Supporting Reblocking and Community Development in Mtshini Wam

 

Abstract:

The South African government is currently facing immense pressure to provide all citizens with access to housing and basic services. In response to the historically slow and unsustainable system of housing and service delivery for informal communities across South Africa, a process called reblocking was created. The informal settlement community of Mtshini Wam and our sponsor, Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), invited us to observe the first reblocking project undertaken in partnership with the City of Cape Town and the Informal Settlement Network (ISN). Our project goal was to support this reblocking process as well as community development. At the partnership’s request, we created a guidebook to help streamline this process as the new standard of informal settlement improvement. We also utilised momentum from the reblocking process to implement community driven initiatives addressing issues of food security, entrepreneurial job opportunities, and quality and safety of shack dwelling.

In the website pages following this, we will give you the chance to take a firsthand look at the story of our two-month experience.

Meet the Student Team

Learn about our project work in more detail

Check out the Final Project Executive Summary for Mtshini Wam here!