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.