Uganda The National Slum Upgrading Strategy and Action Plan 2008

THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
NATIONAL SLUM UPGRADING

STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAM
MINISTRY OF LANDS, HOUSING
AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
December 2008
THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
A SITUATION ANALYSIS OF SLUMS IN UGANDA

AND
NATIONAL SLUM UPGRADING STRATEGY
AND ACTION PLAN
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

MINISTRY OF LANDS, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
P.O BOX 7096
KAMPALA
DECEMBER, 2008
ii
CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................iv
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ iv
LIST OF PICTURES...................................................................................................... iv
FOREWORD.................................................................................................................... v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................. vi
1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1
2. SITUATION ANALYSIS.......................................................................................... 2
2.1 GLOBAL SITUATION.....................................................................................2
2.1.1 GLOBAL DEFINITION OF SLUMS ................................................... 2
2.1.2 GLOBAL GROWTH OF SLUMS ........................................................ 3
2.1.3 TRENDS IN SLUM UPGRADING ...................................................... 6
2.1.4 TRENDS IN POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES.................................. 9
2.2 SITUATION IN UGANDA.............................................................................11
2.2.1 DEFINITION OF SLUMS................................................................... 11
2.2.2 SITUATION OF SLUMS ....................................................................... 12
2.2.3 WHY SLUMS HAVE GROWN IN UGANDA .................................. 19
2.3 GLOBAL RESPONSE TO SLUM GROWTH.............................................24
2.3.1 MODEL RESPONSES ........................................................................ 24
2.3.2 UGANDA’S POLICY RESPONSES...................................................... 26
2.3.3 UGANDA’S SLUM UPGRADING PROGRAMMES AND
PROJECTS 29
3. PROPOSED NATIONAL SLUM UPGRADING STRATEGY .......................... 33
3.1 RATIONALE FOR SLUM UPGRADING ...................................................33
3.2 DEFINITION OF SLUMS IN UGANDA......................................................34
3.3 GOAL OF SLUM UPGRADING...................................................................35
3.4 OBJECTIVES OF SLUM UPGRADING .....................................................35
3.5 PRINCIPLES GUIDING SLUM UPGRADING..........................................35
3.6 STRATEGIES FOR SLUM UPGRADING ..................................................36
3.6.1 Strategies for Tenure Regularization and Affordable Land................. 36
3.6.2 Strategies for Supply of Affordable Housing ...................................... 40
3.6.3 Strategies for Urban Infrastructure and Basic Services ....................... 41
3.6.4 Strategies for Slum-Sensitive Urban Planning Framework ................. 42
3.6.5 Strategies for Financing Slum Upgrading............................................ 43
3.6.6 Strategies for Inclusion and participation of Slum Residents ................. 44
3.6.7 Strategies for cost allocation, cost recovery and affordability............. 45
3.6.8 Strategies for Stakeholder/ Actors Participation and Coordination ..... 46
iii
4.PROPOSED ACTION PLAN .................................................................................... 49
5. REFERENCES......................................................................................................... 53
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Slum Growth and Urban Growth....................................................................... 5
Table 2: Slum Growth in Developing Countries ............................................................. 6
Table 3: Fundamental Changes in Urban Policy.............................................................. 9
Table 4: Contemporary Upgrading Policy ..................................................................... 10
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: World Urban Population .............................................................................. 4
Figure 2: World Population Growth ............................................................................ 4
Figure 3: Changes in Policy and Upgrading Ideology ................................................ 7
LIST OF PICTURES
Picture 1: Typical building materials in a Kalerwe slum................................................. 1
Picture 2: Kisenyi Slum in Kampala and below Kibera in Nairobi ............................1
Picture 4: Water pipe going through contaminated water................................................ 1
Picture 5: Waste disposal in Kawempe - Kampala .......................................................... 1
Picture 6: Poor drainage as seen in Katanga – Kampala.................................................. 1
Picture 7: Pit latrine in Mbale town, it serves over 15 households. ................................. 1
Picture 8: Survival mechanisms as seen in Kisenyi - Kampala. ...................................... 1
iv
FOREWORD
Uganda with other UN member states adopted the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) in the year 2000. The MDGs address essential dimensions of poverty and their
effects on people’s lives; they thus call for coordinated policies and actions related to
slum-upgrading; environmental sustainability; eradication of extreme poverty and
hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equity; reduction in
child mortality ratio; fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB and developing a global
partnership for development.
The Millennium Development Goal 7, target 11 articulates the commitment of member

states to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020. It is a
response to one of the most pressing challenge of the millennium, dealing with people
living in the most depressed physical conditions in the world’s urban areas.
Uganda's urban population is estimated at 5 million people (2009) of which 60% live in
slums; Uganda is targeting to uplift the lives of at least one million people by the year
2020 through implementing the developed slum upgrading strategy and action plan.
This localization of the goal is in direct recognition that slums are a development
challenge which must be addressed to create harmony in our societies. This therefore
calls for coordinated policies and actions related to slum-upgrading, environmental
management, infrastructure development, service delivery and poverty-reduction at
large.
Uganda's Slum Upgrading Strategy and Action Plan has been developed to provide a
framework, direction and plan to all stakeholders including Local Governments, Urban
Authorities, NGO's, CBO's etc, so that each stakeholder can individually contribute
towards achieving the above national target by participating in developing and
implementing activities and initiatives highlighted in this report.
On behalf of the entire staff of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban development,
the government of Uganda and on my own behalf, I wish to thank UNDP for funding
this initiative and facilitating us to participate in the implementation of MDG's and our
UN commitments. In the same manner, I wish to thank the project implementation
taskforce, our partners - Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic development,
Ministry of Local Government, and all stakeholders that participated in the generation
of vital information that has made the Development of the Slum Upgrading strategy
Possible.
I therefore call upon all Ugandans, national and international stakeholders, local
governments and donors to actively participate in the implementation of this initiative
that will lead to a change in the living conditions and environment of our people.
"For God and My Country"
………………………………………………
Hon, Michael Kafabusa Werikhe
Minister of State for Housing
Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.
Box 7096
Kampala
v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The National Slum Upgrading Strategy is designed as a direct response to Target

eleven of MDG 7 which recognizes that slums are a development issue, which needs to
be faced and this calls for coordinated policies and actions related to slum-upgrading.
First, the growth of slums needs to be slowed down and eventually stopped through
legal and land market reforms (in part to provide security of tenure) and revamping
planning and zoning regulations and building codes to make housing more affordable.
Second, there is need to adopt preventive strategies which are about managing the surge
of urbanization and forestalling the challenges of the brutal urban poverty typified in
slums.
Uganda is among the top 10 countries with the highest fertility rates and the third
highest rate of natural population increase in the world. The number of urban centres in
Uganda has increased exponentially over the past three decades. Uganda has one city,
13 municipalities, 95 towns and 76 town boards. The extension of boundaries of
existing urban centres and gazettement of new urban centres; especially with the
creation of new districts, has led to the high urbanization rate in many of the gazetted
urban areas. Approximately 2,921,981 million people (12 percent of the country’s 2002
population) live in these centres. The rapid urbanization however, has not been matched
with capacity to plan and manage the urban growth. The growth of slums has become a
natural indicator of the country’s urbanization process.
According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics, a stable macroeconomic environment,

sustained high population growth rates and huge dividends from the liberalization
policy have translated into impressive poverty reduction during the 1990s and the early
2000s. Income-poverty headcount fell from 56% in 1992/93 to 34% in 1999/2000 and
then rose to 38% in 2002/03 but declined again to 31 % in 2005/06. However the
incidence of income poverty in urban areas rose from 9.6% in 2000 to 12.2% in 2006,
and the poverty levels remained the same over the two survey years at 14% (MFPED
2005, UBoS 2006), and poverty is a major driver of slum development in Uganda.
The population dynamics manifested in urban population growth and rural to urban
migration are by far the most significant driving forces of urban expansion. In most
Ugandan towns, it was simply not foreseen that migration could result in rapid growth
and result in unplanned response to the demand for low cost housing by ordinary
people. It is important to focus on what drive the people from the rural areas to urban
settlements. Rural urban migration is unstoppable, is not bad and should be well
managed. Failure to place emphasis on rural-urban linkages, overlooking the dynamics
and importance of the developmental linkages between the two yet they are inter-
dependent and should be addressed.
The complexity of land tenure systems in urban areas in Uganda is also problematic.
More than 50% of Uganda’s urban population lives in informal unplanned settlements
on land owned by other people or the government. Not only are tenure systems
complicated and multiple where they are formal, but they are also traces of customary
ownership, rules and practices in urban. Most of the existing irregular development and
poor environmental health is influenced by the land tenure. The land tenure law that
vests ownership of land to the citizens of Uganda perpetuates poor urban land
vi
management practices. Proper land use planning, mapping and surveying are made
more difficult by the provisions of the national constitution that empower citizen’s
ownership of land in various forms.
According to the UNHS 2006, nationally more than 70% of the dwelling units are built
out of temporary building materials that cannot maintain their stability for more than
three years and urban areas account for 27% of these. Most of the slum houses are
predominantly single-roomed commonly known as “muzigo”, a local description of a
tenement. Housing has been left to market forces which don't favour massive
investment in affordable shelter. The formal private sector has responded to the needs
of the high and middle income earners leaving the low income earners and the poor to
be catered for by the informal sector.
In addition, the growth and expansion of urban centres are associated with lack of
infrastructure, social services which has led to environmental problems. Other factors
driving the growth of slums include; decentralization especially of the function of
physical planning which caught the local governments unprepared as such they have
failed to cope with the challenges of rapid urbanization basically caused by the rapid
population growth and lack of decentralisation of the housing sector. High urbanization
is taking place in a haphazard manner with virtually no control to guide and regulate
the process.
This National Slum Upgrading Strategy is about taking key steps to manage and guide
the process of urbanization so that so many people do not unjustly suffer from
inadequacies in the most basic of human requirements – such as water, sanitation,
shelter, health and education. The key to reaping from the proposals contained in the
strategy is political will to recognize the nature and scale of the challenge, and to firmly
commit to justly dealing with the needs of slum residents and this requires a sincere and
long term commitment. It is important to remember that slums do not form only due to
problems of poverty or affordability on the part of communities or governments; they
often form due to lack of political will, bad policy and inadequate planning.
This National Slum Upgrading Strategy’s main thrust is turning around the current
status quo by ensuring that slum upgrading or improvement efforts are integrated into
national policies, legislation, programmes and plans to enable their implementation.
Slum Upgrading should be part of the broader national development plans and as such
it should be treated as part not “special aspect” (often a poor cousin) of medium term
and long-term planning and development goal. It has to be steadily and explicitly
integrated into government-oriented programmes on the basis of objectives and
principles articulated in this strategy, within the national planning framework of the
Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) and the National Development Plan (NDP).
This Situation Analysis, National Slum Upgrading Strategy and Action Plan is authored by:
1. Margaret A. Rugadya (Team Leader)
2. Herbert Kamusiime
3. Eddie Nsamba-Gayiiya
4. Dr. Charles Koojo
For: Disect Consultancy Limited
vii
1. INTRODUCTION
Uganda is experiencing a high rate of urbanisation exceeding 5% per annum. This is
attributed to the high rural urban migration rate, the high natural population growth in
urban areas, extension of the boundaries of urban centres and uncontrolled growth and
expansion of trading centres over time. Due to inadequacies in planning, management
and provision of basic urban infrastructure and services in the face the high
urbanisation rates, the urbanisation process is taking place in a haphazard manner with
no control and regulation. The growth of slums has become a natural indicator of the
process of the country’s urbanisation. It is essential that at least 60 percent of the urban
population lives in slums.
In view of Governments commitment to upgrading of slums and ensuring the

attainment of Millennium Development Goal 7 on environmental sustainability
specifically tartget11, which is devoted to registering significant improvement in the
lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and
Urban Development, commissioned a consultancy to establish the state of slums in 4
selected districts for purpose of informing the process of formulating the National
Slum Upgrading Strategy as a necessary framework for improving the living conditions
in slums.
The consultant undertook a slum profiling study of 4 selected slum settlements in 4

urban areas of Kampala City, Masaka Municipality, Gulu Municipality and Busia
Town and has developed a National slum upgrading strategy and an Action plan for the
implementation of the strategy. The study had four distinct, interrelated and
interdependent factors
(a) Review of the global slum situations including global experiences and trends in
slum upgrading. The literature review also included past slum upgrading
initiatives and experiences in Uganda.
(b) A slum profiling study of 4 selected slum settlements in Kampala, Gulu,
Masaka and Busia to generate baseline in formation on the status of slums that
has generated baseline information on demographic governance, infrastructure
and services, socio-economic, land tenure and housing tenure and environment
of slum settlements.
(c) On the basis of outcomes from (a) and (b) above, the consultant has formulated
a National Slum Upgrading Strategy.
(d) Lastly a viable and implementable Action Plan that will be used to mobilize
stakeholders and resources for implementation of the strategy has been worked
out.
This volume presents the following:-
• Situation Analysis of slums
• National Upgrading Strategy; and,
• Action plan
The detailed profiles of the four slum settlements are presented in a separate
volume.
The National Slum Upgrading Strategy and Action Plan for Uganda Page 1
2. SITUATION ANALYSIS
2.1 GLOBAL SITUATION
The UN member states adopted in the year 2000 the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) which are broader goals for the entire world. The MDGs address essential
dimensions of poverty and their effects on people’s lives, they thus call for coordinated
policies and actions related to slum-upgrading, environmental management,
infrastructure. The UN Millennium Declaration articulates the commitment of member
states to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020
(Target 11 of Goal 7). Goal 7 Target 11 comes in response to one of the most pressing
challenge of the millennium, dealing with the people living in the most depressed
physical conditions in the world’s urban areas. Target 11 is a direct recognition that
slums are a development issue which needs to be faced. This calls for coordinated
policies and actions related to slum-upgrading, environmental management,
infrastructure development, service delivery and poverty-reduction at large.
2.1.1 GLOBAL DEFINITION OF SLUMS

According to Geoffrey Payne 1 , the first step in solving a problem is to define it
correctly, therefore developing an operational definition of the term “slum” is an
imperative and a first step to be able to quantify and locate the slum population. ‘Slum’
at its simplest is ‘a heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing
and squalor 2 . The term ‘slum’ is applied to a great variety of settlement types, what
these share is an area characterized by social and economic isolation, irregular land
ownership and low standard of sanitary and environmental conditions. Slum has come
to include also the vast informal settlements which are quickly becoming the most
visual expression of urban poverty, including squatter settlements and illegal sub-
divisions. The quality of dwellings in such settlements which varies from the simplest
shack to permanent structures, while access to water, electricity, sanitation, and other
basic services and infrastructure tends to be limited.
The term ‘slum’ is used in the MDGs in general context to describe a wide range of
low-income settlements and/or poor human living conditions; these inadequate housing
conditions exemplify the variety of manifestations of poverty. Target 11 of the MDGs,
describe typical slums in developing countries as ‘unplanned informal settlements
where access to services is minimal to non-existent and where overcrowding is the
norm. Slum conditions results in placing residences at a higher risk of disease,
mortality and misfortune’. Informal, settlements, squatters, slums or whatever name
we give to human settlements deprived of basic conditions, are just one of the visible
signs of poverty and social exclusion that affect the life of nearly one billion of people
in today’s world population 3 . According to UN-Habitat, slums and urban poverty are
not just a manifestation of a population explosion and demographic change, or even vast
impersonal forces of globalization, slums must be seen as a result of the failure of
housing policies, laws and delivery of national urban policies.
1
Getting ahead in the game: 2005
2
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
3
Acioly Claudio, 2007
Experts at a UN-HABITAT meeting held in 2002 agreed on the following definition:
“A slum is a contiguous settlement where the inhabitants are characterized as having
inadequate housing and basic services. A slum is often not recognized and addressed by
the public authorities as an integral part of the city” 4 . That is one of the reasons why
little data on slum dwellers can be found. UN-HABITAT therefore developed a
household level definition in order to be able to use existing household level surveys
and censuses to identify slum dwellers among the urban population. A slum household
is a household that lacks any one of the following five elements 5 :
(a) Access to improved water,
(b) Access to improved sanitation,
(c) Security of tenure (the right to effective protection by the state against
arbitrary, unlawful eviction ),
(d) Durability of housing (including living in a non-hazardous location) and
(e) Sufficient living area (no overcrowding).
On the basis of this definition the slum population of the world was estimated by
country using a total of around one million records of different household surveys.
Many countries in Africa have a very high percentage of urban households living in
slum conditions, which is mainly caused by the lack of access to improved water and/or
improved sanitation. Sub-Saharan countries face an especially difficult situation as they
host some of the fastest growing cities in the world. However, some African countries
such as Egypt and South Africa have made progress in reducing the slum population
over the period 1990-2001. The term “slum” employed as an administrative
classification in Indian municipalities refers to a wide variety of informal housing
settlements that have unclear land tenure, limited infrastructure and housing structures
that are generally constructed with temporary or non permanent materials.
2.1.2 GLOBAL GROWTH OF SLUMS

