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People Living in Urban Slums

  1. Why people living in urban slums?

    • During 2008 humankind reached an historic milestone: for the first time ever, half of the world’s population were living in urban areas.
    • The trend towards urbanisation continues with the population of the world’s cities increasing by approximately 5 million people each month.
    • Much of this increase is due to migration in search of economic opportunities rather than births.
    • Within the next two decades nearly 60% of the world’s population will be urban dwellers.

    The rate of urban population growth is fastest in developing countries, which are least equipped to cope with the need to provide infrastructure and development control. The urban population of Africa is projected to more than double by 2030 (from 375 million to 760 million people – which represents more than the current number of city dwellers in the entire Western Hemisphere) and is likely to double yet again by 2050.

    Of the 3 billion or so urban dwellers today, UN Habitat estimates that around a third live in slums. Urban slums have arisen because of the lack of affordable housing relative to demand, and the grossly unequal distribution of wealth and resources in most cities, particularly in the developing world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the problem of urban poverty is especially acute, with 62% of the region’s urban population living in slum conditions.

  2. Our Goal

    Our goal is to help slum dwellers drive programmes that lead to improvements in their communities, including securing the legal right to occupy viable land (as tenants or owners), improved access to basic services, better living conditions and the opportunity for slum dwellers to improve their economic prospects.

  3. How we can best support change

    Though urban slums and their populations are not homogenous and their needs vary widely, Comic Relief believes that in general the lives of people living in slum conditions are most likely to be transformed by:

    • Building slum dwellers’ confidence to identify and represent their needs and rights to governments, local authorities, landlords and others so they become more accountable;
    • Supporting slum dwellers to pool their resources for greater effect, for example by setting up savings clubs or contributing their labour communally to house building schemes;
    • Enabling slum dwellers to obtain the finance they need to improve their accommodation, living environment and earning potential;
    • Actively engaging young people, thus building a foundation for future generations to lead on representing their communities’ affairs.

  4. Outcomes

    Comic Relief wants to know that the projects we fund are bringing about changes in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people. We call these changes programme level outcomes, and define them as the ‘intended or unintended effects or changes to people’s lives that happen as a result of the project or organisation’s activities’.

    During the period covered by this strategy, we anticipate that the lives of people living in urban slums in Africa will be transformed as follows:

    • Slum dweller households make progress towards obtaining secure tenure that they can afford, resulting in a measurable reduction in people living in fear of eviction or intimidation.
    • Individuals living in the slums gain employment skills, money management skills and become better able to run their own businesses, resulting in measurable improvements to their standard of living.
    • A higher level of participation by slum dwellers in urban planning/slum upgrading processes, and in the level of engagement by the authorities concerned, leading to measurable improvements to living conditions and personal safety in the slums.
    • Slum residents’ rights to basic services (e.g. water, sanitation, decent housing, education and healthcare) are realised – resulting in measurably reduced exposure to health risks, improved school attendance, a cleaner environment and more time for productive household and community tasks.
    • Vulnerable people including women, young people, older people, disabled people and sex workers, are helped to live measurably safer lives, aware of HIV issues and free from physical violence and abuse.

  5. Where we will fund

    The People Living in Urban Slums programme will focus on all Sub-Saharan Africa countries where people face multiple shelter deprivations (lack of water, sanitation and tenure, and poor housing, overcrowding). We anticipate that the new programme will build on work already supported, particularly in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda, but we will also welcome applications for work in other countries with severe slum problems.

  6. Who we will fund

    The overall aim of this programme is to support slum dwellers in a holistic way. While each slum has its own unique needs, in general we expect projects to give priority to the needs of women-headed households, young people and informal sector workers.

  7. Download the full People Living in Urban Slums programme strategy document