- Mumbai
- Jakarta
- Nairobi
- São Paulo
- en
- Cali
- en
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 09/16/2013 – 00:00
Carlin Carr, Mumbai Community Manager
Many rural traditions and customs carry over into urban life for India’s migrant communities. Local festivals, artisanal expertise, and languages turn Mumbai’s slums into vibrantly diverse amalgamations of India’s villages. The city also offers greater freedom from the strict caste structures of rural areas, and the role and freedoms of women in Mumbai’s slums often change as well. In fact, the autonomy that women gain as they move from rural to urban India provides insights into their healthcare choices, especially when it comes to reproductive care.
Urban Indian women, like all Mumbaikers, are flooded with images — on television, radio, and billboards — that flash ideas for new ways of being, acting, and doing. These influencers open up ideas and avenues not necessarily discussed or advertised in villages. Urban women, even in slums, have access to doctors and clinics and information about their health that they otherwise may not have been exposed to outside of the city. Despite this, many pregnant women in slums still opt for home deliveries rather than deliveries conducted by skilled attendants. Initiatives working on maternal and neonatal care have been tracing the roots of why some women take advantage of better services while others continue to take the risk of giving birth at home with almost no follow-up care for the infant.
Research has found that a number of factors contribute to maternal care choices, but one important one is how “urbanized” the woman may be. A report, “Village in the City: Autonomy and Maternal Health-seeking among Slum Populations of Mumbai,” says that women whose previous residence was in a village had less autonomy in their new city environment, and therefore were less likely to avail themselves of skilled professional clinics or hospitals for giving birth. While many young women in the report felt they had more autonomy — a major indicator of what care a woman will choose — than their rural counterparts, the new mothers, especially Muslim women, had not gained enough autonomy in their urban household structure to push for better health services for her delivery.
Surprisingly, the study found that autonomy was not necessary linked with education nor with work. In fact, fewer women in India’s slums work than in rural India. Rather, exposure to mass media, particularly television, was an important factor in seeking out antenatal and child birth care. In addition, the family structure was also an indicator. For example, when the husband was the head of household, women had more autonomy and influence, but when he was not (for example, an in-law may be), young mothers had less autonomy and were less likely to give birth outside the home.
As women migrate to urban India, village customs follow. As more interventions work to improve maternal and neonatal care in urban India, it is important to recognize that as a woman’s sense of autonomy grows with her urban life, so too does her ability to make better decisions for herself and family. Without women fighting for their own health care, few families will opt for the expense of maternal care clinics if the rural practice of giving birth at home has been so ingrained in their family life.
Photo credit: DFID – UK Department for International Development
Submitted by widya anggraini — Mon, 09/16/2013 – 00:00
Widya Anggraini, Jakarta Community Manager
Immigrants come to Jakarta from rural areas for largely economic reasons, usually following their friends or family members who have already settled in the capital. The case of immigrants from Tegal, in Central Java, is particularly interesting because of the support networks that welcome them in Jakarta. This group of immigrants is known for running food stalls on the streets of Jakarta. The established migrants help newcomers by lending them money to open a food stall, and by teaching them how to run and how to grow their business. While the support remains informal, this community has proved crucial for the numerous migrants that arrive from Tegal each year.
Migrasi masyarakat pedesaan ke daerah perkotaan merupakan fenomena umum. Dengan alasan keterdesakan ekonomi mereka hijrah ke kota demi perbaikan kesejahteraan keluarga. Umumnya mereka datang karena telah memiliki saudara atau teman yang sudah lebih dahulu tinggal di kota. Kerap para pendatang mengalami kebingungan karena harus menyesuaikan diri di wilayah baru perkotaan. Keruwetan kota dan sistem nilai yang berbeda membuat mereka tidak nyaman dengan kehidupan kota. Di tempat yang baru mereka juga dibenturkan dengan kendala ekonomi dan kesulitan mencari pekerjaan seperti yang mereka harapkan. Bantuan kelompok pendatang yang sudah mandiri di kota yang berasal dari daerah yang sama kerap menjadi solusi atas permasalahan bagi mereka yang baru sampai di kota. Ikatan persaudaraan dan bantuan ekonomi yang ditawarkan oleh kelompok ini membantu para pendatang untuk menyesuaikan diri secara budaya dan ekonomi dengan kehidupan dan tantangan di kota.