It is estimated by UN-HABITAT that nearly 1 billion people live in slums in the cities
of the world. That is one-sixth of humanity! Every single second, somewhere around
the world, one person moves into a slum or squatter settlement. Most of these slums are
in the cities/towns of the developing countries of the world. The annual urban growth
rate in Sub-Saharan Africa is almost 5 percent, twice as high as in Latin America and
Asia. It has also the world’s largest proportion of urban residents living in slums,
which today are a home to 72 percent of urban Africa’s citizens representing a total of
some 187 million people. With the adoption of the UN Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) in 2000, the poor living conditions in unplanned urban settlement were placed
on the global development agenda. UN statistics indicate that by 2020, more than 1.5
billion people will live in slums and informal settlements without significant
intervention to improve access to water, sanitation, secure tenure and adequate housing.
Malfunctioning of the land markets and inadequate land delivery systems for affordable
land and housing in urban areas may hinder access and consequently drive poor
families to peripheral areas or to completely inadequate sites ending up in informal and
often illegal practices as defined by urban plans and policies. In absence of the state and
policies to respond to their basic needs, the poor is left with nothing but his creativity,
4
UN-HABITAT 2003, p. 6
5
UN-HABITAT 2003, p. 7
invention and own labour as his only resource for finding housing in the city. A range
of obstacles to access land and housing pushes large numbers of poor families to
informal and often illegal housing and land development processes.
Figure 1: World Urban Population
Urban population by region,2005
More developed
Regions
29%
Less Developed
Regions
71%
Source: UN-Habitat, Urban Observatory, 2007
It is important to note that most of this growth will occur in cities of developing
countries. Differences in income, living conditions, access to services and opportunities
for development are seen as a major source of many conflicts facing today’s world and
can be observed at the global level (developed / developing countries), within a country
(rich and poor regions) but also within cities where the gap between the wealthy living
in gated communities and the poor living in intolerable housing conditions is
expanding. In many developing countries, lack of employment opportunities in the
rural areas contributes to urbanization, which is further accelerated by natural
population growth.
Figure 2: World Population Growth
Percentage of growth of urban population by region,

2005-2020
More developed
Regions
7%
Less Developed
Regions
93%
Often, however, cities do not offer sufficient employment opportunities for their rapidly
increasing population. As a consequence, many cities are characterized by a high
incidence of informal employment opportunities, which are unstable and yield only low
incomes. The resulting poverty in combination with a lack of affordable housing are
driving forces behind the formation of informal settlements commonly know as slums,
which offer only sub-standard living conditions to their inhabitants. The term
“urbanization of poverty” describes the process of cities becoming more and more the
places where the poor of the world can be found.
Table 1: Slum Growth and Urban Growth
Region Urban Slum Formation Rate

Growth
Sub-Saharan Africa 4.6 4.5
Southern Asia 2.9 2.2
Western Asia 2.9 2.7
Recent research 6 has shown that 924 million people, or 31.6% of the world’s urban
population, are living under unacceptable conditions, and this figure will increase
unless development agencies scale up their efforts to improve the living conditions of
current and future urban dwellers 7 . The fight against poverty has to take place in both
cities and rural areas or it might well be lost. Aggregation of data at the city level hides
the stark contrast of income and living conditions between better-off urban citizens and
the urban poor by providing just a single figure. Without more in-depth analysis, the
problem would seem to be graver in rural areas, while the city is doing not so bad.
Today, rapid urbanisation and informal settlement is a global phenomenon, the

aggregate urban population far exceeds the rural population in all continents of the
world except Africa, and to the extent rapid urbanisation is a developing countries
affair, since more than half of the world’s urban population lives in cities and towns of
less than 500,000 people. The tradition of providing urban versus rural estimates has
masked the crisis cities are facing. Figures for urban areas average out rich and poor, by
providing a single number that overlooks pockets of poverty and destitution in cities.
However, analysis of data at the intra-city level is fundamental for accurate policy
information.
To be able to take into account the needs and capabilities of a city, local policy makers
need to be informed about the consequences of vastly different living conditions. In
addition to that, the urban poor have to face a set of challenges, which is different from
rural poverty. Urban poverty is characterized by e.g. a high reliance on the cash
economy while income from subsistence agriculture is rare; living in overcrowded
areas with an insufficient, overused water and sanitation infrastructure; exposure to
hazards and crime, as well as social fragmentation.
It is projected by UN-Habitat that in the next 15 years, half of the urban growth will
occur in small cities. In some regions, the urban growth rates and slum growth rates are
almost identical, but are highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Uganda’s ranking, in terms of
slum populations and projections for the future if no government intervention is made
will worsen the urban poverty situation. Slums and poverty are closely related and
mutually reinforcing, but the relationship is not always direct or simple.
6
UN Habitat, 2003
7
UN Habitat, 2003
Table 2: Slum Growth in Developing Countries
Country Slum annual growth Slum pop Scenario 2020 with no

rate % (thousands) change
Angola 5.28 3,918 10,677
Kenya 5.88 7,605 23,223
Nigeria 4.96 41,595 76,749
South Africa 0.19 8,376 8,677
Uganda 5.32 3,241 8,904
Tanzania 6.16 11,031 35,561
Brazil 0.34 51,676 55,074
El Salvador 1.89 1,386 1,986
2.1.3 TRENDS IN SLUM UPGRADING

According to Acioly (2007), Slum Upgrading is a process of intervention in the
physical, social, economic and juridical structure of an existing human settlement.
Cities with Slums Action Plan defines slum upgrading as economic, organizational and
environmental improvements undertaken cooperatively and locally among citizens,
community groups, businesses and local authorities. Actions typically include:
installing or improving basic infrastructure; water reticulation, sanitation/waste
collection, rehabilitation of circulation, storm drainage and flood prevention, electricity,
security lighting, and public telephones 8 .
Upgrading or slum improvement as it is also called in low income urban communities

is many things, but at its simplest it has come to mean a package of basic services:
clean water supply and adequate sewage disposal to improve the well being of the
community. But fundamental is legalizing and ‘regularizing the properties in situations
of insecure or unclear tenure 9 . According to Payne 10 , the reasons for informal
settlements vary from place to place, the but the most critical factors are lack of
affordable legal options, poverty, intense demand, inappropriate standards and
investment institutions geared to the needs of the poor in urban areas.
From 40 years of upgrading settlements, it is now known that most cities are growing
based on informal logic following a pattern reverse to what most planners are trained
to. This has led to shifts in policy doctrine since the 1970’s from emphasizing the (RR
+ EE) i.e. repression, resettlement, eradication and evictions which emphasized land
acquisition, land banking and conventional housing projects moving to integration into
housing policies in 1980s providing for land tenure regularization + sites and service +
housing finance and to the 1990s, that have heralded combined approaches along
programme designs endeavouring to deliver infrastructure improvements, services +
physical and layout restructuring + legalisation of tenure through integration into
programs in citywide policies with local governance and urban management at the
forefront.
8
Cities Alliances Website
9
www.web.mit.edulurbanupgrading
10
Payne Geoffrey, 1997
Figure 3: Changes in Policy and Upgrading Ideology
Findings from international research show 11 that trends in several countries are now
placing;
(a) More attention to land regularisation and legalization of tenure
(b) Searching for sustainability and formulas to finance programs and projects
(c) Mechanisms of “home savings” and schemes of community financing
(d) Promoting mechanisms to boost real estate market development
(e) Gradual but continuous process of supplying basic infrastructure
(f) Integration to housing markets, housing production and land supply
(g) Strategic Partnerships and articulation among various stakeholders
There is international recognition that effective approaches to slum upgrading must go

beyond addressing the specific problems of slums-whether they are inadequate housing,
infrastructure or services- and must deal with the underlying causes of urban poverty.
Experience has also put across conditions for success in slum upgrading 12 as:
(i) An empowered local government with a clear policy in place
(ii) An institutional and organizational basis
(iii) The participation of residents (slum dwellers)
(iv) Partnership between public, private and community stakeholders
(v) Availability of financial resources
(vi) Implementation and management capacities
(vii) Coordination, planning and management mechanisms
Countries that have succeeded in reversing slum trends have similar attributes and these
include;
(i) Long-term political commitment to slum upgrading and slum prevention
(ii) Progressive pro-poor land and housing reforms
(iii) Used huge domestic resources to scale up slum improvements and prevent
future slum growth
11
12
(iv) Policies emphasized equity in an environment of economic growth.
Such countries have invested in the redefining or re-aligning approaches to informal

settlements, to include a combination of programmes on;
(i) Regularization (legitimization) of tenure and housing rights
(ii) Upgrading of sites and locations
(iii) Relocation to new sites with services
(iv) Resettlement
(v) Legislative reforms
(vi) Urbanization policy
(vii) Up scaling of interventions to match demands other than isolated projects on
their own, over the medium and long term period.
This has been in combination with formulation of policy responses that are:
(i) Enabling to ensure multi-stakeholder participation in the provision of
affordable housing for the urban poor
(ii) Remedial (curative) to tackling the existing situations of already established
slums, such planning enables development and does not respond to
development
(iii) Preventive for other establishment or re-emergence of slums by providing
alternatives for the poor and ensuring spatial integration and socio-economic
inclusion in policy responses for improvement of the quality of life for urban
poor.
(iv) Recognition of the vital roles of land markets and land transactions
(economics of supply and demand in the land market) in the supply of
affordable serviced housing and land for the urban.
(v) Institutionalization of responses for sustainable maintenance.
The outcomes of upgrading initiatives have been varied but some common elements
have cut across most initiatives in the world these include;
(a) A few projects or programmes have ended in failure or were partially
successful, in the past. One common outcome was the departure of poorer
sections of slum dwellers who could not afford price increases created by the
improvements by the authorities. In Karachi for instance, rent and house
prices doubled after upgrading and Madras it went up by 100% - 150%. In
Calcutta, upgrading resulted in rent increases up to fourfold for new residents.
There was clear incentive for home wieners to force out poor renters and
replace them with richer residents who could pay more. In upgraded
settlements in Zambia, newly purchasing families were consistently richer
than the household they were replacing 13 .
(b) Another almost universal effect of slum upgrading is densification, which can
lead to overcrowding. In Jakarta, where rents increased by 150%-300%,
tenants made up for the rent increases by increasing space occupancy by
50%-100% and in Madras, the population increased by 18% after
upgrading 14 .
13
Asthana Sheena, 1994,
14
Stephens, Carolyn and Harpham Trudy, 1991e
(c) The most positive impacts on slum upgrading have been on health and safety
of slum residents. In El Mazquital, Guatemala for instance, infant mortality
rates fell by 90% and crime by 43% 15
It is therefore concluded that for slum upgrading to deliver to its set objectives, it must
involve stakeholders from ground zero at the very inception of the concept or the
process and continue to be dynamic in responding to the stated needs of slum dwellers
or beneficiaries. In addition, heavy investments in infrastructure require a settlement
plan defining private and public domain. It is also clear that often slums commence
with the occupation of land prior to the existence of a plan, this therefore requires an
adjustment of the planning process to one that enlists the advantages of co-management
but this conflicts with the technocratic tradition and training routinely offered to
planners and city or urban administrators. This adjustment is a necessity because fixed
rules of planning and management put residents or intended beneficiaries aside and take
away their level of commitment to the post-upgrading period where maintenance
becomes crucial and needs their input to succeed. It is thus implicit that reversing the
conventional order – of first legalisation then urban regularisation–may eliminate the
risk of eviction but it can also make it difficult for infrastructure provision.
2.1.4 TRENDS IN POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES
As UN-Habitat points out, Target 11 is only a piece of the larger development

framework – improving the lives of slum dwellers will be achieved by considering the
overall picture. However, in order to face the challenge of slums, one needs to consider
the other facets of the problem through the other goals and targets. The conditions of
slum dwellers will not improve worldwide if no action is taken in order to eradicate
poverty and hunger (Goal 1), to reduce child mortality (Goal 4), combat HIV-AIDs
(Goal 6) and develop a partnership for official development assistance (Goal 8). The
UN-Habitat Global Campaign for Secure Tenure is basically an advocacy instrument
designed to promote security of tenure for the poorest urban populations, especially
those living in informal settlements and slums. It is a tool for the achievement of the
MDG on slums.
Table 3: Fundamental Changes in Urban Policy
Chronology of Fundamental Changes in Policy

1. Enabling Policies: retreat of the State
2. 1987 Year of Homeless: the Housing Strategies for the Year 2000
3. Agenda 21: “think globally act locally”
4. 1996 Habitat II: the Global Habitat Agenda
5. Urban Governance: empowering local governments & civil society
6. “Cities without Slums” – Cities Alliance (21st Century Millennium Targets)
7. Global Campaigns for “security of tenure” and “good urban governance”
Studies suggest that even if MDG 7 target 11 is achieved, it may meet only 11% of
existing needs and 7% of future estimated needs by 2020. Two challenges are therefore
clear; the need to improve the living conditions of more far more than 100 million
people living in slums and various types of unauthorised settlements; and an equally
urgent need to create conditions in which all sections of urban society, especially the
15
World Bank Group, 1991
poorest and most vulnerable, can obtain access to legal, affordable and appropriate
shelter in ways that prevent the need for future slums and unauthorised settlements.
Both these objectives need to be achieved in way that provide for adequate levels of
security and access to livelihoods, services and credit. A twin-track approach towards
existing and future slums is thus called for.
Table 4: Contemporary Upgrading Policy
Remedial Policies
• Planning for development
• Strategies to improve existing situation
• Approaches to improve quality of life
Preventive Policies
• Planning BEFORE development
• Enabling housing strategies
• Approaches to access housing inputs
• Resolving the land question
• Linking housing and income
UN-HABITAT promotes implementation strategies that consist of adaptive and

