Briefs
Asivikelane Western Cape Brief 1: Knysna communities pave the way for female-friendly sanitation
March, 2023
ASIVIKELANE WESTERN CAPE is laying the foundation for female-friendly sanitation in Knysna’s informal settlements. Asivikelane Community Facilitators carried out an initiative for separate toilets for males and females across three informal settlements and their efforts are helping to make sanitation safer for women and children.
Brief 8: Spacial data and adequate fault reporting can improve maintenance of informal settlement taps and toilets
November, 2022
One of the biggest challenges affecting access to basic sanitation in informal settlements is poor repairs and maintenance. While there are informal settlements with no access to taps and toilets – several settlements have fewer taps and toilets to the ratio of residents – what is worse is that majority of these are unusable because they are either broken or blocked.
Brief 7: Why do metros not maintain taps and toilets in informal settlements?
November, 2021
45% of residents living in informal settlements surveyed said that when taps or toilets break, they are never fixed. We take a look into what the possible reasons behind this lack of maintenance are.
Brief 6: water services provided to informal settlements in Emalahleni local municipality
December, 2020
Planact and IBP South Africa conducted a community monitoring exercise in which we compared the information in the water schedule with the experiences of the residents in the settlements.
Brief 5: Improving the lives of women in informal settlements starts with fixing basic services
November 2, 2020
Exposure to social, economic and health risks is common when living in informal settlements, but gender inequalities result in a lack of basic services disproportionately affecting the lives of women and girls.
Brief 4: What the metros say they are doing about basic services in informal settlements in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic
June 26, 2020
This brief summarizes what metros have reported for the delivery of basic services – water, sanitation, refuse collection and soap or sanitizer – in informal settlements, as well as what they reported in terms of food parcels or other forms of nutritional support for households.
Brief 3: Government food security initiatives in the time of the coronavirus
June 25, 2020
This brief presents information collected during May 2020 about the food security initiatives and plans of government and the Solidarity Fund, particularly with regard to the provision of food parcels and food vouchers.
Brief 2: Access to basic sanitation during COVID-19 in the City of Cape Town
June 2, 2020
Over recent weeks, the Western Cape has emerged as the epicentre of the COVID-19 virus. On 26 May, the province accounted for 65.2% of South Africa’s 24,264 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Many of these residents rely on shared water and sanitation facilities or have limited access to water and sanitation, making them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Sub-districts such as Tygerberg, Khayelitsha, and Southern – home to many informal settlements – have emerged as COVID-19 hotspots.
Brief 1: Basic sanitation and Covid-19 in the City of Johannesburg
May 20, 2020
Over half a million of Johannesburg’s 5.8 million people live in 181 informal settlements. The number of COVID-19 cases in the city increased rapidly from 971 on 6 May to 1,153 on 15 May, a jump of 20 percent in less than two weeks. Shared water and toilet facilities make Johannesburg’s informal settlement residents extremely vulnerable to infection. Residents participating in the Asivikelane initiative have reported dire water and sanitation problems over the last six weeks. Their efforts to engage with the city have met with a slow response.