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URBAN GOVERNANCE: community
activism
Innovative practices in
this field include self- provision and access to land, transport,
infrastructure and basic services, the setup of community
resource centres, neighbourhood action committees, the strengthening
of asset management and the mobilisation by poor households
and communities.
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local level
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ACHR (2002) - Housing by People in Asia - Newsletter
of the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights - Special
Issue Community Funds - No 14, February 2002 [pdf]
To say that there’s a gap between poor people’s
survival systems and formal development aid systems is putting
it mildly. On one side of the gap are the poor, who are
starved for resources and doing whatever they can to survive,
breaking every rule and every standard in the book. And
on the other side, are the development and finance sectors,
swimming in resources but seemingly unable to crack the
nut that is urban poverty with their rigid, disciplinary
systems of development, which attempt to impose straight
lines on a world that is all squiggles and zigzags. Again
and again, we see development interventions that fail miserably,
that don’t match realities, that squander resources
and – much worse – that corrupt local processes
and do more harm than good. Or we see no intervention at
all. The absence of mechanisms to bridge these informal
sector needs with formal sector finance has opened room
for all sorts of slimy informal intermediaries – money
lenders, agents, politicians who snatch money from the formal
system and then pass it on to the poor, at triple the cost!
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ACHR (2001) - "Building an urban poor people’s
movement in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Asian Coalition for Housing
Rights" - Environment & Urbanization,
Vol 13 No 2, October 2001 - IIED [pdf]
Cambodia - This photo-essay shows how
the urban poor and their organizations are working with
government agencies, NGOs and international donors in Phnom
Penh, Cambodia’s capital, to develop homes and neighbourhoods
and income generation and, where needed, to manage relocation
schemes. It also describes how the city’s urban poor
developed their own Solidarity and Urban Poor Federation,
drawing on the advice of similar federations from other
countries. The process was much helped by the interchanges
between urban poor groups within the city and by the visits
by urban poor representatives and city officials to projects
managed by urban poor federations in other countries. The
Federation’s work centres on linking and supporting
community savings groups that develop their own schemes.
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Arévalo T, Pedro (1997) - "Huaycán self-managing
urban community: may hope be realized" - Environment
& Urbanization- Vol. 9 No. 1, April 1997 - IIED
[pdf]
Peru - This paper tells the story of
how the settlement of Huaycán in Lima (Peru) came
into existence and how, from the outset, when the land invasion
which was to form the settlement was first organized, the
organizers sought to achieve a democratic, self-managed
community. The author, who was one of the community leaders
involved in the formation and development of Huaycán,
also describes the complex political struggles they faced,
especially with Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) but also
with other political factions and parties. The article describes
how in successive people’s congresses they achieved
support for self-management and development and recounts
the marches into Lima to demand that the politicians keep
their promises. It also describes the improvements in basic
infrastructure and services achieved in Huaycán with
support from local, national and international sources.
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Burra, Sundar (1999) - Co-operative Housing in Pune
- SPARC [pdf]
India - This case-study is set in Pune,
an important industrial and cultural centre of the State
of Maharashtra located some 200 kilometres from Mumbai.
With a population of 2.7 million people, it is estimated
that close to half the population lives in slums with little
access to the basic amenities of water, sanitation and so
on. Houses in slums are small in area, more often than not
made up of flimsy materials and always subject to the threat
of demolition by the Municipal Corporation. While some slums
are authorised because they conform to certain
standards of eligibility laid down by the Government of
Maharashtra, many slums do not fit into this category.
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Burra, Sundar (1999) - Resettlement and Rehabilitation
of the Urban Poor: The story of Kanjur Marg - SPARC
[pdf]
India - The case study shows how effectively
collected and organised information and data about poor
communities can be used as a tool for learning and lobbying,
and how site visits can be a powerful means to bring about
shifts in thinking and approach. The main lessons to emerge
from the Kanjur Marg case study are the importance of a
favourable policy environment to bring about change and
enable new opportunities for CLIC processes; the importance
of womens involvement and leadership in community
development; the viability of two-stage resettlement and
rehabilitation; and the importance of strong (formal and
informal) institutional networks for the replication of
ideas and initiatives.
