The Luanda Urban Poverty Programme (LUPP) is a major programme of DFID working in partnership with One World Action. Since 1999, LUPP has been working with local authorities and citizens to address issues of urban poverty and provide basic services in Luanda.
Citizenship and Services for the Urban Poor’ by Lucy Earle shares the remarkable achievements of the Luanda Urban Poverty Programme.We have also brought the programme to life through the images of the internationally acclaimed photographer Tim Hetherington who was tragically killed in Misrata, Libya while covering the conflict in April 2011.
In late 1990s Angola the Civil War was still omnipresent and the population of Luanda, its capital city, was growing significantly.The majority of women, men and children were living in the musseques, the peri-urban settlements which surround the ‘concrete city’ which had practically no access to services such as health, water and sanitation.Water in the musseques was largely untreated river water, brought in by trucks and sold by vendors at very high prices. It was not uncommon for families to spend a quarter of their income on this water, meaning less for food, health needs and schooling.The health statistics of Angola were among the worst in the world. A quarter of children died before their fifth birthday, water-related diseases being a major cause.
National and local government budgets were focussing on the war.There were also very limited opportunities and spaces for citizens to have a voice in decisions that affected their lives and livelihoods.There were few community-based organisations and limited and weak local governance and government structures. This is the context in which the Luanda Urban Poverty Programme was developed and eventually begun in 1999
One World Action has been central to the LUPP since it began in 1999 when DFID began its support. We have worked throughout in partnership with our long term partner in Angola, Development Workshop.
The UN Habitat Best Practice and Local Leadership Award
The Award is given to outstanding initiatives every two years by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or UN-HABITAT, the United Nations agency for human settlements.. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.
LUPP was one of the ten winners for 2010, cited for Best Practices that have made outstanding contributions to improving the quality of life in cities and communities around the world. The winners for 2010 were announced in Dubai on the 4th of November 2010.
Among LUPP's achievements: Community-managed standposts provided clean water to 74,000 residents, reduced the cost of water by up to 20 times, and doubled the quantity of water used by each individual to reach minimum recommended levels. Community-organised and operated creches are being replicated in all 18 provinces throughout the country. Government ministries have adopted the LUPP model of community management, which has proven to be very effective in providing and maintaining urban services.
LUPP created and transformed a microfinance project into KixiCredito, the first non-bank microfinance institution in Angola. KixiCredito has 13,000 clients (62% women), total cumulative loans of US$70 million (since 1999), with a 98% repayment rate in 2009.
The UN Habitat Best Practice and Local Leadership Award is testimony to the significant impact and results achieved by the Luanda Urban Poverty Programme and that it is “a concrete solution to the problems faced by communities”.