Sebagai contoh adalah para pendatang di Jakarta yang berasal dari berbagai wilayah di Indonesia. Jumlah pendatang kian banyak terutama saat setelah lebaran. Menurut Dinas Kependudukan dan Catatan Sipil DKI Jakarta, pada tahun 2013 jumlahnya mencapai 54.757 yang berarti mengalami kenaikan sebesar 12,6% di banding tahun lalu. Banyak dari mereka memutuskan menetap setelah melihat keberhasilan saudara atau teman mereka. Salah satunya seperti yang dilakukan oleh Bapak Surya yang berasal dari tegal.
Pak Surya datang ke Jakarta lebih dari 10 tahun yang lalu dengan alasan kesulitan mendapat pekerjaan tetap di desanya sedangkan ia memiliki 3 orang anak dan istrinya hanya tukang cuci panggilan. Ia datang ke Jakarta setelah mengetahui bahwa kawannya telah berhasil membuat warung makan di Jakarta. Ia yang sehari-hari menjadi petani borongan dengan penghasilan yang tak menentu akhirnya memutuskan untuk berangkat ke Jakarta dengan kawannya pada tahun 1999. Pada awalnya ia tidak mengetahui apa yang akan dikerjakannya, namun ia dibantu oleh teman-temannya yang berasal dari Tegal dan ia pun ikut temannya yang punya warung dan mulai belajar. Pada awalnya ia belajar memasak dan cara menjalankan warungmakan. Dibantu oleh teman-temannya, ia pun kian memahami seluk beluk menjalankan warung makan dan mampu mengidentifikasi tempat-tempat strategis dimana ia bisa membuka usaha. Akhirnya ia memutuskan memulai usaha dengan membeli gerobak makanan yang dijual dengan berkeliling dari kampung ke kampung di Jakarta.
Ada banyak kisah serupa pak Surya di Jakarta. Menurut statistik Pemerintah Tegal saat ini dari total orang tegal yang berdomisili di Jakarta, terdapat lebih dari 500.000 orang yang membuka usaha warung tegal, sementara itu sekitar 30.000 diantaranya berada di Jabodetabek dan ini belum termasuk jumlah pedagang bubur ayam, ketoprak, martabak dan lainnya. Warteg banyak menjadi favorit karena tidak membutuhkan modal yang banyak dan sering ramai pengunjung karena harga makanan cenderung lebih murah dibanding makan di restoran.
Upaya pendatang baru dari Tegal yang ingin membuat usaha warung pada umumnya banyak dibantu oleh perkumpulan orang-orang Tegal yang sudah lama di Jakarta. Beberapa dari mereka mendirikan koperasi seperti Koperasi Warung Tegal Jaya yang bertujuan memberdayakan ekonomi masyarakat tegal di Jakarta. mereka juga memfasilitasi jika ada yang ingin membuka usaha seperti yang dialami Pak Surya. Keberadaan koperasi dan persaudaraan antar orang Tegal di Jakarta tidak melulu soal ekonomi. Seperti kata pak Surya, ikatan dengan sesame perantau Tegal sangat kuat, misalnya dibuktikan dengan kegiatan mudik bersama menjelang hari raya Idul FItri. Seperti tahun lalu, hasil iuran selama di Jakarta digunakan di kampung mereka untuk merayakan Hari Raya idul fitri dengan mengundang dai kondang Zainuddin MZ. Pak Surya juga mengaku sudah ada perbaikan ekonomi selama dia bekerja dan mampu menyekolahkan anaknya dan mengirim uang kepada istrinya di kampung.
Foto: Edricism
Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 09/16/2013 – 00:00
Katy Fentress, Nairobi Community Manager
Without the ongoing support of their rural families, migrants in Nairobi slums would have little chance of making it. Family networks provide a crucial backbone on which migrants rely in order to be able to survive in the city and save money for their future.
Grandparents and extended family contribute to the upbringing of children while parents seek urban work. The older generations act as custodians of wealth, overseeing how remittances are invested and providing informal insurance and retirement schemes to safeguard their descendants’ future.
According to a 2012 article on rural-urban ties in Nairobi, 80 percent of rural migrants maintain contact with their rural homes. Young men and women set off from the homestead, often leaving children behind as they struggle to establish themselves and maintain a flow of small-scale remittances to their families.
