KNOWLEDGE PAPERS On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South Design: miki@ultradesigns.com Cover photos: left/archinect.com; right/ANDINA/Norman Córdova. Back cover/Thinkstock.com KNOWLEDGE PAPERS On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South Diana Mitlin and David Satterthwaite* * This note draws on the findings of a research program that included detailed studies of urban poverty in Buenos Aires, Hardoy and Almansi (2011); Egypt and Cairo, Sabry (2009, 2010); India, Chandrasekhar and Montgomery (2010); Pune, Bapat (2009); Sri Lanka, Romeshun and Mayadunne (2011); Vietnam, Thanh et al. (2013); and Zambia, Chibuye (2011). It also draws on the authors’ work with Shack/Slum Dwellers International, the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, the Orangi Pilot Project, and a range of other poverty reduction initiatives. The findings from this research were summarized in two books: Mitlin and Satterthwaite (2013) and Satterthwaite and Mitlin (2014). February 2016, No. 21 Urban Development Series Produced by the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural & Resilience Global Practice, the Urban Development Series discusses the challenge of urbanization and what it will mean for developing countries in the decades ahead. The Series aims to explore and delve more substantively into the core issues framed by the World Bank’s 2009 Urban Strategy Systems of Cities: Harnessing Urbanization for Growth and Poverty Alleviation. Across the five domains of the Urban Strategy, the Series provides a focal point for publications that seek to foster a better understanding of (i) the core elements of the city system, (ii) pro-poor policies, (iii) city economies, (iv) urban land and housing markets, (v) sustainable urban environment, and other urban issues germane to the urban development agenda for sustainable cities and communities. Copyright © World Bank, 2016 All rights reserved Global Programs Unit; Social, Urban, Rural & Resilience Global Practice World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 USA http://www.worldbank.org/urban This publication is a product of the staff of the World Bank Group. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. This note is provided for information only. The World Bank has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs and citations for external or third-party sources referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents Acronyms v 1. Introduction 1 2. Who Is Typically Excluded or Marginalized in the Urban Context? 2 3. Primary Benefits to the Local Government, Local Economy, and City Residents of Engaging Excluded Groups 6 4. Overview of Types of Policies and Related Programs and Self-Motivated Actions That Help to Engage Excluded Groups and Reduce Exclusion, Including as Part of Slum Upgrading and Slum Prevention Initiatives 8 5. An Assessment of the Key Challenges (Local, National, and International) to Engaging Excluded Groups in Rapidly Growing Cities 19 6. Excluded Groups and Collaboration with the State 22 7. Proposed Metrics by Which the Engagement of Excluded Groups Can Be Monitored and Assessed 24 8. Conclusion: Toward Measures of Inclusion That Work for the Excluded 27 Appendix 1: Summary of the Seven Approaches 29 References 31 Previous knowledge papers in this series 33 Figures Figure 1. Deprivations Associated with Urban Poverty and Their Immediate External Causes 3 Boxes Box 1. The Benefits of Transport and an Integrated City: Medellín, Colombia 10 Box 2 . Citizen-Led Coproduction in Resettlement of Those Living by Railway Tracks: Mumbai, India 12 Box 3. Women’s Nutrition and Citizen Action in Peru 13 Box 4. Sex Workers Fight for Equity: Dhaka, Bangladesh 14 Box 5. Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) and the Programming of the Urban Poor 16 Box 6. Baan Mankong: Achieving Secure Housing in Thailand 17 Box 7. Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA) 19 and Community-Led Upgrading 18 iv Acronyms ACCA Asian Coalition for Community Action ACHR Asian Coalition for Housing Rights CODI Community Organization Development Institute NGO Nongovernmental Organization OPP Orangi Pilot Project SDI Slum/Shack Dwellers International UCDO Urban Community Development Office v 1 Introduction The term “inclusive cities” is increasingly being used as a “catch-all” phrase to signify intent but with little precision in its use. In this note we use “inclusive cities” to mean cities in which we see a commitment to an inclusive politics with the establishment of institutionalized interac- tions between organized groups of disadvantaged citizens and the state with local government taking a primary role. In addition, inclusive cities are ones where public accountability is found, including the provision of essential information about municipal budgets and activities (and those of other government services) with good communication to all residents. They are also cities in which governments have undertaken specific measures to secure improved access for low-income and otherwise disadvantaged groups to a range of essential goods and services including secure tenure for housing, inclusion in access to basic services (e.g., inclusion in the piped water and sewer network, waste collection services, government health care services and schools, community policing, and emergency services), and where required approval of and support for housing improvements. They are also cities in which local governments and other relevant state agencies have made efforts to ensure a “city for citizens” on a citywide basis that includes investment in affordable public transport; public space throughout the city including the central areas in which urban residents have access for trading, consumption, and recreation; and support for skill training and enterprise development. This note begins by considering who is excluded and from what and how. It then considers the contributions that large sections of the excluded population make to the city economy and the benefits for city governments of engaging with them. It considers the types of policies and pro- grams that are intended to engage excluded groups, distinguishing between those developed and implemented by professionals and those developed and implemented by aided self-help and social and urban movements. Seven challenges to the achievement of more inclusive cities are discussed: lack of household income and the continuing prevalence of informal incomes; a lack of state investment capacity; a lack of political will; a lack of the basic data needed for identifying and addressing exclusion; a lack of space for participation, especially by the lowest income groups; a lack of vision for what an inclusive city means within city government; and the constraints on inclusion from city governments organized sectorally. The note then discusses the metrics and indicators that can help inclusion and that have relevance for the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. 1 2 Who Is Typically Excluded or Marginalized in the Urban Context? A first point to recognize is that the scale and depth of urban poverty in Africa and much of Asia and Latin America is greatly underestimated because of inappropriate definitions and measurements. Understanding the causes of such inaccurate measurement provides insight into those groups who are typically excluded and marginalized; in part they are marginalized because they are “invisible” to those authorities tasked with supporting them. About one in seven of the world’s population lives in poor quality and usually overcrowded housing in urban areas. Most of these people lack provision for safe sufficient water, sani- tation, and many other needs. They include very large numbers of urban dwellers who are malnourished and suffer premature death or disease burdens that are preventable. However, a significant proportion are not defined as poor by many poverty lines because the actual costs they face of food and nonfood needs are not taken into account properly. Most income-based poverty lines fail to take sufficient account of the high cost of necessities in the larger urban centers and/or the costs of meeting nonfood needs such as rent, water (from vendors or kiosks), access to public toilets and washing facilities, and transport. Nor is account taken of the poor quality of much accommodation and of many services. Obviously, sufficient income is of critical importance to inclusion. To survive, the urban poor have to find work that provides a cash income. In most urban contexts, most or all basic servic- es have to be paid for. Finding income-earning opportunities that are stable and not dangerous and provide an adequate return is central to reducing their poverty or moving out of poverty. This is especially true given that we know that ill-health or injury is a major trigger leading to chronic poverty. Yet we actually know very little about the difficulties facing low-income urban dwellers in securing sufficient income and what would help them to do so. This is all the more remarkable when poverty is defined by income-based poverty lines. The quality of the home and its neighborhood are important for health and well-being. Home and neighborhood are also often important for income because the home is a location for income- earning work, especially for women. And the lack of adequate basic services such as water piped to the home, electricity, and household waste collection exacerbates the difficulties in earning a living. More generally we know remarkably little about the ways in which income circulates in low-income settlements and how this is influenced by relations with the wider city and the driv- ers of economic growth. We also know remarkably little about what best supports low-income groups in getting higher incomes—although studies highlight important factors such as the avail- ability of credit and being able to have a bank account, the extension of a reliable supply of piped water and electricity to the home, good social contacts, literacy and the completion of secondary school, and cheap, safe, and convenient public transport. Understanding these requires attention to the spatial aspects, that is, inequalities in these issues between neighborhoods and districts within cities. So, often, the data collected on incomes, living conditions, or service provision are from too small a sample to show these spatial inequalities. Figure 1 summarizes some of the criti- 2 Who Is Typically Excluded or Marginalized in the Urban Context? 3 cal factors that lead to urban poverty in towns and cities in ■■ Ethnicity, caste, and other social categories may pose the global South. particular difficulties due to social attitudes. This takes numerous forms; for example, the Ga in Accra face This figure helps us gain insight into those groups that are risks due, in part, to the difficulties of continuing with particularly vulnerable due, among other factors, to social traditional livelihoods as the city expands into the areas exclusion and deprivation: in which they live. Other difficulties are faced by groups who migrate into urban centers, especially in nations ■■ Women frequently face particularly difficulties. They where migrants are excluded from public services. may face discrimination within their household, within the labor market, and in regard to access to services. ■■ Informal settlement dwellers, as noted above, face Women-headed households may be overrepresented numerous difficulties and risks. Many larger cities within households with below-poverty-line incomes. also have a street homeless population that can be particularly difficult to reach. ■■ Age can be an indicator of vulnerability with both the (very) young and the elderly facing particular However, we cannot emphasize enough that general- difficulties. One of the difficulties facing many elderly izations have to be treated with extreme caution. For urban dwellers in the global South as their strength example, women-headed households may be disadvan- and physical capacity diminishes is the lack of pension taged, but this is not always the case; some social contexts provision. constrain women more than others. In some situations, Figure 1. Deprivations Associated with Urban Poverty and Their Immediate External Causes Home built on illegal, often dangerous sites; better quality No credit available Incompetent or ineffective housing and serviced lots too to low-income groups to Households living in illegal government limiting land expensive support land purchase, settlements where utilities No organization providing availability, e.g. through house building or or service providers refuse Service providers survival income if income inappropriate land-use controls improvement to operate unaccountable to or source is lost uninfluenced by democratic pressures No insurance for assets or to cover health care Inefficiency or incapacity of service Poor quality providers, increasing gap between costs and often insecure, hazardous and what is provided and what low- overcrowded Inadequate income households can afford Limited housing provision of Debt repayments or no ‘public‘ safety net infrastructure reducing available and basic income services Dangerous jobs, with high risk of illness, injury and death Voicelessness Inadequate POVERTY and powerlessness Discrimination faced by particular Income lost to illness and injury, and often within political unstable IN URBAN systems and groups on basis of gender, age, and health care and medicine costs nationality, class/caste, ethnicity, etc. income AREAS bureaucratic structures Economy producing little Incompetent, ineffective opportunity for better income or anti-poor police force Inadequate Health burdens from High prices protection of paid for many rights through undernutrition and use of necessities the operation cheaper, poor quality foods, Inadequate, of the law Absence of rule of fuels and water unstable law and of support or risky for poor in realizing High prices paid for necessities, including asset base their civil and political water, sanitation, schools, health care and rights and etitlements transport, because of lack of public provision High levels of violence and other crime Short-term survival No collateral for accessing limiting asset building, credit to pay for house or e.g. few or no savings, Asset base eroded plot, regularization costs or children taken out of due to illness, injury and connection charges school other stresses or shocks; limits of reciprocity within Source: Mitlin and Satterthwaite 2013. low-income groups 4 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South migrants are disadvantaged, but this cannot be assumed experienced significant trauma and may have particular (Montgomery