Moving to Condominium Housing? Views about the Prospect among Caregivers and Children in Addis Ababa and Hawassa – Ethiopia

This paper is based on the second of the three reports resulting from a Young Lives relocation sub-study conducted in four sites in Ethiopia: three in Addis Ababa and one in Hawassa, the capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region. This second report focuses on housing and considers how children and caregivers view the prospect of moving to condominium housing, the advantages and risks involved, and their perceptions of their ability to afford the costs. The urban lands..

Living in urban areas due for redevelopment: views of children and their families in Addis Ababa and Hawassa

This report is the first of three resulting from a sub-study conducted by Young Lives in four communities in Ethiopia, three in Addis Ababa and one in Hawassa, to examine what happens to children and their families living in areas that are due to be redeveloped. The paper presents the views of children and their caregivers about their living conditions prior to the impending move. It considers how children and adults view their home and neighbourhood environment and the extent of their social support networks. The report seeks to document how children and caregivers understand and experience their lives in a context of urban poverty, living in sites which are considered to be ‘slums’, mainly in areas that are due to be demolished and redeveloped through urban renovation programmes involving both commercial and residential development. The evidence from this study suggests that children and their families live in crowded and insalubrious conditions in these urban sites. Most households do not own their homes. Children dislike their lack of separate kitchens, latrines, and washing facilities, and more than half the caregivers thought that their neighbourhoods were bad places to bring up children. Despite the conditions of material deprivation, the children and their caregivers value the cohesive social relations. Relations with family and friends are important for children, and they liked living close to their friends, schools, markets, cafés and religious institutions. Relocation could bring about improvements in their housing and neighbourhood, although this will depend on where they are relocated to, what services and opportunities for work are available, and whether families will be able to afford the new condominium housing on offer. Family relations and school conditions are likely to be crucial for children, whereas caregivers will need to rebuild social networks, and funeral, religious and credit associations can be expected to play a key role in the successful adaptation of relocated households.</p

Moving to condominium housing? Views about the prospect among children and their families in Addis Ababa and Hawassa

This paper considers the views of caregivers and children in four sites in Addis Ababa and Hawassa about a condominium housing programme established by the government of Ethiopia with the intention of providing low-cost housing for the urban poor, especially for those living in sites designated for redevelopment. The paper provides insights into the ways in which the Young Lives children and adults perceive this new form of housing, what they appreciate and what they dislike about it, the extent to which they would wish to live there, and their assessment of whether they will be able to afford the costs. The paper also presents the views of officials and community leaders, as well as case studies of a few households which have already moved into condominium housing. The perspectives of families who will be directly affected by urban redevelopment have important policy implications in terms of addressing the needs of the urban poor, their preferences and priorities. The findings suggest the need for a range of options for financing access to condominiums for the urban poor, including more flexible, longer-term, inter-generational or group loans, and the formation of housing cooperatives. Alternatives to the condominium model should also be considered, since it does not seem to be a realistic option for the very poor without the benefit of subsidies.</p

Understanding community variation and vhange in Ethiopia: Implications for children

Changes that happen within communities can have considerable consequences for the lives of children and their families. This paper demonstrates the importance of considering the community context and shows how differences between sites can be significant. The authors consider changes in the lives of children and young people in 20 sites in Ethiopia (eight urban and twelve rural) that were the subject of three rounds of field work by Young Lives researchers between 2002 and 2009. They assess the impact on family life of changes in the local economies and livelihoods (including types of production, the frequency of shocks, food insecurity, and the extent of dependence on food assistance); the social and economic impacts of improved access to transport, telecommunications and electricity; and the interaction between prevailing cultural values and external interventions that seek to bring about change, particularly in relation to gender issues and child protection. They describe changes in the context of child-protection services, with an increasing role for government, particularly the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs, in collaboration with NGOS and informal community-initiated institutions. They note that there has been a broadening of interest from the needs of HIV/AIDS orphans to those of vulnerable children more generally, and to interventions against customs viewed as Harmful Traditional Practices, notably early marriage, especially in Tigray. It is suggested that appreciating the implications of changes at community level for households and children could help to explain changes in children’s lives over the rounds of study, and it is hoped that the approach adopted in this paper will stimulate further work to improve understanding of the nature of childhood poverty.</p

