Across the world, the financialisation of housing and growth of informal settlements show no sign of slowing down. The resulting global crisis, where 1.6 billion people around the world lack an adequate home and basic services, has become a priority for those working in government, policy, finance and civic society.
Like us, these actors see safe and secure housing as the foundation of human development, but lack direction on the the best way to deliver. Most will not have heard of or been involved with Community Led Housing (CLH) as an effective way to solve the problem.
That’s why World Habitat is partnering with International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), to promote CLH as a solution that will help our cities and the planet to thrive.
World Habitat and the IIED, in partnership with community-led housing champions across the world, are working together to help policymakers, financiers, and philanthropists discover, understand and engage with CLH.
Our aim is to showcase the effectiveness of CLH, its benefits for people and the planet in a time of climate and ecological emergency and encourage its adoption and scaling-up by key stakeholders.
We will map the main obstacles that prevent engagement with CLH and develop strategies and tools to overcome them. The project and its local partners will create case studies to identify why CLH initiatives sometimes find it difficult to take off in different regions and contexts. It will also look at how these local findings fit within wider trends and debates at the international level and identify the broader challenges.
Following our research, we will develop an advocacy strategy focused on shifting decision makers’ attitudes towards CLH initiatives across countries. As part of the project, we will produce policy recommendations, activities and toolkits to promote CLH and help different CLH initiatives work better together through shared understanding.
World Habitat is coordinating the production of case studies from Switzerland (urbaMonde) and Slovenia (Zadrugator). IIED is coordinating the work of partners in Brazil (Catalytic Communities), Malawi (Centre for Community Organisation and Development), Zambia (Civic Forum on Housing and Habitat), and Nepal (Lumanti Support Group for Shelter).
Additional resources:
Community-led housing: a pathway for more caring and just urban futures
Partners:
- IIED
- Catalytic Communities
- Centre for Community Organisation and Development
- Civic Forum on Housing and Habitat
- Lumanti Support Group for Shelter
- urbaMonde
- Zadrugator
Donors: