Blog

Discussions

25 March 2014
Adversity and urban planning: Designing safer, more resilient cities

14 March 2014
Retooling ‘Cities for Life’: New approaches to urban infrastructure and service provision

3 March 2014
Urban planning and design: Laws, regulations, and the informal city

17 February 2014
Food security in coastal cities

10 February 2014
The competition for water

3 February 2014
Violence against children

13 January 2014
Making slum upgrading work in urban Africa

6 January 2014
Looking forward: What to watch for in 2014

Week of 23 December 2013
Looking back: What we’ve learned in 2013

Week of 16 December 2013
Books and projects worth sharing

Week of 9 December 2013
Human rights and the urban poor

Week of 2 December 2013
Fighting HIV/AIDS

Week of 18 November 2013
Fighting poverty and exclusion in Latin American cities

Week of 11 November 2013
Livelihood options for poor urban youth

Week of 4 November 2013
Walking, biking, and human-scale cities

Week of 28 October 2013
Women and financial inclusion

Week of 21 October 2013
Land title and informal settlements

Week of 14 October 2013
World Food Day

Week of 7 October 2013
Mental health and the urban poor

Week of 30 September 2013
Transportation infrastructure for the urban poor

Week of 23 September 2013
Mapping, data and informal communities

Week of 16 September 2013
Ties between urban poverty and rural life

Week of 9 September 2013
South-South cooperation

Week of 2 September 2013
The power of literacy

Week of 26 August 2013
Slums as laboratories of urbanism

Week of 19 August 2013
Leveraging large-scale events for urban development

Week of 12 August 2013
Crime and violence

Week of 5 August 2013
Educational programs to transform young lives

Week of 29 July 2013
Toxic waste and the urban poor

Week of 22 July 2013
Interviews with architects and city planners

Week of 15 July 2013
Work conditions: informality, coersion and change

Week of 8 July 2013
Family planning

Week of 1 July 2013
Slum clearance, planning, and community resistance

Week of 24 June 2013
Approaches to endemic and infectious disease

Week of 17 June 2013
Providing infrastructure to the urban poor

Week of 10 June 2013
Fighting child labor

Week of 3 June 2013
Success stories for empowering women

Week of 27 May 2013
Race, ethnicity, and cultural diversity

Week of 20 May 2013
Food, nutrition, and the urban poor

Week of 13 May 2013
Micro-finance and investment

Week of 6 May 2013
City planning instruments

Week of 29 April 2013
Linking informal settlements to the city center

Week of 22 April 2013
Bringing services to the new urban poor

Week of 15 April 2013
Changing the narrative of the poor

Week of 8 April 2013
Sharing health information with the urban poor

Week of 25 March 2013
Public-private partnerships for shared prosperity

Week of 18 March 2013
Access to water

Week of 11 March 2013
Homelessness and informal settlements

Week of 4 March 2013
Women and safety: Threats and perceptions

Week of 25 February 2013
Kids in city slums

Week of 18 February 2013
Political involvement by the urban poor

Week of 11 February 2013
Sports and development

Week of 4 February 2013
New approaches to transportation

Week of 28 January 2013
Data for urban change

Week of 21 January 2013
New approaches to construction

Week of 14 January 2013
Informal status: How legal frameworks shape settlements, strategies and tactics

Week of 7 January 2013
Energy and informality: Powering change on and off the grid

Week of 31 December 2012
Looking forward: Topics to watch in 2013

Week of 17 December 2012
Looking back: What we’ve learned in 2012

Week of 10 December 2012
Work innovations for the urban poor

Week of 3 December 2012
Readings and resources on cities and poverty

Week of 26 November 2012
Safety and informal communities

Week of 19 November 2012
Disaster relief as a model for urban sustainability

Week of 5 November 2012
Urban poverty across generations

Week of 29 October 2012
Public space in informal settlements

Week of 22 October 2012
Distance and proximity

Week of 15 October 2012
Health interventions and local values

Week of 8 October 2012
Climate change: Prospects and preparation

Week of 1 October 2012
Cultural expressions of community

Week of 24 September 2012
Community organizations, tenancy and title

Week of 10 September 2012
Sex work, trafficking and AIDS

Week of 3 September 2012
Mobile and networked technology

Week of 27 August 2012
Rework, reuse, recycle

Week of 20 August 2012
Education for girls in the slums

Week of 13 August 2012
Violence

Week of 6 August 2012
Infrastructure gaps and clean water

Week of 30 July 2012
Health, innovation and the urban poor

Week of 18 June 2012
Covering Rio+20

Bogotá’s location is in many ways privileged, with mild temperatures and 12 hours of daylight year-round. This location, however, also entails risks: it is a seismic area, and torrential rains can result in serious flooding. The “Niña” weather pattern creates especially dangerous conditions, like the 2010-2011 period when much of the city was left under water – especially, although not only – in the poorer neighborhoods. Read more.

La ubicación geográfica de Bogotá es en muchos aspectos privilegiada. El clima es suave, con temperaturas medias agradables que hacen innecesario el uso de la calefacción o el aire acondicionado. Sin embargo, también encierra amenazas: es una zona sísmica, y las lluvias pueden ser torrenciales, generando inundaciones. Durante el fenómeno de “La Niña” la pluviosidad se dispara, y en el periodo 2010-2011 se desbordó el río Bogotá dejando grandes zonas de la ciudad bajo el agua. Leer más.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Tue, 03/25/2014 – 00:00

Medellin has undergone a profound transformation. While two decades ago it was a city known for violence, lack of social services and inequality, now it has become a model for all Latin American cities on how to tackle these problems. Urbanism, although not the only factor, has played a crucial role in this process. In Medellin, urban reforms became closely associated with the search for solutions for social problems. They also had a strong pedagogical ambition. Read more.

