The original fishing community of Hout
Bay currently resides in Hangberg, a suburb on the
slopes of the Sentinal mountain, reaching down to the
Harbour.
However due to overfishing, the fish
stocks have dwindled and the community cannot sustain
their livelihoods. Therefore new options have to be
explored to create new job opportunities and better
living conditions.
The
Development Action Group is very active in
Hangberg and is currently implementing an informal
settlement upgrade for 360 households. The project will
be implemented in partnership with the community based
organisation and the local authority, the City of Cape
Town. The project will demonstrate that a
community-based in situ upgrading approach has a greater
chance of protecting and enhancing local livelihoods, as
well as integrating the settlement into the broader
area.
Development Action Group (DAG) promotes pro-poor and
participatory urban development. It influences urban
development policy and practice whilst helping poor
people triumph over the effects that poverty and
apartheid planning continue to have on their living
conditions. DAG partners with communities, using
training and other programmes to build capacity and
assist people to expand and make use of the resources
available to them. DAG also contributes to urban
development discourse through its research programme,
and influences policy and development practice through
all its work and through partnerships with government.
‘Interneuron’
is another group working in Hout Bay, investigating
projects that are financially viable in order to be
sustainable. Support for new local businesses in a
safer, greener and tourist friendly environment is being
looked into.
The HB waterfront Development Plan is
being investigated to encourage new business and job
opportunities nearby the community which will erase the
need to travel far to work.
A community Arts Centre is the in the
pipeline with various arts/crafts and NGO’s getting
involved.
Envirochild’s ‘Greening HB’ project is
assisting the school in Hangberg to create a garden
including veggies, flowers and trees. This will be a
worthwhile endeavour as the children will be learning
how to grow food in small spaces, e.g. container
gardens.