Money that gets sent back is either kept in home-banks (hiding places within a homestead) or invested in livestock and other tangible wealth. There is still little trust in using institutional banks and although in recent years it has become more common to transfer money through Mpesa (a popular phone banking system), many people still prefer to personally transport the wealth and then keep it in the form of material goods.
Livestock, in the form of poultry, sheep, and cattle, are a preferred way of investing money that has been sent home. On the one hand, they can provide for the people who tend for them; on the other, they can also serve as a form of insurance policy. When disaster strikes, animals can be sold to raise money to address the issue. And the policy covers both parties: drought, floods, and sickness can hit hard both in the city and the countryside, and having something set aside for the proverbial “rainy day” can help to cushion shocks of this kind.
In certain communities, a far higher emphasis is put on investing in land or bricks and mortar. While livestock is useful and can be bought and sold, land can be used as collateral for loans and, if properly managed, can mean the money invested back home can be multiplied.
Although the quality of life in many rural areas in Kenya is undoubtedly higher than in urban areas, the call of the city remains strong. Many of the rural families that can afford to do so will send off their young ones in search of greener pastures for themselves, but also for the community. Moving to the city is a way to diversify a family’s investments and make sure there are always different income streams to rely on.
In order for the system to be able to expand and strengthen itself, there would be a need to invest in training older generations back home on different ways to diversify their income streams. Accounting, basic economics, and workshops to help add value to farm output (for example, how to make preserves, cure meats, or invest in tourism) would help to provide a solid ground on which a family can grow and prosper.
Submitted by Catalina Gomez — Mon, 09/16/2013 – 00:00
Catalina Gomez, Coordenadora da Rede em São Paulo
São Paulo, é a maior cidade do Brasil com 11 milhões de moradores e o epicentro da terceira maior área metropolitana do mundo; ela está totalmente urbanizada e tem poucas conexões com as áreas rurais, exceto por dois temas fundamentais: (i) a provisão de alimentos e (ii) os recursos naturais compartilhados. Esta semana nosso debate está focado nas conexões rural-urbano e no contexto de São Paulo, apresentamos duas experiências que estão contribuindo ao desenvolvimento sustentável da cidade por meio da agricultura urbana e da conservação ambiental, trazendo também uma relação mais balanceada entre a mega-cidade e as áreas rurais do entorno.
Hortelões Urbanos é uma iniciativa recente que procura expandir a agricultura urbana em São Paulo. Esta oferece uma plataforma de troca de experiências em agricultura urbana, produção local de alimentos, reciclagem e estilos urbanos saudáveis que atualmente tem mais de 5 mil seguidores no Facebook. Embora a iniciativa seja bem recente, em menos de um ano, tem conseguido desenvolver hortas comunitárias em espaços públicos da cidade e promovendo a colaboração entre vizinhos pelo trabalho conjunto de comunidades mais sustentáveis. Sendo que as hortas comunitárias estão localizadas em espaços públicos, a iniciativa tem sido muito cuidadosa para conseguir delimitar os espaços das hortas e garantir que elas respeitam as normas dos espaços públicos e asseguram a passagem de pessoas, suas mascotas e bicicletas.
A iniciativa foi criada por Claudia Visoni e Tatiana Achcar, duas jornalistas muito comprometidas na procura de práticas de sustentabilidade na sua cidade. Além da liderança, Hortelões Urbanos tem apoio de uma rede grande de voluntaries que não só participam do trabalho nas hortas, mais também contribuem na limpeza, vigilância e manutenção das hortas e porem à sustentabilidade do projeto. Para aqueles interessados no grupo, podem seguir sua apresentação o próximo 20 de setembro no Pecha Kucha Global Night que destacará casos de heróis escondidos em várias cidades.
A segunda iniciativa é o Festival Cultivar, um evento anual criado para gerar conhecimento sobre praticas sustentáveis e conservação dos recursos naturais da cidade de São Paulo, tais como suas fontes de agua e árvores que são compartilhadas com a área metropolitana e o entorno rural. O evento foi estabelecido em 2010 e a partir de sua criação tem lugar num parque público no mês de setembro, justo para coincidir com o dia da árvore (Setembro 21) e o Dia Mundial Sem Carro (Setembro 22), para reforçar as prioridades alinhadas com a sustentabilidade da cidade.
