No. 14: The State of Food Insecurity in Windhoek, Namibia

AFSUN recently conducted a survey of poor urban households in eleven major cities in Southern Africa to better understand the seriousness of the urban food insecurity situation. This report looks in detail at the results for Windhoek and seeks to answer one central question, that is, why do the urban poor in Namibia’s capital generally appear to be better off than the urban poor in most of the other ten cities where the survey was conducted and why, at the same time, does Windhoek contain some of the most food insecure households in the region? As a city of migrants, Windhoek’s case also presents the opportunity to examine the relationship between migration and urban food security in more depth. Among the key findings is that access to food, which depends on incomes and food pricing, is critical in Windhoek, where food availability is not an issue. What is required is a systematic national and city strategy for reducing the high levels of food insecurity amongst the urban poor in general and in informal settlements in particular

No. 02: The State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa

The number of people living in urban areas is rising rapidly in Southern Africa. By mid-century, the region is expected to be 60% urban. Rapid urbanization is leading to growing food insecurity in the region’s towns and cities. This paper presents the results of the first ever regional study of the prevalence of food insecurity in Southern Africa. The AFSUN food security household survey was conducted simultaneously in 2008-9 in 11 cities in 8 SADC countries. The results confirm high levels of food insecurity amongst the urban poor in terms of food availability, accessibility, reliability and dietary diversity. The survey provides important insights into the causes of food insecurity and the kinds of households that are most vulnerable to food insecurity. It also shows the heavy reliance of the urban poor on informal food sources and the growing importance of supermarket chains

Local Governance, Urban Poverty and Service Delivery in Namibia

The urbanisation of poverty is one of the most dramatic developments on the African continent, yielding contrasting images of affluent residential and business districts and utter misery in sprawling shantytowns or slums. Namibia has one of Africa’s highest urban growth rates, taking thousands of women, men and children to towns in search of a better life. The large majority of these end up in poverty-stricken informal settlements in urban areas. The current service delivery approach of the government has left out informal settlements and has instead focused on improving and expanding services in formal areas. The inadequacy of this situation has detrimental effects on the poor. This report examines challenges for pro-poor service delivery in two towns in Northern Namibia – Ondangwa and Outapi - as seen from (i) the two local government institutions finding themselves in between the central government and their own poor populations; and (ii) the informal settlement population with hitherto unfulfilled expectations for basic services in the form of housing, water, electricity and sanitation. The study suggests that main obstacles to improved service delivery to people living in the informal settlements are associated with distrustful relations between local government and the communities, weak ability and incoherent efforts by civil society to act as development agents, and inadequate government driven approaches. In particular, the study argues that the local governments’ need for revenues to finance service provision is incompatible with the ability to pay for these services for a majority of the population in informal settlements. This implies that new collective approaches to service delivery in informal settlement areas will have to be developed

No. 02: The State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa

The number of people living in urban areas is rising rapidly in Southern Africa. By mid-century, the region is expected to be 60% urban. Rapid urbanization is leading to growing food insecurity in the region’s towns and cities. This paper presents the results of the first ever regional study of the prevalence of food insecurity in Southern Africa. The AFSUN food security household survey was conducted simultaneously in 2008-9 in 11 cities in 8 SADC countries. The results confirm high levels of food insecurity amongst the urban poor in terms of food availability, accessibility, reliability and dietary diversity. The survey provides important insights into the causes of food insecurity and the kinds of households that are most vulnerable to food insecurity. It also shows the heavy reliance of the urban poor on informal food sources and the growing importance of supermarket chains