What is Habitat for Humanity Zambia?
Habitat for Humanity Zambia (HFHZ) is part of a world-wide non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry focused on eliminating poverty by providing simple, decent houses with families in need and to make shelter a matter of conscience and action. HFHZ invites people from all walks of life regardless of faith, race, gender or political affiliation to work together in partnership to help build houses with families in need. Habitat for Humanity Zambia has already built over 1680 houses.
How does the programme work? HFHZ motivates community groups to organise themselves into self-help housing co-operatives. Communities and families fund-raise to purchase building materials. Families are then selected by a local committee to receive a loan of building materials to construct their houses. People assist one other with the construction of the house and repay the loan into the Revolving Fund for Humanity so that another family can be helped. HFHZ provides construction funds only to communities who have undertaken local fund-raising initiatives and are reliably repaying their house loans.
Simple, decent, affordable houses
To keep the house cost low enough for needy families, houses are of a two-room design with a ventilated pit latrine. They do not include electricity, running water or telephone lines. Additions or renovations can be built once the entire loan has been settled.
Cost Issues
HFHZ houses cater for low income families and no profit is included in the sale price with no interest charged on the mortgage. The maximum house cost is between the equivalent values of 120 to 300 bags of cement. The loan is given in the form of building materials. As different materials are issued they are converted into their equivalent in bags of cement. Upon house completion, each homeowner will owe a certain number of bags of cement that must be repaid within a 10 year period. To guarantee adequacy of resources to build other houses, mortgage payments are calculated at the current price of cement when the payment is made.
Important facts about HFH
1. HFHZ is not a handout/ giveaway programme.
Homeowners are required to pay back their entire loan. Families who fail to pay will have their houses repossessed and reallocated to another eligible family. This ensures that more families get the opportunity to build their own house.
1. HFHZ requires extensive community participation.
Homeowners provide all labour for their own and their neighbour’s houses through volunteer labour, called “Sweat Equity”. This work includes moulding and/or firing bricks, construction and all other unskilled labour.
1. Volunteer Local Committee.
A locally elected committee who serves voluntarily without pay or any other benefits runs the affiliate. The local committee is responsible for all project operations including fund-raising, selecting families to receive houses, community educationon HFHZ, construction supervision and administration.
How are families selected?
Families in need apply to the local HFHZ affiliate. After application reviews and making house visits, the affiliate family selection committee selects a number of potential homeowners. Homeowners are chosen according to their level of need, their willingness to build their house and the houses of others, and their ability to repay the loan. Those chosen families will then participate in a raffle to decide which families will be assisted first. Every affiliate follows a non-discriminatory policy for family selection. Neither race nor religion is a factor in choosing the families who will receive HFHZ houses.
Training and education
Communities enter into a comprehensive training and education programme even before they are officially approved by HFHZ. This programme is supported through the national office based in Lusaka, and has a successful track record in supporting and developing communities in empowerment and self sustainability.
National and International volunteers
HFHZ welcomes and encourages volunteers. Over the years HFHZ has hosted groups of national and international volunteers for participation in house construction with local communities. In past years groups from USA and Ireland have built houses in Chanyanya, Chisumbu and Chisamba.
HFHZ fosters an environment where groups of people can meet and develop a shared understanding, knowledge and respect while building houses and developing communities with families in need.
Where does Habitat for Humanity Zambia operate?
HFHZ first came to Chanyanya in 1984, and has since expanded to other parts of the country.
1984 Chanyanya - Kafue Rural
1993 Chisamba - Central Province
1994 Chisumbu - Central Province
1996 Ndola - Copperbelt Province
2000 Magoye - Mazabuka/ Monze Area
2000 PADA - Lusaka Rural
2000 Kaoma - Western Province
2000 Mufumbwe - North Western Prov. 2000 Nakansangwe - Near Monze
2001 Ibenga - Luanshya Rural
2002 Nkwazi - Ndola
2002 Katete - Between Lusaka and
Chisamba
2004 Tiyende Pamodzi - Lusaka
2005 Chazanga - Lusaka
MAP OF ZAMBIA
Habitat for Humanity Zambia
P.0 Box 34987 Lusaka, Zambia
1st Floor Impala House ChaChaCha Road, Northend
Tel: +260 211 232249 Tel/Fax: +260 211 232250
hfhzam@zamnet.zm
Website: http://www.habitatzam.org.zm