Urban In-migration and Migrants' Welfare in Informal Urban Settlements in Uganda

Concern over the over-urbanization of the Third World tends to portray urban growth as due mainly to rural-urban migration. This is seen as an indicator of regional and sectoral distortions in patterns of development as well... [ view full abstract ]

Concern over the over-urbanization of the Third World tends to portray urban growth as due mainly to rural-urban migration. This is seen as an indicator of regional and sectoral distortions in patterns of development as well as the origin of practical administrative difficulties in planning urban public services, and a possible source of social unrest in the cities. Such alarmism is often unjustified since natural increase is usually the primary reason for urban growth, which has also been fastest where urbanization has resulted in widespread policies designed to limit urban growth and control rural-urban migration on the grounds of migrants’ pressure on already insufficient housing and infrastructure. These policies usually have little impact aside from lowering welfare, especially for the poor people.Urbanisation in Uganda is affected by population dynamics in urban population growth andinternal migration, persistent rural poverty that causes people to migrate to the city to improve their livelihood, political/civil insecurity in some parts of the country, and re-gazetting of some urban areas.
Rapid population Growth and rural urban migration continue to cause housing shortage in Uganda’s urban areas especially Kampala city. The National housing and Construction Company and the private sector developers have only been able to meet a small share of housing demand. The Uganda Population and Housing census estimates a backlog of approximately 83,000 houses in Kampala and 85 percent of her population live in informal settlements. The housing challenge is exacerbated by the complex land tenure system where the constitution vested land ownership to residents with urban authorities no longer holding statutory leases.
From the 2005/06 Uganda national household survey, the labour force of Uganda stood at 10.9 million with the annual growth rate of 3.6 percent. Open unemployment is found mainly in urban areas ( 6.4 percent), while visible underemployment is highest among those with no formal education (12 percent) and Primary education(13percent). The youth unemployment rates exceed the adult unemployment rates This paper is an attempt to assess the urban in-migrants in Kampala’s informal settlements and their welfare, with particular attention to the ways in which they have been affected by recent and current economic, social and cultural transformations. In this study, researchers will examine the welfare effects of informal settlement dwellers in Kampala.
The methodological approach for this study is discussing Kampala’s informal settlement environment by looking at low-income earners’ access to welfare services in Kampala under conditions of rapid population growth and social services demand, rising land prices and growing poverty. Further, the methodology involves studying and evaluation of literature and archival documents from different sources on Kampala’s informal settlements and welfare environment of the dwellers, as well as conducting interviews with key persons from Kampala City Council, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and scholars on the subject.