preventive elements. Adaptive strategies begin with policy reforms and practical
measures to provide security of tenure to the residents as a precondition to in situ
upgrading. Where relocation must take place, it is vital to do so through a negotiated
approach, favoring community-led initiatives to avoid conflicts, safeguard the
livelihood of the poor and ensure sustainability. Preventive action focuses on capacity-
building and provision of affordable, serviced land for housing and access to adapted
financial resources. UN-Habitat’s comprehensive and participatory approach to slum
upgrading is based on the following, Dos and Don’ts of Slum Upgrading;
DO DON’T
(i) Promote good urban governance systems (i) Assume that slums will disappear
automatically with economic growth
(ii) Establish enabling institutional frameworks (ii) Underestimate the role of local authorities,
involving all partners landowners, community leaders and
residents
(iii) Implement and monitor pro-poor city (iii) Separate upgrading from investment
development strategies planning and urban management
(iv) Encourage initiatives of slum dwellers and (iv) Ignore the specific needs and contributions
recognize the role of women of women and vulnerable groups
(v) Ensure secure tenure, consolidate occupancy (v) Carry out unlawful forced evictions
rights and regularize informal settlements
(vi) Involve tenants and owners in finding (vi) Discriminate against rental housing or
solutions prioritizing collective interests promote single tenure options
(vii) Adopt an incremental approach to upgrading (vii) Impose unrealistic standards and
regulations
(viii) Associate municipal finance, cross subsidies (viii) Rely on government subsidies or on
and beneficiary contributions to ensure full cost recovery from slum dwellers
financial viability
(ix) Design and negotiate relocation plans only (ix) Invest public resources in massive social
when absolutely necessary housing schemes
(x) Combine slum upgrading with employment (x) Consider slum upgrading solely a social
generation and local economic development issue
(xi) Develop new urban areas by making land and (xi) Provide unaffordable infrastructure and
trunk infrastructure available services
2.2 SITUATION IN UGANDA
Uganda’s population has been growing at an annual rate of 3.2% to the current 30
million people while the urban areas have registered an annual rate of 5.1%. At this
rate, Uganda will have a population of about 68 millions by 2035, 30% of which will be
in the urban areas. Uganda is among the top 10 countries with the highest fertility rates
and the third highest rate of natural population increase in the world 16 . A stable
macroeconomic environment, sustained high population growth rates and huge
dividends from the liberalization policy translated into impressive poverty reduction
during the 1990s and the early 2000s, income-poverty headcount fell from 56% in
1992/93 to 34% in 1999/2000 and then rose to 38% in 2002/03 but declined again to 31
% in 2005/06, however the incidence of income poverty in urban areas rose from 9.6%
in 2000 to 12.2% in 2006 (MFPED 2005, UBoS 2006). The poverty levels in the urban
areas have remained the same over the two survey years at 14% (2002 and 2006).
2.2.1 DEFINITION OF SLUMS
As Payne (2005), points out, the first step in solving a problem is to define it correctly
so as to be able to quantify, locate, plan and take actions as necessary. The Merriam-
Website Dictionary defines a slum as “often attributive noun” describing “a densely
populated usually urban area marked by crowding, dirty run-down housing, poverty,
and social disorganization”. On the other hand, the Oxford Dictionary defines it as “a
squalid and overcrowded urban area inhabited by very poor people” or “a house or
building unfit for human habitation”.
The Wikipedia Encyclopedia (2008), says that a Slum, as defined by the United
Nations Agency the UN-Habitat, is “a run-down area of a city characterized by
substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security”. The term has
traditionally referred to housing areas that were once respectable but which deteriorated
as the original dwellers moved on to newer and better parts of the city, but has come to
include the “vast informal settlements found in cities in the developing world”.
Although their characteristics vary between geographic regions, they are usually
inhabited by the very poor or socially disadvantaged. Slum buildings vary from simple
shacks to permanent and well-maintained structures. Most slums lack clean water,
electricity, sanitation and other basic services.
In 2001, based on the UN-Habitat criteria and definition of slums 17 , the Population,
Health and Human Well-being Indicators showed that 93% of Uganda’s urban
population was living in slums. Many Slum dwellers (including those in Uganda)
vigorously oppose the description of their communities as “slums” arguing that this
results in them being pathologised and then, often, subject to threats of evictions. Many
academics have vigorously criticized UN-Habitat and the World Bank arguing that
16
The 2006 Human Development Report showed Uganda has 7.1 births per woman, the second highest population
growth in the world. Only Niger is higher at 7.9 births per woman. Between 2004 and 2050, Uganda’s population
will have grown by 375.7%, according to Simon Omoding, the communications analyst at United Nations
Development Programme in Kampala.
17
By the World Resources Institute on Earth Trends, available on
earthtrends.wri.org/searchable_db/index.php?theme=4&variable_ID=1310&action=select_countries
their “'Cities without Slums”' Campaign has led directly to a massive increase in forced
evictions.
The current urban population in Uganda is about 3.23 million people. Applying some
of the UN-Habitat slum definition attributes to results and findings of empirical studies,
or surveys shows that the number of slum residents is 49% to 64% of the total urban
population, which gives a total of 1.58 million people to 2.1 million people as slum
residents in Uganda. All estimates fall within this range of slum populations, for
instance, using the state of housing as a defining attribute, results from the 2005/06
National Household Survey indicates that tenements (“muzigo” which is the typical
housing structure for slum area) accounted for 64.3% of the dwelling units in Kampala.
Taking the attribute of living space, the survey further shows that the percentage of
overcrowded dwellings in Uganda (i.e. with more than 2 persons per room) is 49% in
the urban compared to 56% in the rural. According to Action Aid International, over
1.5 million people out of Kampala's 1.8 million populations live in slums, out of these;
1.2 million do not have access to latrines (for human excreta disposal) 18 which is one of
the attributes for defining slums. Slums in most urban areas in Uganda are not only for
the poor, but for the rich as well, as characterized with unplanned and un-serviced
areas. In most urban centres including Kampala, wealth and poverty coexist in close
proximity.
2.2.2 SITUATION OF SLUMS
In this section, the aggregate situation of slum settlements in Uganda is described, on

the basis of review of; the National Housing and Population census results, 2002,
Uganda National Household Survey results 2004 and 2006, the results of profiling four
sampled slum settlements in Uganda 2008 and other empirical studies on the status of
slums in Uganda. The findings presented here serve to give a holistic picture on the
state of slums in Uganda and to provide a basis for efforts to move towards slum
upgrading.
(i) Housing:
Currently, it is estimated that Uganda has approximately 6 million households living in
4.5 million housing units. At national level, there is a backlog of about 1.6 million units
of which 211,000 units are in the urban areas. The biggest problem is that the growth of
housing has been left to market forces which don't favor massive investment in
affordable shelter. As a result, the formal private sector has responded to the needs of
the high and middle income earners, leaving the low income earners and the poor to be
catered for by the informal sector. This has partly contributed to the spontaneous
growth of informal settlements.
18
New Vision Newspaper 14th July, 2008
According to the Uganda Population
and Housing Census (2002), the
housing conditions were generally
substandard: nationally more than 70%
of the dwelling units were built out of
temporary building materials that
cannot maintain their stability for more
than three years, urban areas account
for 27% of these while 60% are built of
permanent materials. Overall, 48.8% of
the dwelling units are overcrowded,
more than 56% of the dwelling units
were occupied by tenants compared to
about 30% which were owner
occupiers. Results from the slum Picture 2: Typical building materials in a Kalerwe
profiling study (2008), that informed slum.
this situation analysis, it was found that
in all the four sampled slums,
39.9% of the houses were
permanent, 31.6% were semi
permanent while 28.5% were
temporary. Owner occupiers
accounted for 22% (only 64% of
these owned the land on which
the house was situated), while
rentals were 75% as the form of
accessing housing. The cost of
rental per unit (size 3feet x 4 feet)
varied between Uganda shillings
15,000/= to 30,000/= per month.
Picture 1: Kisenyi Slum in Kampala and below Kibera

in Nairobi
Most of the slum houses are

predominantly single-room commonly
known as “muzigo”, a local description of
a tenement. These structures are built in
such a way that there is virtually no space
between them. Clusters of shelters are just
separated by a corridor or verandah. In
this type of housing, a single room acts as
a bedroom, sitting room, store and so on.
Pathetically, four people and in some
circumstances more than four may share a
single room. Where some houses have
some space, which passes for a compound, in the strict sense of the term they are
actually more of public paths and mini playgrounds than compounds. The foundation of
the dwelling units is poor, leading to many houses assuming slanting postures, without
ventilators and characterized by breaking walls and wearing away.
(ii) Land Tenure:
There are four types of land tenure systems in Uganda; customary, mailo, freehold and
leasehold. In most urban areas, there is a mix of tenure systems. For example in the city
of Kampala, there are three main land tenure categories, namely, public land that falls
under the jurisdiction of the Uganda Land commission, mailo (private) land where
KCC has no powers to grant leases, and freehold land held by institutions like churches,
mosques, schools and other NGOs usually for a period of 99 years. Within the above
categories, there exist other subsystems of land tenure such as customary tenure on
mailo land and customary tenure under public land where the tenant enjoys some rights.
About 55 % of all the land within Kampala City Council boundary is public land. The
rest of the land, 45 %, is private mailo and freehold land (Nostrand, 1992). In the slum
settlements sampled, on average 57.1% households claimed they own and had bought
the land they were living on. This ranking was followed by those who claimed they had
just settled (25%), and those who claimed to have inherited (17.5%). Amongst those
who owned the land most (66.2%) had a purchase agreement as the evidence to
ownership while 18.3% had no documentary evidence to ownership of the land they
were occupying.
(iii) Education and Health Services:

On average slums have reasonable coverage by both private health service providers
and government health facilities; these are essentially small clinics, although the
general proximity of the slums affords them access to better well equipped health
facilities because of their location with urban areas to both government and private in
the main town centers. The average distances from household to nearest health facility
is less than a kilometer for both private and government health services. The average
cost of obtaining health services from common ailments such as malaria in private
facilities was 8,000/= per visit, while government health services were generally free
except under exceptional circumstances when corrupt tendencies creep in. In relation to
Education, more than half of the slum households 55.3% reported that all school going
age persons within their household were attending school. The comparison by gender
shows a higher enrollment rate for females 51: to 49 males. The distance to education
facilities, whether government is closer to households generally within walking
distances of less than a kilometer.
(iv) Sources of Energy:

The results of the 2002 Population and Housing Census and the UNHS 2005/06
showed that 1 out of every 2 households in the urban areas used paraffin as their main
source of energy for lighting. Electricity is used by 4 out of every 10 households in
urban areas, 90 % of the households in urban areas depended on wood fuel as source of
energy for cooking. The percentage of households using electricity for cooking is still
relatively low at 4.3% in urban areas. In the slum settlements sampled, it was found that
nearly all households (84.2%) use charcoal to cook; only 12.1% used fuel wood. Only
35.8% of the households surveyed had access to electricity. Kerosene is not widely
used in cooking but is relevant as an energy source for lightning. Most homes use
kerosene for lighting, mostly in simple wick lamps or lanterns. Access to grid
electricity is still restricted.
(v) Water:
There is an impressive distribution
of water in the major urban areas in
Uganda (MoE, 2006, UNDP,
2006). However, sometimes the
amounts needed are compromised
due to the problem of affordability
of the water tariff. As a result,
people resort to springs and wells,
which constitute high risk sources
of contamination. The composite
sanitation gap of 36.6% exists
between the expected standards
and the current reality. The Picture 3: Water pipe going through contaminated
relationship between urban water
environmental conditions and health is well established. Infectious diseases especially
water-related and air-borne are prevalent in many of the neighborhoods of Kampala
while outbreaks of cholera have been recorded in 1997 and reoccurring in 1999. Over
50% of household occupants in Kampala are hospitalized in every three months due to
malaria while contamination of water by prevalence of micro-organisms is evident in
the water sources of the city. Results from the slum settlements sampled show that only
13.9% of the households have access to piped water. In spite of this low access to piped
water, 84.5% of the households claimed that they have reasonably good access to
public water points. Most public water points are privately owned and access to public
water points is paid for (82.3%). The other source of water in the slums is boreholes
(13.2%), open wells (50.9%) and protected springs (36%).
(vi) Solid Waste Disposal:

According to UNICEF
(2006), poor rubbish disposal
is a national problem.
Approximately 13% of the
urban population disposes
solid waste in gardens, 19%
in pits and 32% just heap the
waste yet pits and heap
disposal are less hygienic in
areas with high population
concentration (UBoS, 2006).
The poor disposal of refuse is
evident from studies done
(Mwesigwa 1993), which
indicate that the majority just
dump litter anyhow some
houses are just located amidst Picture 4: Waste disposal in Kawempe - Kampala
a continuous sea of refuse/
litter. This has resulted in the choking of water drains which results in blockage of
channels, in such a situation floods are inevitable because it complicates the flow of
storm water. In the slum settlements sampled, only 36.7% of the households had access
to designated waste dumping areas, 19 % said they access to waste collection and
disposal services; 14% claimed the household had to pay to access these services and
only 28.2% felt that payment limited access to these services. In some slums wastage
disposal is poorly done, since they are located in marginal lands such as swamps the
major water sources of most urban areas 19 ended up contaminated.
(vii) Drainage:
Most of the urban enclaves where
slums are located have poor
drainage systems because this is
where land is cheap and does not
have value and relevance for the
affluent. . Most slum settlements
are located in flood plains, with big
parts of the area under swamps and
wetlands while most of the built up
tracts are soggy. Persistent stagnant
storm water and silage around
homes characterize housing
accommodation, a condition that
provides an excellent habitat for Picture 5: Poor drainage as seen in Katanga –
disease vectors. There seems to be Kampala.
a significant relationship between
sanitation and spread of disease in slums. For Kampala, because it is built on a series of
hills which have steep slopes separated by valleys of varying gradients which are an
essential natural drain for the city, drainage is of significance. However, of recent years
the city has experienced flooding especially in the low-lying areas, storm channels and
surrounding area are submerged and houses destroyed by pools of water.
(viii) Human Waste Disposal:

In the entire country, national
latrine ownership in urban areas
is estimated at 71.3%, with wide
variation in quality. Out of these,
19.7% are unsanitary open pits
(UBOS, 2005). Kalanzi (2002)
found that 32% of the households
in the Mulago slum area in
Kampala City did not have a
private pit latrine. In Kifumbira
slum, which is located in
Kamwokya, North of Kampala
City, another study (Kamya
2001) found that some people
ease themselves in nearby bushes
Picture 6: Pit latrine in Mbale town, it serves over 15
households.
19
Locations such as Masaka, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN–HABITAT) has warned that
petroleum and vehicle garage wastes pour into Nakayiba and Nabajuzi wetlands, the major sources of water for the
town inhabitants. The need for “proper treatment of the water from these wetlands” to make sure that local people do
not consume contaminated water from these wetlands”, several people close to these wetlands
or banana plantations. Human waste is a problem to reckon with in these areas and
many households lack a urinal, bathroom and/or kitchen. Though most, if not all
households (claim to) have toilets, a single toilet can be shared by up to four
households. This trend cuts across all other urban areas in Uganda.
The widespread use of pit latrines has a bearing on the contamination of the
underground water sources. It is not surprising that virtually all springs and wells in
Kampala are contaminated. Efforts of Government and other organizations through
ecological sanitation toilets has increased urban toilet coverage to 71.1% with private
and shared toilets (UBOS, 2005). The percentage of households using flush toilets
actually reduced from 2% in 1992 to 1.1% in 2005. Currently the coverage of the main
sewer network is only 8% in the towns that are served by the NWSC. The rest of the
areas are not accessible to the main sewer. In the slum settlements sampled, it was
found that 62.6% households had access to toilet facilities mainly as latrines. In most
the slums public toilet facilities do exist and 38.8% of the household surveyed said that
they had to pay to access them, 42.7% claimed that this payment limits access to these
toilet facilities.
(ix) Urban Economy and Incomes

The urban informal sector in
Uganda consists of all economic
activities outside the formal
institutional framework. Trade is by
far the most important activity with
72% of the informal sector
employment, manufacturing 23%
and services 6%. In the slum
settlements sampled, (12.6%) of all
the households could not specify
the means by which they sustain
themselves, this can be taken as a
proxy indicator of the level of
unemployment of household heads
and spouses to household heads but Picture 7: Survival mechanisms as seen in Kisenyi -
not the general slum populace. Kampala.
Amongst those who clearly stated their means of sustenance, various forms of trading
business including kiosks, vending, shop and salon operation were the leading mentions
rated at a level of 50.6%. The average monthly income (mean) in the slums was
70,000/=. It is important to note that Kampala has the highest unemployment rate of
8%, followed by the North with 3%; while the eastern and western regions had the least
with 1%, each.
(x) Urban-rural linkages and Social Networks

