In November colleagues from across the consortium gathered in Freetown, Sierra Leone for the final ARISE annual general meeting. It was a wonderful week filled with sharing, learning, and reflection. Our colleague Shrutika Murthy from The George Institute collected together images from across the week, and wrote this blog. Additional images and copy from Leah Murphy and the rest of the ARISE team.
We kicked off the meeting by reflecting on the most significant changes in our work at ARISE. Doing responsive research through co-production, evidence-building and advocacy emerged as top contenders!
Some of our ARISE PhD cohort presented their progress and learnings on diverse topics including non-communicable diseases, stigma, and healthcare. The rest of the team provided insightful feedback to help them reach the finish line!
The team also visited urban informal settlements in Cockle Bay and Moyiba and were welcomed by community chiefs and co-researchers. We learnt about their histories, challenges, achievements and ARISE’s contribution.
A selection of images from Cockle Bay.
A selection of images from Moyiba.
Co-researchers presented on the consortium’s role in enhancing their capacities and enabling them to successfully advocate for their communities with governance actors. “If our votes count, our voices should too!”
ARISE country teams presented their most significant communication outputs, including impactful photo essays, photo books, briefs & documentaries.
We kept our spirits high with energising songs and dances. Music transcends all boundaries, truly!
The AGM went by in a blink! Thank you to our extraordinary Sierra Leone colleagues for welcoming and hosting us all with such warmth and love!
By Francis Anthony Reffell and Yirah Oryanks Conteh
FEDURP/CODOHSAPA’s slogan is, “upgrade where possible and relocate where necessary”. This is what guided us when Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr asked us to advise on CrabTong/Kolleh Tong/Grey Bush (CKG) and Kingtom, two neighbourhoods seated on the Bomeh dumpsite.
Living among hazards
Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, was planned by the colonial government to accommodate 300,000 residents. Currently, its population is 1,055,964 – three times the original population the city was planned for over 50 years after independence. This situation has been caused by rural-urban drift necessitated by the search for greener pastures. This was further exacerbated by the 10-year civil war that saw a significant movement of the rural population to Freetown seeking security and survival.
Most of this population have found themselves occupying ‘hazard’ spots and they cannot afford to rent better housing facilities. Compounding their challenging situation, is their exclusion from social services and employment opportunities, as the available utilities are already overstretched. The FEDURP/CODOHSAPA settlement profile report of 2015 found that approximately 35% of the entire Freetown population lives in hazardous informal settlements.
Supporting local government
Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr’s request came about at a meeting she convened to discuss ways to mitigate flooding in the middle of the rainy season. It was already becoming clear that the most affected places were neighbourhoods on dumpsites – CrabTong/Kolleh Tong/Gray Bush and Kingtom fell within this category. Her hope was to relocate these settlements to avert a looming catastrophe and to make way for a waste management pipeline.
In response to the Mayor’s request, FEDURP/CODOHSAPA leadership engaged with her office to understand the model of relocation. They agreed to assist if internationally accepted best practice on relocation was respected. The Mayor affirmed her commitment to respecting these protocols.
A plan was initiated, which included joint community consultations to seek community consensus, community mapping and enumeration by FEDURP/CODOHSAPA, provision of a comprehensive financial package for affected occupants and demolition of structures. FEDURP/CODOHSAPA also committed to broker a consensus with the community since they are a trusted partner.
Community engagement
Going forward, a FEDURP/CODOHSAPA data team was constituted and engaged. Existing mapping and enumeration tools were customised to reflect this specific action. Following that, an initial joint community meeting with Freetown City Council (FCC) authorities was convened where the intended plan to relocate residents was disclosed. We explained that the mapping and enumeration exercise would take place to inform the relocation process.
While undertaking the mapping and enumeration exercise, one respondent said this:
We are only cooperating because of FEDURP/CODOHSAPA, so please make sure FCC honours its commitments otherwise you will be held responsible and we will conclude that you have compromised our values and solidarity.
For FEDURP/CODOHSAPA, this was a strong message, as this was the first collaboration with FCC to effect relocation procedures and it put our relevance in the communities to the test.
Community entitlements
Based on the data we collected, learning gleaned from an exchange with colleagues in South Africa and consultation with the FCC the following actions were recommended:
Shack owners have their structures evaluated and paid for in full
A year’s rent will be offered to tenants which they can use to relocate and rent in a safer settlement of their choice
Tenants will be offered a minimum grant to kick start their livelihood in their new settlements
We have continued to engage with the FCC and the residents and all entitlements and dues have been honoured by the council. All residents voluntarily evacuated in or before the second week of November to give way to the demolition of structures.
What did we learn?
Connecting the pieces of this process together, key lessons learned include the following:
The outcome of this process is a proof that ‘information is power!” FEDURP/CODOHSAPA’s data collection practices provided the leverage for a progressive partnership with, and trust between, the community and FCC, which has now been translated into “knowledge for action.”
Involving communities in all phases of any development process stimulates sense of ownership. There are no indications of any resistance from the residents. In this case, the role of FEDURP/CODOHSAPA has been very critical in brokering a consensus, which shows how relevant it is as a social movement in fostering community solidarity.
International exchange learning for slum dwellers and informal settlers is an important tool for capacity and knowledge building. The South African experience shared with and accepted by FCC has proven to be effective.
There is much that ARISE can take away from this experience to inform capacity building tools for co-researchers and other key community stakeholders and participants.
