Neftaly: Gender Equality in Backyard Partnerships in Informal Settlements

Introduction

In the growing urban landscape of informal settlements, backyard partnerships—housing arrangements where additional dwellings are built behind or alongside existing homes—are a vital source of affordable shelter for low-income residents. However, while these arrangements offer flexible housing solutions, they often reflect and reinforce existing gender inequalities.

Women, particularly in informal settlements, are among the most vulnerable to housing insecurity, lack of legal protection, and unequal access to resources. Achieving gender equality within backyard partnership models is essential to ensuring that both landlords and tenants—regardless of gender—can benefit from safe, dignified, and equitable living conditions.

At Neftaly, we advocate for backyard partnerships that are not only structurally safe and economically viable but also socially just and inclusive. This means actively addressing gender disparities and ensuring women’s voices, rights, and needs are recognized in every stage of the housing process.

Why Gender Equality Matters in Backyard Housing

In informal settlements, gender-based inequalities manifest in several ways:

• Women are more likely to be backyard tenants than landlords, often living in insecure, overcrowded, or poorly maintained structures.
• Female-headed households frequently struggle with limited income and lack of legal rights to land or property.
• Unwritten rental agreements can expose women tenants to sudden evictions, exploitation, or harassment.
• Social norms and safety concerns can limit women’s mobility, participation in decision-making, and access to services.
• Women working as informal backyard landlords may lack technical or legal support to build safe and compliant units.

Addressing these challenges is not only a matter of rights—it is critical to strengthening urban resilience, improving housing quality, and reducing poverty.

Key Areas for Promoting Gender Equality in Backyard Partnerships

✅ 1. Secure Tenure for Women

• Promote the inclusion of women’s names on rental agreements and land documents.
• Support legal aid and dispute resolution services to help women assert tenancy rights.
• Advocate for co-ownership models where spouses or family members share legal control of property.

✅ 2. Inclusive Policy and Legal Frameworks

• Push for gender-sensitive housing policies that protect women tenants and landlords in informal arrangements.
• Ensure backyard housing upgrades and legalization programs prioritize female-headed households.
• Work with local authorities to include gender equality goals in urban planning and informal settlement upgrading.

✅ 3. Safety and Protection from Gender-Based Violence

• Promote the design of backyard units with adequate lighting, privacy, and secure locks.
• Train landlords and tenants on tenant rights, anti-harassment policies, and dispute resolution.
• Partner with women’s organizations to address gender-based violence in housing contexts.

✅ 4. Economic Empowerment of Women

• Provide financial literacy training for women landlords and tenants.
• Facilitate access to microloans or subsidies for women to improve or expand backyard units.
• Support women entrepreneurs operating home-based businesses in backyard settings.

✅ 5. Community Engagement and Leadership

• Encourage the formation of women-led tenant and landlord associations.
• Include women in all stages of planning and decision-making on backyard housing projects.
• Promote peer learning networks where women share best practices and support each other.

Neftaly’s Approach to Gender Equality

At Neftaly, we incorporate gender equality into all aspects of our support for backyard partnerships. Our initiatives include:

• Gender-sensitive training programs for community members, landlords, and builders
• Partnerships with women’s rights organizations to address legal and safety issues
• Development of tenant agreements that include clauses protecting women’s rights
• Inclusive design templates that account for privacy, safety, and accessibility
• Data collection disaggregated by gender to track equity in access, security, and satisfaction

Success Factors for Gender-Responsive Backyard Partnerships

To achieve gender equality in backyard housing, stakeholders must:

• Recognize women as key stakeholders—both as tenants and potential landlords
• Address intersecting vulnerabilities such as poverty, disability, or single parenthood
• Design programs with women’s input to ensure they meet real needs
• Ensure fair access to resources, legal protection, and decision-making power
• Challenge discriminatory norms that limit women’s housing rights

Conclusion

Backyard partnerships are a vital part of the housing ecosystem in informal settlements. But without an intentional focus on gender equality, they risk reinforcing the very inequities they aim to solve. At Neftaly, we believe that creating safer, fairer, and more inclusive backyard housing models starts with empowering women as leaders, landlords, tenants, and community members.

By embedding gender equality into policy, design, finance, and legal frameworks, we can ensure backyard partnerships are not just a housing solution—but a tool for urban justice and social transformation.