Medellín ha experimentado una profunda transformación: en a penas dos décadas ha pasado de ser una ciudad castigada por la violencia, la escasez de servicios sociales y la desigualdad, a convertirse en un modelo para toda América Latina de cómo combatir éstos graves problemas. Leer más.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Sat, 03/01/2014 – 10:22

El agua de Bogotá es potable y deliciosa, algo excepcional en las grandes ciudades de América latina. Esto se debe a su proximidad a abundantes fuentes de agua, especialmente los páramos de Chingaza y Sumapaz, y a una buena gestión del recurso. La mayor parte del agua consumida actualmente proviene de la represa de Chingaza, ubicada a unos 50 kilómetros de Bogotá. Sin embargo, la misma proximidad de la mega urbe supone un riesgo para los frágiles ecosistemas de los páramos: Sumapaz comienza en el mismo término municipal de la capital. Aunque la capacidad de suministro actual se estima suficiente a medio plazo, a largo plazo será necesario construir nuevas represas y canalizaciones, proyectos técnicamente complejos y que probablemente generarán fuertes controversias por su impacto ambiental. Leer más o discutir.

Tap water in Bogota is safe to drink, something that is unusual in most large Latin American cities. This is due to the proximity of vast water sources, in particular the Chingaza and Sumapaz paramos (a particular ecosystem that exists in the Andean highlands), and to good management of the water supply. Most of the water comes from the Chingaza reservoir, located less than 50km from Bogotá. However, this proximity, although beneficial to the mega-city, implies serious threats to the fragile paramo ecosystems. Sumapaz, for example, starts within Bogotá’s city limits and can be reached by urban buses. Although the current infrastructure brings enough capacity for the medium term, long-term demands will require the building of new dams and pipelines. These projects are technically complex and their environmental impact makes them politically difficult. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 02/10/2014 – 00:00

Hay muchas cosas positivas que esperar para el año 2014 en Colombia. Se prevé que el crecimiento económico siga siendo vigoroso, al tiempo que las conversaciones de paz pueden acabar con un conflicto armado que ha durado ya varias décadas. Estas circunstancias presentan un escenario sin precedente para aliviar los problemas de pobreza y desigualdad que sufre el país. Bogotá y Cali, las dos ciudades que seguimos en este blog, tienen iniciativas en marcha que pueden ofrecer soluciones concretas a estos dos problemas. Sin embargo, la incertidumbre es también elevada, tanto a nivel nacional como local. Por un lado, los resultados de las conversaciones son inciertos. Por otro, las elecciones presidenciales que se celebrarán en su primera vuelta en mayo también resultarán en una ralentización de la administración central. Aunque se espera que Juan Manuel Santos ganes la reelección, cualquier cosa puede suceder en la política colombiana, y un cambio en la presidencia puede decelerar aún más el ritmo de las reformas. Leer más o discutir.

There is much to look forward in 2014 in Colombia. Economic growth is expected to remain strong, and the decades-old armed conflict could be close to its end if the peace conversations now underway are ultimately successful. These circumstances bring an unprecedented opportunity for the country to tackle poverty and rampant inequality. Bogotá and Cali, the two Colombian cities covered on this platform, are working on major initiatives that could have a significant impact on these fronts. However, uncertainty is also quite high, both at the national and local levels. For one, the results of the peace conversations are far from certain. Furthermore, Presidential elections, to be held in mid-year, imply a slowdown of central government activity for most of the year. Although Juan Manuel Santos is expected to win re-election handily, anything can happen in Colombian politics, and a change at the top would also bring the processes of reform to a temporary halt. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 01/06/2014 – 00:00

Colombia no ha escapado del castigo del HIV. Según datos del Sistema de Vigilancia Epidemiológica (SIVIGILA), al que deben ser reportados todos los casos identificados, desde el año 1983 hasta el 2011, último del que se disponen datos completos, se conocen 86.990 casos de HIV/Sida, de los cuales 10.676 han fallecido. En Bogotá se han detectado hasta septiembre del 2013 23.330 casos, un 40 por ciento del total a nivel nacional. Sin embargo, es importante destacar que esto se debe a su elevada población, como lo ilustra que en el 2011 se reportaron 8,7 casos por 100.000 habitantes, mientras 8 departamentos superaban 20 casos por 100.000 habitantes, y los dos en cabeza, Barranquilla y Quindío superaban 30. Leer más o discutir.

Colombia has not escaped the devastating consequences of the AIDS epidemic. According to the Sistema de Vigilancia Epidemiológica (Epidemiology Watch Service, SIVIGILA), there have been 86,990 cases of diagnosed HIV/AIDS from 1983 and 2011, and 10,676 fatalities (reporting HIV/AIDS diagnosis to the SIVIGILA is mandatory). Bogotá registered 23,300 cases from 1983 to September 2013, which is 40 percent of the national total. However, this is due more to the large population of the Colombian capital rather than high rates of infection, as the region recorded only 8.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while eight other departments recorded over 20 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and two of them, Barranquilla and Quindío, reported over 30 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 12/02/2013 – 00:00

Uno de los principales frenos al desarrollo de los asentamientos irregulares es la falta de títulos de propiedad por parte de sus ocupantes. En Colombia, donde los conflictos armados que se prolongan desde hace décadas han sumado un número significativo de desplazados por la violencia a los flujos migratorios observados en toda Latinoamérica, este problema tiene una especial gravedad. Para atajar este problema en el año 2005 se aprobó una ley que permitía la transferencia gratuita de predios fiscales, o de titularidad pública, que hubieran sido ocupados antes de 2001. El alcance de esta ley deja fuera del proyecto de titulación a los asentamientos edificados sobre predios de propiedad privada. Leer más o discutir.

