There are a number of implications of the informality of land use rules in Mozambican cities. It is difficult to provide services to these areas as there has been construction in roadways and drainage lines and on land reserved for services. There is an increasing tendency for informal settlements to occupy environmentally sensitive areas and, in the larger cities, for relocation of lower income residents from land close to the urban core out to the fringe, though their survival strategies depend on being close to the core. Lower income residents tend to be pushed towards land that is more susceptible to flooding and erosion. There is also declining security of tenure: this discourages residents of informal settlements from investing in their properties, though some residents respond to insecurity by building in more durable materials as they assume this will make it more difficult to remove them. So, although the formal land access process is a barrier, it has been overcome by being ignored. However this leads to widespread unplanned occupation, often in inappropriate locations, which will have long term social, economic and environmental consequences.

The aim of the proposed project is to explore some of the effects of civil war on different household types in one of Luanda most populous peri-urban area. The project will assess how households headed by women and men respond to adversity and secure their livelihoods in an environment of conflict, economic decline and social disparities.  More specifically, this project will provide empirical data on the situation of children in the different household type for micro development interventions in a peace building and reconstruction phase. Against this background, the aims of the present project is to more accurately assess through the cases of Luanda’s peri-urban area, how conflict situation may have impacted positively or negatively on family arrangements and subsequently on households unit headed by women. Given the fact that the bulk of gender and development literature portray women-headed households as being over-represented among the poorest segment of the population, as being more vulnerable than their counterparts in male-headed household, and as being bad for children, it seems important to test whether these assumptions hold in the case of Luanda peri-urban area.

This study presents quantitative and qualitative findings gathered in the peri-urban areas of Luanda from December 2001 to January 2002 by Development Workshop.  The study aimed to trace the profile of households encountered in the area with a particular attention to female-headed households.  The attention given to gender is due to the few existing studies in this area and the importance to assess households dynamics through a gender lens. Thus, the study attempted to answer a set of questions regarding the living conditions of household heads and children in particular in female-headed and male-headed households in regards to education, nutrition and involvement in economic activities to assess whether there is a transmission of disadvantages to children.

O estudo de base deu-se particular atenção à situação dos assentamentos humanos no período pós-guerra, evolução da sua configuração física, demografia, composição da sua população, acesso dos recursos naturais com a agua e florestas, situação económica, reincerção e reintegração de famílias regressadas e ainda oportunidades e riscos para a população. Devido à falta de material bibliográfico sobre o município de Katchiungo, a abordagem de recolha de dados para este perfil teve um carácter exploratório. Procurou-se, sempre quanto possível, ir para além da simples descrição das características e inventariação dos sectores sociais. Deu-se também ênfase às dinâmicas de acesso aos recursos como factor fundamental na análise dos meios de vida, nos desafios da reintegração social e nas diferenças ou níveis de desigualdade social.

Este projecto teve como objectivo geral de contribuir ao desenvolvimento rural do Município de Cachiungo através de duas componentes de actividades, nomeadamente: 1) Um mapeamento de direitos à terra nas comunidades dentro da comuna de Chiumbo, registando os limites comunitários. Este mapeamento servirá como base de prevenção de potenciais conflitos entre comunidades (residentes, retornados deslocados internos e desmobilizados) e fazendeiros comerciais. 2) Actividades de extensão rural em comunidades na mesma comuna, utilizando as capacidades do Centro Quissala, através do estabelecimento de terrenos comunitários para a produção e para a demonstração de técnicas de agricultura localmente adaptadas.