Examining Urban Poverty, Inequalities and Human Capability Development In The Context of Adjustment: The Case of Vingunguti and Buguruni Settlements, Dar-es-Salaam

This study on “Examining Urban Poverty, Inequalities and Human Capability Development in the Context of Adjustment: The Case of Vingunguti and Buguruni Settlements, Dar-es-salaam” has investigated the association between three interrelated variables, namely human capability development levels in relation to urban housing and health conditions. It demonstrates how the three variables are associated in determining urban poverty levels. The study used the human capability approach to describe/explain how access to key capabilities enable individuals to function in ways that could improve their quality of life. This includes improving housing and health conditions. A background to the problem of the study led to isolation of social inequalities in housing and health conditions among households as key variables associated with urban poverty in the context of Tanzania and other Least Developed Countries. Empirical findings of the study showed there was positive correlation between low human capability development levels and poverty in housing and health conditions among households. Levels of education attained, access to participation in the urban informal sector, access to credit, assets and vocational skills and levels of income were main factors found to influence effectiveness of households to improve their housing and health conditions. The study recommends the need for urban policy planning and poverty reduction strategies, most notably MKUKUTA II and successor strategies to factor-in social inequalities and human capabilities analysis. It further recommends effective adoption of key measures to develop, repair and sustain human capabilities. The measures recommended include access to participation in the urban informal sector, credit services to the urban poor, upgrading skills through vocational training