et al. 2003). health needs (see below). In addition, displacement nega- tively affects people’s lives. They are likely to have lost Lack of income and assets are critical factors determining material assets and sources of income. In some cases, they or influencing exclusion in urban areas. This is manifest may be socially isolated and living apart from families and/ both through difficulties faced by those with low incomes or broader communities with the additional problems who find it different to pay for adequate goods and ser- that a lack of social networks brings. Both internationally vices, including food, and through a residential loca- and internally displaced people may face discrimination tion within informal settlements characterized by a lack from local residents, and the former may face additional of public services and the kinds of social provision that problems of illegality. It is common for displaced people households living in formal areas are likely to be able to to have low-incomes and limited assets, as better-off fami- access. Those who are street homeless also face acute needs lies are better able to relocate before forced displacement. that are rarely addressed. In Delhi, for example, it is esti- Wherever they came from, with limited access to assets mated that more than 100,000 homeless people live there, and dislocated from the kinds of networks that provide but the government runs only 14 night shelters with a employment and enterprise potential, displaced people maximum capacity of 2,937 people. However, in addition are more likely to have incomes below the poverty line. to those without housing and with a general lack of in- The scale of such populations may be considerable. In Co- come and assets, other groups are particularly vulnerable lombia, nearly 10 percent of the country’s population lives in urban areas. in the condition of displacement, and despite government support programs, 98 percent have an income below the Young people may face particular difficulties. Two-thirds poverty line. of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is under the age of 25. Young people have high expectations of urban life: for ex- Refugee settlements may not be recognized as being ur- ample, “Dar es Salaam is known by youth as Bongoland, ban centers but over time many become permanent settle- the city of bongo (brains) where the smart ones go and ments rather than temporary accommodation. Problems ‘make it’.” But in practice, especially in urban Africa, few may be exacerbated because of a refusal to recognize the opportunities are provided, and most youth are unable to likelihood of permanency and maintenance of a perpetual access the kinds of jobs to which they aspire. It is sig- state of exception. In the short (and sometimes longer) nificant that young people face the disjuncture between term, basic infrastructure and health facilities can be lack- traditional relations and associated practices and hybrid ing with appalling consequences. Livelihood strategies are forms of modernity. Governance structures are likely to curtailed if the residence is required to be temporary. For be dominated by older people who neither understand these and other reasons, considerable needs exist and we nor empathize with the needs and interests of younger may find appalling conditions. The Global IDP Project populations. Both formal and informal neighborhoods (2002, 76), for example, reported under-five mortality lack provision for children (play areas) and for adolescents rates of 240 per thousand live births in a refugee camp in (youth clubs and recreational facilities). Where facilities northern Bahr al Ghazal, Sudan. do exist, these are likely to be for sports. Girls can be dou- bly disadvantaged by gender discrimination. Moreover Those with particular health problems are also a group when provision is made for female adolescents, this may facing exclusion. In the greater number of cases, health not be orientated to those who are already married. problems are primarily shaped by low-quality housing, unhealthy living conditions, and limited access to health Internationally and internally displaced people also face care services. Much of the exclusion for those with health particular difficulties. In this context, two kinds of urban problems is related to a lack of income and/or assets. Poor centers need to be recognized: existing towns and cities health is recognized to be one of the major factors lead- in which displaced people locate, and refugee camps that ing to chronic poverty because families that are just cop- become urban centers. Displaced people are likely to have ing are unable to recover following the primary income Who Is Typically Excluded or Marginalized in the Urban Context? 5 earner falling sick or being injured. It is accepted that in Lack of pavements and roads makes it difficult for pedes- most nations, levels of HIV infection are usually higher in trians to move around, and this is especially so for those urban areas than rural areas, with large urban areas having with disabilities. This helps explain the very high levels of the highest HIV prevalence. Within low-income urban death per motor vehicle or per motor vehicle kilometers dwellers, adolescent girls and young women are dispro- driven from traffic accidents evident in many cities. Even portionately affected because they are least able to avoid where specific provision is made in terms of public toilets the risks and protect themselves. These populations need and other public facilities, it is frequently the case that particular support in terms of access to medication and the generally dilapidated state of urban infrastructure and basic services, and they are frequently unable to secure public transport reduces mobility. these (Mabala 2006). 3 Primary Benefits to the Local Government, Local Economy, and City Residents of Engaging Excluded Groups Many positive opportunities exist for health and development to be realized in urban centers, and this is also true of informal low-income settlements. Despite multiple forms of social exclusion and adverse incorporation, cities are places in which many residents undertake new activities and frequently create new identities. As individuals and within family and neigh- borhood groups, they create new livelihood opportunities, improve their human capital, and positively engage the state. People’s energy, optimism, and aspiration are critical resources to address human challenges across the globe. Urban citizens are creative and entrepreneurial; sadly, experience suggests that the challenge for public policy is as much to avoid stifling these as it is to support them. As Benjamin describes, the economic activities in informal settle- ments reinforce each other, and activities are further disadvantaged by the operations of the real estate market (Benjamin 2004). Government interventions in India have not supported such processes, but he argues that market processes in informal settlements have the potential to provide relatively inclusive urban growth as long as flexible regulatory and land-use policies prevail to enable mixed-use development. Low-income residents keep the city functioning. They serve in shops, run public transport vehicles, support public services, provide essential goods, and are maids, cooks, drivers, garden- ers, security guards, etc. In summary they undertake numerous activities, frequently for very low remuneration, that facilitate the lives of other residents. The scale of present inequalities across the world is such that multiple and repeated concerns can be identified about associated externalities, that is, the impacts on broader society. Re- search has shown that violence and conflict are linked to inequality—but this is not the only issue. Underpinning much public concerns is an evident sense of discomfort and genuine ambivalence. The majority of urban citizens appear to be concerned with issues of equity and fairness, and protesters associate their causes with issues of citizenship and social justice. Significant costs are likely to be incurred if cities are managed in an increasingly differentiated manner with growing spatial, social, and political exclusion and without attention to inequali- ties of access to basic services, infrastructure, employment, and other opportunities. What is lost? The potential contribution of individuals is not realized. Collective capabilities to address the public interest are not developed. Resources are wasted such as on securitization of urban space rather than invested in more positive activities. Increasing protests and defensive actions may lead to further polarization and increased exclusion. Acting now to prevent such frustra- tions has benefits for the public good. A wide set of concerns surround the broader consequences of income inequality, particularly in respect to its impact on democracy. Greater social distance of political elites from low-income populations may result in an increasing inability of government to act in the interests of all. 6 Primary Benefits to the Local Government, Local Economy, and City Residents of Engaging Excluded Groups 7 Self-interested policies that benefit middle- and upper- Investment in local, national, and global networks of the income groups are likely to mean that basic health and urban poor may offer new approaches and improved poli- education opportunities are not provided. Concerns have cies, programs, and practices to address deprivation. Al- been expressed that increasing inequality may be associ- ready significant programs have emerged from such net- ated with less democracy. Government policies may be works such as participatory budgeting (Cabannes 2004). counterproductive (for example, lack of space for infor- mal enterprises): Effective dialogue with low-income and Meanwhile new and pressing challenges face us. The disadvantaged groups may highlight these impacts and more efficient use of natural resources, reduced carbon lead to policy adjustments. Lack of dialogue (and asso- emissions, and adaptation to climate change require new ciated accountability) prevents these improvements from forms of collective action and collective consumption (for being realized. example, in energy use), and urban civil society has long pioneered such innovations. 4 Overview of Types of Policies and Related Programs and Self-Motivated Actions That Help to Engage Excluded Groups and Reduce Exclusion, Including as Part of Slum Upgrading and Slum Prevention Initiatives In practice urban programming draws across a number of approaches as agencies seek effective interventions to reduce urban poverty. Urban poverty reduction programs and projects are generally realized through the combined efforts of different agencies that may include residents’ associations and/or livelihood groups, local government officials and politicians, national government departments, and in some cases other professional civil society groups including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and academic institutions. In many nations, state or provincial governments also have importance. Problems often arise with overlapping responsibilities for particular investments or services within each area—and contestation over relative roles and responsibilities. It is important to recognize that in most aspects of urban poverty reduction, higher levels of government and international agencies are only as effective as the local organizations and institutions they support (and help fund). We introduce seven approaches below. Many are not specifically urban. Arguably only urban management and the final approach (aided self-help) are “urban.” However, the remaining five are also used widely in urban areas and have taken on a particular modality (as summarized below) because of the realities of urban lives and the nature of urban institutions. All have become distinctively adapted to the urban context, that is, to the commodification of all nonfamily aspects of everyday life, high level of institutional engagement by the state, influence of high population concentrations and densities on housing and basic services, and the dependence of livelihoods on formal and informal labor markets. The first five approaches are primarily designed and realized by professionals. These may be located in the official international development assistance agencies, national and subnational governments (including urban governments), and international, national, or local NGOs. The remaining two are more clearly hybrids between formal and informal urban livelihoods and ways in which professional interests have sought to engage with and represent more grounded experiences. This is also true of the market approach, which, although deliberately promoted by some, also includes the main modalities by which individuals and households accumulate income and wealth. Arguably, an eighth approach is used by the urban poor themselves—that of clientelism (but this is not expanded on here). In practice, it is unusual that only one of the seven approaches outlined below is followed for reasons of ideology and the complexity of urban poverty (where one rarely finds a single unambiguous cause). Rather these approaches are taken up and blended together through programs and projects that attempt to address specific contexts and the associated needs and 8 Overview of Types of Policies and Related Programs 9 interests of the urban poor. Further blending of approaches into urban areas has taken place in recent years (many of arises because, in the urban context, many institutions these programs were developed for rural areas). One factor have overlapping agendas and responsibilities, and hence in Brazil and Mexico in expanding programs to urban the design and realization of urban programs almost areas is the hope that increasing levels of urban violence inevitably involves a high degree of negotiation between can be curbed through tackling poverty and inequality. A agencies. Although small NGO projects may be able to significant number of those reached come within several take place with little interaction with other organizations, large programs including Oportunidades (Mexico), 5 these are the exception in urban contexts. million households; Bolsa Família (Brazil), 12 million households; the Minimum Living Standards Scheme Welfare assistance to those with inadequate incomes (China), 22.4 million households; and Indonesia’s Safety usually takes the form of income supplements and/or free Net Scheme, 15 million households. Their significance or lower-cost access to certain goods and services. The varies considerably: In Latin America, transfers as a needs addressed by welfare are usually around the income percentage of household income for