Abstract
Over a half of Angola’s urban population live in slums where they face challenges including overcrowding, insecure tenure, and a lack of basic services. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this demographic is left particularly vulnerable. However, insufficient data about the living conditions and real needs of these settlements make designing appropriate policies difficult. It is for this reason that the NGO Development Workshop (DW) with the support of UN-Habitat Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP) conducted a community-based research study, wanting to explore the impacts of the pandemic on communities in Angola’s informal settlements (musseques) and aiming to enrich the scholarship on informal urban settlements in the Global South in the times of COVID-19. Telephonic interviews were conducted with over 1600 slum dwellers in the country’s 18 provinces, although the study sample was weighted toward major urban centers where COVID-19 transmission is highest. The impact of the pandemic on the family’ economy was assessed, as well as difficulties with securing goods and services. The study examined people’s perceptions of the government COVID-19 mitigation strategies and the degree to which households received emergency support during the pandemic (from the government and other sources). While unemployment rates did not increase significantly among slum dwellers (likely because those already engaged in the informal economy continued to work despite declining returns), overall income decreased and expenses increased sharply, leaving families more vulnerable and with little to no extra help. The article closes with an outline of a strategy for participatory slum upgrading in the context of the pandemic, proposing a set of community-based initiatives that could lead to increased resilience in face of the current public health crisis, and to sustainable upgrading practices in the long run.
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Notes
- 1.
Development Workshop Angola, founded in 1981, is Angola’s oldest NGO. Present on the ground throughout most of Angola’s independence, civil war and reconstruction years, DW has been involved in both humanitarian and development initiatives. Its current focus is on challenges related to Angola’s rapid urbanization, including land tenure, and water and sanitation.
- 2.
https://www.globalgoals.org/11-sustainable-cities-and-communities, accessed on June 3, 2021.
- 3.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.SLUM.UR.ZS?locations=AO, accessed on June 11, 2021.
- 4.
- 5.
https://www.cisp.gov.ao:10443/en/provincias/, accessed on June 1st, 2021.
- 6.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, accessed on May 29, 2021.
- 7.
In June 2021, the cheapest individual test cost 6000 kwanza (cca $9.35), a prohibitive price for most of the population. Free tests are occasionally available when mass testing is done (in markets, place of work etc.), or when a person was in direct contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case, but often the test results would not be available even after 72 h.
- 8.
https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog/832m, accessed on June 13, 2021.
- 9.
Because of official restrictions on movement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we could not verify this hypothesis on the ground by interviewing within people’s homes.
- 10.
The following question about employment was asked: “What is your current working condition?” with the following options: (a) Employee (b) Self-employed (c) I lost my job during the pandemic (d) Unemployed already before the pandemic. No question was asked about the formality of the given employment.
- 11.
https://www.dw.com/pt-002/o-desemprego-est%C3%A1-mesmo-A-baixar-em-angola/a-56533545, accessed on June 13, 2021.
- 12.
https://expansao.co.ao/artigo/144334/angola-perdeu-467-mil-postos-de-trabalho-formais-em-2020-?seccao=exp_mercm, accessed on June 13, 2021.
- 13.
- 14.
Hunger Hotspots Report, March 2021, FAO—WFP.
- 15.
Huambo province traditionally enjoys a somewhat better access to water due to its rainy highland climate. Nevertheless, access to clean water remains a challenge.
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Acknowledgements
This article is based on a study made possible with the support of UN-Habitat Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme, with funding from the European Union. It was first presented at the 4th annual ICCCASU conference in Montréal, Canada in July 2021 (online).
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Ngombe, M., Domingos, J., Cain, A. (2023). COVID-19 in Angola’s Slums: Providing Evidence and a Roadmap for Participatory Slum Upgrading in Pandemic Times. In: Zhang, L., Kanini Wamuchiru, E., Meutchehe Ngomsi, C.A. (eds) The City in an Era of Cascading Risks. City Development: Issues and Best Practices. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2050-1_4
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