O Festival Cultivar também organiza “Cultivar Talks”, considerada como uma plataforma local tipo TedX de troca de experiências e práticas de sustentabilidade ambiental. Cultivar Talks promove a participação de representantes da sociedade civil além de expertos em politicas públicas que trazem diversidade de experiências e soluções na conservação dos recursos naturais da cidade, tais como a plantação de arvores e o cuidado de rios da cidade.
Crédito fotográfico: Hortelões Urbanos
Submitted by Catalina Gomez — Mon, 09/16/2013 – 00:00
Catalina Gomez, São Paulo Community Manager
São Paulo, the biggest city in Brazil, has 11 million residents and is the epicenter of the third largest metropolitan area in the globe. It is fully urbanized and presents few connections with close by rural areas, with the exception of two fundamental aspects: (i) food supply; and (ii) shared natural resources. The following two initiatives contribute to São Paulo’s sustainable development through the expansion of urban agriculture and the conservation of natural resources, bringing greater balance between the megacity and nearby rural areas.
Hortelões Urbanos is a recent initiative that aims to expand urban agriculture in São Paulo. It offers a platform for exchanging experiences and lessons learned on urban agriculture, local food production, recycling, and healthy urban lifestyles, and currently has more than 5,000 followers on Facebook. The initiative has also, in less than a year, developed seven community gardens in public spaces throughout the city, promoting joint work among community members toward more sustainable neighborhoods. The gardens are located in public spaces, so careful attention is paid to ensure that the gardens respect public space norms and ensure the proper flow of pedestrians, their pets, and bicycles.
The initiative was launched by two committed women, Claudia Visoni and Tatiana Achcar, who are journalists and advocates on the need for more sustainable lifestyles in cities, with a focus on local food production and reduced dependency on an external food supply. Besides their leadership, Hortelões Urbanos is supported by a network of volunteers, who not only help to plant the various community gardens, but also help in their cleaning, watering, and upkeep, contributing to the gardens’ sustainability. Their example influences thousands of residents and is inspiring new initiatives as well. Those interested in learning more about this group can follow its presentation on the Pecha Kucha Global Night this September 20th, which will showcase “hidden heroes” in various cities.
The second initiative is called Festival Cultivar, an annual event that aims at creating awareness about sustainable lifestyles and the importance of preserving São Paulo’s natural resources, including its water sources and trees, which are present throughout the metropolitan area and even reach the rural areas. The event was established in 2010; since then, it takes place in a public park each September, the same week as Tree Day (September 21) and International Car-Free Day (September 22), to reinforce some of the priorities aligned with a sustainable lifestyle.
Festival Cultivar also brings “Cultivar Talks,” which can be compared to a local TedX platform for exchanging best practices and experiences on urban environmental sustainability. Cultivar Talks promotes the participation of civil society members and public policy experts, bringing different perspectives and solutions to São Paulo’s environmental challenges, with a focus on the conservation of the city’s natural resources, planting trees, and cleaning rivers and streams.
Photo credit: Hortelões Urbanos
Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 09/16/2013 – 00:00
Jorge Bela, Gestor Comunitario de Cali
Los fuertes movimientos migratorios del campo a la ciudad que han tenido lugar en toda Latinoamérica se han visto acentuados en Colombia por la emigración forzosa que han generado los conflictos armados. En Cali, la población pasó de unos 280.000 habitantes en 1950 a unos 2.300.000 en 2013, según datos del DANE. La mayor parte de los considerables flujos migratorios que reflejan estos datos tienen un origen rural. Los sentimientos y tradiciones comunitarias que unían a estos emigrantes en sus lugares de procedencia se difuminan considerablemente a su llegada a las grandes ciudades, pero no desaparecen del todo: se ven sustituidos por lazos de solidaridad por parte de personas, generalmente de su entorno familiar, que habiendo llegado con anterioridad tienen un mayor arraigo. Estas relaciones de solidaridad se extienden especialmente en el ámbito de la búsqueda de vivienda y de trabajo.