those benefiting required to acquire essential goods (for instance food, range from 6 percent in Brazil to nearly 20 percent in housing, or water) or around access to needed services (for Mexico (Grosh et al. quoted in Niño-Zarazúa et al. 2010, instance, health care and schools). Rarely do we find a single 14). In some countries amounts are just a few dollars a deprivation, and this partly explains why a wide range of month, and it is difficult to see that these funds will have welfare-based measures are employed for urban poverty a substantive impact on household poverty. reduction. Welfare interventions may respond to any one of a number of perceived needs. These may in part arise Asset accumulation policies have also been used (although from an unexpected event (for example, a local flood or on a smaller scale). These provide opportunities for a global economic recession) in the context of inadequate households “to accumulate and consolidate their assets long-term infrastructure to protect against such events. in a sustainable way” enabling them to reduce their Needs may result from the structure of the economy (for future welfare needs (Moser 2009, 253). Conditional example, wages barely sufficient or insufficient for survival) cash transfers that incentivize education blend assets and and no alternative employment options for some people incomes interventions through providing income on the given existing labor market skills and capabilities. Needs condition that children attend school. Food-for-work may also be related to the individual life cycle, for example, programs may also be seen as contributing to collective children and the elderly disadvantaged in the labor market. assets by providing necessary infrastructure. Improvements in housing conditions continue to be provided and Countless different strategies are used for welfare where available assist in the acquisition of housing assets. intervention. In terms of understanding the perception In recent decades “direct-demand” subsidies have been of needs that underpin welfare measures, it is helpful to popular; originating in Latin America, they combine recognize that this may be either charitable and empathetic financing of subsidies, savings, and loans for the purchase or rights- or entitlement-based; that is, are programs of completed dwellings. Although originally conceived in seeking to realize a basic right or as a response to a need? Chile as a strategy that would combine private-sector loan finance with state subsidies, in practice there has been little One new growth area has been cash transfers, which by commercial lending to the lowest-income groups. Such 2010 were estimated to reach 850 million people in 173 subsidies were introduced in Costa Rica in 1986 and almost million households across the global South (Niño-Zarazúa immediately replicated in Colombia, El Salvador, Paraguay, et al. 2010). The literature focused on poverty reduction in and Uruguay in 1991 (Mayo 1999). As with any subsidized general suggests that they are now the principal instrument initiative, if the costs for each household reached are high, used by governments. Note that this figure includes all it limits their scale in low-income countries. cash transfers such as pensions, child support, workfare, and payments from unconditional and conditional cash Urban management programs offer a further approach. transfer programs. The expansion of transfer programs They generally seek to improve “local government” with a 10 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South Box 1. The Benefits of Transport and an Integrated City: Medellín, Colombia Medellín is Colombia’s second-largest city, with a population of more than 3 million in the metropolitan area. Drug-related conflicts resulted in the city’s becoming one of the most violent in the world during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1999 the municipal government introduced measures to reduce spatial segregation including a cable-propelled transit system (gondola) that integrated into conventional public transport and other neighborhood improvements for areas serviced by the gondola, including additional jrothe, Thinkstock.com lighting for public spaces, pedestrian bridges and street paths, school buildings, recreational centers, centers to promote microenterprises, more police patrols, and a family police station next to a gondola station. A study compared these neighborhoods with those not included in the public works project to assess the impacts of this intervention on reductions in violence and changes in associated factors such as including collective efficacy (e.g. willingness to help neighbors) and citizens’ trust in the criminal justice system and reliance on police. The intervention was associated with significant declines in neighborhood violence: The drop in homicides between 2003 and 2008 was 66 percent higher in intervention neighborhoods than in the set of other neighborhoods that were compared with the intervention neighborhoods (the control neighborhoods), and the corresponding drop in reports of violent events was 74 percent higher in intervention neighborhoods. Residents of intervention neighborhoods also experienced more growth in willingness to rely on the police and perceptions of collective efficacy. By improving public spaces and creating new institutions, the intervention provided more opportunities for neighbors to interact, develop trust, and become willing to intervene when the social order was threatened. It also appears that relations between citizens and police improved in intervention neighborhoods, which could increase the efficacy of law enforcement in fighting violence and further deter would-be violent offenders. The study also illustrates how the benefits of place-based interventions can diffuse beyond their intended areas of impact. The government’s principal motivation for bringing effective public transport to remote neighborhoods was to improve residents’ access to jobs and attract new businesses to impoverished neighborhoods. Source: Cerdá et al. 2011. focus on efficiency, technical competence, a stronger fiscal and, more fundamentally, in establishing, regulating, and base, and implementing local regulations to get effective influencing the development of urban space. It generally planning and land-use management, and they address focuses on essential trunk infrastructure such as electricity, the inadequacies in basic infrastructure and services. This piped water, drains, roads, and public transport networks, approach, modeled on observations of what it takes to be conscious of the additional expenses that enterprises face a modern city, places central emphasis on the state as the if these are lacking and/or inadequate in scale and quality. implementing agent and relies on state intervention to The approach has received more support in the last 10 improve and upgrade physical space and, in some cases, economic activity. It also emphasizes the importance to 15 years as the key role of cities and urban systems in of adequate infrastructure for economic growth. The economic growth has come to be more widely appreciated. approach recognizes the critical importance of government Box 1 illustrates some of the positive relationships between in ensuring provision of urban infrastructure and services infrastructure investment and poverty reduction. Overview of Types of Policies and Related Programs 11 Alongside the urban management approach has been in low-income neighborhoods to be involved collectively the trend toward greater private sector involvement in in setting priorities for government expenditures in their water and sanitation that was led by a package of donor areas. By 2012 participatory budgeting initiatives had assistance seeking to address deficiencies in services for been implemented by more than 1,000 local authorities both economic growth and general well-being. However, around the world (Cabannes 2014). despite a belief that greater private sector involvement would improve the scale and quality of delivery, more An advance from participatory budgeting comes when it than 80 percent of water supplies remain in the ownership is combined with the coproduction of public goods and and management of the state (OECD 2003). The trend services. Coproduction has been defined as the ”the joint toward privatization for large water and sanitation and direct involvement of both public agents and private utilities has not continued in the last decade. However, citizens in the provision of services” involving ”regular, an increasing trend has been tied to corporatization and a long-term term relationships between state agencies greater orientation to market approaches and commercial and organized groups of citizens, where both make interests within company management (including public- substantial resource contributions” (Joshi and Moore private partnerships). 2004, 33 and 40). This practice extends participation in political decision making to a more intense involvement In theory the reform of urban basic services was to include in aspects of planning and implementation. A more the extension of provision to low-income settlement. engaged involvement in the production of infrastructure Utilities, whether public and private, have been tasked to and basic services necessarily involves collective action balance objectives related to economic prosperity, equity, and organization. Boxes 2 and 3 illustrate practices and and ensuring a basic standard for health and well-being. benefits. In practice if there are no resources for subsidies, the emphasis on cost recovery has jeopardized the equity that The rights-based approach extends rights and entitlements was intended because prices or connection fees are too to those who lack these and in urban contexts usually high for the lowest-income households. focuses on low-income groups including those living in informal settlements. The approach draws on Participatory governance includes greater accountability, various different traditions: international human rights transparency, and scope for citizen and community frameworks, attempts by advocacy organizations to participation, that is, improved processes of democratic improve national legislation, autonomous movements of government to ensure that urban governments are more the poor and dispossessed, and the shift from clientelist responsive to the needs and interests of low-income and relationships between the state and people to ones of disadvantaged citizens. citizenship (Hickey and Mitlin 2009). In urban contexts, rights-based approaches have been particularly notable Participatory governance implies the engagement of in regard to land tenure in informal settlements (anti- government with a group with interests beyond those eviction), access to basic services, and, in the context of of “its individual citizens”; that is, it includes but goes livelihoods, access to trading spaces. In the first and last of considerably beyond systems for more accountable these, the strategy has been primarily defensive, reacting government. Participatory governance seeks to provide an to protect homes and work places. inclusive political space at a local level, challenging the notion that widely spaced elections for representatives Rights can be used as the basis for proactive strategies to are a sufficient engagement in collective decision making. acquire land. For example, in Goiânia (Brazil) tenants One of the most notable urban examples has been undertook a series of land invasions to claim access to participatory budgeting, introduced when the federation common land (Barbosa et al. 1997). In the absence of of residents’ associations in Porto Alegre (Brazil) found affordable accommodation, tenants’ movements came to that their mayoral candidate did not deliver on his explore the potential within posseiro rights; a free right promises. Participatory budgeting enables local residents over all land that has not been subject to subdivision. 12 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South Box 2. Citizen-Led Coproduction in Resettlement of Those Living by Railway Tracks: Mumbai, India The upgrading of Mumbai’s suburban railways required the removal of informal settlements that in many places had grown to be within touching distance of the trains. The railways had been ordered to slow their speeds in such places to try to reduce the very large numbers of fatalities each year. Those living close to the railway tracks were rehoused without force and with their support. This was possible only when the National Slum Dwellers Federation of India provided an organizational resource (to support the railway slum dwellers federation) flocu, Thinkstock.com that could match the state contribution of land and finance. Needs were acute. Mumbai relies on its extensive suburban railway system to get its workforce in and out of the central city; on average, more than 7 million passenger trips are made each day on five major railway corridors. In 1999 nearly 32,000 households lived in shacks next to the tracks at high risk and without water and sanitation. Discussions within the Railway Slum Dwellers’ Federation (to which most households along the railway tracks belonged) showed that most families wanted to move if they could get a home with secure tenure in an appropriate location. A relocation program was developed as part of a scheme to improve the rail network. First, the negotiations reduced the number of people that had to move by cutting down the size of the space cleared (the railway authorities initially wanted close to ten meters each side of the track, the federation negotiated down to three meters with the promise of a wall). Land sites were identified to accommodate those that had to move (and these were visited), and the Federation was given the responsibility for managing the resettlement. People to be resettled were involved in designing, planning, and implement- ing the program. Critically the Federation identified those with an entitlement to receive a new home. Teams of Federation leaders, community residents, and NGO staff prepared maps that showed each hut, and each hut was identified with a number. Draft registers of all residents were prepared, and the results returned to communities for checking. Any claims were checked against the register. Anyone could claim that they had been left out, but they had to have all of their neighbors (as identified on the map) verify their claim to residency. This system prevented fraudulent claims for inclusion and speedily resolved disputes. Households were then grouped into units of 50 and each unit moved to the new site together to reduce the social costs of dislocation. Source: Patel et al. 2002. These lands are