By maintaining rural linkages, peri-urban people persistently reproduce rural life which
is ‘urbanized’. Examples of urbanized rural life is manifest in the nature of urban
farming and other natural resource based forms of livelihood such as brick making and
quarry mining. The consequence has been increased vulnerability to shocks that
emanate from urban life driven forces such as inflation, limited jobs due to
retrenchment and public policy for housing (Lwasa 2002). To provide mechanisms of
absorbing the shocks of urban life, sets of linkages between individuals and families
have emerged in form of social networks. These social networks have become
significant for the urban people in the quest to improve their livelihoods.
(xi) HIV/AIDS
Data also show that people who reside in the urban areas have a significantly higher
risk of HIV infection (10 percent) than rural residents (5.7 percent). This disparity is
true for both males and females, though the urban-rural difference is stronger for
women than men. Rapidly increasing urbanization associated with poverty, rapidly
changing lifestyles and lack of effective programmes targeting high risk and vulnerable
urban populations are some of the reasons for the persistently high HIV prevalence in
urban settings.
Most, if not all slum dwellings have poor housing types and sizes and have an effect on
HIV/AIDS. Shared rooms expose children to sexual activity at a very early age.
Overcrowding results into cross-infections and provides opportunity for opportunistic
infections. The housing units in slums are poorly planned, overcrowded and with no
light, exposing young people to sexual abuse like rape and defilement, which has
implications for HIV/AIDS, early teenage pregnancies and other STDs. The rampant
teenage pregnancy is an indication that people do not use condoms. More so, since
people in slums are known to each other, there are social challenges that hinder them
from accessing condoms.
(xii) Housing Finance

Uganda’s housing finance sector has substantially grown from one government owned
institute to 4 commercial banks and 1 Micro-finance Deposit taking Institution. The
sector is however small in relation to the housing needs of the country and it has
principally been serving the middle and higher income earners. The average mortgage
loan size issued by commercial banks is between UShs 60 (US $ 34,000) and 80
million (US $ 46,000), an amount too high for the low income earners. 20 Habitat for
Humanity-Uganda is one of the NGOs that has been at the forefront of providing low-
cost houses for the rural poor. It has built 4,500 houses in the last 2 decades through its
43 grass root affiliates in 19 districts. Through initiatives pioneered by Stromme
Foundation and Habitat for Humanity Uganda, Micro Finance Institutions are to start a
housing micro-finance product in which they will lend to low income earners up to
UShs 8 million (US $ 4,600), payable between 2 to 5 years ( 2007) 21 .
20
Dr William S Kalema and Duncan Kayiira, 2008 UMACIS Consulting, Overview of the housing finance sector in
Uganda, commissioned by the FinMark Trust with support from ACCESS to housing finance in Africa Kampala,
Uganda June 2008
21
ibid
2.2.3 WHY SLUMS HAVE GROWN IN UGANDA
The causes of slums in Uganda are many and varied; and many factors are responsible
for their continued growth.
(i) High Urbanization Rate

Although Uganda has a relatively low level of urbanisation, the high urbanisation
growth rate of over 5% is worrying.
Table 5: Uganda’s Urbanization Trends
The roots of urbanization in Uganda can be traced to the 1890s when the European
footprint in the country started to be felt – a period that defined Uganda’s spatial and
urban development pattern. Particularly in Kampala, urbanization started as an
indigenous process, making Kampala an indigenous city. A similar trend has continued
to date with exceptions relating to creation of new districts as driven by political
overtures or as is the case in northern Uganda, the impact of over 20 years of internally
displaced populations relocating to urban areas for protection, which has led to the
increased urbanization rate. The 2002 census clearly indicated that Kampala is 100
percent urban with a population of 1.2 million and is the largest urban centre, followed
by Gulu Municipality with a population of only 0.1 million.
Uganda has one city, 13 municipalities, 95 towns and 76 town boards which make up
the urban centres in the country. Approximately 2,921,981 million people (12 percent
of the country’s 2002 population) live in these centres (2002 Population and Housing
Census). The population dynamics manifested in urban population growth and rural to
urban migration are by far the most significant driving forces of urban expansion 22 .
But, the growth and expansion are associated with lack of infrastructure, social services
and pose planning and environment problems. For example the urban sprawl in the
larger Kampala City has made the boundary of the city blurred as it moves into hitherto
rural areas engulfing formerly satellite towns within a radius of 32 kilometres.
(ii) Urban Poverty

The incidence of income poverty fell from 56% of the population living below the
poverty line in 1992 to 34% in 2000 and further to 31% in 2006. The incidence of
income poverty in urban areas rose from 9.6% in 2000 to 12.2% in 2006 (MFPED
2005, UBoS 2006). However, poverty levels in the urban areas have remained the same
over the two survey years at 14% (2002 and 2006), with a slight increase in the
22
Through natural increase (due to high fertility rate 7.1 decline in mortality, internal migration and international
migration(Nyakaana, Sengendo et al. 2004)
absolute number of the poor from 0.5 million to 0.6 million, the number of the urban
poor people has not significantly decreased.
Similarly, the poverty gap which relates to the cost of reducing urban poverty using
transfers has marginally reduced from 3.9 to 3.5 percent. Most of the urban population
lack skills and are either unemployed or engaged in the informal sector. Whereas it is
assumed that most of the urban dwellers are not poor, it is not the cases as the biggest
number of people only survive in slums in urban centres and most do not have any
stable source of income. It is important to focus on the drivers of people from the rural
areas to urban settlements. Rural urban migration is unstoppable, is not bad and should
be well managed. In essence focus should be on poverty strategies that transform
society. Poverty is a major driver of slum development in Uganda. Slums are the most
conspicuous manifestation of urban poverty.
(iii) Lack of Urban Planning and Development Control

By 1964, the Town and Country Planning Act was put in place to further augment
Uganda’s 1960’s deliberate policy on industrialization at regional level with the aim of
developing urban areas, creating employment opportunities to absorb the in-migration
from rural areas and also empowering them economically. Most of the urban centres
that developed during this era did so without proper planning. Failure to progressively
planned urban land development, poor coordination, corruption, mixing of urban
management with politics and the laxity in enforcement mechanisms, largely account
for the growth of slums in Uganda 23 . Implementation of spatial plans has largely failed
due to institutional weaknesses, financial constraints, political interference and lack of
appreciation of planning by society, what is under practice is piece-meal planning.
High urbanization is taking place in a haphazard manner with virtually no control to

guide and regulate the process. The number of urban centres in Uganda has increased
exponentially over the past three decades. With inadequate capacity to plan, guide and
enforce development control, besides managing the present levels of urban growth, it is
envisaged that the informal settlements will become more densely populated and new
squatter settlements will mushroom on marginal lands such as wetlands, hill slopes and
forest reserves.
In most Ugandan towns, it is simply not foreseen that migration can result in rapid
growth and result in unplanned response to the demand for low cost housing by
ordinary people. The Central region has more than half of the total urban population
(54 percent) while the other regions follow with 17 percent, 14 percent, and 13 percent
for Northern Western and Eastern regions respectively. In the Central region, 25
percent of the population resides in the urban areas; this high level of urbanization is
due to Kampala City being the prime urban area. When Kampala is excluded from the
Central region, the level of urbanization of the region falls from 25 percent to 9 percent.
The level of urbanization rose substantially in the Northern region (from 5% to 9%)
between 1991 and 2002 but declined in the Central and Eastern regions (UBOS 2002).
23
For example, the physical expansion of Kampala has been “guided” by different physical planning schemes. The
first one was produced in 1912 and others were produced in 1919, 1930, 1972 and 1994 when a structural plan was
made. Despite these planning schemes, developments in Kampala especially housing have continued to be
haphazard, unplanned and located outside planned area. This is blamed on KCC’s failure to implement/enforce the
planning schemes, continued political interference, conflicting land use policies, uncoordinated instructions between
KCC and Ministry of Local Government and at times State House.
The percentage of the population in urban areas as enumerated in 2002 showed that 8
districts (Kampala, Luwero, Mukono, Busia, Jinja, Gulu, Kitgum and Nebbi) had
urbanization rates above the national level (12.3%) (UBoS, 2002). The rapid
urbanization however, has not been matched with capacity to plan and manage the
urban growth. The growth of slums/informal settlements has become a natural indicator
of the process of the country’s urbanization. The role of local urban authorities needs to
be changed from just development control to include the role of guidance, so that
effective urban planning basing on the needs of the urban population and adapts to new
challenges 24 .
Lastly, what passes for planning in most local governments is a rudimentary form of
land-use zoning usually unrelated to any socio-economic framework, divorced from
infrastructural engineering considerations and lacking any implementation mechanisms
for meeting its goals. As a result, planning has been largely dismissed as a futile
exercise, irrelevant to the practical needs of settlements management this has led to
difficulties in service delivery. In many areas physical planning, is interpreted to mean
land grabbing by government and the subsequent demolition of structures.
(iv) Complex Urban Land Tenure Systems

The complexity of land tenure systems in urban areas in Uganda is endemic. Not only
are tenure systems complicated and multiple where they are formal, but they are also
traces of customary ownership, rules and practices in urban areas. These tenures have
influenced the growth of towns and urban centres with certain types supporting planned
development on land while others work to the detriment of orderly growth. Most of the
existing irregular development and poor environmental health is influenced by the land
tenure. The land tenure law that vests ownership of land to the citizens of Uganda
perpetuates poor urban land management practices. The pattern of land ownership
makes planning, enforcement and implantation of any development very intricate. The
pattern also inhibits enforcement of planning standards and development control.
For instance mailoland and freehold has to be acquired land through purchase, which
requires substantive financial resources. More than 50% of Uganda’s urban population
lives in informal unplanned settlements on land owned by other people or the
government. Without security of tenure, they cannot access credit from the formal
financial institutions and therefore lack the basic means of production. The tenure
system constrains physical planning and development control. For example, there tend
to be more informal settlements on mailo land than other types of tenure. However, the
difficulty with mailo and freehold tenure system is that the owners of titles to particular
land parcels may not have enough resources to develop their land resources. Because
the landowner has security of tenure and there is no effective design, zoning, land use
or infrastructure requirement legislation, the urban authorities seem to be unable to
enforce planned development control in these areas.
Proper land use planning and development control are made more difficult by the
provisions of the national constitution that empower citizen’s ownership of land in
various forms. On private land orderly development of the city has not been possible.
This has impacted on planning for the urban lands because landowners could subdivide
their land without giving due consideration for urban-based infrastructure and services
24
as defined by the 1964 Urban Authorities Act, refined by the 1997 Local Government Act
like water pipelines, power lines, access roads, and underground communication cables.
With the continuous rural urban migration and the complexity of property ownership,
squatter problems may even be worse, which urban authorities are finding difficult to
pull down. When authority for land matters rests on other agencies, a serious draw back
falls on the capacity of the urban authorities to undertake various programs efficiently
and effectively
Urban development has been further adversely affected by the land tenure reforms,
which removed the ownership of public land from urban councils, Initially, most urban
land was entrusted to the Urban Councils and these had powers to plan, lease and
control development on it; but the land reforms in the 1995 Constitution vested this
land in the people. Since the abolition of statutory leases by the 1995 Constitution,
urban centres lost their 199 year leases; the land reverted to customary owners or
tenants who do not feel obliged to adhere to planning conditions. This has greatly
affected the implementation of planned developments, hence the sprouting of slums.
Any development necessitates compensating the customary owners yet urban
authorities are financially constrained to provide for urban-based infrastructure and
amenities. This has resulted in the growth of squatter settlements and shanty towns 25 .
The informal land market which is prevalent in most urban areas is also responsible for
the mushrooming of slums. The speculation in the formal market has priced land out of
reach of many urban poor. The multiple layers of land rights in the mailo areas cause
land use planning problems, adversely affect development control and fuel slum
development.
(v) The Effect of Decentralization and Poor Urban Governance

The advert of decentralisation in 1993 automatically meant the Government also
decentralized the planning function and the delivery of services. It is clearly evident
today that decentralization paved the way for haphazard growth of urban areas, since
the central government acts as if it has absconded from duty and the local governments
barely have the capacity to take on roles, affecting orderly urban development. There is
inadequate funding in urban infrastructure and services, knowledge levels and capacity
of urban authorities and local governments to undertake planning in urban areas or ably
respond to rapid urbanization. The level and quality of services do not match the needs
of the population in many urban areas. The decentralisation of services has not been
matched with adequate resources from the centre.
This is because decentralization of the function of physical planning caught the local
governments unprepared as such they have failed to cope with the challenges of rapid
urbanization basically caused by the rapid population growth. If the present rate of
urban population growth continues unabated, the demand for housing and other urban-
based social services and utilities will proliferate and cause financial difficulties for
districts and urban local governments. The urban system is not only failing to meet the
demands of the rapid population growth within the context of poverty and
marginalization, but its own basis for sustainability is also largely wanting in many
25
The State of Uganda’s Population Report, 2007
ways such as support supervision, availability of personnel to plan based on statistics
and ability to provide quality services 26 .
Conflicts of interests between politicians and bureaucrats in urban authorities make the
efficient running of urban affairs difficult. The incomplete separation of powers at all
levels of government creates bureaucratic delays in the approval, implementation and
re-development of projects in urban areas27 . In the face of central government resource
constraints there has been a declining involvement of the central government in
economic and urban development with an increasing role of the private sector, non-
governmental organizations in areas of services delivery, infrastructure development
and property development.
(vi) Poor Management of Privatised Urban Services

The increasing role of the private sector has been accompanied by a corresponding
decentralization of urban management shifting planning and decision making from the
central government to the local government. Now that local authorities have failed to
deliver; new delivery systems have been adopted in the country. Privatisation is now a
buzzword in Uganda. The process of privatization has affected the means through
which urban councils acquire resources and run their affairs. This has affected the mode
through which their constituents can expect to receive the services traditionally
provided by the local councils. Although there is no distinct policy on privatization of
municipal services in Uganda, the privatization process for municipal services has
borrowed from the existing parastatal privatization policies and Acts. Municipal
councils are considering comprehensive privatization programmes as a means to
reinforce and enhance the ability to govern and increase the level and quality of
services to their constituents.
In the first place, privatization is a new concept and not well understood, some
conceptual confusion and ambivalence about what privatization actually involves still
exists. Some understand it as contracting or leasing out tasks and responsibilities to
private sector firms, while local (municipal) government retains overall supervisory and
regulatory control; some understand it as total and complete transfer of responsibilities
for providing the service to private sector firms who set their own prices; some
understand it as commercialization of services by municipal governments or
parastatals, etc. The privatisation of urban service delivery is good as a principle but the
management and supervision are still lacking. However, the danger lies in urban
authorities not being able to supervise the service delivery for those that they privatise,
as this will effectively lock out the slum dwellers and the urban poor.
(vii) Extension of boundaries of Urban Centres

