Check out this post from our partner organization Habitat for Humanity about World Habitat Day and the work they do to ensure affordable housing around the world and to help shape policies such as secure tenure.

-Margaret McDonnell

I just returned from Madagascar where I talked with a new homeowner and mother of four named Rebeka. Not too long ago she and her husband paid rent for a poorly maintained, tiny house that flooded during the rainy season, making sanitary conditions a nightmare. However, because the landlord refused to make improvements, the family did not want to invest in repairing the house for fear they would be evicted.

They now own a Habitat for Humanity house, and their mortgage is about the same as the previous rent. Secure tenure is one of the crucial issues for which Habitat for Humanity was advocating this week on World Habitat Day. It doesn’t make sense to build homes on land where families are not confident they can stay.

The day I met Rebeka, she was out clearing lots for future homeowners with more than 200 other people in the community. Those whose homes were already complete said they were grateful and that they wanted others to have the same chance they had. They wanted to make friends and show they were part of the community.

I also visited the Moramanga community, which is an urban slum upgrading project. Millions of Malagasy people live in poorly built, overcrowded houses (less than 20 square meters for an average household), without water and sanitation. This project developed by Habitat for Humanity of Madagascar, is aimed at giving people hope for a better life by constructing or renovating houses for 315 families, improving access to water and sanitation for 1,528 people, creating temporary jobs for 75 workers per year and training beneficiaries and local leaders on maintenance and management of the public infrastructures.

I was struck by the impact of simply building banked stone pathways to replace the narrow, muddy walkways. While this was not a traditional method for Habitat to serve families, I can see how the pathways have made a huge, positive impact on the village in the dry season. I can only imagine what the benefit will be when the rains come through.

Habitat for Humanity has provided shelter for more than 1.5 million people around the world since its founding in 1976. However, it is still unacceptable that 1.6 billion people around the world are living in substandard housing and that a billion people live in urban slums.

Habitat for Humanity believes that homeownership for low-income families is worth defending. Habitat homeowners make financial investments in their homes, which they also help build. Often improvements at one or two homes lead to positive changes for an entire area.

Go to our web site to learn more about our work in Madagascar and to discover ways that you can help families there and in other locations have a simple, decent place in which to live. Consider volunteering locally or going on a Global Village trip. Help us Build Louder by becoming an advocate for affordable housing around the world and helping to shape policies such as secure tenure.

-Jonathan T.M. Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International

Find out more by reading a new report called “The Shelter Report 2010: The Case for Low-income Homeowners.” This is a useful tool for those looking to understand the importance of owning a home. Full copies and an executive summary are available for download.

A few months ago, we noted a significant move on the part of South Korea to begin growing crops in Madagascar, a move that would address the duel challenge of recent food price increases and a shortage of cropland at home. We wanted to provide you with some additional information on the topic. ONE will continue tracking this trend and bring you future updates.

Excerpts below, full piece here

“These deals can be purely commercial ventures on one level, but sitting behind it is often a food security imperative backed by a government,” said Carl Atkin, a consultant at Bidwells Agribusiness, a Cambridge firm helping to arrange some of the big international land deals.

Madagascar’s government said that an environmental impact assessment would have to be carried out before the Daewoo deal could be approved, but it welcomed the investment. The massive lease is the largest so far in an accelerating number of land deals that have been arranged since the surge in food prices late last year.

“In the context of arable land sales, this is unprecedented,” Atkin said. “We’re used to seeing 100,000-hectare sales. This is more than 10 times as much.”

-Chris Scott

Some interesting news from the world of agriculture and development: last week South Korea announced plans to plant corn in Madagascar, reflecting a growing trend in the region to secure cropland abroad to address the duel challenge of recent food price increases and a shortage of cropland at home.

Daewoo Logistics, a South Korean company best known for its automobile production, has secured rights to develop 1.3 million hectares in Madagascar; 1 million will be used to grow corn and 300,000 will be used for palm oil production. This scheme will enable Daewoo to produce 10,000 tons of corn in 2010 and 5 million tons of corn annually – more than half of South Korea’s annual need – once the land is fully developed, which will take about 15 years. Daewoo plans to manage its plantations directly and use labor from South Africa.

The area that Daewoo will be planting in Madagascar is approximately equivalent to 240 large US farms. Currently, South Korea imports corn primarily from the US. In 2007 the US harvested approximately 37 million hectares of corn, and is expected to harvest about 32 million in 2008.

South Korea is one of several countries following the trend of developing agricultural commodities abroad. Companies in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Kuwait have done the same. Especially considering the fear of decreasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Africa because of the global economic crisis, new investments like South Korea’s are encouraging for Africa’s economic climate. It is unclear, however, why Daewoo intends to staff their farms with South Africans rather than local people from Madagascar.

-Beth Adler