La llegada a las zonas urbanas trae consigo necesariamente un impacto en los emigrantes, que deben adaptarse al nuevo entorno. Sin embargo, es importante destacar que los recién llegados también ejercen una influencia significativa en las ciudades en las que se establecen. En paralelo a las complejas consecuencias económicas y sociales del movimiento migratorio, éste también tiene un significativo impacto cultural. Las estrechas relaciones de solidaridad que forman entre los emigrantes son, precisamente, un claro ejemplo de este tipo de impactos. Constituyen un ámbito en el que perviven costumbres y tradiciones culturales, que facilitan la supervivencia y el arraigo en circunstancias a menudo muy adversas. En ocasiones, estas costumbres de origen rural pasan a formar parte del patrimonio común de las ciudades, que acaban por aceptarlas como propias. Este es el caso de las mingas en Cali.
Minga es una palabra de origen quechua y que se refiere a una reunión de un colectivo para hacer un trabajo gratuito en común. De fuerte arraigo entre las comunidades indígenas y afrodescendientes del Valle del Cauca, se mantuvo como forma de ayuda mutua entre las redes informales de emigrantes de Cali. En el año 2012, la Alcaldía de Cali lanzó el programa Minga al Parque. Mediante este programa se atendió la demanda de las comunidades de que se repararan parques en las comunas que habían caído en un estado de deterioro hasta el punto de estar inutilizables. Con un presupuesto de 50 millones COP, administrados por la Secretaría de Deporte y Recreación, y con la colaboración de la Fundación Iberoamericana Al Arte (Fundiberarte) se intervino en siete parques, recuperándolos para su utilización por parte de las comunidades. Una media de 30 voluntarios participaron en esta innovadora forma de colaboración entre la ciudadanía y el gobierno municipal.
De esta forma una institución de origen rural y tradicional, como es la minga, encontró una expresión urbana e innovadora en Cali, para beneficio de las comunidades. Minga al Parque ha tenido continuidad con iniciativas como Minga al Río, organizada por colectivos privados, en los que se movilizaron voluntarios para embellecer zonas cercanas al río de cara a los Juegos Mundiales celebrados en Cali a mediados de este año.
Foto: Fundiberarte
Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 09/16/2013 – 00:00
Jorge Bela, Cali Community Manager
The huge migration from rural to urban areas that took place in Latin America during the last few decades was made even more significant in Colombia by the forced migrations caused by successive armed conflicts. In Cali, the population went from 280,000 in 1950 to 2,300,000 in 2013. As in the rest of the region, most of this massive increase in population was due to migration from rural areas. While the traditional links that glue together rural communities tend to weaken when immigrants reach the urban setting, they do not completely disappear. They are, in part, replaced by new solidarity networks, formed primarily by members of extended families who had arrived earlier and are able to provide support to the newcomers. Primarily, these networks provide assistance with housing and employment, the two most urgent needs they face.
Cities soon impose new customs and ways of doing things on rural settlers, who face great pressure to adapt as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, newcomers also have a significant impact on the cities they move into. In addition to the complex economic and social consequences of the arrival of large numbers of people, immigrants also leave a cultural imprint. The close-knit solidarity networks create a framework for survival and adaptation under difficult circumstances, but they also provide an environment in which rural customs and traditions can subsist. At times, some of these customs and traditions are ultimately adopted by the host cities as their own. Such is the case of the minga in Cali.
Minga is a term of Quechua origin. It refers to collective work voluntarily performed by members of the community for a common good. With a strong traditional use in the indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in the Valle del Cauca, it was kept alive as a means of mutual help within the immigrant communities in Cali. In 2012, the Cali city government noticed this traditional practice when some communities demanded the repair of local parks, which had fallen into decay to the point of being unusable. In order to meet this demand, the city government created the program Minga al Parque. The program had a budget of 50 million COP (about $25,000) and sought to mobilize the communities and some private NGOs, such as Fundacion Iberoamericana Al Arte (Fundiberarte). Seven parks were repaired and decorated, with an average of 30 volunteers for each step.
The relatively small budget was the seed for an innovative form of collaboration between the municipal government, the communities, and local NGOs. Minga, a traditional and rural institution, found a new incarnation in a city as large as Cali, with a beneficial impact not only for the communities where it was kept alive, but for the city as a whole. Minga al Parque has been followed by Minga al Rio, sponsored by NGOs, to mobilize volunteers to clean the areas near the Cali River for the World Games held in Cali earlier this year.
Foto: Fundiberarte