The remarkable economic growth and political stability over the last decade have led to
the expansion of existing urban centres, and the growing of hundreds of small trading
centres in the countryside, particularly along highways and major road junctions. The
extensions are encroaching on rural farming areas and urban authorities have no
capacity to do land use planning, to provide infrastructure and to control development
which is a recipe for slum formation.
26
The State of Uganda’s Population Report, 2007
27
A case in point is the tension between different levels of government over the redevelopment of the old minibus
terminal in the Kampala city at the end of the day the most affected are those who depend on public transport
system.
2.3 GLOBAL RESPONSE TO SLUM GROWTH
Slum Upgrading is part of the broader national development plans and as such should
be treated as part not “special aspect” (often a poor cousin) of medium term and long-
term planning and development goal. It has to be steadily and explicitly integrated into
government-oriented programmes on the basis of objectives and principles articulated
in this strategy. First, the growth of slums needs to be slowed down and eventually
stopped through legal and land market reforms (in part to provide security of tenure)
and revamping, planning and zoning regulations and building codes to make housing
more affordable. Improved access to credit for housing construction and increased
public sector infrastructure investments are essential elements in this strategy to prevent
and upgrade slums. Broadly speaking, adaptive approaches involve upgrading the level
of urban services in slums: physical, social, and economic as well as pragmatic
solutions for dealing with the tricky issue of land tenure. Such approaches have been
proven to increase the well-being of slum dwellers while simultaneously strengthening
urban and national economies.
Second, preventive strategies are about managing the surge of urbanization and the
simultaneous growth and forestalling the challenges of the brutal urban poverty typified
in slums by stalling the emergence of new slums. This essentially means taking key
steps to manage and guide the process of urbanization so that so many people do not
unjustly suffer from inadequacies in the most basic of human requirements – such as
water, sanitation, shelter, health and education (World Bank, 2006). The key issue that
drives preventive approaches is political will: to recognize the nature and scale of the
challenge, and to firmly commit to justly dealing with the needs of slum dwellers.
These challenges require a sincere and long term commitment. It is important to
remember that slums do not form only due to problems of poverty or affordability on
the part of communities or governments; they often form due to problems of political
will, bad policy and inadequate planning
2.3.1 MODEL RESPONSES
According to the World Bank, 2006, there are four typical responses to slums in urban
areas:
(i) Forced Evictions, whose basic ideology is slum clearance enforced through
violent forced evictions and large scale slum demolition, without the offering of
any alternative or choice to the populations displaced, has been a widespread
practice. Forced demolition of urban slums does not reduce poverty, it creates
poverty; it does not reduce slums, it simply means new slum formation
elsewhere. In many cases forced evictions are disguised as clearance and
relocation schemes.
(ii) Clearance and Relocation: this involves the removal of slum residents from the
central city to resettlement sites that are usually miles outside urban areas. Once
the slum dwellers have been cleared out, the land they lived on is slated for
redevelopment to high value uses. There are circumstances when clearance and
relocation might be appropriate – for example, when slums are built in
environmentally hazardous zones or along public rights of way (like roads or
railway lines).
(iii) Clearance and on-site redevelopment: this involves temporarily moving the
slum residents, then clearing the land, and finally building new housing for them
on the same site. Building multi-story housing is sometimes justified when
commercial uses on the same site can subsidize the costs of residential space.
(iv) Comprehensive Upgrading in place: is often preferred and consists of

improving the existing infrastructure and facilities up to a satisfactory standard,
and often addressing issues of tenure. An important advantage of this method of
upgrading is that it minimizes the disturbance to the social and economic life of
the community. It is the approach that most strongly guarantees that the intended
beneficiaries remain the actual beneficiaries of what could be very costly
interventions.
In the four typical responses, the upgrading programmes take one of the three types;
(i) Provision of basic infrastructure to the community; This is applicable where

the environmental conditions and physical infrastructure are poor, but tenure is
relatively secure. In this case, the upgrading comprises mainly of physical
improvements such as footpaths, sanitation, water supply, drainage, and often
some community facilities.
(ii) Tenure security; Efforts in slum upgrading the world over have appreciated the
tenure security as a key incentive and critical precursor for settlement and
housing improvement. It has to do with the incremental build-up of tenure
security. In these circumstances, lack of tenure is a threat to the security of
livelihoods, and a significant barrier to households investing in upgrading their
own homes. The threat of forced evictions also looms over such settlements. An
incremental approach based on a ‘continuum of land rights’ 28 and flexible tenure
arrangements must be adopted.
(iii) Comprehensive upgrading; – a mixture of the previous two – combines both

provision of basic infrastructure and tenure security. It is appropriate where
environmental conditions and physical infrastructure is poor, where population
densities are high, and where tenure is insecure. The comprehensive upgrading
program is relatively complex and time-consuming because it has more
administrative requirements, implicates more stakeholders, and depends on
greater community involvement. It is important to have an accurate knowledge of
land ownership patterns and existing tenure conditions of possible beneficiaries.
This is because improvements to the tenure security of beneficiaries is typically
restricted by, and predicated on, existing public, private, and informal claims on
the various plots of land that make up the project site. Beyond tenure, upgrading
projects usually require a range of physical and social services to improve poor
28
Temporary occupancy rights, lease agreements, community land trusts, adverse possession rights, anti-eviction
rights are among flexible and effective tenure systems, when and where it becomes appropriate and affordable titling
through the sale or allotment of land should be considered as a way of providing the strongest form of tenure security
environmental conditions at an affordable cost to residents. Physical services can
include site reclamation, landfill activities, and infrastructure: such as roads,
drainage, sanitation facilities and water connections.
In the case of Uganda, the appropriateness of any of the above approaches needs to be
driven by the status of environmental conditions and physical infrastructure, and tenure.
However the ideal is comprehensive upgrading. Depending on the location of the slum
to be upgraded and the peculiar context issues, the preferred option is to have
infrastructure lead and let land tenure follow because investments in infrastructure
provide defacto tenure security which improves living conditions and welfare faster
than land tenure regularization which provides de jure tenure security.
2.3.2 UGANDA’S POLICY RESPONSES
In the past there has been inadequate human settlement planning both in the rural and
urban areas which has resulted not only in haphazard development in urban areas, but
also wasteful and inappropriate settlement systems and patterns. Since the 1960s, four
major policies have been pursued by succeeding governments that are of relevance to
slum upgrading. The land tenure system and the constitutional legal framework of the
1960s were among the first regulations made to address urban growth and increasing
housing demand (including that for the urban poor) in the country.
The military control in 1971 disregarded physical planning and urban development as
priorities, leading to the deterioration of towns, followed by the abolishment of freehold
land tenure in 1975 under the Land Reform Law. The state assumed the title to all land
nationwide, and self appointed administrative functions to facilitate the use of land for
economic and social development. Since that period, the development framework for
planning policies and building regulations stalled. Due to economic, political and
administrative instability that characterized the 1970s, very little was done to
implement the proposed policies. There was an attempt to draft a comprehensive
national housing policy around 1978 but the process stalled due to the instability in the
country at that time.
The 1978 Housing Policy was never adopted by the Government that came into power
in 1979 mainly for political reasons. The National Human Settlement Policy was the
second policy pursued by government to further improve on the social economic status
of its citizens. It was drafted in 1979 to improve on access to infrastructure and services
and to provide adequate residential land and plots in urban areas. It emphasis was the
provision of housing to the low-income people and the amelioration of the housing
conditions in the slum areas. The policy was implemented through two projects; the
upgrading of Namuwongo low-cost housing in Kampala and the Masese Women’s
Self-Help housing projects in Jinja. Unfortunately, efforts of this policy were not long-
lived as the land tenure system and the subsequent fall of the economy in the 1970s and
1980s marked a decline in government’s central role in the provision of decent housing
and promoting housing investment till the 1990s.
After 1986, as a response to the appalling housing situation in the country, the
Government outlined a National Human Settlement Policy which aimed at among other
things:
(i) to improve access to infrastructure and services at affordable standards,
such as sites and services and upgrading schemes for spontaneous
settlements.
(ii) to provide sufficient residential land and plots in urban areas.
As a way of implementing the National Human Settlement Policy, government started

embarking on 2 housing projects: Namuwongo Upgrading and Low Cost Housing Pilot
Project (Kampala) and Masese Self-Help Women’s Project (Jinja)
After the resolution of the UN General Assembly No. 41/190 of December 1987 on the
International Year of Shelter for the Homeless, Government initiated the National
Shelter Strategy. In 1992, government adopted the National Shelter Strategy (NSS)
which comprised of the National Housing Policy and a program for the improvement of
housing conditions to ensure adequate shelter for all by 2000. Through the NSS,
government attempted to identify and removed stumbling blocks that hindered housing
development through encouraging private sector participation in the development of the
housing industry (Kalema and Kayiira, 2008).
Government initiated the National Shelter Strategy (NSS) with two major objectives as
follows:
(i) to formulate viable shelter strategies which are conducive to full
mobilization of local resources and which are implementable so as to
improve the living conditions of the poor
(ii) to strengthen the policy making and housing programming capacities of the
key actors in housing delivery at all levels of administration.
The NSS adopted the “Enabling Approach” as its major policy under which
Government would be a facilitator to individual households and private suppliers to
play a prominent role in the development of housing of all quality. This meant that
Government would have to shoulder the responsibility of creating an enabling
environment in which households, private firms, NGOs and community groups (both
formal and informal) can operate effectively and efficiently and thus be in position to
provide decent, affordable shelter as well as promoting social development and
improving the quality of life. In comparison to the two previous policies, the NSS was
more specific to the housing needs of the country. Under this policy, Government was
able to put in place a legal and regulatory framework addressing the land tenure (and
security of the tenure); encourage the acquisition of private home ownership and
improve access to housing on a self-financing recovery basis. Efforts of this policy
were further boosted by the enactment of the 1998 Land Act, the Condominium Act
and in the promotion of Housing Finance.
Notwithstanding the above, the NSS did not address the housing needs of the urban
poor sufficiently. Only two income groups were strongly advantaged; the affluent and
the middle income earners who have gradually put pressure on urban shelter through
privatization. Through the Condominium Act, these two groups were able to buy a pool
of houses in areas of Kololo, Naguru, Bugolobi, and Nakasero at exorbitant costs that
the urban poor could not afford. Also, the Strategy’s main focus was for government to
dissociate itself from its earlier commitment of providing housing to civil servants,
which it did. This meant that civil servants would meet their housing needs through the
private sector and individual home ownership. Government did not however assess
their (civil servants) readiness and ability (Kalema and Kayiira, 2008).
In 2005, the NSS was reviewed and a draft National Housing Policy was prepared.
Unlike the NSS, this policy specifically ensures that all Ugandans own and have access
to affordable decent housing with secure tenure in sustainable human settlements. It
addresses issues that were not tackled by previous policies, where affordable housing
needs for low income earners, especially those in informal settlements are catered for.
Its major attributes include; slum upgrading, the private nature of housing, enforcement
of minimum standards that will prevent overcrowding and the improvement of
standards of living of the urban poor. The policy also recognizes the role of the private
sector in the provision of housing on a commercial basis.
Progress in the development of this new policy is yet to be evaluated. The principles
and proposals of the National Housing policy are expected to tremendously transform
the country’s current and future housing needs and they strongly reflect government’s
desire to create an enabling environment that would enhance the capacity of the private
sector to deliver quality affordable housing. Once it is adopted as a policy, it will be
important that legislation, regulation and guidelines for housing are amended to
incorporate changes it will have introduced.
Uganda has, and continues, to struggle in turning the land and housing sector into a real
development tool. Shifting development patterns are a reflection from past eras of
power. After independence in 1962, though the publicly announced policy was that of
‘Shelter’ with emphasis on low-income groups, there was no major effort to think
through housing policy instruments and programmes to implement the policy. The
importance of housing is not adequately addressed in the Poverty Eradication Action
Plan (PEAP) and this has denied the sector the necessary resources required by
Government to enable other actors to participate actively.
Within the last two years, priorities have been realigned in synchronization with the
development of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. Yet at
present, Parliament continues to be in the process of reviewing the most recent Housing
Policy draft, in conjunction with the mortgage bill before actually passing it into law.
While these policies and those still in formulation are yet to adequately cater for the
needs of the urban poor and respond to the deteriorating situation in slums or even
remarkable stem their endemic growth, the have provided valuable lessons in policy;
(i) The biggest issue is that very little effort has been put into integrating slum
upgrading or improvement efforts into national policies, legislation,
programmes and plans to enable their implementation.
(ii) The absence of an urbanization policy has resulted into mushrooming of new
unplanned urban centres and expansion of existing ones. This has led to urban
sprawl and gradual transformation of agricultural land into urban areas.
(iii) Failure to place emphasis on rural-urban linkages 29 , overlooking the
dynamics and importance of the developmental linkages between the two yet
they are inter-dependent, the focus should aim at improving the urban ones,
while extending adequate infrastructure, public services and employment
opportunities to rural areas in order to enhance their attractiveness can be
29
Rural-urban linkages generally refer to the growing flow of public and private capital, people and goods between
urban and rural areas. It is important to add to these, the flow of ideas, information and innovation.
fatal. The discrete consideration of rural development as completely distinct
from urban development is no longer valid. A new perspective, referred to as
the rural-urban linkage development approach is increasingly becoming the
accepted approach. There is need to gain better understanding of the
relationships between urban and rural areas and the variety in the nature of
these linkages.
In designing, the National Slum Upgrading Strategy it is important that the following
reforms and initiatives are recognized;
(i) Constitutional reforms on ownership, tenure and management of land
(ii) Decentralization and devolution of power, functions and resources from the
centre to the lower tiers of local government
(iii) Liberalization of the housing financial sector and the mortgage sector
(iv) Effective macro-economic policies, which have liberalized the economy,
introduced privatization and divesture
(v) An increased role of the private sector in overall housing and human
settlements development
(vi) Poverty Eradication Action Plan as the planning framework for the country’s
development.
(vii) The global campaign for secure tenure and the global campaign on good
urban governance.
2.3.3 UGANDA’S SLUM UPGRADING PROGRAMMES AND

PROJECTS
There are many initiatives and interventions in the urban sector by different
actors/stakeholders e.g. government agencies at both national level and local
government level; development agencies, donors, NGOs, CSOs, CBOs and the Private
Sector which impact on slum/informal settlement issues. Through Public Private
Partnerships, government with support from donors and the private sector has
undertaken the following housing projects to meet the housing needs of the urban poor:
I. Under the DANIDA-Masese Women’s Self Help Project, 400 houses have
been constructed out of the planned 700 for residents in Jinja;
II. A total of 460 houses have been constructed, out of the planned 484, for
residents in Mbale under the Malukhu slum-upgrading Project;
III. Under the Oli Housing Project of Arua, a total of 156 houses have been
constructed;
IV. The UN-Habitat-Mpumudde Housing Project constructed for women in
Mpumudde Division in Jinja Municipality.
V. Namuwongo slum upgrading and low-cost housing project in Kampala.
These projects have benefited about 2000 households of whom 30-37% are female
households 30 .
The general pattern has been to plan the settlements for redevelopment and service
these settlements with roads, piped water, electricity, sanitation facilities and social
services like healthy facilities and schools. The beneficiaries are allocated land with
30
Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications (2003)
title deeds and given loans to construct their houses. Many are trained in skills of
production of building materials, house construction and loan management. They are
mobilized at community level to ensure full community participation in planning,
implementation and management of the project activities.
According to the Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications 31 , the

implementation of the upgrading projects has resulted in the following benefits:
(i) improved housing conditions, improved access to services;
(ii) increased opportunities for income generation;
(iii) increased employment opportunities;
(iv) increased security of tenure;
(v) increased stability of the population and social cohesion;
(vi) increased sense of belonging, dignity and assertiveness;
(vii) increased propensity to save and invest;
(viii) reduced morbidity and mortality rates;
(ix) improved quality of the urban environment;
(x) increased values of land;
(xi) higher development potential as more developers are attracted to the
settlements; and
(xii) Increased market for various products.
The Housing and Urban Indicators Programme, which has been running through the
Department of Human Settlements for now over 10 years should be having useful
information on housing conditions, urban conditions, access to basic urban
infrastructure and services which is critical in designing strategies for slum/informal
upgrading and monitoring the progress in implementing these strategies. The newly
created Department of Urban Development has embarked on an urban sector profiling
exercise, compiling information about the urban situation throughout the country. The
end product will be a national urban development bank which can be used to plan
strategies for slum upgrading.
In addition to the above, Government, through the Department of Human Settlements,

in collaboration with Slum Dwellers International (SDI), started in 2003 a Slum
Upgrading Program (SUP) in 3 parishes in the Central Division of Kampala City
(Kisenyi I, Kisenyi II and Kisenyi III) and 6 other slums in Jinja Municipality. The
SUP is comprised of the following major components:-
(a) Slum profiling and household baseline survey (i.e. collecting data pertaining
to slums)
(b) Conducting housing demonstrations
(c) Carrying out exchange programs
(d) Mobilizing slum dwellers communities into saving and loans schemes
(e) Conducting sensitization exercises
(f) Infrastructure development
In the three parishes of Kisenyi I, Kisenyi II and Kisenyi III of Kampala, the project
conducted slum profiling and household baseline survey, which is the basic first level
approach for a holistic view to slum upgrading, it is therefore one of the most
31
Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications (2003)
comprehensive housing and socio-economic study ever undertaken in this area. It has
also resulted in a sanitation unit being constructed, savings and loans groups formed.
In other efforts, Actogether, an independent Uganda support NGO, affiliated to SDI

was established in September 2006 is now working with the slum dwellers
communities together with the National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda in the
following core areas:-
(a) Support to community-led savings and loan groups
(b) Community exchanges
(c) House model exhibitions
(d) Slum upgrading pilot projects, and
(e) Advocating for the rights and voice of the urban poor
A number of lessons emerge with regard to slum upgrading;

