Building Homes and Communities Since 1984!

PROGRAM REPORT 2015

ROOFTOPS CANADA ABRI INTERNATIONAL

      ROOFTOPS CANADA – ABRI INTERNATIONAL   3

We are also saddened by the recent loss of Mark Goldblatt, a long term friend and co-founder of Rooftops Canada. Mark’s vision led to our enduring relationship with the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. It provides an annual core contribution which Mark felt was necessary to ensure that we would always be able to operate.

Rooftops Canada is very appreciative of our 2011-16 program partnership with Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada. This program has helped over 2,500 families access land and housing in Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe where it has leveraged over $50 million in GNP growth. Rooftops Canada and its African partners have also been able to refine a model for sustainable housing enterprises that assist urban poor households to build safe and well-managed communities. We look forward to renewing our partnership with the Government of Canada and extending this approach to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years.

In 2016, we will end our ten-year capacity building relationship with the National Association of Social Housing Organizations in South Africa. With the

help of Canadian social housing groups and technical advisors, it has become an equal member of the global social housing community.

We are also very proud of the progress our African partners have made integrating gender equality, responses to HIV and increasing urban food security into their housing activities. Most of this work is now based on peer learning and sharing experiences which will help ensure it continues.

We are very thankful for the hundreds of volunteers and Canadian organizations that contribute to our work by hosting overseas study visitors, providing technical assistance overseas and educating Canadians about international development. We would also like to thank our past Board members Catherine Boucher, Celine Carrière, Kit Hickey and Mark Aston for their many contributions.

This report highlights some of our results and successes. To learn more, please subscribe to our monthly e-bulletin and social media channels. And, visit our website which has many reports and partner stories.

FROM THE

ROOFTOPS

JO FERRIS-DAVIES, PRESIDENT

BARRY PINSKY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

This year, we are very pleased to be celebrating both our recent achievements and Rooftops Canada’s 30 years of building homes and communities across the globe.

4   PROGRAM UPDATE       ROOFTOPS CANADA – ABRI INTERNATIONAL   5

PRO-POOR HOUSING ENTERPRISES: BOOSTING GNP & CREATING JOBS

$54.6MILLIONTotal economic

impact since 2011

2,851Houses completed / under

construction by end of 2014

For many years, housing systems and policies have been stacked against the urban poor in Africa. But, Rooftops Canada and its African partners are refi ning a housing enterprise model that is allowing thousands of families from the bottom 40 percent of the income pyramid to access decent housing.

Rooftops Canada is helping NACHU develop small scale water enterprises to serve housing co-ops.

Since 2011, partners in Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe have carried out $18.2 million in land and housing development, with a total economic impact of $54.6 million. By the end of 2014, 2,851 core houses were completed or under construction, and 214 more housing sites were available, providing opportunities for 15,325 women, men and children, and creating 5,650 person-years of employment.

Th e model works by mobilizing savings and loans to buy land and build a simple, aff ordable core house with water and sanitation that can generate income from room rental and home-based businesses. It promotes small labour-intensive businesses using simple construction technologies that absorb low-skilled workers and create employment for women and youth. After paying off the fi rst loan, families can extend their houses room-by-room with further loans.

Huge strides made in pro-poor housing fi nance are also critical to the model’s success. In South Africa, the Kuyasa Fund has provided over 42,000 housing loans, mostly to women-led families. Sharlet Poole from the B.C. credit union system has been advising Kuyasa on management of its growing network of branches. Rooftops Canada is also piloting specialized revolving loan funds to fi nance small community water companies, youth-led green businesses in Kenya, and land banking in Tanzania. Loans from ONPHA, CHF BC and CHF Canada have allowed WAT Human Settlements Trust to purchase land for 1,184 housing sites. In addition, a growing partnership with ReAll UK has leveraged signifi cant investment and capacity building resources.

Going forward, Rooftops Canada will work with ReAll UK to help existing partners scale up for future growth and extend the pro-poor housing enterprise model to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PRO-POOR HOUSING ENTERPRISE:FINANCIAL FLOWS

Community/ Co-op

Enterprise Holding

Company

COMMUNITY

FINANCE &

LEN

DIN

GLAN

D & HO

USING

DE

VE

LOPM

ENT

Bridge FinanceLand Banking

Take Out LoanFinance/Equity

Investment

Group/Individual LoansProjects

LoanRepayment

Loan

Repayment

DEVELOPMENT

5,650Person-years of

employment

6   PROGRAM UPDATE

URBAN FOOD & HOUSING SPACES

For 10 years, Mazingira Institute has supported the Nairobi and Environs Food Security, Agriculture, and Livestock Forum (NEFSALF) which has trained hundreds of urban farmers, especially women and youth, to produce and market food in the city. A recent Mazingira Institute study is providing useful data on where the trainees are applying their new urban agriculture skills in relation to where they live. Advocacy work has encouraged the new Nairobi City County government to support the expansion of urban agriculture. Th e County may soon be the testing ground for an urban food course being developed by program partners in Nairobi, Cape Town and Toronto. It will build on case studies from the three cities to

Rooftops Canada and its partners in Kenya and South Africa are helping farmers, young and old, to make the most of limited space in the city to grow food and keep small livestock to improve nutrition and earn much needed income.

help municipal offi cials more eff ectively facilitate urban food activities.

