159 Paradza and Chirisa: Current Housing consortium in Harare HOUSING COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS IN ZIMBABWE: A CASE STUDY OF CURRENT HOUSING CONSORTIUM IN BUDIRIRO, HARARE PARTSOn PARADZA InnOCEnT ChIRISA Abstract Keywords: housing cooperative, home association, synergy, low-income, policy, urban poverty Though the pace of study on cooperative housing in Zimbabwe has increased over the past decade, there is still very little empirical work on cooperative consortia effects. This study is aimed at establishing if the idea of combining housing cooperatives to provide housing for individual members can work in Zimbabwe in a bid to inform policy and practice. A case study of Current Housing Consortium in Harare was considered. The study made use of stratifed random and judgemental sampling techniques. It was established that in Harare, the idea of amalgamating housing cooperatives came against the background of failure of a number of home associations’ options. Options which failed in Harare include government associations, private sector initiatives, public-private partnerships and individual cooperative initiatives. This study established that synergies of housing cooperatives are critical in the provision of low-income housing and this is demonstrated by the way housing cooperatives in Budiriro formed and operationalised the Current Housing Consortium. This is further supported by the fact that the consortium managed to provide site services which were up to the standards of City of Harare, housing development was progressing very well, and it managed to create social capital for the members as members benefted from the exchange of skills over the period they worked as a team. Currently an estimated one billion people around the world are inadequately housed; of which more than one hundred million are homeless (UNHABITAT, 2001). Governments in both developing nations and developed countries are working tirelessly to try and address the problem of homelessness (Okeyinka, 2014). This article seeks to establish if the idea of grouping the urban poor to provide their own housing can bring the intended results. Though the paraphernalia of study on cooperative housing in Zimbabwe has increased over the past decade, there is still very little empirical work on cooperative consortia effects. Despite the vast study literature on cooperative housing (Chirisa and Munzwa, 2008; Butcher, 1990; Vakil, 1995, 1996; Hakizuwera, 2007; Mguni, 2007; Nyashanu, 2001; Mubvami, 2001; Munzwa, 1999; Hall, 2001; Chenga, 1993) there still remains an unflled knowledge gap on the effectiveness of aggregating existing housing cooperative societies for the purpose of delivering site services. This study explores the usefulness of amalgamating housing cooperatives for site servicing using the case of Current Housing Consortium in Budiriro, Harare, in a bid to inform policy and cooperative management practice. Theoretical framework and literature review The theory of synergism The term synergy is derived from a Greek word Syn-ergos meaning working together (Corning, 1983; 1998; 2003). According to Doctoroff (1977) literally synergies are the effects produced by things that operate together (parts or individuals) and the term is frequently associated with the slogan “the combined is greater than the sum of its parts”. Corning (1998) asserts that synergism is the combined (interdependent) effects produced by two or more parts, elements or individuals. The synergism hypothesis was borrowed from the natural sciences and has been proved to be an important phenomenon in other felds which include business, psychology and social sciences (Corning, 1995). According to Corning (1998), the theory of synergism can be traced back to Aristotole in the Metaphysics theory. In psychology the synergism is illustrated by the Gestalt theory proposed by Max Wertheimer (1880 – 1943), Wolfgang Kohler (1887 – 1967) and Kurt Kofka (1886 – 1941) (ibid, 1998; Benecke, Schrunk and Roodt, 2007). Benecke et al. (2007) established that in business, the theory of synergism is used in most cases to justify corporate acquisitions and mergers. In social housing, scholars have examined the concept of cooperative synergism from different angles. O’Connell (1989) considered cooperative synergism as the combined effort between governments, the private sector, community-based organisations and non- governmental organisations towards meeting the housing needs of the poor. Hakizuwera (2007) examined cooperative synergism as the partnerships between housing community- based organisations and supporting non- governmental organisations. Also, Stein and Vance (2008) as well as Stavrakakis (2000) considered cooperative synergism to be the mutual relationship between lending institutions and housing cooperative societies. In this article a different angle of cooperative synergism is taken where by cooperative synergism refers to the combination of individual housing cooperatives to form a large consortium. It is generally believed that merging housing cooperatives to form a consortium will make them more viable as they beneft from economies of scale. However chances are that even if there will be cooperative action among housing societies, their resources may still be inadequate for buying enough land and servicing it to the required standards hence there might not make any difference. Also even if they work as a team, the cooperative members may lack the necessary skills to manage construction and this may result in increased tension as a result of combining people with varied backgrounds. Given this scenario one is tempted to question if synergies can work in low-income social housing delivery. Urban low-income housing Housing is one of the basic human needs according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The other human needs are spelt out as air, water, food and clothing. Fadairo and Olotuah (2013) have argued affrmatively that housing is the third crucial basic need which comes after food and clothing (cf. Calderwood, 1953 in Pohl, 2001, p.12). Though it is now common knowledge that housing is crucial, it still remains a global challenge for centuries (Philipps, 2012; Okeyinka, 2014; Ebehikhalu and Dawam, 2015; Mapira, 2004). Housing the urban poor has been a diffcult task for central Introduction