The Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) and the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) recently published their July 2019 - June 2020 Annual Report. Read/Download their full annual report by clicking here.

Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) and the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) publish their 2019-2020 Annual Report

[Extract from the Introduction of the report:] When COVID-19 reached Namibia in March 2020 the Namibian government was facing the challenge of managing the outbreak of the pandemic. Special attention was given to the informal settlements who currently constitute 40% of the Namibian population and a calculated 80% of its urban population.

A State of emergency was subsequently declared in Namibia which lasted until mid September 2020. During these six months different restrictions/measures were implemented at different stages. These included closure of schools, borders and non-essential businesses like restaurants, retail, and even street vending and informal markets. Some of these regulatory actions and travel bans were implemented nationally and some regionally, depending on arising COVID-19 epicentres. Local transmissions of COVID-19 were reported for the first time in May/June2020 in Namibia and then spread to informal settlements throughout Namibia.

In Namibia it was in particularShack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN), Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) and the National Alliance for Informal Settlement Upgrading (Alliance) that immediately responded to the challenges of the pandemic in the informal settlements. Even before COVID-19 even reached the informal settlements, SDFN and NHAG were ready to respond. Profoundly rooted in their communities, SDFN and NHAG immediately employed their skills and knowledge of the situation on the ground to respond in informal settlements. In many African Countries, including Namibia, offcials lack suffcient data on the current size and socio-economic profile of informal settlements to respond holistically and to implement important ad-hoc public health and social measures to prevent and control a pandemic like the COVID-19 outbreak. The reach of formal governance structures is limited in these areas. SDFN and NHAG reached out to the poor in informal settlements all over Namibia before o•cial support arrived. Due to the good existing relationships with authorities, SDFN and NHAG were able to cooperate immediately and closely with central government, Ministry of Health and local authorities to create awareness and implement measures, which would contain the pandemic in informal settlements.
Read/Download their full annual report by clicking here.

Enquiries: Hendrina Shuunyuni - Documentation and Media Liaison Support, Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG), +264 61 23 9398, shuunyunihendrina@gmail.com