A pilot project between Mazingira Institute and another Rooftops Canada partner, Kenya’s National Cooperative Housing Union (NACHU), has encouraged women housing cooperators to join NEFSALF, while NEFSALF farmers have formed housing co-ops with NACHU’s support.

Mazingira Institute creatively uses media to spread the word about urban agriculture.

Rooftops Canada teamed up the Institute and Paul Lang of Icon Media to produce an excellent series of instructive videos. Th ese can be viewed on the Rooftops Canada website.

Not all of the innovation is happening in Kenya. Barbara Emanuel and Brian Cook from Toronto Public Health helped start a project with Soil For Life (SFL) in Cape Town to develop a phone app to monitor progress among more than 750 urban gardeners trained by SFL. Th e app also provides much needed information on the relationship between housing spaces and urban agriculture. SFL representatives visited Mazingira Institute in 2014 as a fi rst step to sharing the app. Organizations

that support urban farming in Toronto will also help in its further development and distribution. And, Rooftops Canada is sharing urban agriculture resources and experience with housing partner organizations in Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

In 2016, one of Rooftops Canada’s most enduring international relationships will undergo an important transition when we wrap up capacity building work in South Africa. Rooftops Canada has stood by its South African partners during times of enormous change from the fi nal years of the apartheid struggle to the present. An

important milestone was helping create the National Association of Social Housing Organizations (NASHO) in 2002.

Today, NASHO supports 19 member organizations providing social housing to 27,000 low-income families. Th e social housing sector is reshaping South African cities by providing well located aff ordable rental housing. Th is includes managing housing in tough inner city neighbourhoods like Hillbrow in Johannesburg. Josie Adler, a Rooftops Canada advisor, has brought together private landlords and three NASHO social housing institutions to reclaim several local parks. Th e city will upgrade facilities and surrounding property owners will provide 24 hour security.

REGENERATING CITIES: SOCIAL HOUSING IN SOUTH AFRICA

      ROOFTOPS CANADA – ABRI INTERNATIONAL   7

750Urban Gardeners in Cape Town whose

progress is tracked by Soil for Life.

Nairobi’s Sara Itambo (middle) with Toronto young urban farmers.

Social housing groups are leading the e� ort to reclaim Johannesburg’s Hillbrow neighbourhood.

8   PROGRAM UPDATE       ROOFTOPS CANADA – ABRI INTERNATIONAL   9

NACHU in Kenya trains housing co-op volunteers on home based care and behaviour change. MES provides outreach services, clinic and home based care in inner city Johannesburg. In Cameroon, CONGEH promotes behaviour change and improved access to land and housing for women and PLHIV. And, in Tanzania, WAT is developing housing with and for PLHIV.

In September 2014, 27 representatives from housing groups in eight Sub-Saharan African countries and Canada participated in a three-day workshop in Johannesburg,

While there is cause for hope in the struggle against HIV and AIDS, the virus still has Sub-Saharan Africa fi rmly in its grip. With less than 15% of the world’s population, the region accounts for more than 70% of AIDS-related deaths and is home to 25 million people living with HIV (PLHIV).

Rooftops Canada and its partners in Sub-Saharan Africa have been pioneers in identifying and responding to the critical links between housing and HIV. Rapid urbanization has resulted in dense slums where HIV prevalence and transmission remain higher than national rates.

Infection rates are propelled by high levels of gender violence, and overcrowding and inadequate water and sanitation services

lead to opportunistic infections that challenge already compromised immune systems. Poor transportation to limited medical facilities reduces adherence to life saving drug therapies, increasing mortality among PLHIV in slums.

Our partners are pursuing the long-term responses – developing and advocating for good housing and functioning communities that help slow transmission and provide secure places for PLHIV to live and address their health issues. In the interim, there has been success confronting stigma, unfair inheritance and property rights, and in building links with HIV and AIDS organizations. In Zimbabwe, HIV and AIDS support groups in district co-op housing unions receive training on gender awareness, female leadership, property rights, and income generating activities.

CONFRONTING THE LINKS BETWEENHOUSING & HIV

Many NASHO members are world class and have been sharing their experiences through the Ontario Non-Profi t Housing Association’s large provider forums. In 2014, NASHO and local government representatives visited Toronto social housing projects and attended the Urban Regeneration Forum, while Canadian supporters visited NASHO and its

2014 regional workshop in Johannesburg.