Lack of property titles is one of the most significant barriers to development and poverty reduction in informal settlements. This problem is particularly serious in Colombia, where people displaced by several decades of armed conflict have joined the large number of immigrants for economic reasons in creating the largest number of informal settlements in Latin America. A law enacted in 2005 sought to tackle, at least partially, this problem by allowing for free transfer of property to informal residents. The scope of the law was limited to settlements established on public land before 2001, thus excluding all settlements on private land. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 10/21/2013 – 00:00

La situación de los habitantes de la calle se considera como uno de los problemas más complicados de resolver en las grandes ciudades latinoamericanas. Según un censo elaborado en 2011 por la Secretaría de Integración Social (SIS), en Bogotá se identificaron 8.385 habitantes de calle, un 86.9 por ciento de los cuales son hombres, y el 8.4 por ciento son menores de 18 años. El 17.9 por ciento son jóvenes entre 19 y 25 años, y el 38.9 por ciento son adultos entre 26 y 40 , quedando un 32 por ciento, de adultos mayores. Otro dato interesante de este sondeo es que el 58 por ciento se dedica a la recolección de objetos de reciclaje, el 34 por ciento a mendigar, el 28 por ciento a servicios no cualificados y el 10.7 por ciento a delinquir. Aunque es posible que estas cifras no recojan el número total de habitantes de la calle, quizá en una proporción considerable, sí que son reveladores en su estructura demográfica y en sus ocupaciones. Leer más o discutir.

Homelessness is one of the most complex and difficult to address problems in all large Latin American cities. A census led in 2011 by the Secretaría de Integración Social (SIS), found 8,385 homeless people in Bogotá. Of those, 86 percent were male. 8.4 percent were under 18 years old, 17.9 percent between 19 and 25, 38 percent between 26 and 40, and 32 percent were older than 40. As for their occupation, 58 percent were garbage recyclers, 34 percent begged, and 10.7 percent stole and robbed as a form of living. Although it is almost certain that this survey did not register much of the homeless population, it is still quite revealing regarding the population’s demographics and occupation. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 10/07/2013 – 00:00

Bogotá ha ganado el premio a liderazgo urbano en su categoría de transporte. Los premios, de los cuales este año se celebra su primera edición, son otorgados por el grupo C40 y por Siemens, a través de su fundación Crystal. El premio de liderazgo en transporte busca identificar proyectos o iniciativas que mejoren la situación medioambiental, medidos en términos de fomento de cambio en los modos de transporte y de la reducción de la emisión de gases causantes del efecto invernadero. Leer más o discutir.

Bogotá just won the City Climate Leadership Award for transportation. The award, still on its first edition, is sponsored by the C40 group and Siemens, through its Crystal Initiative. The leadership award in transportation seeks to identify projects or initiatives aimed at improving the environmental quality of the cities for which they are intended. The methodology used to measure such improvement is based on modal shift or the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG). Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 09/30/2013 – 00:00

La concesión de subsidios a las poblaciones más desfavorecidas, sobre todo en el ámbito de los servicios públicos, es un mecanismo ampliamente utilizado en América latina para combatir la fuerte desigualdad social. En Colombia se ha utilizado un mecanismo singular: la división de las ciudades en estratos. Esta idea, que se empezó a considerar en los años 80, se comenzó a aplicar en las grandes ciudades a partir de la aprobación en 1994 de la ley de Servicios Públicos. Aunque el marco legal es estatal, las ciudades tienen un amplio margen a la hora de escoger los criterios concretos para determinar la estratificación dentro de sus perímetros urbanos. Bogotá se dividió en 6 estratos, el máximo permitido por la ley. El estrato 6 refleja un mayor poder adquisitivo, y el 1 el menor poder adquisitivo de la ciudad. Los residentes de los estratos 5 y 6 pagan una sobretasa en los servicios públicos, que se utiliza para subsidiar, de forma decreciente, los costes de los servicios para los residentes en estratos 1 a 3. En el estrato 4 los residentes pagan el precio real de los servicios. También se aplica una sobretasa si se supera un volumen máximo establecido. Leer más o discutir.

Subsidies are one of the most widely used tools in the fight against social inequality in Latin America. Utilities are often subsidized in one way or another. Colombia adopted a unique formula for the distribution of subsidies: the official stratification of housing. Under this system cities are legally divided in different layers or estratos (strata, in a literal translation). This idea originated in the 1980s, and was implemented with the enactment of the 1994 Ley de Servicios Publicos (a law regulating the utilities in Colombia). Under this law cities have considerable say in determining the specific criteria by which stratification is implemented. Bogotá was divided into six different layers, the maximum number allowed by law. Layer 6 represents the wealthiest areas in the city, while layer 1 represents the poorest sectors. Under the system, residents in layers 5 and 6 pay a surcharge in their utilities bill. This surcharge is used directly to subsidize the utilities to residents of layers 1, 2 and 3. Residents in layer 4 areas pay the real cost of the services. There is also a surcharge for heavy users of resources, to be paid once they reach their monthly maximum allowance. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 09/23/2013 – 00:00

Bogotá tiene un centro histórico espectacular. Las estrechas callejuelas de la época colonial están jalonadas de edificios de gran belleza y en muchos casos sorprendentemente bien conservados, al menos estructuralmente. El ascenso empinado de las vías hacia los Cerros Orientales, que se elevan abruptamente 600 metros sobre el nivel del centro de la ciudad, crean una perspectiva única en una ciudad que a veces se olvida de su ubicación geográfica en plena cordillera andina. Sin embargo, a lo largo de las últimas décadas se ha producido un deterioro progresivo de la zona. Los principales edificios considerados como bienes de interés cultural, tanto de la época colonial como republicana, están generalmente en muy buen estado de conservación, pero el centro histórico sufre de problemas como la inseguridad, falta de desarrollo económico, una fuerte desigualdad social, falta de espacios verdes, o el deterioro de las vivienda de personas con bajos ingresos. Leer más o discutir.

