Participatory enumerations at the national level in Namibia: the Community Land Information Programme (CLIP)
This paper describes how the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia developed the capacity to undertake enumerations and mapping of informal settlements and, with support from the national government and a local NGO, developed the Community Land Information Programme. Through this initiative, the federation has profiled and mapped all of the informal settlements in Namibia, covering more than 500,000 people without secure land tenure and setting a significant precedent in terms of the ability of the federation to work at scale. For each settlement, a profile was developed by the residents that stimulated discussions of their priorities and also discussions with government. In the second phase, the residents of informal settlements were supported to undertake more detailed enumerations and mapping to identify development priorities and provide the information needed for development initiatives. The paper describes how this was done in a case study of an informal settlement in Swakopmund municipality and ends with a discussion of what has been learned, especially with regard to keeping the process rooted in the concerns and priorities of the residents of each settlement.