ABSTRACT
Urban growth in Botswana in the mid to late 1970s was proceeding at a very high, 12 percent, rate. To respond to this situation, the government of Botswana had invited the US foreign assistance arm, the Agency for International Development (AID), to help. The request for an educational/promotional description of the self-help shelter and urban upgrading program was made jointly by the Botswana government and the AID Office of Housing and Urban Development. Because of the success of the effort, the clients—the Botswana Ministry of Local Government and Lands and AID—asked the author organization to document this shelter and upgrading program. The purpose of such a document was both promotional and educational: It informed other developing country planning officials, as well as donor agencies, of the technical, social, and administrative processes developed for reaching low-income populations in the delivery of economically feasible and socioculturally acceptable housing and community improvement programs.
