Recommendations

Arising from the research conducted in this project, specific recommendations to improve acceptance of ABT by communities which need to be attended to prior to a massive roll-out are outlined below.

6.2.1 Communication, participation and liaison i. Beneficiaries’ education and liaison

 Show-houses

Show-houses are an effective way of educating beneficiaries. However government needs to make sure that households receive houses that are exactly the same as the show-house they have seen. In several cases people complained that they were given a choice (for example of finishes) but were then not given what they had chosen. If people are given a choice then it is important that they receive what they selected otherwise they will not be satisfied. It is also important to ensure that the same materials, finishes etc are used in the houses as was showcased in the show houses, otherwise respondents feel they have been given an inferior product.

It is therefore recommended that for all ABT projects, a show case/house be built for beneficiaries to experience the technology. This house should be built in advance of the project and the community should be allowed a minimum of

136 12 months to interact with the technology and observe it over the four seasons. Building 2 show-houses side-by-side as recommended by a respondent, one of brick and the other using ABT, would enable people to see and understand the differences and would help them to make a realistic comparison of the 2 technologies.

 Maintenance and repairs

Ongoing education around issues such as maintenance and repairs would be advisable. For example, having a central office where people could lodge complaints or raise concerns, and receive more education about their house once they are living in it would be useful. In particular, concerns around the floating foundation, strength and durability of the house need to be addressed in such an office on an ongoing basis.

 Engagement with officials

In addition, beneficiaries need to be engaged by officials. Community meetings with officials are an effective communication mode. Beneficiaries need to be able to hear from the officials what the project is about, the technology to be used, and feel free to ask questions where they do not understand. These kinds of meetings should happen before construction and during construction and post occupation.

These meetings need to address all aspects of the delivery of housing, not just the ABT house itself. In particular, community concerns such as tenure, and earning rental from back yard shacks need to be addressed.

 Deeper understanding of comparative advantages of ABT

It is important to educate beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries of the advantages of ABT in comparison to conventional methods. For example, with regard to speed of delivery, it may be possible to propose providing beneficiaries with options such as either having an ABT house within a year or a brick house within 10 years, the trade-off being time to get the house vs type of technology used. Similarly providing education around ABT as a

137 sustainable strategy, linked to strong educational programmes could be useful for officials, politicians and beneficiaries. This could include providing information on alternative technologies in service provision, and greater environmental awareness as part of an overall human settlement strategy.

ii. Guidelines for participation

In order to ensure that communication and consultation with beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries occurs on an ongoing basis throughout the project, as recommended in the point above, national government needs to develop guidelines to assist provinces and/or municipalities to handle community consultation, engagement and management. This will assist officials to involve communities in a more systematic and streamlined manner, following clear policy guidelines set either at national or provincial level.

It is recommended that research be conducted to compile a manual, highlighting good practice case studies. This needs to involve all stakeholders, including the ABT contractors, so that issues such as employing local labour and skills transfer in ABT construction are addressed effectively. For example, project management methods and community participation and monitoring strategies used in the different ABT projects in South Africa, and international experience such as those adopted in the work on community based workers in South Africa funded by the United Kingdom‟s Department for International Development (DFID) could be explored to extract lessons learned.

iii. Participation of beneficiaries in monitoring

As indicated earlier, involving beneficiaries in all aspects of the actual planning and implementation of projects, including the monitoring of work is likely to promote greater acceptance of the finished product. Not knowing what is happening, and hearing rumours, can raise expectations, undermine people‟s sense of self-worth etc, all of which can result in negative perceptions of the project. As was recommended by respondents, having local people monitor the

138 construction, particularly the actual beneficiary of the house, is likely to improve construction and acceptance by the beneficiary.

iv. Education of officials and implementers

It is important to change the negative perceptions of some officials and councillors in order to successfully promote ABT at scale. Education and marketing such as that identified above should be done at all levels and not confined to beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries. Linked to this, a concerted effort is needed to promote ABT at provincial level.