Beyond Urban Relocation? Expectations and Concerns of Children and Caregivers in Addis Ababa and Hawassa: Young Lives working paper 126

This paper documents the views of children and their caregivers about an impending relocation (that has been on the cards for a while) in the context of plans for central areas of Addis Ababa and Hawassa to be developed. The findings suggest that most of the children and their caregivers have heard about the planned relocation from various sources. A significant proportion of caregivers mentioned promises made to them, mainly regarding improvements in housing and services, notably water and electricity. However, they did not have any clear idea about the likely timing of the move, an indication that the people most directly concerned have not been sufficiently involved and consulted in the planning process. Some suggested that they would need time to prepare for relocation. A significant proportion of the caregivers and some children know people who have already been moved, confirming that this is a fairly common experience in the two cities. Most children and their caregivers were hopeful that they will experience improvements in housing and sanitation, and girls valued the prospect of having better toilets and kitchens. Some caregivers felt that the new relocation areas would be better for bringing up children. However, children and adults both expressed major misgivings. They feared losing sources of livelihood in informal activities in the city centre and worried about finding a place to live. Some mentioned concerns that services, notably health care and education, would become unavailable, distant, poor quality or unaffordable; others feared the loss of existing close-knit relations with neighbours, friends and relatives. A few, particularly elderly caregivers, were strongly opposed to the relocation. Others, however, were optimistic suggesting that whatever happens they will be better off living elsewhere. The issue of urban development and the resulting relocation has important policy implications. Poor people living in inner city areas would prefer to remain in the same area where their livelihoods are based after the area is redeveloped; reserving part of these areas for housing for the urban poor would therefore be an equitable pro-poor policy. Given their poverty, replacement housing in condominiums or other affordable housing schemes deserve priority since they are unable to build housing on their own. Greater participatory planning, involving not simply transparent, timely advance information and adequate compensation and/or replacement housing, but involvement of communities in the planning and execution of the relocation would be an improvement on the current process. Redevelopment and relocation in stages could also prevent unnecessary excessive disruptions. In the new relocation areas, the development of adequate infrastructure and services, as well as the linkages between housing, livelihood opportunities and recreational facilities, especially for children, deserve greater consideration.Young Lives Working Paper 12

"A dream come true"? Adolescents' perspectives on urban relocation and life in condominiums in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

From 2006, the Ethiopian government embarked on a programme of urban redevelopment, moving people from inner-city areas to lowest cost condominium housing in the suburbs. This longitudinal mixed-methods study tracked adolescents before and after the move, with an eight-year interval in between, in three Young Lives sites in the capital city, Addis Ababa. The paper compares the views of those relocated and those who stayed behind, and the opinions of those relocated before and after their move. Condominium housing mainly benefited low- and middle-income households in transitioning to home ownership, since the poorest could not afford the deposits and monthly mortgage costs and the richest preferred to build their own houses. Overall, the move appears to have led to better housing and improved sanitation. Nevertheless, students reported greater difficulties commuting to their schools in the first year; and the adolescents interviewed considered the schools and health centres in the condominiums to be of lower quality that those in their previous places of residence, and the markets and shops to be initially less well developed. In addition, there were fewer options for recreation. However, the adolescents felt that the changes were mainly positive and most soon adapted to the new social environment. They appreciated the condominiums with kitchens and toilets as modern forms of housing, though social ties in the new communities tended to be weaker. They also reported improvements in the physical environment, with less pollution and fewer security risks. There were gender differences in the decision-making abilities, leisure activities and spending habits of adolescents, with girls having less freedom in general. This lack of freedom was, however, somewhat compensated for by their better access to internet and social media. This working paper is an output of Young Lives and the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) programme (www.odi.org.uk). An accompanying Policy Brief will be published in early April 2022