(a) There is an indicative understanding of why slums have grown in Uganda, but
better situated empirical evidence is still needed, in order to have an in-depth
understanding of the underlying and deep rooted causes of slums in Uganda,
specifically giving an exploratory and explanatory understanding of cause-
effect analysis on different aspects of welfare and well-being.
(b) Urban poverty is a major issue which requires specific but integrated
approaches within the design and implementation of slum upgrading
initiatives, addressing various dimensions of urban poverty including
employment and incomes, health, education, shelter and access to basic
services and infrastructure will be important for all upgrading initiatives.
(c) The slum upgrading pilot projects so far exhibit very low sustainability. For
example Namuwongo was intended to be replicated at both city-wide level
and national level, this has not been possible. Hence a need to innovatively
work at intervention strategies and approaches to be used in scale up and
replication at city and national level. Such approaches need to be inclusive
and responsive to local conditions, while involving considerable energy of
slum dwellers and their representative organizations. On the other hand, while
piloting is important, a strategic focus on how to go beyond piloting to
citywide programmes and national level scale action as an absolute essential
(d) There is need to innovatively assess basic access to legal and appropriate land
and shelter, which is affordable and accessible to the majority of the urban
poor, otherwise the growth of slums will continue unabated. This may well
require going beyond dealing with the existing stock of slums but looking
more at the prevention of further growth by readily availing affordable land
and shelter.
(e) In most projects in Uganda, there has been down-raiding by higher income
groups displacing targeted beneficiaries. A few projects or programmes have
ended in failure or were partially successful, in the past. One common
outcome was the departure of poorer sections of slum dwellers who could not
afford price increases created by the upgrading improvements.
(f) Finally without appropriate institutional capacity and coordination with
central government, it is virtually not feasible to expect successful slum
upgrading undertakings, it there is therefore need to strengthen the capacity of
urban authorities / local governments to carry out their responsibilities for
equitable provision of services for all urban residents while planning for
future growth.
It is noted that Slum Upgrading is not the only approach for dealing with the issue of
low-income housing and service delivery; it is certainly one of the most important
options particularly useful for dealing with the existing “stock” of slum settlements but
needs to be complemented with preventive actions that stall the emergence of new
slums. It is essential that an integrated approach to slum upgrading is designed, because
the issue of slums is very complex yet slums are an integral part of urban areas and
contribute significantly to the urban economy both through their labour market
contributions and informal production activities
The conclusion therefore is that in the case of Uganda, a national strategy for slum
upgrading is a direct response to the following gaps and considerations;
(a) Lack of reliable data/information on extent of slums, characteristics of slums,
their causes (how and why slums develop) and how they function.
(b) The urgent need to quantify the magnitude and characteristics of slum as a
necessary first step to formulating necessary interventions and programmes
(c) The need for a twin-track approach towards existing and potential future slums
(slum upgrading and slum prevention)
(d) The need to improve the living conditions of people living in slums and
various types of unauthorized settlements
(e) The need to create conditions in which all sections of urban society, especially
the poorest and most vulnerable, can obtain access to legal, affordable and
appropriate shelter in ways that prevent the need for future slums and
unauthorized settlements
(f) The regularization of existing slums will not take care of the additional
demand of the additional poor expected to live in the urban areas. Planning for
future urban (new) settlement is less expensive than upgrading consolidated
informal settlements.
3. PROPOSED NATIONAL SLUM UPGRADING
STRATEGY
3.1 RATIONALE FOR SLUM UPGRADING
The development of the National Slum Upgrading Strategy in Uganda is primarily

driven by recognition that actions related to slum-upgrading, environmental
management, infrastructure development, service delivery and poverty-reduction at
large cannot be achieved unless there is a direct recognition that slums are a
development issue, which needs to be faced. This is a direct response to;
(i) All policies are geared towards achieving poverty reduction and contributing
to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Uganda committed to the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which address essential dimensions
of poverty and their effects on people’s lives, specifically;
(a) Goal 7 “Ensure Environmental Sustainability”, Target 11 which comes
in response to one of the most pressing challenge of the millennium
and articulates the commitment of “member states to improve the lives
of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020”; and Target 10,
about ensuring sustainable access to drinking water.
(b) Goal 2 that articulates the commitment to “Eradicate Extreme Poverty
and Hunger”, by “Halving, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of
people whose income is less than 1$ a day”, for the urban areas
through: major improvements in urban health care and schools, water
and sanitation, and in urban measures to improve maternal and child
health; an understanding of how much the scale and depth of urban
poverty is understated by the dollar-a-day poverty line and more
effective community-level responses to HIV/AIDS.
(ii) One of the major policy commitments under the Habitat Agenda 1996 (The
UN Conference on Human Settlement). Paragraph 47 of the Habitat Agenda
commits member states to: “… strengthening existing financial mechanisms
and, where appropriate, developing innovative approaches for financing the
implementation of the Habitat Agenda, which will mobilize additional
resources from various sources of finance – public, private, multilateral and
bilateral – at the international, regional, national and local levels, and which
will promote the efficient, effective and accountable allocation and
management of resources, recognizing that local institutions involved in
micro-credit may hold the most potential for housing the poor.”
(iii) Poverty Eradication Action Plan as the planning framework for the country’s
development does not adequately address slums, yet it influences resource
allocation and mobilization, this has denied the housing and urban
development sectors the necessary resources required by Government to turn
slums into a development tool. Thus, the overall policy and legislative
environment at national level is reactive to slum situations instead of being
pro-active and anticipating the future in respects of slum up-grading issues,
the result is laxity of implementation and inadequacy in enforcement of
existing laws. It is also evident that institutional capacity, gaps and legal
bottlenecks combined with resource constraint are a constraining factor.
(iv) A stable macroeconomic environment, sustained high growth rates and huge
dividends from the liberalization policy translated into impressive poverty
reduction during the 1990s and the early 2000s. Precisely, income-poverty
headcount fell from 56% in 1992/93 to 34% in 1999/2000 and then rose to
38% in 2002/03 but declined again to 31 % in 2005/06, however the
incidence of income poverty in urban areas rose from 9.6% in 2000 to 12.2%
in 2006 (MFPED 2005, UBoS 2006). The poverty levels in the urban areas
have remained the same over the two survey years at 14% (2002 and 2006),
the number of the urban poor people has not significantly decreased. Slums
are the most conspicuous manifestation of urban poverty and it is no longer
deniable poverty is a major driver of slum development in Uganda.
(v) Related policy reforms and initiatives;

(a) Constitutional land reforms on ownership, tenure and management of
land and the importance of a decent living environment is recognized
in Article 39: which emphasis that every Ugandan has a right to a
clean and healthy environment
(b) Decentralization and devolution of power, functions and resources
from the centre to the lower tiers of local government
(c) Liberalization of the housing finance sector and the mortgage sector
(d) Effective macro-economic policies, which have liberalized the
economy, introduced privatization and divesture
(e) The Global Campaign for secure tenure and the Global Campaign on
good urban governance.
(f) The National Land Use Policy
(g) The national Development Plan (under formulation)
3.2 DEFINITION OF SLUMS IN UGANDA
For this National Slum Upgrading Strategy, the definition of slums in Uganda
combines two aspects: the operational definition of slums as given by UN-HABITAT
and localized to reflect the Ugandan situation.
(a) UN-HABITAT gives the operational definition of a slum as an area that

combines to various extents the following characteristics:
(i) Inadequate access to safe water,
(ii) Inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure,
(iii) Insecure residential status
(iv) Poor structural quality of housing
(v) Overcrowding
(b) For Uganda, in combination with one or more of the following attributes;
(i) an area that attracts a high density of low income earners and or
unemployed persons, with low levels of literacy
(ii) An area with high rates / levels of noise, crime, drug abuse,
immorality (pornography and prostitution) and alcoholism and high
HIV/AIDS prevalence.
(iii) An area where houses are in environmentally fragile lands e.g
wetlands
3.3 GOAL OF SLUM UPGRADING
The goal of slum upgrading is to improve the living conditions of slum residents living
in the most depressed physical conditions in Uganda’s urban areas on a sustainable
basis and to prevent future slum growth.
3.4 OBJECTIVES OF SLUM UPGRADING
The objectives of slum upgrading in Uganda are;
(i) To develop affordable and participatory measures for upgrading housing

conditions and related support infrastructure in slum areas
(ii) To plan and implement in collaboration with stakeholders programmes and

pilot projects to minimize, eliminate and curtail the growth of slums.
(iii) To harness central government’s and urban authority (ties)’s resources in

enhancing the contribution of slums to the urban economy.
(iv) To ensure an appropriate institutional framework and mechanisms for

effective implementation of slum upgrading programmes by different
stakeholders.
3.5 PRINCIPLES GUIDING SLUM UPGRADING
The National Slum Upgrading Strategy is guided by the following principles and
considerations;
(i) Provision of land tenure security and housing tenure security to enhance
investments in slum areas
(ii) Flexible legal and institutional framework that allows local initiatives in
Slum upgrading
(iii) Availability of appropriate urban planning framework that recognises

slums and slum dwellers / residents as resources.
(iv) It is essential that an integrated approach to slum upgrading is designed.
(v) Mobilisation and coordination of stakeholders and resources for slum
upgrading initiatives locally, nationally and internationally
(vi) Slum upgrading needs to be complemented with preventive actions that

stall the emergence of new slums. Hence the need for a twin track
approach towards existing and potential future slums.
(vii) Gender sensitivity and responsiveness
3.6 STRATEGIES FOR SLUM UPGRADING
3.6.1 Strategies for Tenure Regularization and Affordable Land
Issue One:
The aim of regularising tenure in slum areas is to confer de jure security of tenure for
land owners and de facto security of tenure for occupants and tenants. While
recognizing the complexity of land relations within slum settlements and in order to
mobilize these hidden resources, effort will be made to achieve sufficient tenure
security (real and perceived) through sustainable, practical and socially progressive
ways of improving tenure security and rights. In dealing with land tenure, this Strategy
will emphasize three aspects which are key in upgrading;
(a) Beneficiary identification; with accurate knowledge of land ownership

patterns and existing tenure conditions of possible beneficiaries. Good
processes of land ownership analysis, beneficiary selection and subsequent
tenure arrangements must prevent local speculators, wealthy landlords and
non-residents from surreptitiously taking undue advantage of slum
development and diverting limited resources away from the intended
beneficiaries.
(b) Establishing the Legal status; who owns the land? Is it owned by the local
government, or a government agency, or a traditional authority? Is it in the
absolute ownership of a few absentee landlords? Has it been leased to private
landlords by a public agency, and is it now informally squatted upon by the
slum dwellers? If informal land markets exist, how do they work? Is some of
the land under customary or traditional administrative structures? Does all
the land fall under a single ownership pattern? If not, what are the different
patterns?
(c) Cost of the land for accommodating tenure for slum dwellers on private land
is much higher than it is on public lands. One method of easing this burden is
to average out the effective costs of public and privately-owned squatted land
– either on a site-by-site basis or lowering official valuations of squatted
land, or conversely, allowing private owners to transfer development rights
to other properties. To the extent possible efforts will be made to control land
markets and to curb resident displacement or rising rents.
The strategies include;
1. Participatory land ownership and tenure analysis and beneficiary selection that
is participatory and transparent and allowing communities to be consulted to
verify ‘official’ census data. The beneficiary selection process may also include
an assessment of beneficiaries’ willingness and ability to pay for better tenure
and upgraded services.
2. Participatory Poverty mapping exercises, environmental and infrastructural

assessments, and socio-economic surveys result in an updated census enlisting
those households and individuals who are the intended beneficiaries of the
comprehensive upgrading project.
3. Offering recognizable rights to land and housing; where possible ensure

legalization of tenure in accordance with existing land laws of Uganda.
(a) where a slum is situate on privately owned land, compensation, land

sharing and readjustment or land swaps will be encouraged
(b) where a slum is situate on customary land, efforts will be made to

identify the various levels of claims and interests ranging form
ownership, use and allocative rights of customary holders and
adapting them (with their attendant customary rules) to embracing
upgrading initiatives by innovatively supporting the creation of
occupancy interests in the form of urban access and urban use rights
(c) Offer slum residents priority for relocation to sites that offer
employment opportunities and access to urban services
(d) Allow for direct tenure transfer where beneficiaries negotiate with
the landowner and procure their tenure rights individually and
directly. In such cases the upgrading agency or the local government
or urban authority should act as a legal broker and guarantor
between the two parties. This option is ideal when tenure transfer
happens after upgrading is completed.
4. Simplifying land tenure regimes using intermediate forms of legal recognition

in accordance with existing land titling laws of Uganda, this include but are not
limited to;
(a) Community ownership of the entire project site by the community or

group title administered through project specific land committees as
a buffer against premature sale of titles in order to cash in on
property, this ideal when land is privately owned, and when
individual beneficiaries’ ability to negotiate with landlords is weak.
(b) Arranging for staged process of legislation with initial recognition
granted to an upgrading site and individual titles or parcel will be
completed later.
(c) Freehold and outright sale of land with or without a mortgage

especially in areas where the land costs are very low, and the
beneficiaries’ ability and willingness to pay is high.
(d) Leasehold agreement, granting beneficiaries a long-term rental of the

land and services at affordable prices. This might include an option
to purchase the land within a specific period of time of continued
and uninterrupted occupancy.
5. Upgrading in some instances will inevitably require Government to purchase

land for upgrading and resettlement purposes. Land banking is a possibility
even though it is costly and administratively difficult.
6. Providing assurance on investments made on land or housing against

confiscation or demolition or eviction.
7. Slum upgrading should consider environmentally sensitive areas and

discourage relocation of settlements in ecologically sensitive areas.
Issue Two:
Regulatory frameworks 32 directly affect the ability of poor households to access land
and housing through legal channels. High planning and building standards have both
direct and indirect impacts on development costs. Often, the poor and sometimes even
middle-income households cannot afford to conform to official standards.
Strategy
The key strategy here is to review of the regulatory framework, which is the single
most effective tool for reducing future slums and unauthorized settlements. It is
essential to make sure that the regulatory framework does not impose unrealistic or
unachievable requirements, making access to legal housing cheaper and easier by;
1. Relating plot sizes to those found within unauthorized settlements will be a

basis for revising minimum planning standards with the involvement of
communities who live in these settlements.
2. Reducing road reservations to the minimum consistent with safe circulation.
3. Permitting the most efficient use of available land, by relaxing constraints

on the forms of development and uses to which people can put their plots.
4. Simplifying planning procedures so that conformity is easy and affordable.