Bogota’s historic center is spectacular. Beautiful and surprisingly well-preserved colonial buildings flank the narrow, cobbled streets. At the end of the steep ascent one can see the Cerros Orientales, the imposing mountains that rise abruptly 600 meters above the city. This sight is unusual in a city that, despite being located in the Andean range, tends to focus its attention on the flat savanna where most of its urban sprawl is located. Unfortunately, the historic district has suffered from gradual but steady decay during the last few decades. The main colonial and republican landmark buildings are generally well maintained, but most of the area suffers from problems such as severe lack of economic development, crime, near total lack of green spaces, degradation of low-income homes, and strong social inequality. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 09/09/2013 – 00:00

Migration has often been identified as a central component of urbanisation, and with the rise of a ‘mobility’ paradigm, whereby movement is recognised as a rising necessity, the focus is on why people move and the nature of such movement. Novel innovations now enable our speed of movement, while services and infrastructure continues to build networks between spaces, people, and opportunities. However, in the case of Sub-Saharan Africa the question has been raised on what happens when urban agglomerations hosting migrants fail to secure livelihoods (see Bryceson, 2011)? Research in migration showcases the articulation of circular patterns of movement, rising rates of return, and greater insecurities in whether goals are achieved. Such raises an additional question – to what extent are those using, adopting, and experiencing, migration becoming stuck within such a mobility paradigm? Further, what do migrants do to get them out of this trap and achieve aspirations? Read more.

Submitted by Gemma Todd — Fri, 03/28/2014 – 11:18

Data has emerged showcasing the latest trends of our demographic shift – the global population now articulates a ‘youth bulge’. The UN-Population Demographic Profile (2010) show children, and ‘youths’, comprise 1.6bn, and 1.0bn, of the population in less-developed regions. The population is younger; and Sub-Saharan Africa is no exception. Attention is now turning to youths: what young people do, what opportunities they initiate for their families and nations, and what it means to be ‘young’ in the developing world. However, an important caveat requires recognition: the focus has been particularly male-focused. Our understanding of girls, within both public and private spaces, remains limited. Such is the debate in this blog post – if we are now looking at ‘kids’ in the city and development, what are the experiences of girls? What can we learn about the city through an engendered perspective? Fundamentally, who is responsible to grant equal rights? Two models of intervention are discussed be, each using alternative methods to provide rights for girls. However, each acts to reinforce the need to improve our understandings on ‘being’ a girl. Read more.

Submitted by Gemma Todd — Mon, 01/20/2014 – 10:08

On the 12th of December, Kenya celebrated Jamhuri (Independence) Day. The event came at the end of a year that played host to a roller coaster of emotions for all those who have a part of themselves invested in this country. Nairobi’s 2013 was a year that witnessed impressive progress in terms of infrastructure development, but in which the government made no significant progress on providing services to the city’s numerous slum dwellers. It was a year in which Nairobians came together in great shows of unity, but also saw neighborhoods turn against each other; a year of victories and pride, but also one of great loss and shame. 2013 was the year in which it became clear to what extent corruption puts everyone’s security at risk and the year that the term “Silicon savannah” began to gain serious traction in the business world. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 12/23/2013 – 00:00

Within development studies a shift has been identified. An increasing sense of consciousness has emerged on whose ideas are being used to theorise development practice, whether they are applicable, and offer effective solutions. The post-development school of thought is centred on deconstructing ‘universal’ ideas of development. Novel viewpoints have emerged which are transforming how the ‘developing’ world is understood and what role citizens of the Global South can play. With post-development thought, urban researchers, and planners, are advancing new thinking to plan inclusive cities in the Global South. In a succeeding event on urbanisation at the African Research Institute, the subject matter was how urban planning in Africa is adapting for the future. Read more.

Submitted by Editor — Thu, 12/19/2013 – 15:32

The September 2013 Westgate crisis was the most recent in a slew of attacks that have rocked Kenya since it began military operations in Somalia two years ago. The blame for this and previous attacks has generally been pinned on the Islamist group Al Shabaab, who claim to be retaliating against what for them is an unjust invasion and occupation of their country. While Eastleigh, a neighborhood in the east of Nairobi that houses most of the city’s Somali immigrants, has borne the brunt of most of these attacks, residents have also experienced a rise in hostility from local Kenyans and harassment at the hands of the police. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 12/09/2013 – 00:00

The internet has quickened the pace of globalization by speeding the flow of information, creating access to new markets and enabling cross-border collaboration. The African continent is witnessing this as fast-growth economies emerge. The McKinsey Global Institute, the think tank of the global business consultancy, has released a series of insightful analyses on Africa’s growing economies and the role of technology. Read more.

Submitted by Tracey Grose — Tue, 11/26/2013 – 11:02

With urbanisation becoming a rising topic on the research agenda it is interesting to see how new models for urban planning, and laws, are being constructed. Recently, an event by the African Research Institute raised such ideas. The speakers introduced how the contextual diversity across Africa required exploration, and consultants need to focus on adapting a checklist of rule making, rather than make the rules, in planning Africa’s emerging cities. Current African cities were presented as ‘un-planned’, or in need of a re-visioned approach to become inclusive and equitable. Urban planning was the solution — a means of enabling tax reform, effective management, and equal rights to the city. However, urban planning law needed to be re-written to work for ‘African cities’. Read more.

Submitted by Editor — Thu, 11/21/2013 – 11:58

In September this year the Kenyan government launched the Uwezo Fund, a 6 billion Ksh. cash reserve (approximately $70 million) aimed at channeling financial resources into the hands of youth and women. Money for the fund was obtained from capital set aside by the Jubilee Coalition during this year’s election campaign, for use in the case of a run-off. The Jubilee Coalition, led by Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy Samuel Ruto, pledged that any money that was not spent on the campaign would be channeled into a fund of this sort. Six months after winning the election, they stood by their commitment and announced that the application process for accessing interest-free loans was now open to registered youth and women’s groups. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 11/11/2013 – 00:00

In Kenyan communities that have little of the collateral needed to access credit, a common approach is to set up savings and investment associations known as “Chamas.” A Chama is an informal group, often composed of women, that follows a system by which everyone contributes money on a regular basis and in turn gets disbursed a fixed amount. The method evolved from the tradition of rural women grouping together and pooling their labor to work on each other’s farms. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 10/28/2013 – 00:00

It is widely believed that urbanisation is occurring faster in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world, as migrants move from rural to urban settlements. This is a fallacy. While the populations of numerous urban areas are growing rapidly, the urbanisation levels of many countries are increasing slowly – if at all. Natural increase, rather than net in-migration, is the predominant growth factor in most urban populations. African governments, policymakers and international donors need to acknowledge fundamental changes in urbanisation trends, and respond to the irrefutable messages these impart about urban employment, incomes and economic development. Read more.

