This federation is a grassroots movement, which means that citizens develop initiatives instead of policymakers. Until now the government used a top-down approach, building middle or high-cost housing which did not address the low-cost housing deficit. PPHPZ clearly reflects the bottom-up vision of William Easterly. In this way the entrepreneurial activities of the citizens are developed and the conditions that are seen as problems by the citizens will be solved. Through this strategy the outcome of the projects are more sustainable and will contribute to an overall development of the country. PPHPZ and ZHPPF focuses primarily on urban and peri-urban poor families, because there the housing need is particularly pronounced.
The strategy of PPHPZ is defined by means of their vision. This vision is interpreted in three different missions to provide guidelines for the practical work. These missions are (N’Cube, 2013);
- Supporting the Zambia Homeless and Poor People’s Federation (ZHPPF) in their fight against poverty and homelessness
- Supporting poor urban communities to plan and implement their own solutions to the challenges of inadequate land, housing and infrastructure provision.
- Advocating for changes in housing policy and practice at local and national level.
Impoverished Zambian urban and peri-urban households resent their bad housing conditions. PPHPZ and ZHPPF recognize this resentment and want to change these conditions together with these households. PPHPZ does not want to create an externalistic, aid-dependent attitude but tries to create an informed critical mass. They try to achieve this by supporting poor families in construction activities and through knowledge diffusion. In this way PPHPZ tries to guide poor families in taking effective steps to solve all the social ills bothering these families. Until now families supported by PPHPZ have come together to work on their own development through collective community led approaches.
PPHPZ has a few areas of expertise which are; water and sanitation, community development, housing and slum upgrading. ZHPPF has nowadays 48.000 members distributed among 42 communities. Since 2005, PPHPZ did not only provided technical support but they also mobilizes financial resources, through grassroots savings groups, to support the members in the Zambian Federation. Besides this, they also promote and ease the partnerships with local authorities, the central government, NGOs, CBOs and other relevant stakeholders. As a recognised NGO PPHPZ is better equipped to negotiate effectively with such stakeholders, than poor families are themselves.