Such as basic standards for all, in ways that can be upgraded later, are
preferable to high standards now for a minority.
32
The regulatory framework in urban development consists of three main elements; planning and building standards,
planning and building regulations and Administrative procedures.
5. Identifying specific factors impeding legal and affordable access to land and
housing, so that revisions can be made when and as required.
Issue Three:
Increasing the supply of affordable land for the Urban Poor is important to stem the
growth of new slums. Such pro-active response will require the preparation of a Site
Development Briefs for local governments or urban authorities to initiate proposals
without having to seek recourse to unpopular, time consuming and inefficient land
acquisition and development procedures.
This strategy envisages the following techniques;
1. Urban Land pooling 33 and Land Readjustment 34 for managing and

financing urban land development. Local or central governments
undertake projects to assemble and convert the rural land parcels in
selected urban-fringe areas into planned layouts of roads, public utility
lines, public open spaces and serviced building plots. Some of the plots
are sold for project cost recovery and other plots are distributed to the
landowners in exchange for their rural land parcels.
2. Public-Private Partnerships or more comprehensive Multi-Stakeholder

Partnerships under such arrangement are best introduced through pilot
projects, as an opportunity for all stakeholders to experiment with and
learn from new approaches.
3. Local Development Plans (for Local governments and Urban Authorities)

provide a coherent framework within which land-owners can subdivide
their parcels and make a reasonable profit. In areas where customary
systems of land management ownership exist, it is advisable to
incorporate the traditional leaders into the planning and decision-making
process to ensure social legitimacy to proposals.
4. Creating an efficient land use plan within new urban developments, and
keeping in mind the existing land use patterns and transportation
networks. It is better to integrate the new development into the existing
urban fabric.
5. Tenure policy also exerts a major influence on access to land and housing.
Measures include;
a. Encouraging a range of tenure options so that all sections of demand
can be matched with appropriate supply options.
b. Private rental housing is often a vital option for very poor households
and provides valuable rental income for households
33
Land Pooling the land is legally consolidated by the transfer of the ownership of the separate land parcels to the
Land pooling agency with the later transfer of ownership of most of the new building plots back to the landowners
34
In Land Readjustment the land parcels are only notionally consolidated with the land readjustment agency having
the right to design service and subdivide them on a unified basis. The landowners exchange their land parcel title
documents for those of their new building plots
3.6.2 Strategies for Supply of Affordable Housing
Issue:
In the past there has been inadequate human settlement planning both in the rural and
urban areas which has resulted not only in haphazard development in urban areas, but
also wasteful and inappropriate settlement systems and patterns. The biggest problem is
that the growth of housing has been left to market forces which don't favor massive
investment in affordable shelter. Policies in place and those still in formulation are yet
to adequately cater for the needs of the urban poor and respond to the deteriorating
situation in slums or even remarkably stem their endemic growth. It is therefore
important that;
(a) The strategy creates conditions in which all sections of urban society,
especially the poorest and most vulnerable, can obtain access to legal,
affordable and appropriate shelter in ways that prevent the need for future
slums and unauthorized settlements
(b) The regularization of existing slums takes care of the additional demand of the
additional poor expected to live in the urban areas. Planning for future urban
(new) settlement is less expensive than upgrading consolidated informal
settlements.
Strategy:
This strategy lays emphasis on governments, local governments and urban authorities,
puts in place a framework of planning and urban management that creates pluralistic
systems of supply (housing and infrastructure) which can respond to a range of, and to
variations in, demand and needs. The role of the Government in this context will be to
create and maintain a `level playing field’ in which different suppliers of housing,
services, credit and building components can compete on equitable terms and to extent
possible encourage investment in affordable housing for the urban poor and in the slum
areas. Accordingly, it implies the following;
1. Revisiting and enforcing standards and administrative procedures to reduce

entry costs and accelerate the supply of new legal development.
2. Making sure land and housing prices are within the ability of all sections of
society to pay for them, by balancing supply to demand, and for subsidies to be
carefully considered and targeted, this can be achieved through preparation of a
land budget, to assess how much land will need to be urbanized over a 10 and
15 year period, based on population growth estimates and other trends such as
employment and transportation in all urban areas.
3. In preparing a land budget and assessing the amount of land required 7 inputs or
key considerations are factored;
(a) The projected demand for commercial and industrial land and the
demand for land for new housing development.
(b) Density levels for specified types of housing and other land uses -
based on minimum official plot sizes, occupancy levels, and road
widths.
(c) Requirements for communal facilities such as schools, clinics,
religious sites, public open spaces, etc, at central and neighborhood
levels.
(d) Topography and ground conditions: these include consideration of
issues such as steep slopes, load-bearing capacity, and vulnerability
to flooding.
(e) Accessibility of available land.
(f) Public transportation networks, location of economic activities, and
(g) access to physical and social infrastructure.
4. A major component of the land budget will be to understand the need for new
housing. This involves preparing a Housing Needs Assessment. This needs to
be prepared for the same time periods as the Land Budget, say for 10 and 15
years
a. The replacement of existing units which will have fully depreciated
during the plan period, estimates need to be made over a reasonable
period.
b. The upgrading and replacement of deficient units whose upgrading are
not economically feasible; a large proportion of substandard housing can
usually be improved, providing the owners feel secure and have access
to credit.
c. Estimating the proportion of the existing housing stock which can be
upgraded where this is economically feasible.
d. Estimating the nature of housing needs because not all households want,
or can afford, the same type of housing. Affordability will be largely
determined by incomes, though savings may also be relevant.
e. Additional housing expected to be provided on newly urbanized land in
the urban periphery.
3.6.3 Strategies for Urban Infrastructure and Basic Services
Issue:
The rapid urbanization however, has not been matched with capacity to plan and
manage the urban growth. With inadequate capacity to plan, guide and enforce
development control, besides managing the present levels of urban growth, it is
envisaged that the informal settlements will become more densely populated and new
squatter settlements will mushroom on marginal lands such as wetlands, hill slopes and
forest reserves. The growth and expansion are associated with lack of infrastructure,
social services and pose planning and environment problems. In general, the present
condition of urban infrastructure is poor, the services provided are inferior and the
financing systems for infrastructure and services are inadequate.
Strategy:
This strategy is premised on the thinking that slum residents are willing to pay for the
services they value most, this is a proxy indicator for demand. Therefore;
1. Urban infrastructure and services will be designed to allow for incremental

upgrading as poor communities improve their incomes and capacity to pay for
services increases.
2. In the event of resources constraints, single-sector interventions in services
will be encouraged as opposed to a full range of services (i.e. roads, water,
sanitation, drainage, solid waste, electricity etc)
3. Assessment of willingness to contribute to infrastructure services and costs by

slum residents, provided they are availed adequate information regarding
trade-offs will be a key ingredient of slum upgrading interventions.
4. Partial recovery of costs in infrastructure services intervention is critical.

Beneficiaries and targeted users will explicit within planning and execution of
upgrading schemes to sustain basic operations and for maintenance, not
exceeding 10% of total infrastructure costs.
(a) These costs need not be made up-front payments but rather introduced
in an incremental manner.
(b) Government, Local Governments and Urban Authorities will provide
the necessary political will to support cost recovery initiatives in
upgrading areas
5. Mainstreaming the delivery and maintenance of upgrading services for slums in

urban authorities and local governments’ plans, departments and resources.
6. Community led and demand led approaches should be used to prioritize and
influence the content of initiatives and to weigh on standards and services
options to ensure acceptability and enhanced demand responsiveness.
7. Government and Urban Authorities support initiatives by slum organisations by

adopting a more ‘enabling’ approach to the delivery of basic services accessible
to the poor through the more effective mobilisation of community resources and
skills to complement public resource allocations.
3.6.4 Strategies for Slum-Sensitive Urban Planning Framework
Issue:
The Urban Planning and Development framework is exclusive of slums and informal
settlements. It views slums as “problem areas” requiring corrective action. The legal
framework is a colonial legacy, whose survival and relevance in the current
socioeconomic context is questionable thus a need for modifications and progressive
change. Failure to progressively plan urban land development, poor coordination,
corruption, mixing of urban management with politics and the laxity in enforcement
mechanisms, largely account for the growth of slums in Uganda. One of the major gaps
as far as slums are concerned is up to date, comprehensive and sufficiently detailed
information, both spatial and socio-economic rather than the current official
aggregation data which makes it difficult to make inquiries into conditions at the
neighbourhood level.
Strategy
This strategy therefore proposes that;
1. Planning is supported with accurate and up-date information, with
complete facts. Considerable slum settlement profiling and information is
a pre-requisite to any development interventions.
2. The role of local urban authorities is changed from just development

control to include the role of guidance, so that effective urban planning is
based on the needs of the urban population and adapts to the new
challenge of slums
3. The local governments and urban authorities’ planning agencies or

departments cease to treat slum residents as statistical icons or objects of
research numerations in the planning process but as partners, so as to
present accurate and representative information that is crucial for resource
allocation, distribution of services and facilities etc.
4. Urban Authorities working in collaboration with all other stakeholders

build the capacities of the poor and empowering them to improve their
own living conditions. Urban management systems need to be improved
in three critical areas: i) resource allocation and use; ii) service delivery;
and iii) urban governance which is democratic, efficient, transparent and
gender sensitive.
5. Revise the existing planning framework in order to integrate slums and

informal settlements into the wider urban area and enable slum dwellers
the voice to influence urban decision making processes.
3.6.5 Strategies for Financing Slum Upgrading
Issues:
The financing needs for addressing the slum problem are massive and external
financing from donors and private investors and lenders can play only a minor role,
thus, the bulk of the financing has to be mobilized locally. However it is also noted
that improvements in income do not necessarily result in improvements in housing
condition which is a key feature of slum upgrading, this is because housing
improvement may be necessary but not necessarily the priority of slum dwellers. It is
important that such a strategy links with other aspects of living such as income poverty
which is one of the drivers of slum growth and innovative mobilisation of savings by
slum residents.
Strategy
This strategy proposes;
1. Encouraging the build up of savings, allowing for pooling to take place, in

various ways to linking upwards to formal sector finance. This would not
only provide an additional flow of funds for shelter and infrastructure but
would also have the additional benefit of ensuring greater ownership,
sustainability and effectiveness of targeted interventions.
2. Support for establishing grassroots group financial discipline and group
capacity building through savings and credit organisations, as a way of
encouraging collective decisions by slum residents about how to use that
money, acquiring the management experience and negotiating skills to tackle
larger development issues
3. Boosting savings and credit on a large scale through community-based

savings mechanisms and support self-help construction activities, to boost
the basic mechanism by which poor people begin to deal collectively on
issues such as searching for land, securing subsidies and infrastructure
development.
4. Encourage Micro-finance institutions should to increase the menu of options

for incoming generation and standards of living by provision of loans, on the
basis of social systems as collateral rather than housing and land to improve
the credit worthiness of slum residents in formal financing schemes.
5. Encourage the use of savings as a strategy, promoted by civil society

organisations for re-development and provision of basic infrastructure
services.
6. Central Government, in collaboration with Urban Authorities and local

governments’ sources for finances through bi-lateral and multilateral
financing arrangements guarantees, monitoring and evaluation are centrally
undertaken.
7. Partnerships should further be explored with Donors and international

financial institutions to implement innovative financial mechanisms for
enabling slum upgrading.
3.6.6 Strategies for Inclusion and participation of Slum Residents
Issue:
One of the key actors in the slum upgrading process is the slum resident who represents
an extremely important element of the urban labour force and contributes substantially
to total productivity and labour market competitiveness. Wide-ranging improvements in
the lives of slum residents cannot be fully realised without their active participation as
initiators, partners and as resources on which to build. It is essential to understand and
value the contributions of the urban poor as part of participatory urban governance.
Social capital is the most essential asset of the poor. It is important to assist the capacity
development of community groups for without their community support and initiative
upgrading is impossible.
Strategy
It is proposed that;
1. Upgrading interventions endeavour to reap the immense benefits that accrue
from treating slum dwellers as partners rather than beneficiaries.
2. Ensure that all interventions have the political or social leadership represented
both at district and sub county/ division as this would give the much needed
political and social backing to slum upgrading processes as persons who lead
the implementation of slum improvements.
3. Measures are put in place to support the work of slum dwellers organisations,
especially as regards the development of capacity for collective social action.
4. Support interaction through networking to create a far-flung solidarity (trans-

national) and to enable a rapid transfer of development knowledge,
organisational skills and people’s own resources from one context of urban
poverty to another by way of sharing problems and experiences.
3.6.7 Strategies for cost allocation, cost recovery and affordability
Issue
Cost categories associated with upgrading projects include the cost of land or tenure,
off-site infrastructure, on-site infrastructure, on-plot development, community facilities,
the design and supervision costs of civil works, and loans for home materials or small
businesses. The costs of an upgrading project are usually allocated across beneficiaries,
local governments and line agency.
Strategy
1. Cost Allocation: The following is proposed for cost allocation;

(a) Project beneficiaries are charged for components that benefit them
directly, such as land, on-site infrastructure, on-plot development, and the
design and supervision of civil works.
(b) Loans for home materials or small businesses should be repaid by the
households and businesses that chose to obtain them.
(c) If the civil works are carried out by the community, then the value of this
effort should be credited towards the communities’ required cash
contributions in the project.
(d) The local governments and urban authorities will be charged for off-site
infrastructure such as urban roads and related drainage facilities, and for
some community facilities such as local health centres, public toilets, and
markets.
(e) Where funding is available, local governments and urban authorities may
also assist beneficiaries pay for tenure and services through targeted
subsidies.
(f) Line agencies or Ministries are charged for services that are normally
funded through budgetary allocations. These include off site infrastructure
and services, such as the extension of water and sanitation networks,
national roads, schools, health facilities, and infrastructure that is shared
by the city or urban centre at large.
2. Cost Recovery is vital for Upgrading intervention to be replicable and scalable,
in this sense recovering the costs of the upgrading is essential, therefore;
(i) When full cost recovery is not possible, targeted subsidies through donor
grants might be considered as an available option.
(ii) Costs can be recovered either directly or indirectly.
(a) Costs can be recovered directly from project beneficiaries
through outright sale or a long term mortgage. This is
appropriate where the control and benefit of an asset is
transferred to private individuals.
(b) Where mortgages are applied, they may also include the
household’s share of collective on-site infrastructure costs.
(c) Other ways to recover costs directly are user charges for water
supply or electricity consumption and through the repayment of
building materials or small business loans.
(iii) Some of the costs can be recovered indirectly. This method is appropriate
for shared public facilities such as roads, street lighting or drainage
through;
(a) Increases in property and business taxes collected by local and
national governments.
(b) Profits on the sale of land developed for commercial purposes.
3. Beneficiaries’ payment for their share of the Upgrading investment should be

affordable to the lowest 10th and 20th percentile of project beneficiaries without
the requirement of subsidy. Depending on the proportion of infrastructure
included in the project, 60% to 90% of costs can be recovered from
beneficiaries.
4. The costs borne by beneficiary households are the payments for physical
infrastructure and loans for building materials, these costs can be minimized by
adjusting within reasonable measure, the service standards, engineering
standards, and building construction standards 35 . However, negotiations to
increase affordability should always be well within the boundaries of providing
the most vital services effectively and sustainably.
5. The consideration for conditional grants in effecting enforcement which may be

necessary to address issues such as compensation as an alternative strategy for
areas already encumbered by unplanned settlements is an option that needs to be
investigated
3.6.8 Strategies for Stakeholder/ Actors Participation and

Coordination
Issue:
1. There are multi-sectoral stakeholders to slum upgrading at central government level,
within urban authorities and within the beneficiary communities. For any Upgrading
to succeed there is need to innovatively define, coordinate and monitor the activities
35
For example, a minimum level of service may include a footpath network and public standpipes for
water. A higher level of service would include road access and individual piped water connection
of all the actors. Stakeholders include: residents of the informal settlements, and
their organizations, the local authority, relevant central government agencies,
NGO’s, professional associations, the formal private sector, international
development co-operation agencies.
2. The urban system on its own basis is largely wanting in many ways such as support
supervision, availability of personnel to plan based on statistics and ability to
provide quality services.
3. Initiatives of slum upgrading will need and have to be a sector wide given the
diversity and multiplicity of issues that affect slum dwellers.
4. It is crucial to underscore the central role of local governments and their leadership
in the process. At Ministerial level, the Government holds the central portfolio to
slum upgrading and the experience it has acquired in the various housing upgrading
schemes, either internally initiated and those it has participated in has created a
wealth of information and experience on technical aspects of housing,
communication and transport options.
Strategy:
By creating and maintaining an institutional and regulatory environment based on the
changing needs and resources available, Government can stimulate other stakeholders,
including both private sector groups and the poor themselves, to supply land, buildings,
credit and services at the scale required.
1. It is important to identify the existing and potential roles of other key

stakeholders – the poor themselves, central and local governments, civil
society groups, the private sector, and other development partners.
2. Central Government
(a) Government is the enabler, co-coordinator and regulator of all the
stakeholders by providing the right legal, fiscal and regulatory
framework required to mobilize the energies and resources while
playing a facilitating role.
(b) Government will remove policy, institutional, legal and regulatory
obstacles that hamper efficient slum upgrading initiatives by
streamlining legislation.
(c) Government will guide development, research and the deployment
of the public sector resources to planning, provision of
infrastructure and human resource development.
(d) Government will strengthen urban authorities by improving their
capabilities to employ and retain trained personnel to efficiently
manage their resources and infrastructure, and as such enforce
planning schemes and ensure provision off the entire essential
infrastructure available under decentralization.
3. Government is the enabler

a. Local governments and urban authorities should assume primary
responsible for upgrading activities and all other stakeholders should
orient around this central co-ordination and implementation role.
b. Ensuring provision of infrastructure, social services, health and
education facilities as demanded by residents the specific upgrading on
an affordable and low cost basis;
c. Providing open, accountable and effective local leadership that brings
people together into the on going development;
d. Providing a conducive environment for civic engagement and popular
participation in decision making;
e. Empowering and building capacities of the local people in special skills
i.e. participatory informal housing provision, poverty reduction and
income generating programmes.
4. It is important to assess ways in which the relative strengths of each

stakeholder group can be combined to maximize synergies between their
contributions.
5. Urban upgrading cannot be achieved through government intervention alone.