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Burra, Sundar (1999) - The Jagjeevan Ram Nagar Housing
Co-Operative Society in Hyderabad - SPARC [pdf]
India - To improve conditions in the
slums of Hyderabad, the Urban Community Development cell
of the Municipal Corporation implemented the slum improvement
programme in over 600 slums in the city since the early
1980s, concentrating upon the upgrading and installation
of basic infrastructure such as latrines, water, drainage
and community halls, coupled with health education and economic
support activities, such as training and credit for income
generation schemes. The case study slum of Jagjeevan Ram
Nagar is, in fact, a good example of a slum where improvements
made earlier proved to be unsustainable, for while access
to basic infrastructure was improved by government interventions
in the settlement, the housing needs of the residents were
neglected and remained an acute problem. How this need for
secure and adequate shelter was addressed in Jagjeevan Ram
Nagar is subject of this case study.
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Burra, Sundar (1999) - SPARC Housing Exhibitions
- SPARC [pdf]
India - SPARC Housing Exhibitions act
as forums for information exchange, lobbying and the dissemination
of innovative ideas that can improve access to housing,
secure land tenure, and essential services. They frequently
act as a forum for negotiation within and between communities,
and between communities and government officials. They also
act as a means to exchange experiences and stories, often
between countries, as well as communities. Finally, housing
exhibitions act as a vehicle for the celebration of the
achievements to date of community and NGO organisations
and movements.
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Joshi, Pratima; Srinanda Sen & Jane Hobson (2002) -
"Experiences with surveying and mapping Pune and Sangli
slums on a geographical information system (GIS)" -
Environment & Urbanization, Vol 14 No 2 Oct.
2002 - IIED [pdf]
India - This paper describes how the NGO
Shelter Associates and an organization of women and men
slum dwellers worked together to collect information on
each household in slum settlements in Pune and Sangli and
to map this, along with infrastructure and service provision
and each slums position within the city. This permitted
data on slums to be superimposed on these cities development
plans using a geographical information system. This provides
an important information base for improving infrastructure
and services within slums and for integrating slums into
city-wide planning.
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Plummer, Janelle & Sean de Cleene (1999) - Community
Learning Information and Communication, Case Study: Kerala
Community Development Society, Allepy - Working Paper
No. 105 - GHK [pdf]
India - The Community Development Society
in Kerala is a system of organising women in poor communities
to plan for their development. The case study examines the
tiered structure of neighbourhood committees who prepare
micro-plans, the area development societies who consolidate
these into min-plans, and finally the community development
societies who integrate these area plans into a municipal
level action plan.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice - Urban Agriculture
for Agroecological Development, Camilo Aldao [pdf]
Argentina - Theproject has its origin
in the 1995 crisis that shook up the foundations of the
locality's social structure. The crisis originated from
the bankruptcy of the agricultural-stock farm cooperative
and the closure of two mutual clubs, which functioned as
small savings and loan banks. At the same time, the country
was going through the so called "tequila effect".
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice -Urban Oasis Programme,
Hebden Bridge - UN-Habitat [pdf]
United Kingdom - Over 50% of the world's
population is now living in cities, many condemned to permanent
under-employment, social and economic deprivation in barren
inner-city housing estates. A pioneering initiative, the
Urban Oasis, has been established within such surroundings,
to provide a practical demonstration and training facility
of community-based, low-cost, self-help solutions to these
problems.A self-help partnership made up of an international
environmental and community development organisation (The
Arid Lands Initiative), a high-rise tenant managed company
(Apple Tree Court), local youth employment and probation
services, with the support of the local church and schools,
has documented the priority needs of local people and in
response, created a green and productive 'inner-city oasis'
around and within a typical inner-city high-rise and documented
the experience with broadcast-quality video and photographs.
