Lesotho

A high, landlocked country surrounded by the Republic of South Africa, Lesotho has a small population and an economy which is largely dependent on migrant labour. The capital, Maseru, has a population of 65,000 although this is expected to double in ten years. All land is vested in the King and until recently was allocated by committees chaired by chiefs. The 1979 Land Act provides for 99-year leaseholds which may be mortgaged and inherited. Self-help housing projects have been run since 1975 by the Lower Income Housing Company (LEHCO-OP) a non-profit State-owned company which acts as a technical service organization and whose operations are overseen by the Ministry of Interior. There is no local government, though a Local Government Act is in preparation. LEHCO-OP, which provides newly serviced sites with subleases, is divided into Community, Technical, Administration, Accounts, and Production Systems sections. The Production Systems Section is the manufacturing arm of the company, producing up to 2,000 concrete blocks per day, plus door and window frames and other joinery. About 1,750 plots have been provided or are underway from LEHCO-OP from capital provided by the UN, World Bank or the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Training is provided for project beneficiaries, and this is described in one of the Training Case Studies. Staff training is done within LEHCO-OP using a training manual and working groups which generate material for the manual. Projects are small and, initially, staffing has been good in relation to numbers of plots, providing ideal circumstances for learning on the job. Staff also go out for formal training at various places including ARDHI Institute in Tanzania, and to Gaborone for training on small entrepreneur management, and there is a World Bank Training Project for regional exchange between three countries.