Accordingly, the forging of public-private and community partnerships is
critical in encouraging private and households’ investment. Partnerships
which balance the respective strengths of all stakeholders are the best way
forward.
6. Strengthening community participation in the formulation as well as

implementation of upgrading interventions
7. Government will encourage and support initiatives by other actors geared at

improvement of slums (e.g. land banking or consolidation and sites and
service schemes).
4.PROPOSED ACTION PLAN
Recommended Activities Output Performance Actors Time COST
Action indicators frame (shillings in
billions
1. Undertake further 1.1 Document and Quantify the magnitude and characteristics of Formation of task forces Total no of slum Govt & National
slum settlements slums. settlements profiled Planning 2.5
profiling in all urban 1.2 Assess the political, social, physical, economic and institutional Data base on slum Authority Immediate
areas factors impacting on slum settlements settlements
1.3 Work out innovative and sustainable upgrading intervention Slum upgrading integrated CSO & NGOs
strategies and approaches. into the National
1.4 Set national slum targets taking into account urbanization trends Development Plan Urban Councils
and the MDG slum target.
1.5 Pilot in Kampala and scale up to cover entire city (city-wide National slum targets set Donors
upgrading). Innovative and sustainable Total no of slum
1.6 Integrate slum upgrading /slum prevention into national upgrading approaches dwellers lives
development planning. improved Slum Dwellers
1.7 Integrate slum upgrading into urban development strategies Associations
Develop a comprehensive slum upgrading program that addresses; Slum Upgrading programs
Undertake slum 2.1 The identification of beneficiaries and Projects
2 upgrading that 2.1 Target population for upgrading (consideration of gender issues) Immediate
promotes adequate 2.2 Agree on which kind of upgrading should be undertaken (holistic Slum upgrading Government,
housing and improves but phased out upgrading) development plans by local 15
the lives of people 2.3 Organize slum dwellers into saving groups and housing governments No of Slum Local Authorities
living in them. associations or cooperatives Dwellers
2.4 Identification of housing finance and resource mobilisation Sensitization and Associations Civic
2.5 Building technology and labour Mobilization of slum formed organizations
2.6 Infrastructure development especially water, sanitation road dwellers
networks, school facilities and energy Government
2.7 Establish the legal status of their occupancy or rights on land Development of Number of housing
2.8 Undertake negotiations with major land owners, local authorities, Associations cooperatives
opinion leaders, cultural and religious leaders, landlords and registered
tenants. Saving and credit groups Local
2.9 Involve stakeholders – NGO's and CBOs, and Government formed No. of slums Governments
Ministries upgraded.
2.10 Identify best practices in slum upgrading and prevention.
2.11 Undertake slum upgrading on incremental basis Number of people
2.12 Replicate slum upgrading initiatives with improved
housing conditions
3.(a) Fix the Regulatory 3.1 Implement the National Land Use Policy Regulatory audit done No. of slum
Framework to create dwellers lives Parliament Immediate - 0.2
conditions in which 3.2 Fast track the formulation of the Physical Planning law. Flexible regulatory improved Medium
the poor can obtain framework in place Private Sector
access to legal, 3.3 Reform the regulatory frameworks as with regard to: planning and Planning and urban
affordable and building regulations and administrative procedures. management
appropriate housing 3.4 Speed up the enactment of the Building Control Bill framework
3.5 Relax overly restrictive land development regulations and building Building control improved
codes to facilitate investment in housing construction and Bill enacted Government
improvement
3.6 Apply appropriate fiscal instruments, including land taxation to Affordability levels CSO
3.(b) Improve access by the promote adequate supply of land and housing and to foster orderly Support to financial improved Medium
urban poor to urban development. institutions Urban 4
adequate and 3.7 Promote research, production and use of local construction Authorities Immediate
affordable land, technologies and building materials. Tax relief on mortgages Increased
housing and basic 3.8 Introduce fiscal incentives for real estate developers in the form of awareness
services tax reductions or exemptions to provide affordable housing Policy changes
3.9 Promote land re-adjustment as a policy of securing serviced land Reduction in
from the private land markets for housing the urban poor. Purchase land by Local construction costs Government
3.10 Introduce a proactive policy of land banking to set aside for future Governments
development of affordable housing for the low-income households. Increased access to Government
3.11 Introduce well-targeted and transparent subsidy schemes-targeting Subsidy schemes in place shelter
subsidies to poor people for housing and basic services Urban Councils
3.(c) 3.12 Promote public-private partnerships for financing and developing Fiscal incentives to Private Increase people
Improving infrastructure and affordable housing. Sector access to urban land 20
infrastructure in slum 3.13 Fast track the development of a National Housing Policy Private sector
settlements. 3.14 Provide sanitation facilities Public-private partnership
3.15 Provide safe water National Housing Policy The amount of land SCO
3.16 Improve the drainage channels banked per year
3.17 Provide for improved garbage disposal
Upgrade the existing road networks
4 Managing 4.1 Profile urban poverty in Uganda in order to know the extent Urbanisation Increased private Government Immediate
urbanization and 4.2 Place urban sector issues, human settlements issues and urban Policy formulated sector participation
tackling urban poverty on the national development agenda
poverty 4.3 Develop urban poverty alleviation strategies and measures
4.4 Promote local economic development programme (LED) in all Local action plans put in Local Immediate 10
urban areas and develop local action plans place governments Long term
4.5 Promote balanced and sustainable urbanization
4.6 Encourage the development of growth centers in order to decongest
the city. Local revenue enhanced Bylaws enacted Medium
4.7 Enhance local authority revenue generation for financial urban Urban
development and housing authorities Immediate
4.8 Empower urban authorities to manage urbanisation, provide to medium
serviced land for the poor, create awareness and enforce adherence Improved urban
to the laws and regulations. systems
4.9 Urban authorities will promote employment generation and local Immediate
economic development as strategic interventions in urban poverty Informal sector flourishing
reduction.
4.10 Urban authorities to take measures to remove regulatory or other
obstacles to the growth of the informal sector so as to increase
employment, productivity and private investment among the poor.
4.11 Urban authorities to promote urban agriculture and home-based
income generating activities as poverty-reduction measures.
5 Design and implement 5.1 Enforce development control in order to regulate the mushrooming By-laws for development Bye laws Local Immediate
preventive policies and of slums in fragile ecosystems control Governments Medium
strategies to stem 5.2 Develop new urban areas by making land and trunk infrastructure 0.5
further mushrooming available. Medium
slums. 5.3 Adopt pro-poor land policies designed to prevent emergence of new Central
slums government Medium
5.4 Increase the supply of planned, legal and affordable land on a scale
equal to present and future demand Pro-poor land policies Housing Policy Private Sector Medium
5.5 Revise planning and development regulations, standards and
administrative procedures to reduce entry costs and accelerate the
supply of new legal development
5.6 Permit incremental development of land construction and service Donors
provision
5.7 Provide new sites for low-cost housing
5.8 Provide basic infrastructure
6.1 Recognize the urban poor as a resource and genuine development Programs in place Increased Immediate
6.(a) Promoting partners and forge partnerships with them and empower them to confidence among Government 0.2
partnerships and Re- solve their own problems. Programs to empower the the poor
defining roles of 6.2 Ensure community involvement in the provision of infrastructure community Urban Councils
stakeholders and services, particularly in the areas of the management of local Increased level of Immediate
water supply, sanitation, drainage and solid waste management. Review the relevant laws involvement and to long term
6.3 The central government to promote enabling strategies (in resource and policies participation
allocation, policy initiative, legislative, regulatory and SCO 0.5
6(b) administrative measures). Design specific projects The no of strategies
6.4 Promote public private partnerships for financing and developing put in place
Institutional capacity infrastructure and affordable housing.
and co-ordination 6.5 Promote partnerships with donors and international financial Projects Govt
institutions to provide innovative financing for low-income housing Design the program with implemented
and community improvement, including through loan guarantees donors
and seed capital for revolving funds. Slum Dwellers
6.6 Put in place institutionalized sectoral coordination with key line No of people who Association
ministries, urban authorities and have been financed
6.7 Put in place regular and institutionalized stakeholder participation
and involvement forums Government
6.8 Support the work of slum dwellers organizations, especially as Urban Councils
regards the development of capacity for collective social action
6.9 Empower and build capacity of the slum dwellers in special skills Donors
i.e. participatory informal housing provision, poverty reduction and Development
income generating programmes partners
7 Launch the Strategy 7.1 Organise a national launch of the Slum Upgrading Strategy Organise the launch Have this national MoLHUD
and Publicise the 7.2 Publicise the National Slum Upgrading Strategy and Action Plan event UNDP Immediate 0.05
National Action Plan UN-Habitat
8 Implementation, 8.1 The Director of Housing will take the lead in co-ordinating the MLHUD Immediate
Monitoring and implementation of the Action Plan 0.5
Evaluation 8.2 Linking the Strategy with the Urban Indicators Programme
8.3 A well defined monitoring and evaluation framework will be UNDP
developed by utilising different performance indicators to evaluate
and assess the changes that take place as a result of implementing UN-Habitat
the Action Plan.
8.4 Monitoring systems will be put in place to provide feed back for
further developing and improving the strategy
8.5 Participatory monitoring will be initiated by including community
representatives in the monitoring team, and regular surveys among
the slum residents to assess the general satisfaction with the
interventions.
TOTAL 53.45 Billion UG.SHs
5. REFERENCES
1. Acioly Claudio, 2007. The Rationale of Informal Settlements Regularization
Projects: from settlement upgrading to integration approach.
2. Asthana Sheena, 1994, Integrated Slum improvement in India: Problems and
Prospects in Habitat International, Volume 18, No. 1, pg 57-77
3. Jan Turkstra and Martin Raithelhuber, Urban Slum Monitoring
4. Lwasa, S. (2002). Informal land markets and residential housing development in
Kampala: processes and implications to planning. IHDP Urbanization and
Sustainability, Bonn.
5. Lwasa, S. and J. B. Nyakaana (2004). Effectiveness of Development Planning in
Reduction of Poverty; Kawempe Division, Kampala. Kampala, Makerere
University: 89.
6. Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications (2003), Revised Draft PEAP
Revision Paper on Housing Sub-Sector
7. MLWE (2002): Ministry of Lands, Water and the Environment; the Rapid
Urbanization Process and Consequences for Sustainable Development. A paper
presented at the International Conference on Planning Legislation, Housing and
the Environment, Jinja Nile Resort, Jinja, Uganda.
8. Payne Geoffrey, 1997 Urban Land Tenure and Property Rights in Developing
Countries: a review. IT Publications/ODA 1977
9. Rugadya Margaret, Profile of Kagugube and Kinawatakka Slums, UN-Habitat
Website
10. Stephens, Carolyn and Harpham Trudy, 1991 Slum Improvement: Health
Improvement? London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
11. UN-HABITAT (2003): Guide to Monitoring Target 11: Improving the lives of
100 million slum dwellers. Nairobi.
12. Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the 2002 Population and Housing Census, abridged
Version, 2006
13. Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the 2002 Uganda Population and Housing Census,
Main report, UBOS
14. Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Uganda National Household Survey, 2005/6,
Report on the socio-economic module.
15. Urban Expansion Processes of Kampala in Uganda: Perspectives on contrasts
with cities of developed countries. Panel Contribution to the PERN Cyber
seminar on Urban Spatial Expansion by Shuaib Lwasa, Department of
Geography, Makerere University.
16. World Bank Group, 1991 Cities Alliances for Cities without Slums: Action Plan
for moving Slum upgrading to scale, Washington.
17. World Resources World, World Resources Institute, United Nations
Environment Programme, United Nations Development Programme, and the
World Bank
Figure 4: Map of Uganda
For More Information please contact the secretariat through,
Ankunda Kamba
Senior Urban Sociologist
Directorate of Housing (Department of Human Settlements)
Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development
P.O BOX 7096
Tel: +256 77 2 436 969
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
KAMPALA:
or
Walaga Mudde William

Director Housing
Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development
P.O BOX 7096
Tel: +256 77 2 509 204
Email: [email protected]
KAMPALA:

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THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

NATIONAL SLUM UPGRADING

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT

A SITUATION ANALYSIS OF SLUMS IN UGANDA

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

The Millennium Development Goal 7, target 11 articulates the commitment of member

"For God and My Country"

The National Slum Upgrading Strategy is designed as a direct response to Target

According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics, a stable macroeconomic environment,

For: Disect Consultancy Limited

In view of Governments commitment to upgrading of slums and ensuring the

The consultant undertook a slum profiling study of 4 selected slum settlements in 4

2.1.1 GLOBAL DEFINITION OF SLUMS

2.1.2 GLOBAL GROWTH OF SLUMS

Figure 1: World Urban Population

Urban population by region,2005

Source: UN-Habitat, Urban Observatory, 2007

Figure 2: World Population Growth

Percentage of growth of urban population by region,

Source: UN-Habitat, Urban Observatory, 2007

Table 1: Slum Growth and Urban Growth

Region Urban Slum Formation Rate

Western Asia 2.9 2.7

Source: UN-Habitat, Urban Observatory, 2007

Today, rapid urbanisation and informal settlement is a global phenomenon, the

Country Slum annual growth Slum pop Scenario 2020 with no

2.1.3 TRENDS IN SLUM UPGRADING

Upgrading or slum improvement as it is also called in low income urban communities

Acioly Claudio, 2007

There is international recognition that effective approaches to slum upgrading must go

Such countries have invested in the redefining or re-aligning approaches to informal

2.1.4 TRENDS IN POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES

As UN-Habitat points out, Target 11 is only a piece of the larger development

Table 3: Fundamental Changes in Urban Policy

Chronology of Fundamental Changes in Policy

Table 4: Contemporary Upgrading Policy

UN-HABITAT promotes implementation strategies that consist of adaptive and

2.2.1 DEFINITION OF SLUMS

2.2.2 SITUATION OF SLUMS

In this section, the aggregate situation of slum settlements in Uganda is described, on

Picture 1: Kisenyi Slum in Kampala and below Kibera

Most of the slum houses are

(iii) Education and Health Services:

(iv) Sources of Energy:

(vi) Solid Waste Disposal:

(viii) Human Waste Disposal:

(ix) Urban Economy and Incomes

(x) Urban-rural linkages and Social Networks

(xii) Housing Finance

(i) High Urbanization Rate

Table 5: Uganda’s Urbanization Trends

(ii) Urban Poverty

(iii) Lack of Urban Planning and Development Control

High urbanization is taking place in a haphazard manner with virtually no control to

(iv) Complex Urban Land Tenure Systems

(v) The Effect of Decentralization and Poor Urban Governance

(vi) Poor Management of Privatised Urban Services

(vii) Extension of boundaries of Urban Centres