REGENERATING CITIES: SOCIAL HOUSING IN SOUTH AFRICA CONT.

members. Gavin Wiseman from Cape Town reported that “Th is reinforced the need for partnerships to improve

development models through eff ective use of City land resources and clustering social services with social housing in regeneration areas.”

Ottawa’s Steve Pomeroy and Karen Hemmingson of BC Housing have been helping NASHO better track members’ performance and develop long-term fi nancial models for social housing. Rooftops Canada is also assisting with an evaluation of the sector which should promote its long-term growth and sustainability.

Visiting the innovative Wits University HIV inner city health project.

27,000Low-income families are provided with

social housing through NASHO

South Africa, on HIV, AIDS and housing. Co-hosted by Rooftops Canada, We Eff ect Southern Africa and MES Johannesburg, the participants shared experiences and profi ted from capacity building sessions. Each participant prepared an action plan and contributed to a regional action plan. Th e participants also celebrated recent success in establishing housing as one of the key social drivers of HIV on the UNAIDS agenda.

Rooftops Canada advisor, Josie Adler, working with security and parks personnel hired by local property owners.

Development support may be ending, but the relationship between housing organizations in Canada and South Africa will continue as equal members of the global social housing community.

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30 YEARSBY THE NUMBERS

• $36 million to build capacity for housing projects and programs

• 37 program countries

• 100s of overseas and Canadian partner organizations

• 515 technical assistance missions

• 154 young professionals in 15 countries

• 335 study visitors to Canada from 21 countries

• $500+ million in housing and economic development

• Tens of thousands of families with better homes and communities

In its three decades of service, Rooftops Canada has dedicated itself to helping partner organizations around the world provide secure land and aff ordable shelter for poor and disadvantaged urban families.

And while bricks and mortar are an important measure of that eff ort, the real focus is on people – bringing them together to form safe, inclusive and supportive communities.

In pursuing its mission, Rooftops Canada has built its own international community of partners, volunteers, supporters and activists, and has linked them into the broader global community of people dedicated to improving living conditions and livelihoods for the world’s poorest people.

IT’S ABOUT COMMUNITY

ROOFTOPS CANADA

AT

(above) 1985: Kenya Our fi rst project, Kariobangi Housing Co-op

“Congratulations to Rooftops Canada on thirty years of amazing work in the African region.”

Davinder Lamba, ED, Mazingira Institute

“Around the world, we are all grappling with challenges of ensuring people have access to aff ordable housing. We appreciate Rooftops Canada’s eff orts to make it possible for groups a world away to share ideas and best practices and inspire us all to think diff erently.”

Shelagh Turner, Chair and Tony Roy, ED, British Columbia Non-Profi t Housing Association

“CHF Canada congratulates Rooftops Canada on 30 years of ground-breaking work on housing in the developing world. CHF Canada is proud to be Rooftops Canada’s founding partner!”

Nicholas Gazzard, ED, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada

“CHRA is proud to be one of your Canadian partners. Congratulations Rooftops Canada for assisting families - especially women, children and youth - in Sub-Saharan Africa to build housing and prosperous communities!”

Jody Ciufo, ED, Canadian Housing and Renewal Association

“We are proud to be partners with Rooftops Canada in addressing the global lack of sustainable and aff ordable housing. Working together will help us to fi nd new solutions.”

Sharad Kerur, ED, ONPHA

“Thank you to everyone involved with Rooftops Canada for your dedication, hard work and contributions to our vision of providing shelter delivery services to Kenya’s housing co-op movement.”

National Cooperative Housing Union, Kenya

“NASHO is very pleased to have shared ten years of your 30 years work in Africa. Your concerted support has strengthened our ability to infl uence the development of a growing and sustainable social housing sector in South Africa.”

Malcolm McCarthy, ED, National Association of Social Housing Organizations

COMMENTS FROM MEMBERS OF THEROOFTOPS CANADA COMMUNITY:

1992 Zimbabwe: James McGregor, our fi rst long term TA.

1998 Cape Town: First of over 8,000 families moving into “Hostels to Homes” project.

2015 Kampala: Helping the Uganda Co-op Alliance develop its housing program.

12   PROGRAM UPDATE       ROOFTOPS CANADA – ABRI INTERNATIONAL   13

Since 2013, fi fteen representatives from partners in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya were hosted by co-op and social housing groups in eight Canadian cities. Here are a few comments from those conversations:

“We were impressed by the community inclusion and how everyone, regardless of their physical condition, participated in the aff airs of their co-op.”

Thembinkosi Sibanda, ZINAHCO, Zimbabwe

“Touring our co-op with our visitors and seeing it afresh through their eyes reminded me of how beautiful Coady Housing Co-op is and how lucky I am to live here.”

