It is estimated that more than half of Ghana’s population of over 21 million live in urban areas. Due to increasing rates of urbanisation, the urban population is expected to double its figure in the year 2000 by 2015, and the majority of new urban dwellers will find themselves living in slum conditions and poorer settlements.
Government and local authorities have so far lacked adequate strategies and resources to effectively manage the country’s rapid urbanisation and there is insufficient investment in housing and infrastructure to meet demand. This has resulted in the emergence of squatter settlements, characterised by insecure tenure, and poor living conditions.
Around 70 per cent of Ghana’s urban residents live in slum conditions. Today, Ghana’s urban poor, like most slum dwellers around the world, struggle with issues of poor housing, sanitation, infrastructure, fire outbreaks (because of densely packed wooden structures) and flooding (as many of Ghana’s slums are located on marginal land prone to flooding). Above all they also face the challenge of forced evictions.
In Accra and other towns and cities, competition for land, limited financial and technical capacity amongst local/national authorities and suspicion of those living in informal settlements have combined to worsen housing and infrastructure problems in poor communities. As a result, an increasing proportion of the urban poor lack access to secure land for shelter development.
Homeless International’s partner in Ghana is People’s Dialogue on Human Settlements Ghana (PDG), a community-based NGO set up to provide professional, technical and strategic support to poor urban communities. This support aims to improve the quality of life of slum dwellers and the urban poor by involving them in the development of urban infrastructure and services.
PDG works in alliance with Ghana Federation of the Urban Poor (GHAFUP), a network of community savings groups in informal settlements and poor communities in Ghana, including four of Ghana’s five largest urban areas: Accra, Kumasi, Ashaiman, and Takoradi. The alliance was borne out of an eviction crisis that threatened over 30,000 residents of Old Fadama, the largest squatter settlement in Accra.
GHAFUP is helping communities to make improvements through daily savings, local and international exchanges, community settlement profiles, and negotiating and building partnerships with local governments. Through this partnership, GHAFUP and PDG are demonstrating community-led solutions to address urban poverty in Ghana and help communities to improve living conditions.
