Malawi is a small landlocked country in southern Africa with a population of about 13.1 million (Malawi 2008 Census). Although in the past a vast majority of people lived in rural areas, Malawi is now experiencing rapid urban growth. With an average urban growth rate of 5.2 per cent, more people are finding themselves in urban centres.
Like many other poor African nations, Malawi’s cities are ill-equipped to deal with the growing number of people flooding into the urban centres. Whilst people are encouraged to relocate to cities because of economic opportunities and infrastructure, Malawi’s urban areas cannot accommodate their needs. Incoming people are therefore being forced to live in informal and inadequate housing, leading to a further increase of slums. Malawi’s slum growth rate is almost equal to the urban growth rate, indicating that most of the urbanisation taking place results in slums.
In its State of the World’s Cities Report 2006/07, UN-Habitat estimates that nearly 90% of Malawi’s urban population live under slum conditions. This translates to about 2 million people living in slums, which are characterised, by overcrowding, a serious lack of available clean drinking water, and poor sanitation facilities.
Homeless International’s partner in Malawi is the Centre for Community Organisation and Development (CCODE), based in the capital, Lilongwe. CCODE works in alliance with the Malawi Homeless People’s Federation (MHPF), a social movement comprising several saving schemes from poor communities in Malawi. The Alliance’s aim is to engage with local and central governments in order to increase access to resources including housing, water and sanitation for poor communities.
Since its inception in 2003, the Malawi Alliance has mobilised an increasing number of poor communities across the country around issues of settlement development and has facilitated links between these communities and the government, relevant authorities and service providers. Besides saving on a daily basis to improve their communities, the Malawian Federation has energetically taken the lead in settlement upgrading by identifying problems and actively pursuing partnerships and solutions.