Submitted by Editor — Mon, 10/21/2013 – 13:16

Empowering women is an essential aspect of any attempt to transform the lives of the urban poor — not only because gender equality is a human right, but also because it is fundamental to bringing an entire community out of poverty. For one thing, it magnifies the impact of such efforts, as women are very likely to invest their income back into their families, focusing on health and education. The following success stories — initiatives from Lagos, Bangalore, Jakarta, and Rio de Janeiro — demonstrate that with legal recognition, skills training, a social support group, or a garden, women can break the cycle of poverty.

Olatawura Ladipo-Ajayi, Lagos Community Manager

The importance of empowering women goes beyond giving them a means to sustenance and income. It is fundamental to building the fabric of society. A successful woman who is a productive member of society is more likely to create a strong community both in her home and her society. According to CARE, women and girls suffer disproportionately from the burden of extreme poverty, and make up 70 percent of the 1 billion people living on less than a dollar a day.

In Lagos state, women’s empowerment is the focus of two organizations that were created and are managed by women: the Real Women Foundation and the International Women’s Society (IWS). Both of these organizations provide vocational training to economically and socially disadvantaged women in order to equip them with skills that serve as a source of income to alleviate poverty in their lives. Some of the vocational training courses offered include fashion design, pastry making, event decoration, and jewelry. While these two organizations have vocational skills training in common, they also provide other programs that work towards women’s empowerment.

The Real Woman Foundation created the “peace villa” in 2002 as a shelter for commercial sex workers and sexually abused women. Not only does the villa provides shelter for these women, it also includes a rehabilitation program, counseling sessions, and vocational skills training. After a 6-month course, each woman is expected to develop a plan. Since the villa’s inception, 88 women have been rehabilitated; some have started businesses and some have gone back to university to further their education. At the foundation’s life skills training center, 275 women have completed various skills courses and have started their own businesses. The program has numerous success stories, including P., a 26-year-old woman who received shelter and rehabilitation, and is now a college graduate.

In addition to the vocational skills training, IWS runs another program worth noting: the widow’s trust fund program. This program is designed to support and finance disadvantaged young widows to start an enterprise. Since its inception 10 years ago, many women have been assisted with business plans and funds to create or expand their businesses; over the past three years, 150 women have benefited from the fund. Most women hear about the program through word of mouth and announcements.

These organizations’ programs support marginalized women in Lagos by creating opportunities through business support, skills acquisition, and shelter from abuse. While these organizations have been remarkably effective, they need more support in order to be able to offer these services completely free instead of at minimal prices (equivalent to 12.00-30.00 USD). Even at these low prices, some marginalized women may not be able to afford the sessions; cost-free skills training would make the program more inclusive. Furthermore, more women would hear about these programs if the organizations ran better publicity and outreach events in Lagos’ high-risk areas.

Photo credit: Africa Renewal

Carlin Carr, Bangalore Community Manager

Concerns for women’s safety in India have dominated headlines this year. Since the horrific gang rape in Delhi last year, stories about mothers, teenagers, and even young girls being subjected to violent attacks, rapes, and other physically and sexually gruesome incidents have been reported on nearly every week, if not every day. While the Delhi rape case was committed by men who were strangers to the victim, all too often women know the perpetrators of such crimes. A 2012 Indian Journal of Public Health article paints a grim picture of domestic violence statistics. The violence, in its many forms, cuts across social and economic strata; however, poor women face violence at significantly higher rates, and their position in society leaves them with few avenues for redress.

Community and family support were commonly missing among victims in the study. One of the recommendations was that women in slums need “more social support, awareness and income generation.” In Bangalore, an organization called Global Concerns India has been targeting its efforts in the slums to increasing social support to women, particularly those affected by domestic violence. “The many women’s ‘self-help’ groups in the slums are primarily economic, premised on capitalistic microcredit loans, rather than social empowerment,” says an article on GCI’s site.

One area of focus is a street court that, until GCI moved into the Bangalore slum of Lakshman Rau Nagar in 2009, literally took place outside in the narrow bylanes on straw mats. GCI says that a woman named Anu, 23, was the first person to bring her grievances to the Naari Adalit, or “Women’s Court.” Anu, who was more educated than her husband and had a good job, used to be beaten by her jealous husband. With the help of GCI Director Brinda Adige, a social activist, the community of Lakshman Rau Nagar gathered to discuss the issue and take collective responsibility.

In an interview on Radio Open Source, Adige chronicles her experience developing a system to help women in Lakshman Rau Nagar and her tough approach that grew the street court into a local institution: “They call the Office the place where, if you have a problem, it will get sorted out. There will be a solution that we can find for it… but you have to be responsible for it… It’s only when the women come here that they realize that the question, the answer, the problem, the solution lies within them… If you put up with nonsense, you get nonsense all the time.”

In addition to the Naari Adalit, CGI has worked with local self-help groups to expand their efforts to empower women. Most important, however, has been the role of the community in seeing that these programs, as well as the court, continue to make a positive impact. “Young men in the slum have also been keen to get involved,” says CGI, “and the Women’s Court is transforming into a ‘People’s Court.’”