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city level
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Burra, Sundar (2000) - A Journey Towards Citizenship:
The Byculla Area Resource Centre, Mumbai - SPARC [pdf]
India - The initiative grew out of the
need to a centre and support the to the organisation of
pavement dwellers, principally the women, to help them cope
with and confront the regular demolition of their homes
by the municipal authorities; support that was not provided
by more traditional welfare-oriented NGOs. An alliance with
the NSDF was formed and Mahila Milan (Women Together) was
established. From this beginning the Byculla Centre has
been central to the establishment of other area resource
centres and to the process of promoting and supporting the
full participation and partnership of urban low-income communities
in the development their homes and neighbourhoods.
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Díaz, Andrés Cabanas Emma Grant, Paula Irene
del Cid Vargas and Verónica Sajbin Velásquez
(2000), "El Mezquital - a community's struggle for
development in Guatemala City", Environment and
Urbanization, Vol. 12, No. 1, pages 87-106. [pdf]
Guatemala - This paper describes the history
of the community in El Mezquital, from the land invasion
in the mid 1980s, through its consolidation and growth,
until the present, drawing principally on interviews with
the inhabitants and staff from supporting agencies. It analyzes
the development of the different, and sometimes conflicting,
community organizations and compares their different mandates
and objectives. It shows important processes of community
empowerment, the changing role of women and community self-help
initiatives. It also describes how, in much of the settlement,
basic infrastructure and services were in place and of good
quality.
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URC (2001) - The Karachi Urban Resource Centre: Work,
vision and impact - URC [pdf]
Pakistan - The Urban Resource Centre (URC)
was set up in early 1989 at the Department of Architecture
and Planning of the Dawood College in Karachi. The objective
of the Centre was to collect all available material on Karachi
and update it through newspaper clipping and analysis. After
a few months of its setting up, the URC became an independent
registered organization and its governing body expanded
to include urban planning related professionals, representatives
of NGOs and community organizations from low and lower income
areas, and activists from the Orangi Pilot Project-Research
& Training Institute (OPP-RTI). The direction of the
Centre also changed. The new members felt that Karachi’s
official development plans ignored the larger socio-economic
reality of the city and as such were unworkable and environmentally
disastrous. They further felt that workable alternatives
were required and these were possible only with the involvement
of informed communities and interest groups.
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Soma, Soekmana (s.d.) - Solid Waste Neighbourhood Self-Management:
A Case Study in Bogor, Indonesia - PUSTRA
Ministry of Public Works [pdf]
Indonesia - This paper reports on the
results of a pilot project case study entitled "Solid
Waste Neighbourhood Self-Management" (SWNSM) in Bogor,
Indonesia. As a case study project on "Practical Policy
Innovations in Urban Infrastructure Development and Management
in Asian Metropolitan Areas and Large Cities," it is
associated with the United Nations Centre for Regional Development
(UNCRD) and Urban Management Programme - Asia.
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Patel, Sheela & Kalpana Sharma - Mumbai transport
case study - One David and Three Goliaths- SPARC [pdf]
India -This is the story of David and
Goliath, except that the David in this story had to encounter
three Goliaths. Whether he won in the end cannot be determined
as yet. But the chances look good. When organisations commit
themselves to work with urban poor communities, they are
often faced with difficult choices. Should they confront
and challenge the powers that determine and rule their lives
or should they work around the problem and negotiate? What
do they need themselves to be in a position of strength,
should they choose the latter path? Can their interests
be served if they choose to confront without fashioning
their own solutions?
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international level
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Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR - 1998) - About
ACHR [pdf]
Before the emergence of ACHR there was no common forum
or facility for NGO’s, professionals and grassroots
groups working in Asian cities to exchange ideas, despite
an expressed need to share experiences, tackle the large
problem of forced evictions in the regions cities, develop
opportunities for organisations of the poor and consider
their place in city planning. It was with these intentions
in mind that ACHR was formed in 1988. Since then, the links
between coalition members have matured, regional programmes
have been formalised and ACHR has become recognized as one
of the most important players in urban poor development
in the region by international agencies and urban actors.
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web
sites
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Habitat
Agenda:
Paragraph 44
We commit ourselves to the
strategy of enabling all key actors in the public, private
and community sectors to play an effective role at
the national, state/provincial, metropolitan and local levels
in human settlements and shelter development.
