understand and claim their land and housing rights. It also fostered linkages among various stakeholders to promote improved housing conditions in Uganda. The overall development objective was to contribute to improved human settlements conditions in Uganda. Specifically, the project objective was to build an empowered network capable of engaging in policies, programmes, and practices that enhance the sustainability of Uganda’s informal settlements.
Household Energy, Water and Sanitation Improvement in Uganda
Funding partner: SELAVIP Foundation
Project duration: 2017
The project aimed to improve household access to clean energy, water, and sanitation services. It demonstrated that low-income households can access these essential facilities at an affordable cost. Through the project, 41 water tanks were installed to enhance access to clean water, 12 latrines were constructed to improve sanitation, and 50 solar systems were provided to promote clean energy and energy efficiency. Community members were trained in the installation and maintenance of these facilities to ensure sustainability and continuity beyond the project period. In addition, community masons were identified and supported to provide ongoing technical assistance within the community.
The Promotion of Eco friendly Construction Technologies for Informal Settlements (PECTIS).
Aimed at promoting community led approaches to decent settlements. The project brought community to particularly learn and advocate for the promotion and exploration of Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSB) technologies. ISSB is a low cost, ecofriendly construction technique which doesn’t require any cement in between the blocks. The blocks themselves are made from red soil, cement and water. After being pressed in the machine you simply let them dry for up to 28 days and then they are ready to be used. The main objective of this project was to enhance quality of life while reducing the impact of human settlements on water quality. The project entailed this by the construction of prototypes i.e. latrines, garbage banks, drainage channels in Namuwongo, Makindye Division by the use of this appropriate building technology ISSB. This was also to ensure that the community appreciates the technology and there after take it business a long side their other led initiatives, with the aim to provide environmental sustainable sanitation.
Promoting Housing Rights Awareness
Funding partner: We Effect
The project aimed to raise awareness and empower communities to understand and claim their land and housing rights. It also contributed to strengthening SSA as a network to effectively influence policies, programmes, and practices aimed at improving housing conditions and the quality of life for people living in informal settlements. In addition, the project fostered linkages among various stakeholders to promote improved housing conditions in Uganda. Key achievement: The passing and launch of the National Housing Policy (2016).
Participatory Housing Approaches towards Improved Informal Settlements
Funding partner: We Effect
The project’s primary focus was to empower slum communities to enhance their participation in policies, programmes, and practices, while strengthening knowledge management within informal settlements to promote sustainable human settlement services. The project envisioned national policies and programmes that are more responsive to the needs of slum communities in Kampala, increased participation of slum dwellers in housing cooperatives, improved housing information management systems, and enhanced network capacity to effectively engage in advocacy for improved human settlements. Key achievements: Empowerment of 10 community groups into housing cooperatives, finalization of the Housing Situational Database, and compilation of existing research on human settlements.
Decent living project
Funding partner: We Effect
The overall aim of the project was to improve the living conditions of poor and underserved communities residing in the slums of Kampala City, specifically in the Central, Rubaga, and Makindye Divisions by enhancing access to adequate water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and housing by 2016. The ultimate impact of the project was to contribute to improved well-being and better living standards for people living in the slums of Kampala. Key achievement: Launch and handover of 24 housing units to group beneficiaries.