without formal owners or title deeds, and original owner and the residents, was used to ensure that posseiro is the name given to those claiming a right of use rights could be realized (Angel and Boonyabancha 1988). over these untitled lands. By 1991, 12.3 percent of the population of Goiânia was living in these posseiro areas, Rights-based approaches have also been used to understand and by 1997 the city had officially registered 193 posse and protect the claims of traders and vendors to trading areas, 75 of which had been established by FEGIP (the spaces, particularly those in central city locations. Market Goiânia Federation of Tenants and Posseiros). A further trading is generally controlled within the city, and informal example is provided in Thailand, where land sharing, traders face harassment from the local authorities. Vendors the negotiated division of the squatter land between the who sell outside designated areas may be fined, forcibly Overview of Types of Policies and Related Programs 13 Box 3. Women’s Nutrition and Citizen Action in Peru In Peru the women’s nutrition movement (Orga- nizaciones de Mujeres para la Alimentación) centers on two distinct traditions: community kitchens (Comedores Populares) and the glass of milk committees (Comités del Vaso de Leche). Both provide members with food at a reduced cost and offer free support to those in particu- ANDINA/Norman Córdova lar need. Women’s organizations manage the provision using both community volunteers and state resources: extensive community involve- ment in food provision and cooking meals reduces processing and delivery costs. These groups also determine the beneficiaries. The tradition of food relief managed by local women began between 1948 and 1956 when the government set up groups to distribute overseas food aid. During the 1970s and early 1980s, these local kitchens evolved to become an identifiable group of community kitchens with some securing independence from the state. Shortly afterwards, the glass of milk program was catalyzed by Lima’s local government in 1984, at a time of acute needs, and rapidly resulted in independent organiza- tions. Just months after the program was initiated, more than 25,000 mothers from 33 districts in Lima marched on Congress to demand official support; this campaign was followed by legislation in January 1985. Activities provide cereal and milk, primarily for children, pregnant women, and breast-feeding mothers. The women’s community kitchen organizations have also been involved in similar activities, negotiating for support from the Municipality of Lima as far back as 1986. The community kitchens organizations campaigned for legislation (Law 27307) with associated regulations that ensure the state finances food-processing activities. Participatory planning means that committees sit alongside central and local government representatives—and that demonstrations are no longer needed. The movement organizations believe they have broadly succeeded in establishing their entitlement and securing involvement in delivery—at the same time affirming their identity as citizens with both rights and management capacity, as opposed to “poor people” with unsatisfied needs and few skills who require patronage and social welfare practices. They have also succeeded in challenging traditional male-led residents’ associations and enabling women to play a role as community leaders and political activists. Source: Barrig 1991; Bebbington et al. 2011. evicted, have their goods confiscated, and/or be jailed. In Rights approaches have also been used in efforts to some cases such payments are associated with the corrupt change exclusionary and inequitable practices toward practices of officials or local strongmen. Vendors may disadvantaged groups (as rights apply to all). Box 4 collaborate to manage this situation seeking to negotiate illustrates this through experiences from a drop-in center support from authorities. For example, threatened with for sex workers in Bangladesh. expulsion from the city center, vendors’ associations in Cebu City (the Philippines) formed a common platform The market-based approach seeks to raise incomes and to ensure livelihood security and reduce harassment. The improve livelihoods through better access to financial city authorities were persuaded to establish a vendors’ markets and the provision of support infrastructure and management study committee, legalized trading in some services. The approach recognizes that urban poor groups areas of the city, and shifted to an agreed policy that work within markets—labor markets, financial markets, demolitions of vendor stalls would be considered only markets for cheap accommodation and access to services, following complaints from other road users. competitive markets for goods produced or services 14 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South Box 4. Sex Workers Fight for Equity: Dhaka, Bangladesh When women participating in a self-help group of sex workers, Durjoy Nari Shanga (the “Difficult to Conquer Women” association), were asked how it had helped them, the first to reply stated, “We realized we are also human beings.” Recog- nizing their innate equality with others had not reduced the risks the women faced, but it had equipped them to deal with these risks more effectively. When CARE staff began working with them, staff found themselves going through a profound change process as they sought to overcome their previous assumptions about these individuals and support the group. The project was piloted in the Tangail brothel within a community of about 800 sex workers and their children. Interactive discussions with the sex workers late into the night enabled the social analysis and self-analysis that staff required to understand the role their own attitudes played in perpetuating the discrimination and stigma against the sex workers. In one exercise, the sex workers were asked what their priorities were; at the top of their list was the ability to wear shoes outdoors. In the complex network of social relations of the Tangail neighborhood, the samaj—modeled after traditional vil- lage councils and consisting of landlords and originally two sardanis or madams—wielded tremendous power and control over the sex workers. Mastans—male gangs allied to local politicians and landlords—acted as enforcers, regulating local economies and exploiting vulnerable groups through the use and threat of violence. Forbidding the sex workers the right to wear shoes was a way of publicly marking their status as lesser beings and restricting them to the locality. As they organized together and negotiated the right to wear shoes, they were more able to address their needs: for example, challenging the police when they were harassed. The women were working together to manage a health clinic, secure education for their children, and have the ability to save for their old age. Source: Drinkwater 2009. offered—and looks to measures that make these markets acknowledgment was made that savings facilities were better serve people. The market approach places greater often all that was required, and microfinance emerged to emphasis on livelihoods and employment rather than address the need for secure savings and small loans. other aspects of urban poverty. Loan finance for shelter-related investments is also rarely No single path can be identified through which the available through the formal commercial sector, and savings market-based approach seeks to reduce urban poverty. are a major source of finance for incremental housing Several major strategies are followed: the extension development. Loans have also been provided for housing— of financial markets with savings and loan facilities, although shelter microfinance as a field remains small. support for housing markets with shelter microfinance, and support for enterprise development. Many of these Both enterprises and housing are linked as commercial interventions are targeted at individual households and/or opportunities open up as informal settlement areas are individuals, although in the case of microfinance, groups upgraded. Entrepreneurs find that business increases may be involved to provide social collateral. as roads and pathways are improved. Rental income is also an incentive—and home owners take loans for Surveys from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico show that the construction of additional rooms and sometimes between 65 and 85 percent of households living in major dwellings– although a lack of investment capital for the cities do not hold any kind of deposit account in a formal- construction of rental rooms is frequently a problem. sector financial institution (Solo 2008). Faced with such realities, microcredit projects developed to provide low- In addition to microfinance, fostering new kinds of income entrepreneurs with the capital they needed to relationships between suppliers and/or customers is expand their business. As microcredit initiatives spread, also possible. Waste recycling is one area in which Overview of Types of Policies and Related Programs 15 commercial benefits are evident from individual pickers slum and shack dwellers and homeless, most of whom being organized. Without their own organizations, waste live in informal settlements in towns and cities of the pickers get small returns and receive only low prices for global South. This has developed and enhanced the the separated wastes from recycled material wholesalers opportunities for the urban poor to define their own or industries. In Brazil, networks of recyclers formed agendas (see also box 2). and challenged exploitative trading relationships; in some cases, the income received from low unit prices Aided self-help is a further approach with support being was further exacerbated by fraudulent practices such provided to households and community groups to address as the use of faulty scales. For example, in Salvador their own needs in terms of their efforts at neighborhood (Brazil) Walmart stores in the metropolitan region have improvements—for instance, through bulk building introduced recycling facilities for their clients (Fergutz, material supplies, equipment loan, technical assistance, with Dias and Mitlin 2011). More than 200 waste and loans. Moser (2009) outlines the multiplicity of pickers from the Cooperative of Ecological Agents and strategies used by low-income women following 30 Waste Pickers from Canabrava collect 45 tonnes (U.K.) years of longitudinal research in informal settlements each month and transport them to the cooperative’s in Guayaquil (Ecuador). She explains how the women center for sorting, pressing, and sale. undertake self-help, negotiate with local politicians and an emerging political party, are active in protest movements, Social and urban movements are important because they participate in national government programs to address represent urban poor groups and their capacities to local needs, and collaborate with an international NGO negotiate pro-poor political change. One approach has and international development agency. Such self-help been to support their work, and the example of waste may include both individual and collective efforts to pickers from Brazil noted above is also relevant here. address development needs. At the individual level, households make multiple efforts to invest in human In the global South, several different types of movements capital including education as well as other learning and related activities are active in urban areas. Struggles opportunities. Households may also seek diversification in towns and cities can be divided into five broad types: of their income sources to reduce the risk of poverty. It related to formal work, informal work, land (plus housing), basic services, and social discrimination (subdivided by includes but goes beyond activities typically categorized as gender, age, ethnicity, and other distinctions). The social informal settlement upgrading. movement literature distinguishes between old social movements and new social movements, with the former Agencies have sought to capture these efforts in programs. being viewed as those related to employment relations and The World Bank began funding for sites and services the struggle for democracy and the latter concerned with programs in the early 1970s following its early development identity—for instance, the movement for gender equality, in Peru from the 1960s. A further direction introduced as those concerned with sexual identities, and those with regulatory standards increased in middle-income countries committed environmentalists. However, that distinction in the global South were the “shell houses” constructed does not work well in towns and cities in the global on legally purchased plots and provided in countries such South. As box 4 illustrates, women’s struggles involve as El Salvador, India, and the Philippines for residents to both identity and financial redistribution; the same is purchase and then develop (Mukhija 2004). true of movements of informal residents struggling for land, housing, and basic services who may have particular Relevant to both informal settlements and legal new ethnic affiliates, and who also have a strong identity based build initiatives has been self-help financial arrangements. on their informal localities. Credit unions and housing cooperatives are examples of more complex self-help strategies that have emerged, and Box 5 introduces the work of Slum/Shack Dwellers loan programs enable households to finance their own International (SDI), a global network of federations of improvements more easily. 16 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South Box 5. Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) and the Programming of the Urban Poor SDI is a network of federations of slum and shack dwellers and homeless and landless groups in towns and cities of Asia, Latin America, and Africa. These federations bring together residents of informal settlements and those living informally in formal areas, enabling them to identify and realize a range of strategies to address their needs and interests. These national federations link to small professional agencies (NGOs) that provide them with support services. The core form of organiza- tion within these people’s federations remains savings schemes, local groups that draw together residents in low-income neighborhoods to save, share their resources and strategize to address their collective needs. Local groups benefit from peer support through community-to-community exchanges. Community mapping and surveying form the basis for building a strong platform at the neighborhood level, and pilot activities identify and demonstrate improved solutions for housing, basic services, and settlement planning. Where possible, the federations also develop an increasing emphasis on citywide strategies for change. With most federation savers and savings-group managers being women, these savings groups help address the multiple forms of disadvantage, oppression, and exploitation that they face. The immediate focus and localized orientation to collec- tive savings provides them with a new role supported by their peers. This challenges and helps overturn discrimination and limited social expectations as women engage with each other as activists (rather than remaining subservient to male and/or older household members) and in public (rather than enclosed in the household) and being strategic (rather than passive). The collective nature of savings helps to ensure that women are nurtured as they develop a new understanding of themselves and their capabilities. As women take up new leadership roles in providing essential goods and services, centered on the home and neighborhood, an engagement with the state begins. New relations with the state include those with local councilors, officials, and sometimes traditional authorities. These are essential if urban deprivation is to be addressed and development to take place—even if these are often clientelist. Savings activities lead to Urban Poor Funds (at national and/ or city levels) with blended finance. Since SDI’s inception in 1996, the network of federations that make up SDI has grown from the six founding members (Cambodia, India, Namibia, Nepal, South Africa, and Thailand) with the addition of Bolivia, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The core SDI network now involves more than 16,000 savings groups with an average membership of 70 per group. A key mechanism for investing in improved tenure and services has been Urban Poor Funds, which are established by SDI affiliates as they begin to undertake precedent- setting investments (for example, building houses or a community-managed public toilet) to show their capabilities. Just under $10 million is currently in the savings accounts of the federations from daily savings collections. Much of this finance is circulating locally within savings schemes. An additional $2 million is community savings in national urban poor funds. These local groups and the larger federations to which they belong are engaged in many community-driven initiatives to upgrade informal and squatter settlements, improving tenure security, and offering residents new development opportunities. They are also engaged in developing new housing that low-income households can afford and installing infrastructure and services (including water, sanitation, and drainage). More than 200,000 households have secured formal tenure (either individual or collective) as a result of this work. Across the network of federations, 102 agreements are in place with pro- vincial or city authorities that establish a dialogue with potential for more equal relationships between the authorities and the communities. Source: Satterthwaite and Mitlin 2014. Some agencies such as the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) increase the effectiveness of local investments and ensure support more radical efforts to rethink urban development, state support for local infrastructure improvements. More identifying improved modalities of infrastructure than 1 million people have been served by self-financed investment to enable household efforts (including time sanitation improvements in the city of Karachi with and money) and state funds to be better used. Their additional investments in trunk infrastructure. The work program builds on self-help but remodels solutions to of the OPP has extended to Urban Resources Centres, Overview of Types of Policies and Related Programs 17 Box 6. Baan Mankong: Achieving Secure Housing in Thailand In 1992 the Thai government provided the Urban Community Development Office (UCDO) with capital of B 1,250 million (or just over $41 million) to allow it to make loans available to organized low-income urban communities so that they could undertake a range of activities related to housing, land acquisition, and income generation. This funding also provided for small grants and technical support to community organizations. The Thai government recognized the successes of UCDO activities, and in 2002 the Community Archinect.com Organization Development Institute (CODI) was established as an independent public organization to continue and extend this work. In 2003 the government responded to continuing problems of poor-quality and often insecure housing and neighbor- hoods threatened with eviction in urban areas with a new program Baan Mankong or “secure housing,” which is broadly consistent with the work of CODI and implemented through the Institute. Baan Mankong channels government-financed infrastructure subsidies and housing loans directly to low-income communities, which plan and carry out improvements to their housing environment and to basic services. Infrastructure subsidies of B 25,000 ($625) per family are available for communities upgrading in situ, B 45,000 ($1,125) for reblocking, and B 65,000 ($1,625) for relocating. Families can draw on low-interest loans from either CODI or banks for housing, and a grant equal to 5 percent of the total infrastructure subsidy is available to help fund the management costs for the local organization or network. Baan Mankong supports processes designed and managed by low-income households and their community organizations and networks. These communities and networks work with local governments, professionals, universities, and NGOs in their city to survey all low-income communities and then plan an upgrading program to improve conditions for all these within three to four years. Once the plans have been finalized, CODI channels the subsidies and loans directly to the com- munities. These upgrading programs build on the community-managed programs and on what communities have already developed. Upgrading existing settlements is supported whenever possible; if relocation is necessary, a site is sought close by to minimize the economic and social costs to households. The program imposes as few conditions as possible seeking to support upgrading in ways that allow urban poor communities to lead the process and generate local partnerships, so that the whole city contributes to the solution. Between 2003 and July 2012, Baan Mankong supported 874 projects in 1,637 communities (some projects cover more than one community) spread across 286 urban centers and covering 91,805 households. Sixty-one percent of beneficia- ries belong to communities that were upgraded in situ with long-term secure collective tenure. Ten percent of beneficiaries relocated to new sites within two kilometers of their former homes. During the same period, grants for infrastructure upgrad- ing and associated technical assistance and capacity building exceeded $147 million, and loans for land and housing exceeded $181 million. More than 78 percent of households supported by CODI are now living in settlements that have also achieved tenure security, via long-term leases or collective land ownership. Source: Satterthwaite and Mitlin 2014. which recognize that aided self-help can be furthered by The aided self-help approach has developed in many ways, the political pressure that organized communities can particularly in Asia, building on the experiences of the exert if organized into networks and social movements. Million Houses Program in Sri Lanka and the Community This is likely to be necessary to address land issues and Mortgage Program in the Philippines. Box 6 introduces a secure public finance at scale. national government program from Thailand launched to 18 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South address continuing problems of urban poverty and informal models. Box 7 describes one such initiative that has built settlements in towns and cities across the country. on the experiences in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia to support a range of efforts by civil society organizations to Further innovations and the adaptation of such experiences achieve progressive urban change. to countries with little state support has resulted in new Box 7. Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA) and Community-Led Upgrading In 2008 the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) launched the Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA) to catalyze change in Asian cities in regard to slum upgrading. This program builds on the tradition of work within the Coali- tion. ACCA enables community groups to be the primary doers in planning and implementing projects in which they tackle problems of land, infrastructure, and housing. In each country, the support for community initiatives is channeled through ACHR members that are already working on issues of urban poverty and housing. These groups share a belief in a large- scale change process that is led by people. Many of these groups already support federations and networks of low-income community people, and most have already cultivated some kinds of collaborative links with local government agencies. ACCA offer new tools to these groups to enhance, strengthen, and scale up the work they are already doing to create a collaborative, citywide mechanism for bringing about change in their cities. The core activities of the program, which account for 60 percent of the budget, are the small upgrading projects and larger housing projects that are implemented in low-income communities by their residents. The plans for these projects, as well as the citywide surveying, saving, and partnership-building processes they are part of, are developed and implemented by the local groups. The budget ceilings for the upgrading projects are very small (a maximum of $3,000) but offer flexibility in how community organizations use those small resources to address what they choose. These budgets give people some- thing in their hands to start, to negotiate with, while forcing people to economize and think of what other resources can be mobilized. The expectation is that if communities plan well and use these funds strategically to link with other resources, then these modest amounts can help “unlock” people’s power to negotiate with other actors for more resources, more land, and more support. Each ACCA city can access the following: ■■ $15,000 for at least five small upgrading projects ■■ $40,000 for one big housing project in each city ■■ $3,000 per city for city process support, to cover a variety of joint development processes within the city, such as surveying, network building, support for savings activities, local exchanges, and meetings and ■■ $10,000 per country per year for national coordination, meetings, and exchanges. The program supports the setting up and strengthening of collaborative mechanisms to build linking, learning, and mutual support structures. By October 2012, the program was supporting infrastructure improvements in close to 1,000 settlements in 165 cities in 19 Asian countries. Community development funds have been established in 107 cities; 70 of these are cities in which the process of fund establishment has been directly linked to ACCA investments. In 57 percent of the big housing projects, the land has been provided by the government under a variety of tenure arrangements. Analyzing the budgets of these projects shows that only 4 percent of funds have been provided by ACCA, 13 percent are from the communities, 3 percent from minor sources, and the remaining 80 percent have been provided by local and/or national government agencies. By December 2010, in 91 cities (out of total 107) some kind of committee was formalizing this city-community partnership. National-level collaborative mechanisms are also working now in eight countries (Cambodia, Fiji, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam). Source: Boonyabancha and Mitlin 2012. 5 An Assessment of the Key Challenges (Local, National, and International) to Engaging Excluded Groups in Rapidly Growing Cities Many challenges need to be addressed if excluded groups are to be engaged more effectively and inclusive cities are to be achieved. Eight key challenges are highlighted here: (1) lack of household income and the continuing prevalence of informal incomes; (2) a lack of state investment capacity; (3) a lack of political will and state capacity even when political will is established; (4) a lack of the basic data needed for addressing poverty; (5) a lack of space for participation, especially by the lowest income groups; (6) a lack of vision for what an inclusive city means; (7) the constraints on inclusion from city governments organized sectorally; (8) and the lack of channels through which international agencies can support urban governments and civil society groups. In regard to the first of these, lack of income is a major reason for social exclusion on the grounds of residency—and an inability to invest in human capital and so improve labor market access and health. Many of the opportunities that are created are most easily accessed by those who have some resources. For example, microfinance programs may require savings. Very low incomes and multiple necessary expenditures mean that individuals and households have a very limited capacity to save or invest and little ability to withstand shocks. Credit unions and microfinance initiatives may require regular monthly payments, but this is particularly difficult for those employed informally on very low wages. Banks may not locate close to informal settlements. Women may find it difficult to accumulate savings if they cannot make deposits outside the dwelling. Such realities illustrate the difficulties involved in taking up market-based opportunities. Subsidy finance and special provision for those with low incomes may also be more difficult. In South Africa, the water and electricity subsidy is offered on the basis of formal residency in low-income settlements. Households informally renting a room or backyard shack cannot access such state redistribution. In cities across the global South, household access to piped water (and hence usually much lower prices per liter) may be offered but be available only to those with the capital to invest in the line and meter. Such examples are also illustrative of the third challenge, a lack of state capacity to design effective interventions. It should be recognized here that income inequalities may also be significant in addition to inadequate absolute income. High levels of income inequality and the spatially segregated cities to which they contribute appear to reduce social mobility. This occurs as political elites fail to commit to financial redistribution—or do not commit on a sufficient scale. For example, improving incomes through cash transfers may do little if the costs of basic services and other essentials (such as rents) increase as well. Such examples highlight how little we know about factors determining the supply and price of rental accommodation in low-income settlements despite the high percentage of tenants in many towns and cities; it is not uncommon for between 30 and 60 percent of residents in informal settlements to be tenants. 