The Informal Striving to Formalize Operations for Survival: The Example of Two Women Housing Cooperatives in Harare, Zimbabwe

This paper seeks to examine and analyze the tension between formal institutions and informal institutions assessing explanatory factors regarding successful access to housing by the urban poor in Zimbabwe. The paper provides an anecdotal assessment on issues of the state opening up space for non-state actors, and, how these housing cooperatives have strived to formalize their operations while others have used party politics for development and ‘survival’. A literature review and case study of selected women housing cooperatives in Harare (Tashinga and Joshua Nkomo), was guided by the following research question: Is the success of the housing co-operatives mostly a function of patronage or that of a formalized structure that allows for transparency and accountability