Barcelona Household Enumeration Report

BARCELONA HOUSEHOLD ENUMERATION REPORT

GUGULETHU, CAPE TOWN, APRIL 2010

Informal Settlement Network,

Barcelona Community Leadership and

Community Organisation Resource Centre

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES OF ENUMERATIONS

The housing backlog has been increasing every year in post-apartheid South Africa despite the housing efforts by Government, and the lives of those who dwell in those informal settlements have not improved at all because of their increasing number and difficulties in managing any upgrade. CORC has been helping a growing number of communities to participate in an inclusive process of informal upgrading. This is especially motivated by the realisation that in our major cities, where the urbanisation process has been steady since 1994, the large majority of the vulnerable groups in practice are excluded from the Government’s current subsidy system, even when a movement like the Federation of the Urban Poor (CORC’s traditional partner) is active to secure a number of such subsidies for the empowered poor.

Thanks to CORC’s efforts to promote and sustain the process, different social formations in all informal settlements gather and organise themselves into a stronger “confederation”, or network whereby members keep their personality and autonomy. In five major cities (Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg/Ekurhuleni and Kimberley) these dialogue sessions gave rise to the formation of the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) – that brings together not only representatives of informal settlements but also different movements of the urban poor (e.g. there is even an alliance with organised backyard dwellers) in a united front in their fight against poverty. The main strategy is a constructive dialogue with government towards community-driven development which is effective to address the main needs of the majority, affordable and socially sustainable.

This approach of (incremental) settlement upgrading in urban areas is a phenomenon largely used in Thailand where organised groups in informal settlements take part in developing themselves through an alliance with the government. The Thai government realised the importance of cooperating with the poor communities in this initiative mainly due to the fact that the poor are better placed to know their urgent needs and also in a better position to know the problems in their communities. In this sense, they would not be seen just as an urban problem but also form a part of the solution. In the Thai government’s development puzzle, this cooperation with the poor has been effective and has inspired CORC to propose the methodology to the South African informal settlement leaders.

ISN has bought into the approach and embraced a concept of settlement improvements where development occurs in stages and has been designed in a way that ensures that even the very poor are not left out in the infrastructure improvements. A fairly important step in the process that CORC and ISN would like to see in this country is the commitment from the Thai government to the poor to help them gain security of tenure on the land where they live on (with appropriate compensation to the current owners, if necessary), so that they are not exposed to the problems likely to be faced by those who live in informal settlements like eviction threats and limited sanitation services. This is followed by the provision and or improvement of basic services that can later be built upon and upgraded.

Securing tenure in informal settlements is always a daunting task, but if all the involved parties in the development work collectively ensure that there is a genuine participation in planning and then support the smooth implementation of development, the latter is worth the efforts.

In 2009 a partnership was established between the City of Cape Town, CORC and the leadership of ISN, to embark on a multiple-site pilot project to test the methodology mentioned above. In each of the pilot sites, the first step for any development has been identified in the data gathering about population and about the site itself, and its existing meagre infrastructure.

This is a brief report of the implementation of the household enumeration in the third pilot project of the upgrading informal settlements initiative mentioned above.

The upgrading is to be undertaken in the perspective that does not focus only on the provision of basic services like water and sanitation, but extends to improved shelters, too, even though still informal (shacks). The residents of the selected initial pilot projects, Sheffield Road (in Philippi), TT Section (in Khayelitsha) and Barcelona (within the Gugulethu township boundaries), have always expected that government would provide them with basic services and adequate housing. But they realised, in the interaction with NGO and officials, that there were neither immediate nor near-future housing development plans for their settlements. Therefore they availed themselves for other options.

This report witnesses relevant steps towards development that can be taken by the community itself, in particular the understanding that slum dwellers should not be seen as passive, but should be considered as an active force that can and will contribute to the solution of their problems in their communities. This is further reflected by the demonstration of the community’s capability to conduct a successful community survey. The methodology is described below, but it must be highlighted that in order to realise the survey properly and to make good use of it, the approach envisages the support and the common planning with the Informal Settlement Network, the City and CORC as technical partner and social facilitator.

The data collected and elaborated is owned by the community and should be seen as an asset of both parties for the action expected from Government, which will hopefully prove that community-driven enumerations are a useful tool not just to draw in the (otherwise passive) beneficiaries into play, but to combine their work with professionals, government and support organisations into a common platform for collective planning and implementation of the general objectives of the project.

