TOGO SHELTER SECTOR PLANNING

Evaluation covers the period 3/79-4/80; no methodology is indicated. Despite organizational flux in the government, l"Agence d"Equipement des Terrains Urbains (AGETU), a parastatal organization, has acquired qualified counterparts and staff to work with the technical assistance team from Planning and Development Collaborative International (PADCO); is establishing administrative and financial procedures while maintaining a flexible organization; and has proposed establishing a Community Assistance and Development Division. AGETU has been increasingly active in the project and is expected to take the lead in future activities. While the other implementing agency, Direction Generale de l"Urbanisme et de l"Habitat (DGUH), a GOT agency, has had difficulty in acquiring personnel due to a GOT freeze on hiring civil servants, project coordination between DGUH and AGETU seems assured. With PADCO"s help, AGETU has developed projects for a $15 million Housing Guaranty (HG) to provide low-income shelter in Lome and in a major regional growth center. As planned, these projects augment health (sanitation) and economic (informal enterprise development) service delivery and are based on minimum standard techniques and practices for shelter delivery. A summary of the physical and socioeconomic surveys on which the HG is based has been submitted to the GOT which should request the HG soon. Recommendations include coordinating shelter standards by designating target populations for GOT sector agencies; ensuring that GOT subsidies do not stifle development of a self-sustaining shelter program; assisting AGETU and DGUH in ensuring infrastructure management and maintenance; and ensuring effective management and community development in HG subprojects. To solve a possible shortage in funding for land acquisition, AGETU may declare prospective project sites as public utilities. An evaluation of the Integrated Improvement for the Urban Poor Project is included.