Invariably, therefore, in order to provide “shelter for all” efforts would have to be directed not only in improving accommodation in cities and towns, but more importantly in addressing issues of housing in rural areas. In Africa, most rural housing is “thatched mud hats”, which are made of clay. This type of accommodation often leaks when it rains and cannot contain heat when it is cold. Health problems, therefore, abound with living in these conditions.
The “One-Household-One House Programme” is designed to focus on ways of improving rural housing through combined efforts of the “communities in rural areas”, “African Governments”, and “support from the donor community”. In summary, the local communities will contribute through their “labour” in moulding bricks needed to build the houses; the international community will support the efforts of the communities by funding purchase of materials, such as cement, roofing timber and other accessories, as well as salaries of builders and carpenters; the Government would provide sewage facilities and road networks as well as connectivity to electricity if possible.
Pilot Projects for this programme would be undertaken in Karonga Central, which lies along Lake Malawi, in the Northern part of Malawi. Villages would be identified where such pilot projects would be implemented.
Government support is imperative for the success of this programme. Such support would be mainly for providing access roads; sewage facilities, and access to electricity and telecommunications. Furthermore, health and educational facilities would need to be improved to ensure that they are complimentary to the improvements taking place in housing. The Malawi Government in ”Malawi Growth and Development Strategy 2007” acknowledges that the country currently lacks a “Comprehensive Housing Policy” and funding to the housing sector has been rather inadequate due to its low priority status by Government as well as poor access to land for the urban poor and low income groups. Furthermore, lack of housing finance, particularly for the poor and low-income groups has been a major obstacle to affordable housing.
It is this context that the Malawi Government intends to review the 1999 National Housing Policy, in order to realign it to new National Land Policy and other government policies; develop some functions in housing delivery and management to local authorities; encourage stakeholders to mobilize resources to meet varying housing demands; and harness the potential of non-traditional financing sources by encouraging communities to form housing and multi-purpose community development cooperatives, especially for providing low-income housing. More importantly, the Malawi Government intends to develop a “National Housing Policy” to create an enabling environment for housing development and management; and mobilize financial institutions to support special housing schemes for the disadvantaged groups. Accordingly, the “One Household-One House Rural Housing Programme” would fit in quite well with Malawi Government’s strategy to improve housing in the country.
For the success of this Programme mobilizing donor support will be an important element, due to lack of domestic resources to support such a programme. Efforts will be made to tap into existing programmes that have targeted rural housing in other countries in Africa and elsewhere. Appropriate lessons will be deciphered from these experiences. Furthermore, partnerships will be developed with relevant institutions and organizations in order to obtain synergies. Mobilized resources will be used to purchase appropriate materials, such as cement, timber and other material for roofing and windows, as for paying builders and carpenters.
The first important principle of the One Household-One House Programme is that it should be “community based” and strongly anchored in the principle of “self-help” and any other support should only be complimentary to the efforts of the communities concerned. In Africa, communities have for sometime been involved in building schools on a self-help basis. This principle can be replicated in trying to improve rural housing. The idea is that “pilot projects” will be started at the “village level”. Once a village has been chosen for a pilot project, the members of the household of that village would seat together with “Village Elders” and the “Village Headman” to agree on how to proceed with a programme of building bricked houses in the area. They would decide on the number of houses to be constructed; the size of the houses; the period for implementation of the project; and the schedule for building of such houses, and who would come first. Estimates would be made of the materials that are needed and would require support from donors as well as salaries of builders and carpenters.
It has to be acknowledged that efforts to improve rural housing have been underway not only in developing countries, but also developed countries. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) works to “help the nation’s communities meet their development needs, spur economic growth in distressed neighbourhoods, provide housing assistance for the poor, help rehabilitate and develop moderate and low cost housing, and enforce the nation’s fair housing laws”. Furthermore, the Housing Assistance Council has been helping to build affordable housing in rural America for over thirty (30) years. Similar programmes exist in the United Kingdom and other developed countries.
In Africa, some countries have undertaken concerted efforts to raise the standard of housing in rural areas. Among the examples is the Mwanza Rural Housing Programme (MRHP), which has trained villagers in northern Tanzania to set up enterprises making high-quality bricks from local clay fired with agricultural residues. These enterprises have made sufficient bricks to construct over 100,000 homes with greatly improved comfort and durability in 70 villages.
MRHP is based in Mwanza, Tanzania's second city. The city is situated on the southern shores of Lake Victoria and is a lush and relatively well off area. MRHP works in 70 villages further away from the lake, which suffer from extensive deforestation and high levels of poverty. The houses in these villages are usually made from mud and need frequent repairs and rebuilding as they are easily damaged by heavy rain and minor earth tremors. MRHP has developed a system to make bricks from local clay which uses readily-available agricultural residues like rice husk and cotton waste, instead of wood, to fire the bricks. It has trained local people in brick making and business management and enabled over 50 brick making businesses to start up. Homes built from fired bricks are more durable, comfortable and clean than homes built with mud. MRHP developed a mould so that all bricks can be made the same size. After drying in the sun, about 4,500 bricks are stacked into a specified shape to make a temporary kiln (the 'kiln' is made of the bricks that are being fired and is dismantled as soon as firing is complete). MRHP has determined the best method of stacking the bricks to give effective flow of heat and water vapour between them which produces uniform firing. The agricultural residue is poured between the stacked bricks and the outside of the structure has a wall made of unfired bricks. Users find it much easier to pack a kiln with residue than with wood because it flows more easily into the gaps between the bricks. Paper or dried grass is used to start the fire which then ignites the residue. This burns slowly for three days during which time the bricks are fired. After four days the kiln is cool enough to be dismantled and the bricks are then ready for sale.
MRHP encourages brick-makers to build a simple canopy over their temporary kilns to protect their bricks from rain which can damage bricks during brick making, drying and firing. The development of the kiln system has been participatory with entrepreneurs feeding back suggestions for modifications.