A new partnership
in Nepal We are excited to announce a new partnership this year, with LUMANTI Support Group for Shelter, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Nepal.
Around 2.8 million people in Nepal live in slums. Urbanising at double the rate of India, Nepal’s slum population is growing, but still government and other NGOs give very little focus to urban development and planning. There are few affordable housing options for low income families, leaving many families with no choice but to squat on government and private land. Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, is already densely populated and continues to see the growth of slums and informal settlements, high rates of unemployment, overcrowding and an increase in natural disasters. As in many countries across the world, these issues impact most upon slum dwellers and the poorest residents.
Based in Kathmandu, LUMANTI Support Group for Shelter was established in 1993 and works with communities across Nepal to tackle the issues in slums. It is also working to advocate for housing rights and influence government policies around urban development and slum upgrading.
LUMANTI is dedicated to enhancing the capacity of communities to organise and work together to improve their living conditions. It was instrumental in establishing and supporting a network of women’s savings and credit cooperatives in Nepal, with around 11,000 current members. It has also helped to rehabilitate flood-affected landless
families and has worked on various slum upgrading, water and sanitation programmes throughout Nepal.
Our partnership with LUMANTI will help to benefit even more people and to influence national policies affecting slum dwellers and the urban poor. With support through our CLIFF programme, we are already exploring a number of projects for the coming year. These include a slum redevelopment project in Kohalpur, which will help 150 families (755 individuals) living in overcrowded conditions to build new homes.
LUMANTI also plans to explore a low income rental housing initiative in Kathmandu; as well as directly benefiting poor families, LUMANTI hopes that such a project would help to advocate for the development of similar initiatives throughout the country.
LUMANTI is a new partner in our CLIFF programme, which already supports projects in Kenya, India and the Philippines.
COUNTRY PROFILE: NEPAL
• POPULATION: 30 million
• NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN SLUMS: 2.8 million
• PROPORTION OF URBAN POPULATION IN SLUMS: 59%
13
annual review 2011
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