Note No. 60 March 2001 Reframing the Issues: Consulting with Beneficiaries Swaziland Urban Development Project Social Development Best Practice Elements · Attention to adverse impacts, especially as they relate to women and landownership · Institutionalized mechanisms for participation and decentralized implementation · Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of social development outcomes by the government and community Unplanned and unregulated urban development is was the Ministry of Housing and Urban not unique to Swaziland, but addressing the issue Development (MHUD) and the beneficiaries who through direct consultations with beneficiaries is worked together to address the process of land an important improvement toward resolving this acquisition. As a result of the project's success, persistent problem. The Swaziland Urban beneficiary input in the process of urban Development Project includes standard development has become a mainstay for projects in infrastructure work, such as increasing urban Swaziland. roads, rehabilitating and expanding water and sewage services, and developing a solid waste Project Objectives facility The objectives of the project were to: However, in Swaziland it was the shift in focus from infrastructure problems to land ownership · Provide a basis for sustainable urban policies that reframed the urban issues. To make development through emphasizing policy property ownership possible, the legal framework reform and institutional development was changed to allow for the signing of 99-year leases by occupants. Project beneficiaries pay a · Pilot land reform, participatory development, deposit for their plots and use their leases as and housing solutions for moderate- and low- collateral to access loans to pay for the new income urban households services. · Address critical infrastructure needs, including The World Bank team contracted with consultants water, sanitation, waste disposal, and roads. to develop participatory methods, provide training for personnel, and improve institutional capacity. It ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This project was recognized as Best Practice in Social Development by the Social Development Family and received an award for Excellence in Supervision (QSR) from the Quality Assurance Group (QAG). The task team leader was Naa Dei Nikoi. This best practice note was prepared by Kathleen Kuehnast. The views expressed in this note are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the World Bank. Securing Government Support Building Consensus and Promoting for Urban Renewal Beneficiary Participation Although Swaziland is not an intensely urbanized Building consensus around the mechanisms needed country, urbanization has been increasing, and to obtain land for urban development was a urban growth is 5 percent to 6 percent per year. delicate and prolonged process involving the The problem with urban expansion in Swaziland is government, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders. that it is largely unplanned. In 1992, the King agreed to allocate the SNL for urban development. Nevertheless, consultations Remarkably, more than 60 percent of the were critical to secure the support of community population in the two largest cities of the leaders, chiefs, and regional administrators. Mbabane-Manzini corridor live in ad hoc housing. Moreover, because the communities are extremely These unplanned communities inhabit substandard interconnected, it became essential that residents of structures on unsurveyed land with no legal titles. informal urban settlements be closely consulted in Less than 50 percent of the urban population have the project design. access to safe water, and less than 20 percent are connected to the sewerage network. Poor water Socioeconomic information about the beneficiaries quality contributes to a child mortality rate obtained through a Land and Housing Market significantly higher than might be expected in a Study was used to structure the participation country with Swaziland's per capita income. In process and to ensure equitable representation of addition, both the service utility operating systems all groups. A Community Liaison Task Force was and water treatment installations have reached established to facilitate a series of meetings capacity. Rapid development on steep lands and convened by community leaders prior to and the use of limited soil and timber resources to build during the preliminary engineering design. These temporary dwellings are compromising the meetings engaged residents in discussions of country's resources. Therefore, without sound service options and costs, placement of roads, local planning processes in place, environmental services, and community facilities. degradation will continue, In-depth consultations with beneficiaries were also In general, Swaziland has lacked an effective initiated through the use of focus groups. The management system by which to plan urbanization. project recognized the need for community The absence of clear national sectoral policies and participation to move at a contextually appropriate a pervasive lack of institutional capacity have left speed. Although the process moved more slowly the government with little ability to legislate than the task managers had anticipated, it was sustainable growth. However, most problematic in important that the beneficiaries felt that they the ongoing urbanization has been the lack of owned the project. available land for development. The participating communities have since Cultural Aspect of Land appointed Project Steering Committees, which are working with the implementing agencies and In Swaziland, land represents more than physical design engineers in the detailed design phase. In property. The legacy of considerable land loss addition, locally recognized community leaders, during the colonial period has heightened known as Project Outreach Facilitators, play a sensitivities to changes in land tenure and