The Women’s Court is a promising model that shows the power of community-led solutions to inspire change. That’s not to say that the state doesn’t play a key role. More stringent laws need to be enacted to protect women and more institutionalized education programs for men need to be integrated into schools. No matter the mechanism, one thing is clear: progress can only be made in a cooperative environment, and Naari Adalit shows that communities will take responsibility if clear avenues are created for bringing justice to the situation.

Photo credit: Meena Kadri

Yuyun Harmono, Jakarta Community Manager

Many women in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta work as onion peelers, as peeled onions fetch higher prices at the market. Thanks to Rumah Pangan Lestari (KRPL), a government program that supports the diversification of food at the household level, these women have learned how to use onion peel waste to make compost, which they use to develop food gardens. The KRPL program has improved family nutrition and has reduced household expenditure on food. Women have also gained increased control over household income, leading to more balanced relationships between men and women. In addition, these gardens have increased women’s self-esteem and confidence by increasing their involvement in decision-making, both at home and in the community.

Kawasan Rumah Pangan Lestari (KRPL) Kelurahan Tengah berlokasi tak jauh dari Pasar Induk Kramat Jati. Tepatnya di pemukiman padat penduduk, RT 06/RW 10 Kelurahan Tengah, Kecamatan Kramat Jati, Jakarta Timur. Di lahan yang tidak terlalu luas, tumbuh berbagai macam tanaman pangan maupun tanaman obat. Sebagian besar perempuan di wilayah itu bekerja sebagai pengupas bawang merah. Bawang merah yang sudah dikupas harganya lebih mahal, mereka kemudian menjualnya di Pasar Induk Kramat Jati.

Hanya saja, sampah sisa kupasan daun bawang merah tersebut biasanya dibuang ke Kali Induk dekat pemukiman mereka. Melihat kondisi lingkungan seperti itu Haji Ramin Sa’aman mempunyai inisiatif untuk menjadikan sampah sisa kupasan daun bawang merah tersebut sebagai bahan untuk membuat kompos. Ia menemukan cara mempercepat proses pembuatan kompos dari yang biasanya dua sampai enam minggu menjadi hanya enam hari “selain mempercepat proses, juga tidak menimbulkan bau, cocok untuk dilakukan di kawasan padat penduduk” ujarnya.

Inisiatif ini dimulai sejak tahun 2001, saat ini inisiatif tersebut sudah dikembangkan di empat RT lain. Kini, warga tidak lagi membuang sampah sisa kupasan bawang ke Kali Induk, tapi menyetor sampah itu setiap sore ke tempat pembuatan kompos. Sebagai gantinya, Ibu-ibu tersebut dapat memperoleh benih dan kompos secara cuma-cuma untuk bercocok tanam di pekarangan rumah mereka.

Ibu-Ibu ini berkumpul di kebun Haji Ramin setiap hari selasa. Mereka belajar tentang teori bercocok tanam dan membuat kompos. Pengetahuan yang mereka dapat lalu dipraktekkan di kebun di sekitar rumah mereka, biasanya menggunakan media tanam talang kecil yang ditempel di tembok-tembok rumah yang disediakan oleh pengurus RW 10.

Titi Lestari Kustoyo, salah satu pegiat Rumah Pangan Lestari Kelurahan Tengah mengatakan Ia dan suaminya membuat kebun sendiri di samping rumah dengan bermodal Rp.500 ribu. Tanah seluas 250 meter persegi tersebut ditanami berbagai macam tanaman obat serta sayuran. Ibu Titi mengaku sudah tak lagi membeli kebutuhan sayur untuk keluarga “tinggal petik saja dari kebun” katanya.

Pengeluaran rumah tangga juga berkurang “biasanya saya beli sayur Rp.2000 sehari, kalau dikalikan tiga puluh hari sudah berapa uang yang saya hemat” ujarnya. Sayuran yang diambil langsung dari kebun juga dirasakan lebih enak, selain lebih sehat karena sayuran tersebut masih segar dan tentunya karena menggunakan pupuk organik. Ibu Titi juga mempersilahkan tetangga yang ingin mengambil sayuran maupun tanaman obat jika mereka membutuhkan “saya malah senang kalau tetangga mau mengambil sayur dari kebun saya, ada kenikmatan tersendiri saat kita bisa berbagi” ujarnya.

Setiap bulan, Ibu-ibu ini mengadakan bazar untuk menjual berbagai macam sayuran yang dihasilkan dari kebun mereka untuk menambah pendapatan rumah tangga sekaligus untuk sosialisasi. Di bazar itu dijual berbagai macam sayuran misalnya daun ubi ungu, kenikir dan sayuran yang lain. Pupuk organik juga dijual dengan harga Rp.10.000 per tiga kilogram. Sedangkan jamu hasil olahan tanaman obat yang ditanam di pekarangan rumah, dijual dengan harga Rp.8000 per botol.

Program Rumah Pangan Lestari merupakan program pemerintah yang dimaksudkan untuk mendukung diversifikasi pangan di tingkat rumah tangga. Selain di Kramat Jati, program tersebut telah dikembangkan di delapan lokasi di Jakarta.

Pengembangan KRPL mampu meningkatkan gizi keluarga, menjaga kelestarian lingkungan serta menurunkan pengeluaran tingkat rumah tangga antara 200 ribu–800 ribu rupiah per bulan. KRPL juga meningkatkan peran perempuan dalam mengontrol pendapatan rumah tangga. Hal ini pada gilirannya menyebabkan peningkatan hubungan antara perempuan dan laki-laki. Harga diri perempuan dan keyakinan meningkat dan mereka menjadi lebih terlibat dalam pengambilan keputusan baik di rumah dan di masyarakat.

