**2. Study approach**

256 Urban Development

communication action. These are common features, which triggers the transformation needs of cooperative development and land use planning in urban development agenda in both

In both countries of the world stated above, Tanzania inclusive, cooperatives have traversed two stages namely state control and liberalization (Bottelberge, P *et al*, 2010). The former, cooperatives were created by government as part of their populistnationalist strategies for nation building, rather than by people's own common interests and motivation or by market demands. Such strategies were often enthusiastically supported by international donors who preferred to work through governments (Hofstede, G., 1994). From the early nineties, cooperatives entered the era of liberalization, which required them to be run on business principles and in line with the evolving market economy. The questions of analyzing member based assets including land as mortgage was a driving feature in both financial and agriculture cooperative in this era. The understanding cooperatives and land use planning nexus in empowering member based in accessing financial resources as well as improving ecological environment in both urban and rural setting was and still a demand in our communities. Betts *et all*.,(2002) support by showing the potential of community involvement in management of forest land and urban environment. The authors indicate that private forest land owner, can utilize cooperative ecosystem based management guidelines to own land property. Cooperative are found to be less growth oriented but use natural resources inputs more efficiently and therefore makes members come out of poverty

The SSA countries in which we work exhibit a wide range of social and political systems, stages of economic evolution and cultural legacies. Yet in each, the need for collective action

However, by organizing cooperatives and participatory land use planning approaches, farmers and entrepreneurs can mobilize capital, pool knowledge, achieve economies of scale and foster vertical integration. They can create greater leverage in the marketplace and policy arena, attract business service providers and more efficiently link to urban and export markets. Such disciplined groups not only catalyze local economic growth, they may serve as a vehicle for more equitable community land use planning and improve members income and level of productivity in the city economy. Likewise, they develop human capital, encourage the participation of women and youth in development activities including farmers' decision making, fostering democracy and entrepreneurship for organizational and

In pursuing factors for sustainable urban development agenda, the question of cooperative development and land use planning linkage therefore are essentials. However, towards enhancing city's productivity and attraction of foreign investment, understanding social solidarity economy is inevitable. The social solidarity economy in this context refers to collective practices that contribute to building a more just and egalitarian world hence contributing to sustainable development. The practice grows in a global perspective, by linking economy to society, local to global, labour to investment, and production, consumption and the environment. Thus, it becomes an engine for development and plays an increasingly important role in meeting needs that are not adequately addressed by the

to address shared problems is evident, particularly in rural and resource-poor areas.

membership development within the social solidarity economy context.

developed and developing countries.

in poor resource areas (Booth,D.,E, 1995; Delveltere *et al*., 2008)

A descriptive research design has been adapted for this study, which was complemented by exploratory devise to capture elements that relate to knowledge and opinions of relevant actors in land use planning processes and cooperative development context. Himo Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (SACCOS) and Himo community led land use planning

Cooperative Development and Land Use Planning Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa:

**Kitotoloni** 

Table 1. Number and Location of respondents in the case study

the local authority to effect and accommodate various changes.

are depicted in Table 1.

Source: Field Data (2010-March 2011)

service provision.

**3.2.1 Himo SACCOS** 

**3. Results, discussion and synthesis** 

**3.1 Factors for the growth of Himo settlement** 

**Participant's Category** 

A Quest for Socio Solidarity Economy and Partnership in Sustainable Urban Development 259

A number of respondents who participated in providing data and information for this study

Respondents 90 10 15 7 20 30 172 Informants 5 4 6 5 2 3 25 FGDs 14 5 12 8 3 4 46 Interviews 3 2 11 10 2 4 32 In-depth Interviews 6 4 3 2 1 1 17 **Total 118 25 47 32 28 42 292** 

Himo is an area which is transforming from agricultural land use to urban area. Formally Himo was initially a sisal estate known as Voi estate established in 1929 and in 1940s. It then pooled people from various parts of Tanzania as well as other countries such as Kenya and Burundi. The services located to serve the estates and job in sisal cutting attracted people to live in the area. From late 1970s to the late 1990s, Himo became a centre of a thriving smuggling trade across the border exchanging agricultural produce from Tanzania for manufactured goods from Kenya. As a matter of fact this contributed to the rapid growth of Himo town especially in the 1970s and 1980s. This also facilitated construction activities and therefore increased land use changes and needs beyond planned development including

Inadequate formal provisions of surveyed and serviced plots, decreasing urban farming land in the city of Moshi Municipality and limiting residents to sustain their livelihoods have catalyzed the growth of Himo settlement. The growth of Moshi Municipality has been diverted to these small townships. A report obtained from the planning office during field work showed that from 1998 to 2002, 1,368 plot applications were received, and out of these a total of 415 applicants (30%) were from Moshi Municipality. In August 2008, more than 3,500 people were looking for land as applicants. This shows that the growth of Moshi town is to some extent being diverted to small townships surrounding it. Consequently, proper land use allocations through involving land use planning becomes an essential mission for

**3.2 Essence and emergence of Himo SACCOS and land use planning projects** 

Changes of Himo settlement into Township led to decreasing land for farming on the one hand which on the other hand motivated people to get organized into groups including

**Village Himo SACCOS Farmers association** 

Men Women Men Women Men Women

**group members** 

**Total Respondents** 

project were taken as case studies in Moshi Rural District Council. A list of SACCOS, urban farming association groups and informal settlements involved in land use planning project in Moshi were obtained and used as sample frame in selection of the study areas. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from both primary and secondary data sources, where a total of 292 respondents were involved in this study (Table 1). The study employed qualitative data collection approach with periodic use of quantitative data gathered to enable the use of information from different sources for the purpose of triangulation. The mix of qualitative and quantitative data collection approach was preferred so as to enhance the search for different types of information from diverse sources to capture the existing relationships, partnership, values and contribution of land use planning and cooperative development in poverty reduction effort in urban development agenda.