19 20 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South A particular difficulty is that high levels of informal neighborhood to (usually) low-quality and limited public employment in labor markets contribute to income services (often with personal favors to the community insecurity and may be associated with dangerous and leader) in return for votes. Not only does this maintain very difficult working conditions. No (or very limited) poor environmental conditions in informal settlements labor market organizing is found among such informal (as the services invariably are very basic and generally do workers and no monitoring of working conditions. Here not last for more than a few years), but also it maintains it is difficult to improve the situation of these workers. vertical social relations of patronage and is associated with Moreover those earning informal incomes are frequently a lack of public accountability. excluded from both market and state opportunities: for example, the ability to access formal credit because of the Examples from cities as diverse as Guayaquil (Ecuador), requirement to deduct loan repayments automatically Nairobi (Kenya), and Karachi (Pakistan) show that some from wages. informal entrepreneurs are able to take advantage of this and deliberately prevent public investments so that they A second challenge is that in many cases local government can maintain their own businesses and associated incomes. has very little funding for citywide urban management and Such vested interests prevent attempts for more inclusive to improve infrastructure and basic services for areas that approaches managed by democratic and accountable lack such investment. This may be because of low levels administrations. In this context, it is a challenge to ensure of economic development and/or because most revenues that programs that are almost inevitably only going to offer are collected by the central government with very little support to a percentage of those in need do not contribute being transferred to local municipalities. Whatever the to clientelist patterns of dominance that further disempower reason, without investment capital it is not possible to the urban poor. For outcomes to change, new practices are improve public services and take measures to reduce such needed. At the city level, citizens and their representatives exclusion. Rapidly growing cities face particular problems have to manage such clientelist tendencies within electoral as they have to provide for incoming populations without politics. At the local level, powerful leaders may capture the revenue base. the benefits of programs regardless of the intent of those designing and managing the implementations. Lack of government finance means that programs are partial (not universal); the lowest-income and least A fourth key challenge is the lack of basic data about powerful groups receive very poor quality public services conditions in neighborhoods across the city. We know or are not provided for at all. In middle-income countries very little about some key areas. Hence local (and national) in the global South such as Brazil and South Africa, government lack the ability to make investments on the municipal capital budgets are between $20 and $40 basis of need and are vulnerable to powerful interests per person per year. In low-income countries they are subverting improvement programs. Local government considerably less, and in most such countries, deficits in may have little idea of the numbers living in informal infrastructure and service provision are also much larger. settlements, the nature of services in these areas, and in In many low-income countries, annual expenditure per the larger cities may not even know where they are located. person by local governments is less than $5, and almost This is true even in countries such as South Africa that all of this goes to cover recurrent expenditures (UCLG have local government departments with considerable 2014). skills and personnel. Consequently responsible state agencies cannot, for example, know about the main health A third challenge is to secure the kinds of political problems in each district. The lack of neighborhood data is relations need for inclusion and a need to secure the replicated in terms of employment. A high proportion of political commitment at both the national and city scales. low-income groups work in what is termed the “informal” Resource scarcity favors clientelist political relations in economy for which little or no data are available—in part which a hierarchical community leadership is established because the official data collected on employment have with dependency on a patron who secures access for the never been able to capture the variety, complexity, and An Assessment of the Key Challenges to Engaging Excluded Groups in Rapidly Growing Cities 21 diversity of income-earning sources, working conditions, A sixth is the lack of inclusive vision. Major infrastructure and hours and their implications for health and income improvements are represented as being in the interests levels. A few detailed studies provide insights into the of all, but outcomes are less equitable. For example, the living conditions in informal settlements: for instance, reconstruction of city centers to benefit enterprises almost the numbers sharing water points and toilets, the high universally seems to involve the displacement of large residential densities, and the length of time that families numbers of low-income groups and/or informal vendors. have occupied their homes. Also, a few detailed studies An emerging aspirational middle class may be even more point to the difficulties faced by those working in the anxious to displace the urban poor and “cleanse” their informal economy; for instance, the importance of social neighborhoods. Street vendors and those providing forms networks for getting employment and the more powerful of low-cost transport may be denied access to the city or local people who prey on street traders and other own- restricted to particular areas. New alternative models of account workers or demand payment from them. But urban planning and development that allow low-income these are exceptions, and most authorities work with very populations to remain in city centers need to be identified limited data. and promoted. Even when programs are based on accurate data, they Inclusion needs to reach beyond outcome metrics to may be designed by experts with little understanding include governance. If one almost universal failing of the realities of spatial and labor market informalities. in programs and interventions is to be identified, it Programs are frequently too formalized to be relevant to is the failure to engage low-income groups and their those working and living in the informal employment organizations sufficiently—both in prioritizing what sector. Credit programs may require regular monthly should be done and in actually doing it and supporting or weekly payments from residents (for either initial these organizations to do so. Efforts have been made to savings or repayments), which effectively excludes those improve this, such as participatory budgeting in Brazil paid daily or every few days because of the difficulties of and the more general democratizing aspirations of the accumulating these monies. 74th Amendment in India. But such efforts are too small in scale. A fifth related challenge is a lack of capacity in both civil society and government to ensure that participatory Many program interventions and policy reforms place processes are inclusive. Acknowledgment is widespread too great a confidence on the state. Governments may be that the lowest-income and most disadvantaged groups fickle, and as popular programs are associated with one often do not participate in these processes. Hence even if party, the next to take office may cancel the measures. less powerful groups are included in participatory and/or Greater political inclusion is likely to improve state improved governance processes, they may be dominated commitments. by those that have better political connections and/or a higher social status. It takes time for disadvantaged Finally, urban development is complex, and too many people to be comfortable in social interactions that have agencies look for simple single-sectoral interventions. traditionally been dominated by those with expert and/ Within governments, this is in part because of the or leadership status. Although it has been recognized that ministerial divisions of responsibility that characterize the more decentralized the level of decision making and modern governmental systems. Effective poverty reduction planning activities, the more likely it is that inclusion is likely to include the design of systems that make state will take place, this is not always acted on. Hence support easier to understand and to access. Here one also little autonomy may be available for the lowest level of finds the lack of channels through which international council (such as wards and baranguays) to make their agencies can support urban governments and urban civil own decisions, and meetings frequently take place in city society groups, even as these are recognized as key actors council officers, rather than community locations. in achieving more inclusive cities. 6 Excluded Groups and Collaboration with the State Many substantive efforts have been made to enhance relations between low-income, disadvantaged, and other excluded groups and the state. These invariably establish more participatory forms of engagement between government agencies and organized groups of citizens. In most instances, the focus of the excluded groups’ interaction on the part of the state is with local government. This reflects the primary significance of local government in areas of importance to disadvantaged or excluded residents—including not only access to infrastructure and services but also the influence of building and land-use regulations on the cost and availability of housing and land for housing. Local governments are undoubtedly significant, but it has to be recognized that they generally have very limited capacity to make capital investments and generally support inclusion. Nevertheless city governments are critical to efforts to secure more inclusive cities (as defined in the introduction). Below we summarize three of these efforts to illustrate what is possible. Efforts to advance democratization in Brazil following the return to democracy in the mid- 1980s included reflections on how to advance the accountability of local government. Among other innovations, participatory budgeting developed as a result of innovations taken by activists belonging to the federation of local neighborhood associations and the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party) in Porto Alegre. After its introduction in the mid-1900s, participatory budgeting had spread to 104 cities by 2001 and is now in use in more than 400 municipalities in Brazil. The particular form changes in different locations but what is consistent is the organization of residential neighborhoods into groups that either directly express their choices on local priorities for municipal investment or that elect delegates to make these choices. In some cases, other excluded groups such as women are also formed into participatory councils to inform local authorities about their priorities. Formal budgetary responsibility remains with the elected representatives, who respond to the identification of priorities in their budget process. Important in the participatory budgeting cycle is the annual reporting on the priorities identified in the previous year. The scale of municipal investment and the percentage delegated to the local participatory bodies vary considerably across the towns and cities using participatory budgeting. However, it is evident that the balance of investments has changed toward basic public goods and services in response to greater involvement by citizens living in low-income neighborhoods. Participatory budgeting has also been important in institutionalizing relationships between local neighborhood associations and challenging clientelist political practices with their relations of dependency and subjugation. The work of the Urban Community Development Office in Thailand was partially introduced box 6, which describes the ways in which the Office has used state subsidies to secure material improvements in informal settlements. UCDO also built on other practices of savings-based organizing to strengthen neighborhood associations and bring them together in citywide networks. The residents in informal settlements were encouraged by Office staff and local NGOs to set up community-based savings and loan groups. Loans were made available by the 22 Excluded Groups and Collaboration with the State 23 Office for income generation, revolving funds, housing citywide federating is critical to changing urban politics. and land acquisition (for instance, to allow communities In terms of strategies to engage local government, most threatened with eviction to purchase the site they occupied city federations establish city funds, using these monies or land elsewhere and develop housing there), and housing to add to the capital of local savings groups and, more improvement. The National Housing Authority provided significantly, using these savings capital in efforts to some infrastructure subsidies including to communities leverage state contributions. Of particular significance in with UCDO housing projects. Any community could improving the quality of dialogue between local authority receive any of these loans, provided it could show that it officials and politicians has been the use of citywide profiles had the capacity to manage savings and loans and that the of informal settlements and settlement enumerations. loans could be used to respond to the particular needs of The presentation of such information captures attention each group. Local groups established city and provincial because the local authorities themselves lack this savings group networks that were helped to join together information. SDI local savings schemes have completed