Women’s Livelihoods: Socio-Economic Implications of 2014 Slum Clearances. The Case of Namuwongo and Banda Slums, Kampala

This study examines the lives of some women slum-dwellers in Kampala who have faced threats or actual evictions, notably in 2014 in the slums of Namuwongo and Banda in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The study suggests that slum women displaced find themselves more than ever unable to improve or maintain their own socio-economic status and livelihoods. Fieldwork, based on almost thirty interviews with a range of stakeholders, revealed the limitations of available formal and informal income-generating activities for displaced slum women. Their livelihood options were confined to charcoal selling, local brewing, vegetable hawking and prostitution, forms of economic activities that do not necessarily offer the women any way out of their economic and livelihood insecurity. This study found that poor socio-economic conditions faced in slum areas worsened for almost all the women, because of the way slum demolitions were handled. Empirical findings of the study suggest no compensation was provided, and there was no rehousing. There are now few prospects for legal or other redress for the women most affected, because they lacked property rights in slum areas. As a result, their indebted situations have worsened and so have the coping strategies. In addition to finding the women have been disempowered in terms of socio-economic status, by the slum demolitions, the study also highlights the government’s responsibility in relation to poor women, who should also have a “right to the city”.