The information reported in this document is obviously only a general picture of Barcelona,therefore there will be more additions and updates to the database and to the document, if possible with the continuous active contribution by the community, in order to have it as a strong tool for the improvement of the living conditions of this community.

This document outlines the methodology of data collection and capturing used in this exercise; analyses the major findings and basic statistics elaborated in the enumeration exercise.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Methodology

Key findings

Analysis

Graphs and Tables

Annexure: Questionnaire used in the enumeration

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A great deal of volunteering has been applied when conducting this enumeration and its elaborations; most of the people involved were from other informal settlements. Different organisations and communities which make up ISN provided the volunteers for the whole exercise. They have all participated in various ways especially on the planning phase, data collection, filing, mapping and capturing.

INTRODUCTION

Barcelona informal settlement is situated 15 km east of Cape Town CBD on a strip of land running in parallel to N2 in Gugulethu. Like most Cape Town informal settlements, the settlement’s sprawling growth was fuelled by the influx of people from rural areas and other residential areas of Cape Town in search of a better life and employment opportunities. The limited chances of affordable housing in the low earning class have forced most of the people to resort to slum dwelling which can be afforded with their income.

Among other challenges for a decent daily life of the residents, this settlement has some sanitation services which were installed by the City council but have always been subject to vandalism hence highly affecting the carrying capacities of these services especially bucket toilets. The community has progressively realised the lengthy period which they are likely to wait before there can be any significant improvement to these services. Due to this possibility of a prolonged period of any development, the community leaders approached by ISN got involved in pilot projects where they would be part of planning and implementation of developmental exercises for their settlement, in strong partnership with the government.

In March 2010, the Barcelona Community Task Team in collaboration with CORC and ISN conducted a household enumeration in the community as a way of getting the actual data about the life of the people who stay on this rather inhospitable land strip. As mentioned above, the main function of this enumeration initiative was to equip and strengthen the Community Task Team in their starting negotiations with the Government about service delivery (through pilot projects) and also to enhance more community participation in the newly introduced slum upgrading approach. This community realised the need for some improvements in terms of water supply and shack improvement whilstwaiting (with no clarity about a time frame and no certainty) for a better house from the government. Like in two previous enumerations conducted under pilot projects, the enumeration is pivotal as it helps to bring on board all the active parties towards getting a collective way forward in community developmental issues. As a mobilisation effort, the exercise allowed to introduce the concept of community (daily) savings, a social developmental tool that CORC and its allies have been constantly promoting.

Hopefully this report, too,will provide a useful tool for strengtheningthe community representatives in defining their community and its issues through the survey exercise they have recently completed. The kind of information collected may also help to understand where to start from, for better life conditions in informal settlements.

The whole enumeration exercise provided the Barcelona community with the necessary tools and opportunity to be part in the planning and implementation of the piloted incremental improvements in their community. This process helped the community heir significant input into the whole process and suggested to look beyond the concept of waiting for long periods in anticipation of a complete house from the government.

During the course of the enumeration, a number of observations about the settlement were made about the demographic profile and different services rendered to the community. The survey targeted all households found in Barcelona and it was observed that the whole (self-counted) community is made up of at least 6600 people, who make up 2161 families. Thesefiguresdo not accurately represent the total population unless we take into consideration that a further 210 households did not participate in the enumeration due to various reasons. However, they represent an image of the community that is closer to reality than any other available.

METHODOLOGY

Prior to the data collection exercise, CORC, ISNand the community leadership held several meetings in February 2010 in preparation for the enumeration. The community leadership and representatives of ISN were to be used as an instrument for mobilising the community about the whole scope of this exercise. Furthermore, numerous community meetings were held with the community at large about the enumeration for more clarity on issues related to the enumeration.

Questionnaire development

The questionnaire was developed from the previous enumeration exercises conducted in the first two pilot projects in 2010: Sheffield Road and TT Section. Based on the outcomes of the first two enumerations under pilot projects, many consultations and discussions to decide on what to be included in, and left out of the first enumeration questionnaires, took place. Further improvements were made to the previous questionnaire by the community in their weekly meetings so as to ensure that more relevant and comprehensive information about their community be collected. Below is the structure of the information requested to each household, while in annexure a copy of the questionnaire can be found.