Francis is Founder and Director of the Centre of Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (CODOHSAPA) and Yirah is the National Federation Leader of the Federation of Urban and Rural Poor – Sierra Leone (FEDURP).
“Don’t remove them from the slum, remove the slum-ness from them…Informal settlement residents are used to their communities, which they relate with socially, culturally, economically, so it makes much sense to improve conditions around them rather than removing them.”
These were the words of Dr Brima Gogra of the School of Environmental Sciences, Njala University, at our launch earlier this month. He argued that it made more sense for government to provide communities with a safe environment that met their needs rather than evicting or relocating residents.
The stakeholders at the launch were broad-based, including health workers, chiefs, youth groups, women’s leaders and representatives from various government departments, including the Ministries of Health and Planning.
At the launch of the project, various speakers, including informal residents, community elders and advocates of settlement upgrading spoke about the need for government to integrate informal settlement upgrading needs into planning by providing water, health services and adequate drainage, and give up plans of relocating them.
We heard from Sister Elizabeth Musa of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation that better research was key to the development of the informal settlements, ‘‘Sierra Leone lacks informed data to make real time decision on the people living in an informal settlement, and today it has resulted into seasonal movement in and out of their dwelling houses and communities. It is scary to hear that a third of the people living in the cities live in slums.”
The chief from one of the informal coastal settlements (Pa. Alimamy S. Kargbo of Cockle Bay) in Freetown, passionately expressed how their community has been repeatedly neglected by political leaders in planning and service delivery, yet they often revert to them when they need political votes:
“We are all Sierra Leoneans but we in informal settlements are loved by season; we are the Cotton Tree, so we remain strong…Our settlements are regarded as illegal, but they don’t refer to us as illegal when they need political votes. We need development, we need change in our community.’’
A community representative from Dwarzark and a member of FEDURP, Margeret Bayoh, expressed similar frustration about the disdainful way informal residents often are treated by people in authority:
“You say we live in illegal settlements, but our taxes and services are never illegal; we cook, clean, baby sit and drive for the so-called ‘people living in formal settlements’.”
ARISE is working in three communities on accountability, governance, health and well being, there was a lot of support from all stakeholders to change the narrative around communities in informal settlements. Communities are already well organized, particularly in areas where the presence of central government is limited. They have established networks with government and institutions that can help them effect change, as expressed in some of their popular slogans:
“We reason together, involve together, identify together and evaluate together”
“Information is power”
‘‘We are busy for something”
There is a lot of tension in communities now with fear that slum dwellers may be relocated from their current settlements. In Sierra Leone, the risk of living in an informal settlement is increasing year by year since 2013, with intermittent flooding events, disease outbreaks, and one of the worst mudslides. Urbanization and poverty have made thousands of people leave their homes in the provinces in search of livelihoods in the cities, many of whom live in informal settlements due to lack of adequate housing. Yet, relocation of people living in informal settlements has proven controversial, primarily because of limited access to livelihood options and social services in relocated settlements. A case in point was the relocation of thousands of flood victims in 2015 to a settlement about 20 miles outside Freetown. Many of those who were moved returned to Freetown due to remoteness of the location and difficulty earning a living.
It is important to reflect on a few issues as ARISE becomes a reality in Sierra Leone. How do we hope to address the contrasting views of communities and policy stakeholders in addressing intractable health problems of vulnerable people? How do we get ARISE prepared to meet the urban development challenges and the aspirations of informal settlement dwellers? It is yet to be seen how our contributions will contribute to solving problems that seem so insurmountable.
Being a part of this project gives me valuable insights to a whole new world. A world of those living on the fringes of our society, so easily ignored or when thought of, pitied for not being able to rise above their circumstances. It has made me realise in this short time that these residents are just like us, trying to survive in this world with as much dignity they can.
ARISE (Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity) is a research consortium focused on identifying and highlighting the issues affecting health and wellbeing of the residents in urban informal settlements, commonly known as slum dwellers. According to UN-Habitat informal settlements are residential areas where people do not have legal ownership of the lands or houses in which they live, the dwellings do not meet current safety regulations and hence are in environmentally unsafe places. They are often marginalised and deprived of basic services and proper infrastructure and are invariably unprotected from evictions, disease outbreaks, violence and, in some regions, natural disasters.
This project has pooled together a collection of actors working on all facets of informal settlements and creating a unique niche in that, instead of going to these settlements and writing down what they need, ARISE is allowing the residents to tell us what their needs are; what are their priorities when it comes to their health and wellbeing; what do they really need to be the drivers of change for their health and their community’s collective health.
This project comes at a time when multiple partners are working towards achieving SDG 11, that is, to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. With a focus on four countries, India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Sierra Leone, this project encompasses the continents with the highest burden of informal settlements. It seeks to provide needed information so as to arm all partners in preparation for an even greater increase in informal settlements which according to UN-Habitat is expected to double over the next two decades in two of the world’s poorest continents, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
During our inception meeting in Nairobi, we had the opportunity to visit some informal settlements and talk to the residents. This was the highlight of the trip. It brought home the similarities in the problems residents of informal settlements face, irrespective of geographical location. In addition to what we already know, issues of violence including sexual abuse were raised with discussions on safeguarding beginning at the early stages of project development. These were pervasive and present in all informal settlements and this brings home the importance of creating safe spaces for these residents. So many similarities were noticed even though the countries, cultures and languages are different. Indeed, there is more that unites us than divides us.