Catalina Gomez, Coordenadora da Rede em Rio de Janeiro

Os trabalhadores domésticos são um grupo bem importante no mercado laboral, especialmente para Ásia e América Latina. Este grupo de trabalhadores inclui governantas, cozinheiros, babás, faxineiros, motoristas particulares e jardineiros, entre outros. Vários países em desenvolvimento apresentam uma histórica ausência de reconhecimento formal a estes trabalhadores, contribuindo ao estabelecimento de horários de trabalho não regulamentados, carência de salários justos e de proteção social.

O Brasil tem o maior número de trabalhadores domésticos do mundo. De acordo com o relatório da Organização Mundial do Trabalho existem 7,2 milhões de trabalhadores domésticos no país, dos quais 6,7 são mulheres (93 por cento do total). O Governo Brasileiro tem reportado que destes trabalhadores um numero cerca de 1,5 milhões estão formalizados o que significa que tem carteira de trabalho assinada e alguns benefícios, como licença médica. O 80 por cento restante ainda não tem registro adequado e benefícios.

Mais a partir de Março 2013 a situação vai a mudar com a aprovação e efetividade da emenda constitucional que assegura aos domésticos direitos iguais aos demais trabalhadores. Alguns dos direitos estabelecidos para os trabalhadores domésticos incluem: jornada de trabalho de 44 horas semanais, com limite de oito horas diárias, pagamento de horas extras e o reconhecimento dos acordos coletivos de trabalho. Outros benefícios previstos, mais que ainda precisam de regulamentação até o próximo Julho incluem: o salário-família, auxílio-creche para filhos de até cinco anos, seguro-desemprego e contribuição para o Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço (FGTS), que hoje é opcional.

Embora seja cedo para estabelecer os impactos da emenda constitucional, é possível estabelecer alguns possíveis efeitos positivos e negativos. Dentro dos efeitos positivos, vale destacar que para uma grande parte dos trabalhadores está é uma oportunidade para finalmente receber salários justos. Outro efeito positivo é a possibilidade da criação de sindicatos e grupos de apoio na defensa dos direitos coletivos. Só no passado mês seis grupos foram estabelecidos, sendo três deles do Rio de Janeiro. Um possível efeito negativo poderá ser a alça nos serviços domésticos gerando demissões e redução de dias trabalháveis para minimizar os custos dos serviços aos empregadores.

Com referencia ao trabalho de empoderamento ao trabalhador doméstico ao nível local, vale destacar o papel desempenhado por Doméstica Legal no Rio de Janeiro, uma empresa provedora de serviços jurídicos e financeiros a empregadores. Esta foi criada em 2004 para apoiar aos empregadores no cumprimento da legislação referente ao emprego justo. A empresa também oferece uma pagina na internet e aulas focadas nos trabalhadores domésticos para eles conhecer seus direitos e deveres, além da legislação local, destacando a importância da assinatura de contratos formais com seus empregadores. Em 2009 Doméstica Legal criou uma ONG com o mesmo nome para apoiar o desenvolvimento do marco regulamentário em favor dos trabalhadores domésticos no país e continuar os esforços pelo seu reconhecimento e formalização.

Crédito fotográfico: Marcello Casal Jr. e Ana Paula Viana

Catalina Gomez, Rio de Janeiro Community Manager

Domestic workers — maids, cooks, baby sitters, gardeners, drivers, and so on — are a very important group within the labor market, especially in Asia and Latin America. However, domestic workers traditionally lack formal recognition, meaning that they have non-regulated working hours and lack proper compensation and access to social protection.

Brazil has the largest number of domestic workers in the world. According to a recent report from the International Labor Organization, there are about 7.2 million domestic workers in Brazil, 93 percent of whom are women. The Brazilian government reports that 20 percent of these workers are formal, meaning that they are properly registered and have access to certain benefits, like sick leave. The remaining 80 percent lack proper registration and the accompanying benefits.

With the constitutional amendment of March 2013, this situation has begun to change: the law requires minimum working conditions for domestic workers, putting them on a par with other salaried workers. The new rights include a regulated workload with a maximum of 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week, paid overtime, and the recognition of labor unions to ensure collective rights. Additional benefits coming within the next few months include childcare support for the children of domestic workers who are under five years old, unemployment insurance, and contribution to a workers fund.

Although it is still too early to evaluate the impact of this constitutional amendment, some consequences are already observable. On the positive side, the legislation ensures that domestic workers are receiving proper compensation and benefits for the first time. The rise of worker unions and support groups have worked to ensure collective rights: six of these groups were established within the first month, three of them in Rio de Janeiro. However, formalization also leads to negative effects: domestic workers are now more expensive to employers, leading to layoffs and the reduction of working hours in order to reduce costs.

Doméstica Legal (“Legal Domestic Worker”) is a company created in 2004 in Rio de Janeiro that works at the local level to support domestic workers. The organization provides assistance to employers with regard to the legal requirements of hiring and compensating domestic workers. The company offers a comprehensive web site and also provides assistance to domestic workers so that they can learn about their rights and responsibilities, as well as clarify questions on the importance of having signed contracts with their employers. In 2009, Doméstica Legal created a nonprofit branch to support the creation of regulatory framework in favor of domestic workers nationwide, with the aim of expanding the recognition and the fair compensation of the many Brazilian women working as domestic workers.

Photo credits: Marcello Casal Jr. and Ana Paula Viana

Under the guardianship of Sandyawan Sumardi, a social activist, a poor community living on the riverbank of Ciliwung River in the most crowded area of Jakarta has been struggling to regain its human rights. Ciliwung is the name of the river that run through Jakarta and brings floods during the rainy season, as the mountainous areas above Jakarta turn from forest and water reservoir into beautiful villas for the rich. Amidst economic hardship and dire environmental conditions, this poor and vulnerable community is has set up “Ciliwung Merdeka,” or Free Ciliwung, a mobilizing platform to voice their social and political aspirations as members of the city and as Indonesian citizens.

