The role of non-governmental organisitions and women self-help groups partnership financing low-cost rural housing projects: a case study of african housing fund projects in Kitui district
Abstract
The growth of Urban sat ion and its related prob ems
in developing countries has resulted in many of the rural
development issues being given only token treatment. One
of the prob ems that has received very minimal attention
is the development of rural housing and its
improvement.
Kenya's housing development Policy for example has
its ma j0 r focus on urban areas and p aces very little
emphasis on rural shelter development. Attitudes
regarding the role that housing pays in community
development have also remained unimpressive.
Irrespective of this lack of concern rural housing
problems have continued to increase in recent years. One
of the major causes of this increase has been the lack of
suitable and adequate sources of finance for housing
development. Exist in housing finance institutions are
mainly urban oriented and the performance in rural areas
has been dismal ..
This has created the need for researches on non
conventional housing finance approaches which is the main
focus of this study. The author has established that
conventional housing finance approaches have failed in
rural areas due to their restrictive practices. The
viability and success of non conventional approaches has
been demonstrated using the Kauwi Muungano housing
( v i i )
Project which is a joint venture between the African
Housing Fund and the Kauwi Muungano Women group.
The study has established that rural communities can
actually repay loans, are credit worth and that they are
basically denied access to housing finance by the
restrictive loan requirement s of conventional housing
finance institutions. Relaxation of these requirements
based on the best understanding of the specific social
and economic characteristics of the rural poor is thus
basic to the establishment of meaningful and successful
rural housing programmes.
Citation
Master of arts in PlanningPublisher
University of Nairobi Department of Urban and Regional Planning