and negotiate with city or provincial authorities, influence about 9,000 settlement profiles, and in 200 urban centers development planning, or simply work together on they have profiled all informal settlements. Approximately shared problems of housing, livelihoods, or access to basic 4,000 enumerations have been completed in which all of services. UCDO loans were also provided to networks of the residents are surveyed and their shacks numbered. community groups, who then on-lent to their member This enables the compilation of detailed reports that organizations. For UCDO, this was in part instrumental: include, for example, household size, sources of livelihood, Funding could be provided at lower cost if organized incomes, length of stay, and access to basic services. In just and managed by community organizations or networks over 1,000 of these enumerations shacks and basic services and cost recovery improved. But the work has also have been plotted using GIS coordinates, which facilitates made local government more relevant to the needs and the preparation of new settlement plans based on the interests of low-income and disadvantaged citizens who priorities of residents. SDI has also used pilot activities, were previously excluded from political decision making. called precedents, to identify the kinds of improvements The learning from UCDO then fed into the work and they see needed for water and sanitation provision and structure of CODI, whose work was described already. housing. Such precedents enable communities to be more effective in their negotiations with local authorities Slum/Shack Dwellers International is described in because they know the kinds of improvements they are box 5. Savings-based organizing helps to bring local seeking, the cost of such improvements, and any required residents together in city and national federations of amendments to existing regulations. By August 2013, SDI the homeless and landless. Such organizations help to affiliates had signed 104 memoranda of understanding ensure that neighborhood groups are not isolated but with local authorities formalizing their agreement to work support each other and work together. The emphasis on together to address issues of exclusion and neglect. 7 Proposed Metrics by Which the Engagement of Excluded Groups Can Be Monitored and Assessed Far more discussion has taken place around what indicators should be used for measuring and monitoring progress after 2015 than how the whole data generation system should be struc- tured to encourage, serve, and support inclusion. Most of the discussion focuses on developing an agreed upon set of national level indicators to be applied to all countries. This ignores the extent to which inclusion in urban areas is linked to the capacity, competence, and account- ability of local governments and to the extent to which those who are excluded are organized and able to engage with local government. Data collected on exclusion should serve and sup- port those institutions or groups tasked with tackling the different aspects of exclusion. The list of indicators suggested also fails to address the vast limitations in current indicators— for instance, in relation to water, sanitation, and housing conditions. What is at fault is the whole internationally endorsed data collection system because it fails to produce relevant data with the disaggregation and detail needed to inform (mostly local) assessment and action. For measuring and monitoring poverty or other aspects of exclusion, fundamental limitations are seen in what data are currently gathered and from whom data are collected (for example, for data collected from interviews, who is interviewed; for household surveys, the size of the sample and how it is chosen). The issue also arises of for whom the data are available and useful; here the key issue is how much this provides relevant data disaggregated to the small- est political unit (for example, the ward) or geographic unit (for example, each street). If a commitment is made to inclusion, it needs to be supported by a commitment to generate the data needed to address inclusion, that is, which housing units and streets do not have regular supplies of safe water piped to their homes, electricity connections, and so on; this is not served by the aggregated figures produced by national sample surveys. The reliance of most governments on national sample surveys for much of the data relevant to inclusion (or poverty) means that the data collected provide a very aggregated view, for instance, data “for urban populations” but not for each urban center, let alone for each ward or street. Censuses should provide data down to this level and so in theory provide data rel- evant for addressing exclusion, but they are expensive and generally done only once every 10 years—and it is not clear whether most census-taking institutions actually make the data available to local governments in a form that allows them to identify (socially and spatially) who is excluded. The issue also arises of whether those who are undertaking household surveys or collecting data for censuses actually include households in informal settlements. It is obviously difficult for such data collection to take place in informal settlements for which we have no maps, no street names, no house addresses or numbers, and no data on households who live there— 24 Proposed Metrics by Which the Engagement of Excluded Groups Can Be Monitored and Assessed 25 and a reluctance may also be present on the part of those actually are. They are based on responses to a long list collecting the data to go into these informal settlements of questions. For water, this includes what is the main (Sabry 2009). source of drinking water for members of the household (with 15 options listed as well as “other”); where is that Almost all the metrics currently used to measure and mon- water source located; how long does it take to go there, itor urban poverty are flawed. The $1/person/day poverty get water, and come back; and do you do anything to the line (and inflation-related adjustments) can be seen as a water to make it safer to drink, and if so, what do you measure relevant to inclusion in that those with incomes usually do. But the use of these data to assess who has lower than this are considered extremely poor. But these “improved water” makes no allowance for differences in are completely unrealistic in many urban contexts because rural and urban contexts. This is also the case for toilets, the costs of food and nonfood needs are so much higher and here too one finds a list of questions on what kind than this. For instance, applying the $1.25 a day poverty of toilet facility members of the household usually use line to urban populations, apparently we find almost no (with a range of toilet types listed) and whether this toilet urban poverty in China, the Middle East, North Africa, facility is shared with other households. It is possible to Central Asia, and Europe and very little urban poverty recommend improvements to the data collected on water in Latin America and in East Asia and the Pacific (World and sanitation within the demographic and health surveys Bank and IMF 2013). What is a particular worry is that (or other household surveys) that then allows a more the $1.25 a day poverty line is being used to measure (and accurate assessment of who is included in water supply monitor) the proportion of the world’s population in ex- systems that are convenient, safe, regular, and affordable treme poverty for the Millennium Development Goals, in urban contexts—but as discussed at the beginning of and it presents a very misleading picture because it shows this section, a much more important issue is how to get this proportion falling rapidly and virtually disappearing data on who is excluded that serves local planning and in the next 10 to 20 years. Some sources recommend that action to address this. national poverty lines are also used to measure and moni- tor poverty but do not discuss what is needed to make na- Statistics on who lives in “slums” could be considered tional poverty lines more accurate, especially in account- as measures of exclusion from adequate quality (and ing for the costs of nonfood needs for urban populations often legal) housing. The statistics on the proportion of living where such costs are particularly high. the urban population living in “slums” are known to be inaccurate; very little evidence supports the claim of these Obviously an interest in inclusion means an interest in statistics that the proportion of the urban population who is included in formal systems of provision for water living in slums has dropped dramatically since 2000: and sanitation and who lives in legal (adequate quality) for instance, for the drop in the proportion of the urban housing. The current international indicator for water population living in “slums” in India between 2000 and (who has what is termed “improved” provision) does not 2010 from 42 to 29 percent. Where is the evidence for the indicate who is included in the official piped water supply drop in the proportion of Bangladesh’s urban population system with water supply that is convenient, safe, regular, living in slums from 78 to 62 percent in this decade? Or in or affordable. There are comparable problems in the official Uganda from 75 to 60 percent? How did Angola manage statistics as to who has “improved provision” for sanitation to reduce the proportion of its urban population living in because the range of toilet types said to be “improved” slums from 87 percent to 66 percent between 2005 and include those that are inadequate for high-density (and 2009? Or the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 76 often multistory) urban settings. These official indicators to 62 percent in these same four years?1 What is unclear is for the proportion of the (urban and rural) population that on what these statistics are actually based. UN-Habitat is have “improved provision” for water and sanitation are not conducting annual surveys in each nation to monitor often based on data from demographic and health surveys how the proportion of the population living in “slums” that focus on representative samples for nations and so they do not indicate where the inadequacies in provision 1 These are statistics produced by UN-Habitat and quoted in United Nations (2013). 26 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South has changed. It is possible to draw on national sample access to safety nets, and public transport—although as surveys (including the demographic and health surveys) with provision for water, each of these may need a set of for some of the relevant data, but the nations covered and questions to allow an assessment of whether these needs frequency of these surveys are far less than the number of are being met. Not much point is seen in measuring who countries for which UN-Habitat presents “estimates” on has access to health services if these services are poor the proportion of their urban population living in slums quality and unable to provide needed responses to most for 2005, 2007, and 2009. But even if the accuracy of illnesses and injuries. It would be important to identify these statistics was improved, they would still have the relevant indicators for other aspects of deprivation, same limitation of other statistics drawn from national including voicelessness and powerlessness within political sample surveys—they do not give the needed local detail systems and bureaucratic structures, risks of eviction from to support action. homes, and those based on gender, age, ethnicity, etc. On issues of affordability, it would be useful to get data on What is needed is not only indicators that are realistic for the proportion of income going to (for instance) water, urban contexts but forms of data collection that make pay-to-use toilets, keeping children in school, electricity, evident the deprivations faced by those in different informal health care, transport, and so on, which can highlight settlements or other areas where low-income groups are where action is needed to reduce such costs. But this is an concentrated within each urban center. You can hardly assessment that needs doing in each city to feed discussions plan for an inclusive city if no data are at hand on who is of inclusion (and the means for inclusion). excluded from infrastructure and services in that city and where they live. National statistical offices almost never Finally, one of the most profound forms of exclusion is the seem to support local governments with the information way in which low-income groups and their organizations base they need to become more effective—which includes are never consulted about their needs and priorities. We data on housing conditions and infrastructure and service have mentioned earlier the range of ways in which repre- provision to each neighborhood. sentative organizations of the urban poor have addressed this, and this includes collecting data about their settle- It is easy to list a set of measures (and indicators) for each ments through enumerations, mapping, and surveys. This of the eight aspects of deprivation noted in figure 1. Some provides the data for each settlement that can serve the of these would coincide with what is being collected inclusion of the inhabitants in the formal city (no longer already—for instance, for water, sanitation, electricity, and illegal) and in official systems of provision for infrastruc- access to schools—although as suggested above, the level ture and services. When representative organizations of of detail needs to be increased (so for water, it is possible “slum” or shack dwellers develop working relationships to assess who has safe, sufficient, regular, and affordable with local government with agreements on joint work water). Some additional indicators are suggested—for and with local government staff that they know and work instance, the proportion of the urban population with with, some of the most important aspects of exclusion are health care services, emergency services, provision for being addressed. drainage, regular collection of household wastes, policing, 8 Conclusion: Toward Measures of Inclusion That Work for the Excluded Perhaps the most important issue in regard to what information supports inclusion is greater acknowledgment about what urban poor groups are doing themselves with respect to data col- lection and analysis and how they see and use this to negotiate greater inclusion: for instance, the extent to which one finds direct support to urban poor organizations that also helped support their work in partnership with local government—as in the more than 100 cities with formal agreements between