DOMAIN OF SURVEY / ITEMS INCLUDED IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Household details / - identity and gender of household head
- his/her age
- number of families occupying the structure
- number of young people in the house
- number of people attending school
- number of adults staying in the house
- number of aged persons in the house
Employment / - number of people employed per household
- type of employment
- grants received
- monthly basic expenses
- transport and costs
- shopping options
Nature of house / - type of house
- area of house
- number of rooms
- self-built / purchased
Disaster history / - disasters experienced by the household
Migration / - period lived in the community
- place of residence before Barcelona
- period lived in Cape Town
Sanitation / - type of toilet available to the household
- number of people using the toilet
- collection of waste from common bins

The whole enumeration team was made up of three teams: Measuring Team, Numbering Team and the Data Collection Team. The community was divided into 13 different sections marked by the main paths in the settlement. All these sections were numbered in an alphabetical order from A to M.

This survey was structured around one main code for all the shacks, so each household was clearly identified by the new numberingand measuring on the front part of the shack. prior to the emancipation of data collection exercise, the Community Task Team, CORC fieldworkers and some ISN members conducted a preparatory workshop to technically equip the enumerators with the necessary skills for doing the survey.

During the survey, all the enumerators were instructed to collect the information from people in their structures which were measured and numbered only by the enumeration numbering team. In the SDI enumeration methodology, enumerators were instructed to collect information only through face to face interviews with household heads. For this reason, all the three teams included at least some Barcelona community members. The inclusion of these local members in these teams was also significant because they had better knowledge of their community and all its sections. Thisincreased the level of accuracy in the survey and also that the survey may not to be seen as an external intrusion and potentially as a tool to favour the informal settlement upgrading initiative.

For the survey component of the exercise, enumerators surveyed every structure in each and every section in Barcelona. All the questions in the questionnaire were generally completed in 10 – 15 minutes. All answers provided by the respondents during the interview were confidential. During the interview, the respondents were assured that there would be no retribution for any of their answers they provided in the survey and also ensured that there was nothing to be done to them for turning down some questions and or turning down the interview.

During the data collection, substantive efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the data which were collected. Despite all the stringent measures taken to ensure all the accuracy expected, there is a limitation which was met in the process:there were some households which were not easily accessible due to long period travelling. In few cases, they felt uncomfortable or scared and did not provide any information.

Fieldwork

The point in time data collection was conducted by the enumerators for a period of three weeks in all the household heads which were in the community during the three week period. Data collection exercise was mainly done during the day; however, there were some situations where data was collected at night by the community enumerators mainly because some people could not be reached during the day due to their work commitments.

Data

A database of all the collected information was created by the community volunteers for a period of two weeks.A report consisting of frequency tables and graphs were produced for the variables in the questionnaire. Prior to the analysis of the data, the data was first subjected to frequency and cross-tabulation analysis to minimise data entry errors. However, errors may still be affecting accuracy, due to data entry problems or inconsistence in answers provided during the data collection exercise. The final data set analysis was done through the 2007 Microsoft Excel version. The data presented is for the whole community and for some variables the data is presented separately.

KEY FINDINGS

Key results of the enumeration are shown in the following pages, mainly in the synthetic form of graphs and tables.

Below is thesettlement profile[1]showing the brief statistical picture established through the enumeration.

“Slum” Name / Barcelona
Age of Settlement / 16 years
Structures / Informal residential units
Population (counted) / 6600(2161 families). The community recognises the leadership of a Task Team
Not enumerated / Estimated 210 households
Ownership of the land and status / City-owned land. No eviction or relocation threat to the community
No. of Individual Pit Toilets / 160, used by families who are also obliged to use the bucket system or “bush”
No. of community toilet blocks (for bucket system)
Number of families using bucket system or open space / 166 functional; many and uncounted non functional toilets (due to vandalism)
Bucket system: 2074 families
Open air (“bush”): 87 families
Water supply. Ratio of people served by each tap (average) / 1 water tap per 471 people
(more, if we count the non enumerated families)
1 water tap per 154 households
Most urgent needs / Electricity, water, toilets, and land rehabilitation to reduce flooding

ANALYSIS