**2.4 Including urban informality for sustainable housing**

The initiatives taken by the people in the informal settlements to help in the management of waste is therefore a very noble initiative that can be adopted by Masvingo city for sustainable waste management. The city can support these initiatives by providing protective clothes and availing simple machines that are affordable to the urban poor, [33]. Asibay *et al.* [33] further argued that there is need to create synages between the people in informal settlements and city authorities for effective participatory waste management in informal settlements. Participatory waste, management approaches provided an opportunity for integration and inclusion of informal settlements into the city-wide development interventions [34]. The inclusion will therefore lead to sustainable housing, because sustainable housing promotes inclusivity, [12, 15, 35]. These participatory initiatives could also be supported through injecting financial resources that will see informal settlements being included in city budgets for collection of waste. Such initiatives will result in inclusion of informal settlements in waste collection services of the city and this will go a long way in creating safe and livable spaces in the informal settlements. Participatory waste management practices are also a sustainable way of managing the environment in the city where there is promotion of locals in the management of waste. The people in the informal sector can be critical players in waste management and their participation in waste management is an essential component of sustainable development, [34, 36]. Hahn [36] further argued that there are great opportunities in involving the urban poor in development initiatives but these opportunities are often neglected and this has resulted in unsustainable development. Such participatory approaches in waste management are glaringly missing in the city of Masvingo because they city is not supporting local initiatives in waste management. This is therefore not sustainable because sustainable development gives that all the people the chance to contribute their ideas in development [22, 23]. The people in the informal settlements in Masvingo city have initiated a lot of initiatives to address problems of waste management in their areas but these initiatives are not complimented by the city of Masvingo, hence they have remained rudimental and ineffective. For example the city can come to collect all the waste that has been heaped at various points and transport it to dumping site, or even build communal waste collection centers in informal settlement for collection of waste generated in informal settlements. These centers will collect waste in the informal settlements that will later transported to designated dumping sites by the city. Such partnerships

will help to create safe environments not only for the people in the informal settlements but also for the city as a whole. In addition such efforts will go a long way in giving the people in the informal settlements their rights to environmental justice and access to city services [29].
