Abstract
Participatory slum upgrading (PSUP) has been vigorously promoted by UN-Habitat as a bottom up strategy to inclusive planning. It is envisioned that by putting slums on urban maps and by involving the residents of unplanned settlements in the planning processes there will be more sustainable and tangible results. Zambia which has a high rate of urbanization (about 45%) has high numbers of urban residents living in unplanned settlements. The country has undergone several modes and methods of slum upgrading over the years. Along with other countries, Zambia has entered Phase 3 of the PSUP, during which goals such as reduction of susceptibility to flooding, better infrastructure and access to essential services through road and drainage improvement, and improved potable water will receive attention. This paper presents a case study of the process of community led Local Area Planning in Lusaka which is part of the third phase of PSUP. In 2019 five Wards were selected to pilot the process of developing Local Area Plans (LAPs) under the PSUP. French et al, outline several factors which advance transformative upgrading among which are inclusive governance and community empowerment. The process of preparing the local Area Plans started with constituting a technical working group comprising of representatives from all the departments spearheaded by director City Planning comprising of Human Resource and Administration, Valuation and Real Estate, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Public Health and Housing and Social Services. The technical groups responsibility was to; Identify pilot wards; identify of stakeholders; develop terms of reference for the consultants and develop materials for community engagement process. Selected community members were trained in various skills so that they could lead the processes. An analysis of the planning process reveals that communities feel a greater sense of ownership when they are involved in from the beginning. It was also found that due to long term collaboration between the local authority, the university and the Slum Dwellers International affiliate NGO, the community members trusted the process and were willing to participate fully in the co-production of information required for the area plans. The idea is that the participatory processes empower communities and encourages stakeholder involvement but the questions often asked is does this really attain the goal of community empowerment? The donor support for the community engagement in the LAP processes came about after central government committed to the third phase of PSUP. It was also realized that environmental issues in communities were deteriorating rapidly because communities did not have adequate involvement in planning and decision making at the local level. The causal factors for the lack of engagement were listed as non-participation of all community members, low awareness of communities on their rights and responsibilities. The processes are replicable in instances where there is inadequate financing for local area plan creation. The approach empowered communities with knowledge of what they can demand from their civic leaders. Lessons learnt were that community participation takes time and relationships need to be built with the different stakeholders long before participatory activities can be successfully implemented.