Continental Front
of Communal Organizations (CFCO) 2003
- World Social Forum [pdf]
We want to build a society with rights,
we want dwellers with the right to their city, enduring
cities that take part in maintaining our land, forests,
water, air, and our cultures, so that our social works and
initiatives will never die out.
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List
of documents highlighting DFID/IUDD's work in support
of community activism and capacity blg. |
Baumann, Ted, Joel Bolnick &
Diana Mitlin (2001) - The age of cities and organizations
of the urban poor: the work of the South African Homeless
People’s Federation and the
People’s Dialogue on Land and Shelter -
IIED / DFID [pdf]
South Africa - The South African
Homeless People’s Federation was established
in 1994 to represent autonomous local organizations
that had developed savings and credit schemes and
were developing their own housing schemes. Its national
character, active membership, autonomy and
high level of participation make it one of the most
significant housing movements in Africa. With
over 80,000 households within its member groups, power
and decision making are highly decentralized with
individual organizations responsible for their own
development activity and
direction. |
Cotton,
A.P - M. Sohail & W.K. Tayler (1998) - Community
Initiatives in Urban Infrastructure - WEDC /
DFID - Table of Content [pdf]
& Text [pdf]
This manual investigates the extent and nature of
the involvement of low-income urban communities in
the provision of their local infrastructure. It also
provides guidance for policy-makers and professional
staff of urban government, development agencies, non-government
organisations, and small to medium enterprises for
promoting increased involvement of communities in
the procurement of neighbourhood (tertiary level)
infrastructure. |
Dávila,
Julio D. (2001) - Urban Poverty Reduction Experiences
in Cali, Colombia: Lessons from the work of Local
Non-profit Organizations - IIED / DFID [pdf]
Colombia - This paper discusses
the role of local non-profit foundations in poverty
reduction in Cali, Colombia's third largest city.
These foundations (of which the Carvajal Foundation
is the best known) are funded by local businesses.
The paper describes how, from the 1960s to the 1980s,
these pioneered interventions to provide basic services
and support self build and micro-enterprise development
in informal settlements where government agencies
would not enter. |
"The
Neighbourhood Doctors in Peripheral Lima" - Wakely,
Patrick; Nicholas You (2001) – Implementing
the Habitat Agenda: In Search of Urban Sustainability
- DPU [pdf]
Peru - 'Ayni' is a word from the
Indian language Quechua. It refers to a special form
of mutual support: "by helping you, I may enable
you to help someone else". It is in this spirit
that the team of the
'Neighbourhood Doctors' from Aynimundo started their
work in Pampas de San Juan, a sector of the poor district
San Juan de Miraflores in the Southern part of Lima. |
"The Union de Vecinos"
(2001) - Implementing the Habitat Agenda: In Search
of Urban Sustainability - DFID / DPU [pdf]
U.S.A - The Union de Vecinos demonstrates
the influence a well-run community organisation can
have, not only in empowering its members, but also
in affecting decisions made at municipal level. |
Patel,
Sheela; Diana Mitlin & Mahila Milan (2001) - The
work of SPARC, the National Slum Dwellers Federation
- IIED / DFID [pdf]
India - This paper describes the
work of an Indian NGO, SPARC and its Alliance with
the women’s cooperatives (Mahila Milan) formed
by pavement dwellers and the National Slum Dwellers
Federation. This Alliance has shown how work in many
different areas such as community-based savings and
credit groups, pilot projects, housing construction,
the development of toilet blocks and the management
of resettlement can contribute to poverty reduction,
as long as these are based on what communities can
do for themselves and the communities retain control. |
Theis, Michael & Ripin Kalra
- Communities manage their assets - Lessons learnt
from experience - Max Lock Centre / DFID [PDF]
Timely maintenance of Community buildings is vital.
Maintenance and management of these assets through
the community is cheaper than through external contractors.
The community, where everyone knows everybody else,
is more open to accounting than remote state or district
budgets. Awareness of faults, damage and maintenance
in the building is immediate to the user. The sooner
these are identified, then, with appropriate technical
advice, the more cheaply they can be remedied through
community action. |
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