Livelihood Opportunities Through Informal Housing in the New Capital City of Dodoma, Tanzania

Abstract
Between March 2008 and March 2009 we conducted a desk study and field work on informal and low cost housing endeavours undertaken by building artisans in the new capital city of Dodoma in Tanzania. The study focused on the livelihood opportunities that can be derived from the informal housing building sub-sector as semi-skilled artisans’ grapple with the realities of unmet housing needs of the designated capital city of Tanzania. The argument is that there is a market for construction of low-cost housing in informal settlements in the new capital city even though these settlements are beset with problems of lack of legal tenure, poor infrastructure and sanitation. It is further argued that informal construction work offers possibilities for employment and income earning for semi-skilled artisans. It was felt that a detailed study of informal housing building would provide a better understanding of the key factors and trends affecting the livelihood opportunities of people in the sub-sector and the expectation was that the findings would enlighten on the phenomenon and stimulate policy debates on how the sub-sector can be developed sustainably considering the fate of those concerned. The results show that the subsector could contribute immensely in the construction of the new capital city as well as improving the livelihoods of the practitioners if only they were well organised in cooperatives, enabled capacity-wise and training and given legal recognition.
Description
Keywords
Artisan, Building, Capital, City, Dodoma, Informal, Housing, Livelihoods, Policies, Poverty, Settlements, Sub-sector, SWOT, Tanzania, Theory, Urbanisation, Vulnerability
Citation
Makalle, A.M., Mesaki, S. and Victor, M.A., 2011. Livelihood Opportunities Through Informal Housing in the New Capital City of Dodoma, Tanzania/MOYENS DE SUBSISTANCE GRACE A L'HABITAT INFORMEL DU JOURNAL. Cross-Cultural Communication, 7(4), p.104.