Capacitation programme for support to the people's housing process : mid-term evaluation report

Development Programme (UNDP) to build the institutional capacity of Support to the People's Housing Process (SPHP), a subsidized housing construction program of the Government of South Africa (GSA). Interim evaluation covers a period ending 11/99. The program's design is very sound. The People's Housing Partnership Trust (PHPT), the special vehicle created for implementing the program, is almost in full operation, and the staff is highly qualified and committed. All substantive objectives of the program -- creating a critical mass of support for SPHP, developing capacity for SPHP at all levels, streamlining procedures for SPHP, facilitating housing support initiatives by local communities, and assisting local organized communities, NGOs, and community-based organizations -- are being achieved at varying rates of effectiveness. Output targets are being produced effectively and are contributing to the achievement of these objectives. On the down side, due to its very limited resources the PHPT has not taken a sufficiently strategic approach to its mission, particularly with regard to advocacy and capacity building for SPHP. In these as in other areas, the PHPT should concentrate more on: upstream matters (policies, principles, frameworks, procedures, guidelines); empowering key partners to carry out activities; passing on learning; and monitoring downstream implementation. Related to this is the postponement, for a variety of reasons, of the decentralization of the key functions relating to the substantive objectives. It is mainly with regard to the program's more instrumental objectives -- establishing the institutional arrangements and linking SPHP to other programs and initiatives, particularly those focused on eliminating poverty -- that the PHPT has experienced difficulties, though these were in most cases beyond the program's control or reflected early growing pains. The recent appointment of the first Board of Trustees will provide a firmer basis for addressing these issues and for moving forward with the full mandate of the PHPT. Other findings and conclusions are as follows: (1) The PHPT has contributed to the National Policy on SPHP and in turn benefitted from the clarity and direction the policy brought to the program. There is, however, a need to address certain areas where the policy does not appear to be sufficiently enabling and effective in guiding SPHP. (2) The people involved in SPHP are highly committed, competent, and effective in their work at all levels, particularly in relation to communities. Those participating in PHP initiatives understand the process well and are well organized and effective in building their own houses and managing the process. The pride of ownership, the sense of self-worth, and the hope and inspiration that this remarkable improvement in their quality of life bring to them are in themselves highly significant results of a people-centered program. (3) The SPHP requires a new mindset of helping people help themselves, as well as a constant flow of information and a synergy to and from the people who are organizing themselves to better their lives. In this respect, while the SPHP is working quite well, there are several ways in which the process could be made to be more empowering of people and thus more effective. (4) The SPHP helps people build more adequate houses in terms of space and numbers of rooms than could be expected from a developer-driven process. In fact, if the SPHP could be streamlined and made more empowering of people, the process could lead to a much faster rate of construction and to greater progress in eliminating housing poverty in South Africa. (Author abstract, modified)