led to a significant role in maintaining open lines of complex mosaic of landholding arrangements. For communication between the Swaziland National example, about 60 percent of rural and semi-urban Housing Board and the community. For example, land has been classified as Swazi Nation Land when it came time to introduce the concept of plot (SNL) and has been held in trust by the King for prices to the community, the Outreach Facilitators the Swazi Nation. Typically, this land is explained the fee structure and the services that unsurveyed and unregistered, nor can it be used as would be available once the land was rehabilitated. collateral to raise capital. This form of land tenure severely curtails planned development of formal Within the upgraded areas, relocation of an housing and the extension of urban services. estimated 300 temporary houses took place for construction of on-site facilities. The Outreach 2 Facilitators engaged the local community as to also promote compliance with the Age of Majority what would be best, especially for widows, Act, which gives equal status to men and women disabled, or older people who are without real above the age of 21. income and thus have no access to a plot. The community consultations led to viable solutions The project has instituted activities to sensitize that enabled the poor to purchase plots. In several citizens at all levels of society--policymakers, instances, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) parliamentarians, traditional leaders, and the were approached to purchase plots for the poor. communities--to enhance their understanding of Trust funds also were established to assist the poor. gender issues as well as to obtain their support for the required gender-related reforms. Women's Access to Land Supervising for Outcomes The project incorporates equity principles. The Staff Appraisal Report (SAR) (Report no. 12753- Despite a very difficult project that has been slow SW, October 21, 1994) emphasized improved to implement and has a limited supervision budget, access to basic infrastructure and social services, important attention has been given to the social especially for women, children, and the poor. components of supervision. This effort has However, as the project developed, gender improved the overall operation of social disparities in land title registration became more development, the ongoing involvement of the apparent and required special attention. beneficiary communities, and the design of participatory project implementation monitoring. An estimated 43 percent of the total heads of household who could qualify for plots were Social development issues and social risks have women, but legal provisions blocked some women been taken into account, as seen in the workshops from landholding. Under the relevant Swazi law, a held to address institutional roadblocks and to civil law marriage gives marital powers and improve institutional interrelations. In-depth property rights to the husband unless an agreement analysis has spurred the government to improve otherwise is made in advance and recorded on the women's access to land ownership. In addition, marriage register. Approximately 20 percent of the actions have been taken to encourage the national women who qualified for plots had contracted civil housing authority to establish the cost of plots for law marriages in which their husbands retained development so that the community can continue property rights. This status limited their ability to to buy land under the project. register titles at the Deeds Registry. Social development outcomes continue to be The Marriages Act (1964) and the Deeds Registry monitored under the project. Supervision has Act (1968) impose limits on a married woman's resulted in greater interaction among the major ability to register immovable property in her name. institutional players involved. Contact has been Under the Marriages Act, the allocation of plots maintained with the communities despite the with urban services to female heads of household difficulties posed by the slow implementation. is problematic. As noted above, the Swazi Law on Participatory monitoring and evaluation have been Civil Marriages (which follows the Roman/Dutch designed and will be put into operation as the Common Law) gives property rights to the project is implemented. The one weakness is the husband. Unless women deny their husbands' tendency to concentrate on monitoring outputs marital power, the women cannot legally register rather than outcomes. title to property in their names. Major Social Development Accomplishments These issues were analyzed in meetings with stakeholders, as well as at the Mid-Term Review This project has resulted in major social workshop. Short- and long-term actions were development accomplishments: recommended that ultimately led to amendments in the provisions of the Marriages and Deeds Registry · Improved equity and inclusion for women, Acts that had limited the capacity of some women children, and the poor, especially pertaining to to register title deeds in their names. The actions land acquisition and access to infrastructure 3 · Increased participation of communities in · Excellent attention paid to key social urban development and monitoring and development issues in reporting, particularly evaluation risks to community ownership as the result of continued delays in implementation · Strengthened social capital and social cohesion · Increased interaction among major institutional · Government spurred to improve women's actors resulting from their involvement in access to land ownership supervision · Accountable and transparent governance · Project design adapted to make indicators promoted at community and central levels more realistic regarding timing "Social Development Notes" are published informally by the Social Development Family in the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank. 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