Learning Through Practice: Building Partnerships Between Organizations of the Urban Poor and Local Authorities

About this grant

The Community Organisation Urban Resource Centre conducts and disseminates research on the challenges faced by local government, particularly as it relates to areas of poverty in cities and informal urban settlements.This grant will enable the center to help communities living in informal settlements gain access to land and basic services; and conduct research and disseminate findings on the plight of the homeless in South African towns and cities.Notable achievements have included creating opportunities through networking for poor people to unite, organize and communicate at the local and global levels; establishing a partnership to secure and redistribute church-owned land to poor communities; strengthening a coalition of grassroots organizations that seeks partnership-based solutions to urban poverty; working with the city of Durban to enhance service delivery to informal settlements within the city; and partnering with the cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town to improve housing delivery to informal settlements.