Research Overview
Instead of seeing research in academic terms, where the key output would be a book or a paper, Homeless International judges the success of research by the extent to which it makes a real difference to people's lives. Our research between 1999 and 2003 on Bridging the finance gap in housing and infrastructure, for instance, convinced donors to commit millions of pounds to the Community-Led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF). This has already made a major difference in India by making funds available to enable community groups to implement their own solutions.
In 2003-2004, as a follow-up, Homeless International undertook a contract from the Urban Management Programme (UMP) of UN-Habitat (the UN agency responsible for human settlements issues) to assess the feasibility of CLIFF-style financing in Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda and Zambia. The research was commissioned because UMP, through its City Consultation exercises, had identified strong city-level demand for initiatives aimed at increasing private sector investment in infrastructure for the urban poor. Four country studies were produced, as well as a comprehensive overview paper which details how CLIFF works and then summarises findings from the four country studies.
![Photo: Farouk Braimah (People’s Dialogue Ghana) talking with Sanatu Mohammed from the Old Fadama settlement in Accra, during research into "Feasibility studies for the application of [CLIFF] operations in Ghana"](doc_images/DSC02833r.jpg "Photo: Farouk Braimah (People’s Dialogue Ghana) talking with Sanatu Mohammed from the Old Fadama settlement in Accra, during research into \"Feasibility studies for the application of [CLIFF] operations in Ghana\"")
Wherever possible, the Homeless International team (Ruth McLeod, Malcolm Jack, Dave Hughes and Kim Mullard) sought to work collaboratively with local UMP partners and with Homeless International's own partners in the Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) network, including People's Dialogue Ghana and Dialogue on Shelter for the Homeless in Zimbabwe (who worked with us in Zambia). The studies were an exciting opportunity for us and our partners to strengthen links in countries where federations of the urban poor were in the early stages of their development. We hope that the findings will help trigger donor and government support to enable emerging groups to strengthen and take forward initiatives for themselves.
The papers themselves can be read or downloaded by clicking on the links below. However, choosing the links in the menu on the left hand side of your screen instead will enable you to read more about the context and content of each paper before downloading it.