6.2.2 Realistic assessment of the local context

i. Use of appropriate materials and total cost of delivering an ABT house

It is not clear that the ABT being used in the projects considered in this report, such as polystyrene, is suitable for South African conditions. It is also apparent that different types of ABT may be suited to different locations within South Africa, and that other options could be explored. For example, in the Eastern Cape transportation costs are high and access by road causes difficulties related to the current ABT being used. An alternative could possibly be to promote timber housing, using local materials, although whether this would be acceptable to the local community would need to be explored. A balance needs to be made between costs related to the use of ABT, such as transportation costs, and the cost of the actual house. For example, the cost of transporting ABT to the Northern Cape may be prohibitive and it might not be financially feasible unless factories are located closer to the site. It is therefore recommended that further investigation take place into developing alternative technologies most appropriate for the varying conditions across South Africa.

ii. Capacity needed for some types of ABT

It is also important that all ABT projects are based on a realistic understanding of the conditions in which people live, and the context in which houses will be built.

There is a need for realistic expectations of people, and their capacity. For

139 example, if the maintenance of an ABT house is expensive, requires particular materials not available locally or specialised skills, poor people are not likely to be able to maintain their houses.

iii. Understanding of local conditions and how people live

Similarly, requirements that activities such as heating or cooking do not take place in ABT structures are unrealistic and likely to be ignored by beneficiaries, or cause unhappiness with their houses, as is evident in the focus group discussions. There is a need not just to provide a house, or use new technology to do so, but to improve people‟s lives by fitting their reality.

6.2.3 Issues related to the construction and delivery process i. Monitoring and inspection

A major concern raised by beneficiaries was shoddy workmanship and the lack of supervision, monitoring and inspection. This may well be similar in houses built using conventional techniques, but, given the concerns and lack of experience with ABT, it is extremely important that the construction process is done well, and effectively supervised.

Monitoring on a daily basis could be by the beneficiary themselves, as proposed above and it would be useful to investigate what the implications would be of using beneficiaries to monitor construction of their own house.

However, each finished house needs to be inspected by the relevant NHBRC and provincial officials, with appropriate consultation with Agrément. In order to promote acceptance of the finished product it is important that this be seen to be done by beneficiaries. More effective and visible monitoring of the construction process is needed.

ii. Use of local labour

Linked to local monitoring of construction, if unskilled labour is used, it is preferable that it be from the local area, as workers are then more accountable to the community. Even in the case of skills more specific to the technology, if

140 members of the community are trained and are seen by the community to benefit in terms of skills transfer this will assist in acceptance of the ABT. Involving communities from the outset of the project, so that they can assist in selecting candidates for training, through either their councillors or municipally-led selection processes, is recommended.

iii. Political will, funding and intergovernmental cooperation

To encourage the roll-out of ABT houses, and remove the difficulties faced in delivering ABT rather than brick, a separate funding stream for ABT housing should be considered, which would increase the motivation for officials to choose ABT, and for this to be supported by politicians.

There needs to be political will to drive the process of delivery of ABTs, addressing related issues such as transportation and access. For example, in Ngqeleni in the Eastern Cape, access is extremely difficult as there are no roads in many areas. In order to develop ABT housing projects at scale, improved access is needed.

iv. Tenure and allocation of houses

Linked to the above, issues around tenure, how people are allocated houses, and how they are rolled out to communities affect perceptions. These need to be addressed prior to construction to ensure acceptance of the project, and to reduce problems. Having different types of subsidy houses in one community may cause problems as people compare experiences, so keeping the roll-out of the same type of house across a community is recommended.

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145 Table: Interviews conducted

Name Organisation Job title Date

Mr Vuyisani Moss NHFC 7^th April, 2011

Ms Lerato Khumalo NHBRC Structural

Engineer Mr. Tshivhasa Eastern Cape Provincial

Government, DHS Mr Brian Verwey Western Cape Provincial

Government, DHS

Architect 23^rd March, 2011

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