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Development Action Group (DAG) is a leading non-profit organisation working throughout South Africa to fight poverty and promote integrated urban environments. DAG supports communities in need of adequate housing to lead, and engage with, their own development and influences State policy and practice through partnerships, research, training and lobbying activities.
DAG has an established and successful track record in land negotiation and acquisition processes, in-situ upgrading, and the implementation of community-led housing developments.
Over the past twenty two years DAG has developed a wealth of experience in working with poor and marginalised communities.
For further information, please contact Kathy Aranes, Office Manager, on +27 21 448 7886 or e-mail
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Recent Updates
Friends of DAG seminar - Upcoming
The next Friends of DAG seminar will be held in February 2010. The seminar entitled: Integrating the Marginalised: How can People’s Housing Process (PHP) facilitate the poor’s Right to the City, will include keynote speeches from the Department of Human Settlements, City of Cape Town, DAG and a representative from a local community organisation engaged in PHP. The seminar promises an in-depth discussion among key stakeholders on how self-help housing could act as an impetus and a creative tool to address housing challenges in urban centres in a fully participatory way. Speakers, dates and venues are still to be confirmed. Watch this space for more details.
Advocacy Roundtable: lessons in social mobilisation and advocacy
18 and 19 November 09. DAG’s Advocacy Roundtable was held this week as a preliminary activity in the lead up to the National Conference. The event successfully brought together a diverse group of civil society organisations, NGO’s and social movements to collectively assess lessons and emerging opportunities for social mobilisation and advocacy at a local and national level within South Africa. The lessons learnt from the Advocacy Roundtable will be used to develop guidelines on best practice in social mobilisation and advocacy in the context of access to well located serviced land for marginalised citizens. This will be presented at DAG’s National Conference on the Right to the City in 2010. A report on the Roundtable will follow shortly.
Global Land Tool Network of UN-Habitat agrees to co-host DAG’s Right to the City Conference
9 November 09. DAG is pleased to announce that the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) of UN-Habitat has agreed to co-host DAG’s ‘Right to the City’ Conference in September/October 2010. The conference will draw together a range of stakeholders from government, grassroots civil society,NGOs, research and academic institutions, and international development agencies. The event will showcase examples of national and international best practice in urban land management, and explore how these can be adapted to a South African context or support better practice. The conference will be informed by the World Urban Forum conference to be held in Brazil n 2010. Further details on the conference will follow.
Freedom Park celebrates completion of self-help housing project
5 November 09. Executive Major Alderman Dan Plato joined DAG to celebrate the completion of 493 houses in Freedom Park, Mitchell’s Plain. DAG has been working in Freedom Park for more than 10 years supporting the community to lobby for secure tenure, basic services and initiate and complete a People’s Housing Process project. Read the full press release and news articles here
Innovation in Land and Property Taxation: GLTN Regional Conference
15 and 16 October 09. DAG was invited to participate in the UN-Habitat Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) regional conference in Warsaw, Poland on 15 and 16th October 2009. DAG was the only Southern NGO to present a paper at the conference, entitled: Financing affordable housing and infrastructure in cities: towards innovative land and property taxation system. DAG’s paper focussed on land and property tax as a means to access housing, land and infrastructure in the South African context. The conference was an opportunity to learn and exchange lessons on policies and mechanisms in land and property taxation, to develop DAG’s networks with international experts in the field and garner international support for DAG’s research, lobbying an advocacy work in value capture and urban land management. Download the paper and presentation here.
Who Benefits from 2010 World Cup? German Journalists visit
15 October 09. A group of journalists for German’s major newspapers, international development and sports magazines joined DAG on a visit to some of Cape Town’s townships and temporary location areas to ask the question “who really benefits from the World Cup 2010?”. Some of the reflections from our community partners were enlightening. Digging deeper we found some frightening statistics on just how excusive ‘world class cities’ are in the run up to such ‘mega events’. Read full details here
Minister for Housing visits DAG’s Khayelitsha housing project
6 October 09. The Western Cape Provincial Minister for Housing, Bonginkosi Madikizela joined DAG on a visit to DAG’s People’s Housing Process (PHP) project in Khayelitsha last week. DAG is working in partnership with the Provincial Ministry of Housing and the communities of Khayelitsha to deliver 2371 houses in ten self-help housing projects, which were previously blocked due to mismanagement of funds. The project also facilitates skills training, job creation and local economic development.
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