Carol Evoy, Ottawa

“We learned from Toronto’s social housing experience the evolutionary process where strategies and issues are always changing and being adjusted. eThekwini is new and needs to respond to the changing context of South Africa.”

Smangele Moloi, eThekwini Municipality, South Africa

In 2014, delegates from Rooftops Canada’s two national and three provincial housing partners exchanged knowledge and experiences with partners in Kenya and South Africa. Th ese are some of their insights:

“I was so inspired by the resilience and pride of the people I met. They do so much for themselves without the social services we take for granted.”

Heather Tillock, CHRA

“I was struck to fi nd that Africans and Canadians were having the same conversations about food security, environmental sustainability and aff ordable housing.”

Janet Kreda, Rooftops Canada supporter

“I felt that there was a lot we could learn from their methods and approaches that are used in a diffi cult fi nancial environment.”

Hugh Lawson, ONPHA

“I was overwhelmed by the shocking conditions and extreme poverty, but also inspired by the people who are so committed to building better communities.”

Keith Moyer, CHF Canada

South African visitors sharing urban regeneration experiences at Regent Park, Toronto.

Canadians sharing approaches to social housing with Communicare, Cape Town.

2013 2014

CONVERSATIONSBETWEEN

CONTINENTS

Rooftops CanadaExchanges &Partnerships

Interesting conversations happen when people from diff erent cultures and continents meet. When those people share a common commitment to fair and equitable housing the conversations go much deeper, fostering global understanding and partnership.

14   PROGRAM UPDATE       ROOFTOPS CANADA – ABRI INTERNATIONAL   15

OUR DONORS, VOLUNTEERS AND SUPPORTERSRooftops Canada is grateful to our generous donors and volunteers. Special thanks are due to the 67 fundraisers who helped us support youth green enterprises and water projects in Kenya. We are also very grateful to the more than 250 Canadian and international organizations that contributed expertise and funding to our overseas program. Please see our website for a complete list of supporters.

AN EVOLVING GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPOur growing partnership with ReAll UK has provided over $10 million to our African partners for land and housing and has created valuable links with ReAll partners in both the North and the South.

ROOFTOPS CANADAINTERNATIONAL SERVICE AWARDCongratulations to Ramsay Heights Co-operative Housing in Calgary, Coady Housing Co-operative of Ottawa, and Sound Advice Consulting Co-operative, also from Ottawa – winners of the 2013 and 2014 Rooftops Canada International Service Awards which recognize Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada members for their outstanding contribution to international development.

OUR CANADIAN PARTNERSRooftops Canada is privileged to celebrate our 30th year of building homes and communities with the wonderful support of six Canadian housing partners: the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada; the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association; the Ontario, British Columbia and New Brunswick Non-Profi t Housing Associations; and, la Confédération québécoise des coopératives d’habitation. Th ese

organizations and their members provide policy direction as well as fi nancial and in-kind contributions to Rooftops Canada.

Rooftops Canada is also very appreciative of the long-standing program partnership and fi nancial support from the Government of Canada though the Department of Foreign Aff airs, Trade and Development.

FINANCIAL REPORT

Thank you to all of our partners, donors, supporters, and volunteers. Our successes are also your successes!

REVENUES 2013-14 2012-13

Donations $ 190,926 $ 235,773

DFATD $ 1,108,262 $ 1,188,935

Other $ 88,886 $ 174,139

Total Revenues $ 1,388,074 $ 1,598,847

EXPENSES

Overseas Program $ 1,214,311 $ 1,425,889

Education $ 81,571 $ 67,597

Fundraising $ 77,562 $ 62,610

Operations (Net) $ 22,818 $ 30,967

Total Expenses $ 1,396,262 $ 1,587,063

Operating Surplus/ Loss $ - 8,188 $ 11,784

Operating Fund $ 231,166 $ 239,354

Catherine Boucher (middle front), has been advising fi ve rapidly growing NASHO members.

Kerilyn Gravelle, (L) President, Coady Housing Co-op, Ottawa receiving the 2014 award.

ROOFTOPS CANADA

720 Spadina Avenue, Suite 313Toronto, ON CanadaM5S 2T9

Tel: +416-366-1445

Fax: +416-366-3876

info@rooftops.ca

www.rooftops.ca

ABRI INTERNATIONAL

CP 67023 LemoyneSaint-Lambert QC CanadaJ4R 2T8

Tél: +450-671-1245

Téléc: +450-671-3520

info@abri.ca

www.abri.ca

www.rooftops.caRooftops Canada – Abri International is the international development

program of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada; the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association; the Ontario, New Brunswick and

British Columbia Non-Profi t Housing Associations; and la Confédération québécoise des cooperatives d’habitation.

Cette mise à jour du programme est également disponible en français.

Veuillez en faire la demande à info@abri.ca