A co-production model for human settlements in South Africa

Abstract

This study is a basic research study in the area of human settlements, with a specific focus on housing. The study argues that the current state-led and contractor-driven model of delivering housing is efficient, but not effective. The study further argues that from an input perspective and by design, the model for housing delivery and human settlements development must include the participation of beneficiaries.

The study proposes the construct of co-production which has an inherent value of user involvement, to enhance public housing delivery outcomes in South Africa. This study explores co-production as a necessary alternative method of delivering public housing, because through co-production the government would be able to tap into the abundance of human assets. Kenya and Zimbabwe have been selected as examples of international best practice on co-producing housing with its citizens. Kenya and Zimbabwe have used co-production as a method of addressing the housing crisis which emanated from informality.

This study seeks to fill a gap that exists in literature by getting the perspective of public service officials, in particular the members of the Human Settlements Technical MinMEC led by the Director-General for Human Settlements in South Africa, and the community representatives including Non-Governmental Organisations, Civil Society Organisations and grassroots movements on the co-production concept. Engagement with the selected population sample seeks to analyse the attitude of public service officials about the concept of co-production, explore the willingness of citizens to co-produce housing, and to recommend a model for co-production of human settlements in South Africa.

The study uses Grounded Theory as an inductive, bottom-up qualitative research design to generate a human settlements co-production model from empirical evidence. The data collection method for this study was interviews. Data was analysed using a thematic analysis process on ATLAS.ti.