Urban Informality In Mzuzu City, Malawi. Informal Settlements As Sources Of Informal Livelihoods And Social Networks

This study focuses on urban informality in Mzuzu City, Malawi in particular how social andphysical spaces in informal settlements support the livelihoods of poor households. One hundredhouseholds were drawn using purposive sampling method. A triangulation method was used tocollect data. Questionnaires, in depth interviews and focus group discussions were used to collectboth quantitative and qualitative data. Elite interviews were used to collect data fromacademicians, officials from Mzuzu City council and block leaders. The study relied more onqualitative than quantitative methods of data collection so as to allow participants to think freelyand elaborate their views without prejudice because most studies perceive informal settlementsas spaces of poverty and desperation. Furthermore informal livelihoods strategies are labeled assurvival strategies that are vulnerable to collapse. Thus, perceptions, motivations, attitudes andexperiences of households were important for determining how they use their own logic andrationality to survive in a contemporary society.The results show that although informal settlements conjure up a metaphor of poor livingconditions that compromise the vision of a modern city, they support the livelihoods of poorhouseholds in Mzuzu City. Home based enterprises and informal security systems support thelivelihoods of poor households in Mzuzu City. However, like street vending, home basedenterprises are a negotiated and contested economic opportunity. Households who operate homebased enterprises struggle to create spaces of income generating activities in dwellings that wereconstructed for domestic use. In addition the organisation and management of home basedenterprises have revealed that the binary treatment of a household unit into women ashousewives and men as bread winners leads to the exploitation of women because they do notcontrol the distribution of the revenue raised through home based enterprises.Results further indicate that informal security systems are still supporting the livelihoods of poorhouseholds. This is done by studying the various forms of social networks which exist ininformal settlements of Mzuzu City. The study reveals that poor households in Mzuzu City relymore on bonding social networks than bridging and linking social networks. Although thecollaborative efforts of poor households have been threatened by the commodification of urbanlife, the moral economy continues supporting their livelihoods. The study establishes that whilethe material motive sustains informal security systems, non material motives are equally crucialfor sustaining bonding social networks. The discourse of social capital is seen to be rooted intoinformal livelihood strategies such as home based enterprises. While home based enterprises aresupported by bonding social networks, home based enterprises provide the glue that keepbonding social networks intact in a market based economy where individualism is expected to behigh. It is, therefore, problematic to measure the success or failure of informal livelihoods tocushion the urban poor from poverty using modern theories and models of urban development because poor households use their own logic and rationality so as to survive in a societyperceived to be modern.