Creating Age-Friendly Informal Settlements? Challenges to Enabling Health and Well-being for Older People in Informal Urban Harare

Care and caring among ageing migrant workers in two informal settlements in Harare

“…This research took place in two informal settlements, Gunhill and Dzivarasekwa Extension (DZ-Ext), identified as representative of informal urban environments and development in the capital city, Harare (Ncube, 2022; for a broader discussion of the housing context of informal settlements, see Matamanda, 2020;Chavunduka and Chaonwa-Gaza, 2021). The project sought to understand the abilities of older people living in informality to absorb, contribute, provide services, establish networks and extend the margins of the urban system to new levels of robustness.…”

“…It had a major economic, social, political and institutional impact on Zimbabwean society. Older people were one of the main categories of vulnerable victims who lost their homes and livelihoods, entrenching them in informal spaces of urban poverty and uncertainty (Ncube, 2022). Evidence from people who experienced OM suggests that front-line operatives required those affected by the evictions to produce formal identification that traced back to their rural roots for accommodation (Ncube and Nhapi, 2022).…”

“…In 2014, there were said to be 52 households (DS and ZHPF, 2014), with families from the Mashonaland Central and East provinces in Zimbabwe, and immigrants from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. The settlement started in 1973 as a coping strategy by the urban homeless (DS and ZHPF, 2014) and became home for people who could not afford high rents or who lost their homes during OM in 2005 (Ncube, 2022), with older people a part of the Gunhill community from the early days. On average, a family of four share a single room, which doubles as a bedroom, kitchen and living room (DS and ZHPF, 2014).…”

“…There is a growing body of scholarly research on the lives of older people in Zimbabwe showing ageing to be a major risk factor for social work and care (Nyanguru, 2007;Gutsa and Chingarande, 2009;Hungwe, 2011), climate change SPECIAL ISSUE • Family care of older people in Southern Africa (Gutsa, 2017), social welfare and housing (Ncube and Nhapi, 2022), and living in conditions of informality (Ncube, 2022). However, while displacement and migration profoundly shape the lived experiences of older people, older migrants remain largely invisible in this literature (Daimon, 2014;Bhanye, 2022;Chadambuka and Helliker, 2022;Hungwe, 2022).…”