In July 2019, we conducted a needs assessment of the Kamatipa community. Below
is an extract from the report.
Kitwe is the second largest city in Zambia.
The city covers a total area of 777 square kilometers stretching from the south where it is
bordered
by Ndola and Luanshya, upto the north where it is bordered by Mufulira and Kalulushi Districts.
Because of its centrality and proximity to other districts, Kitwe is aptly called the 'Hub of
the
Copperbelt' (KCC 2002a).
There are a number of low-income and informal settlements in Kitwe.
Kamatipa Community, which is a selected area for the assessment is among the list of informal
settlement and low-income communities in Kitwe on the Copperbelt Province.
It occupies a total area of 131.64 hectares of state land north of Kitwe (KCC 2002a).
In addition, Kamatipa has the population of 19,050 with 3,175 number of households (CSO, 2011).
Kamatipa community is characterised by high levels of poverty compared to other places in Kitwe.
The community faces a lot of challenges ranging from poverty, sanitation, unsafe clean drinking
water and air pollution. Garbage collection is another problem, people throw plastics, papers
and
waste food anywhere due to lack of services from the Kitwe municipal council.
Furthermore, the community lacks other necessities like children’s play parks, kindergartens,
health
services (health post) and security (police post).
The community has high unemployment levels, overcrowding and poor standard of houses.
The area is basically a residential area with a few economic activities taking place such as
trading
at markets, welding, and carpentry activities.
We have plans to do a bit more work on the assessment report on Kamatipa.
If you would like to buy a copy of the report, or would like to fund further work on the report,
please email us at [email protected].