local government and the federations and/or a jointly managed fund or the Urban Poor Fund International managed by SDI and the Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA) managed by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights. This in turn is supported by new forms of data collection whose collection and use contributes to greater inclusion—as in the surveys, maps, and enumerations undertaken by federations or networks of community organizations already mentioned. Direct engagement is also needed by local governments with organizations of the urban poor to identify the metrics that work for them and their members. The list of topics that these need to cover will not differ much from the previously noted lists, but the indicators chosen by urban poor groups for measuring and monitoring these may differ very considerably. One of the indicators that appear to be important are the numbers who, facing relocation, are located close to their original locations, or who are allowed to identify alternative sites for their new accommodation. Ease and cost of access to water, public transport, toilets, electricity, and other basic services matter enormously to the low-income populations and particularly women, who have primary responsibility for providing for their families, but the actual indicators they would choose to assess these are likely to be more detailed than the kinds of indicators suggested for the post-2015 sustainable development goals—and rooted in local contexts. The ability to move around the city safely, quickly, and cheaply is also likely to be important for large sections of the low-income population: A well-functioning affordable public transport system helps widen the income-earning choices of low income groups. A city where the needs of pedestrians and bicycles are met also is important for inclusion. One revealing indicator of exclusion is the proportion of land occupied by informal settlements plus the proportion of the city population living in such settlements. Indicators of inclusion might be worth considering such as the level of support for improving informal settlements, the presence of consultative mechanisms to engage city councils and organized residents, the presence of review mechanisms to assess government expenditures, and the presence of up-to- date information about informal settlements including populations, existing services, and the land area these occupy. But it is important that the metrics chosen to measure and monitor exclusion are locally generated and locally relevant—and thus with limitations on how these can be compared internationally. When working in a particular city, it is possible to report on a range of indicators important for inclusion, for instance, the quality of the relationship be- tween urban poor organization leaders and local government staff and politicians, the ease with 27 28 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South which these leaders have access to senior staff, evidence of avoid being partial in their efforts and so to reach out to formal agreements between local government and urban all groups in the city through finding forms of engage- poor organizations (such as formal memoranda of under- ment that incentivize a breadth of activities drawing in all standing), joint measures to identify groups most at risk of those in need. Second, to set up processes that outlive from extreme weather, and provisions that allow urban specific administrations or interests and that provide for poor organizations to oversee local government decisions continuity in collaboration between civil society and the on public works investments. Then we find the examples state in each city. A risk exists that interesting initiatives of where local governments have allowed formal housing are associated with partisan politics, and joint activities developments by urban poor groups with minimum lot have to be renegotiated following elections. Although sizes and infrastructure provision that do not meet official some of this may be inevitable, it is important that this be standards. Strong examples are available of each of these minimized. Ongoing experiences and considered learning that show how these aspects of exclusion can be assessed are necessary if practices are to be improved. Third, to link in each locality, but how can these contribute to national across cities and city regions. Many of the challenges of indicators? exclusion do not stop at city boundaries, which are neces- sarily arbitrary. Hence we see a need to think about col- Our earlier discussion explored general challenges to laboration and joint efforts between city administration achieving inclusive cities. These are challenges that gov- and surrounding municipalities, as well as a need to link ernments and communities must tackle through their col- experiences and efforts across cities. This should help in lective efforts. In terms of collaboration between groups, ensuring appropriate central government policies, regula- three particular challenges must be addressed: First, to tory frameworks, and the redistribution of resources. Appendix 1: Summary of the Seven Approaches Primary Concern That Approach Approach Addresses Theory of Change Major Concerns Assistance to those lacking the Establish the ability to provide cash Achieving scale is critical, but this resources and access to services to or in-kind goods or services to is expensive and hence has to meet their basic needs. alleviate immediate needs. Possibly be a political priority. Programs make this conditional to changing may tend to be top-down in behavior in favor of keeping management, dividing groups into children in school and obtaining deserving and nondeserving poor Welfare health care. May be funded in part with discrimination against some by compulsory individual and/ groups. Some modes of delivery or collective savings that helps to encourage the individualization of prepare for life-cycle needs and citizen state relations, preventing reduces the role of the state. the consolidation of social movements. Lack of planning, basic Investment in infrastructure and Emphasis on the management of infrastructure, and services for services will increase income- urban centers for economic growth urban well-being and prosperity. generation opportunities and may lead to models of urban support enterprise development. development that exclude low- Those investments need to be income groups from the city centers located at the local government and other prime locations. Modern level to be effective. Need is urban management models evident to manage land-use and may be expensive and unlikely Urban land-use changes guided by a city to be an efficient use of scarce management plan. resources. Professional designs may be less effective for inclusive pro-poor cities than alternative approaches. The focus is the city, excluding consideration of the nesting of city economics within the macroeconomy and social links at the household and other levels. Improved processes of democratic Creating institutions of Participatory fora can be limited local government to ensure that it participatory governance to ensure in their decision-making role. They is more responsive to the needs that democracy becomes more may also not be inclusive or pro- and interests of its low-income and pro-poor. This can be achieved poor. Participatory opportunities disadvantaged citizens. through a diversity of strategies may also be dominated by offering citizens and community nonpoor groups or include only Participatory organizations greater inclusion some of those who were previously governance and influence in political decision excluded. Government policies can making and state action. May be influenced by elites whatever extend to coproduction the intentions of politicians. Clarity between models of representative and participatory democracy needs to be in place. 29 30 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South Primary Concern That Approach Approach Addresses Theory of Change Major Concerns Failure of state to treat all nationals Extending rights and entitlements Rights can be difficult to achieve as citizens with equal rights. will protect low-income and by groups that have little power. Failure of state to meet its duties disadvantaged groups and Legal processes to claim rights can and obligations. individuals. The emphasis on rights be complex and formal, and hence rather than needs reinforces a exclude low-income households. Rights-based broader understanding of social Rights-based approaches justice. strengthen the power and legitimacy of the state, which may be more concerned with property rights than the urban poor. Lack of access of low-income Improved access to financial Not all people are able to enter individuals and households to markets will enable scarce cash to the market and/or withstand the private services that have to be be used better to address needs competition. Market approaches paid for, to market opportunities and generate further income. favor those who are already required to provide needed The market encourages improved relatively better-off. Market Market incomes over the life cycle and for access to a range of goods and approaches may increase enterprise development. services. It is often anticipated vulnerabilities for households that an emphasis on markets will unable to manage debt. This does provide livelihood opportunities. very little to address adversity in difficult macroeconomic conditions. Without strong mass organizations Strong and capable urban poor Movements respond to both and associated processes organizations will be able to immediate and long-term difficulties to represent their political develop effective strategies that the urban poor face. However, interests, the urban poor will and realize them. This includes movement activities may be short be disadvantaged and will be making alliances with each other, lived and with a focus on making Social excluded from political decisions building relations with a range of demands on the state and so may and urban and infrastructure and service professional organizations, and not sustain the pressure needed for movements provision. negotiating with the state. substantive change. Movements may also be manipulated or co-opted by political interests. Movements may not represent the interests of the lowest-income members. 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Phuong. 2013. “Urban Cautionary Case from Ahmedabad, India.” Urban Poverty in Vietnam: A View from Complementary Studies 41 (11): 2231–44. Assessments.” Working paper. International Institute for Environment and Development, London. Niño-Zarazúa, M., A. Barrientos, D. Hulme, and S. Hickey. 2010. “Social Protection in Sub-Saharan UCLG (United Cities and Local Government). 2014. Africa: Will the Green Shoots Blossom?” BWPI Basic Services for All in an Urbanizing World: The Third Working Paper. Brooks World Poverty Institute, Global Report on Local Democracy and Decentralization. University of Manchester. London: UCLG. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and United Nations. 2013. The Millennium Development Goals Development). 2003. Improving Water Management: Report 2013. New York: United Nations. Recent OECD Experience. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund). 2013. Global Monitoring Report 2013: Rural-Urban Patel, S., C. d’Cruz, and S. Burra. 2002. “Beyond Evictions Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals. in a Global City: People-Managed Resettlement in Washington, DC: World Bank. Mumbai.” Environment and Urbanization 14 (1): 159–72. Romeshun, K., and G. Mayadunne. 2011. “Appropriateness of the Sri Lanka Poverty Line for Measuring Urban Poverty: The Case of Colombo.” Human Settlements Working Paper. International Institute for Environment and Development, London. Previous knowledge papers in this series Lessons and Experiences from Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS into Urban/ Water (AFTU1 & AFTU2) Projects Nina Schuler, Alicia Casalis, Sylvie Debomy, Christianna Johnnides, and Kate Kuper, September 2005, No. 1 Occupational and Environmental Health Issues of Solid Waste Management: Special Emphasis on Middle and Lower-Income Countries Sandra Cointreau, July 2006, No. 2 A Review of Urban Development Issues in Poverty Reduction Strategies Judy L. Baker and Iwona Reichardt, June 2007, No. 3 Urban Poverty in Ethiopia: A Multi-Faceted and Spatial Perspective Elisa Muzzini, January 2008, No. 4 Urban Poverty: A Global View Judy L. Baker, January 2008, No. 5 Preparing Surveys for Urban Upgrading Interventions: Prototype Survey Instrument and User Guide Ana Goicoechea, April 2008, No. 6 Exploring Urban Growth Management: Insights from Three Cities Mila Freire, Douglas Webster, and Christopher Rose, June 2008, No. 7 Private Sector Initiatives in Slum Upgrading Judy L. Baker and Kim McClain, May 2009, No. 8 The Urban Rehabilitation of the Medinas: The World Bank Experience in the Middle East and North Africa Anthony G. Bigio and Guido Licciardi, May 2010, No. 9 Cities and Climate Change: An Urgent Agenda Daniel Hoornweg, December 2010, No. 10 Memo to the Mayor: Improving Access to Urban Land for All Residents – Fulfilling the Promise Barbara Lipman, with Robin Rajack, June 2011, No. 11 Conserving the Past as a Foundation for the Future: China-World Bank Partnership on Cultural Heritage Conservation Katrinka Ebbe, Guido Licciardi and Axel Baeumler, September 2011, No. 12 Guidebook on Capital Investment Planning for Local Governments Olga Kaganova, October 2011, No. 13 Financing the Urban Expansion in Tanzania Zara Sarzin and Uri Raich, January 2012, No. 14 33 34 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management Daniel Hoornweg and Perinaz Bhada-Tata, March 2012, No. 15 Investment in Urban Heritage: Economic Impacts of Cultural Heritage Projects in FYR Macedonia and Georgia David Throsby, Macquarie University, Sydney, September 2012, No. 16 Building Sustainability in an Urbanizing World: A Partnership Report Daniel Hoornweg, Mila Freire, Julianne Baker-Gallegos and Artessa Saldivar-Sali, eds., July 2013, No. 17 Urban Agriculture: Findings from Four City Case Studies July 2013, No. 18 Climate-resilient, Climate-friendly World Heritage Cities Anthony Gad Bigio, Maria Catalina Ochoa, Rana Amirtahmasebi, June 2014, No. 19 Results-Based Financing for Municipal Solid Waste July 2014, No. 20 KNOWLEDGE PAPERS For more information about the Urban Development Series, contact: Global Programs Unit Social, Urban, Rural & Resilience Global Practice World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 USA Email: gpsurrkl@worldbank.org Website: http://www.worldbank.org/urban February 2016, No. 21