Free Ciliwung is a voluntary self-help neighborhood forum addressing various social activities including how to cope with frequent flooding, how to respond to forced eviction from the city authorities, and organized learnings on HIV-AIDS prevention and drug issues that are rampant among the urban youth. This forum was launched in 2000 by several social activists following the collapse of the Suharto regime, under the belief that a concrete project was necessary to help the urban poor in their struggle to improve their livelihood.

In the words of Sandyawan Sumardi, the man behind this people’s forum, the ultimate goal of Free Ciliwung is simply “to empower community members to become healthy, happy, independent, and openly communicative despite challenges of poverty”. Sumardi explains that “we try to get into the total conversation with their situation of uncertainty and alienation resulted from the dominant urban development discourse that structurally causes inequalities and how social, economic and political marginalization limits their life skills and capacity”. A kind of “participatory action research” methodology is employed to emphatically understand not only the daily problems confronted by the poor, but also to locate these issues in the wider contexts of systemic domination that are creating and marginalizing the urban poor.

The slum communities in the Bukit Duri and Kampung Pulo Villages are described by Sumardi as “leftover spaces”: densely populated riverbanks, railways, and underpasses where homes and places of work overlap. Residents are “survivors” who live with irregular pay, insecure land tenure, and no access to bank credit. They take on a negative stigma and thus become the scapegoats of irregularities and problems of the city. They are despised in the city planning management system. They are the people for whom access to basic needs is always uncertain, for whom eviction and flooding are always imminent, compounded with exclusion from access to social, economic, political, and cultural systems.

The commitment and dedicated work done by Sumardi and his volunteer network in advocating for the poor through the Ciliwung Merdeka platform has been recognized by the current governor and vice governors of Jakarta, Jokowi and Ahok. These governors have adopted Sumardi and his team’s ideas regarding the housing model to be used along the poor river bank areas like Bukit Duri and Kampung Pulo. Jokowi and Ahok visited the community during their campaign, and came back shortly after being inaugurated as new governor and vice governor of Jakarta.

It has been a fascinating social experiment to witness how a grassroots volunteer movement has eventually linked up with the city’s highest authority and has become the source of inspiration and the model of spatial renovation of poor urban settlements in the river bank of Ciliwung River in Jakarta.

Photo credit: DMahendra

The lack of infrastructure in many developing countries is a significant barrier to economic growth and social justice. Investments in transport, energy, housing, sanitation, and water improve lives and reduce poverty. However, informal settlements are especially under-served when it comes to infrastructure, as they often lack both the government’s formal recognition and the resources to supply themselves. This week, URB.im profiles solutions from Bangalore, Dhaka, Rio de Janeiro, and Cairo to see what impact centralized, distributed, private, or public initiatives can have on the urban poor.

Carlin Carr, Bangalore Community Manager

Last week, protestors in Istanbul’s Taksim Square took to the streets to stop their time-honored public meeting space from becoming a shopping mall. The city, they say, has been increasingly swallowed up by privatization and commercialization; parks and open spaces have essentially disappeared. The redevelopment story is one that Indian cities know too well.

Bangalore, once lauded as the “Green City” for its numerous parks, has turned into a traffic-snarled urban jungle. Office parks and gated communities dominate the city’s landscape. As Bangalore rose to prominence as the world’s IT hub, economic growth spurred population growth. A 2008 article by EMBARQ says that the city expanded outward by nearly three-fold from 1971-2006, going from 175 square kilometers in 1971 to more than 560 square kilometers 35 years later.

As in most Indian cities, the poor have increasingly been pushed to the periphery due to land costs in the center. In Bangalore, this has become particularly troublesome due to the lack of networked transport options. EMBARQ says the growth has “generated a new human species aptly named ‘Transport Challenged People.’ The common trait of these people is that they are forced to become captive to a mode of transport just because they don’t have an accessible alternative. Their other characteristic is that they pay a price for traveling that they do not consider fair or just, but because they have no other option, they continue to pay it.”

When the poor pay more for transportation, other areas of their lives suffer. In all likelihood, these are areas such as education, health, or food. Therefore, there has been much criticism over the city’s major infrastructure initiative: the Namma Metro. Radha Chanchani, an urban planner working with the Indian Institute of Science, is skeptical of the cost factor in an article proposing bus rapid transit services (BRTS): “Comparing BRTS to the metro, everyone knows that a BRTS would cost a fraction of a metro structure. I heard somewhere that the cost of constructing metro Phase 1 and Phase 2 cost more than Rs.40,000 crores [Rs.400 billion, or $7.4 billion]. The BRTS also has better accessibility than the metro and would be more affordable to people.”

As with megacities around the world, urban planners in India have been pushing for BRTS. Governments, on the other hand, have been slow to follow, opting instead for high-cost options that serve few. In Mumbai, for example, the Bandra-Worli Sealink Bridge cost the city an estimated INR 1634 crore ($28.8 million), and the fare for crossing it is often what a majority of the city’s population makes in a day.

The protests in Taksim Square teach a valuable lesson when discussing the future of India’s cities. The gap between the government’s focus and what the majority needs is wreaking havoc on our urban environments. After all, the poor cannot improve their income without affordable transport options to get to work. Without getting to work, families have less money to spend on food. Without food, children can’t focus at school. And the cycle continues. Government policies and offices need to work more collaboratively to create integrated policies and planning to ensure equitable development of urban spaces. If not, Taksim-style protests will become the norm across cities where citizens’ voices are being left unheard.

Photo credit: Ramnath Bhat

Kalpana Maharjan, Dhaka Community Manager

Banu, a mother of two, lives in a slum of Bagunbari, Dhaka. She is a single mother who works as a housemaid to earn her living. She says, “The pond water I was forced to get water from previously was very dirty with a bad smell. My daughters and I would suffer from diarrhea, jaundice, dysentery, and skin diseases. But after the installation of the deep tube well, we are able to get safe water much more quickly… [now] we don’t have these water-borne diseases anymore!”

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the cities with the highest population growth in the world. The World Bank estimates that approximately 28 percent of the population is poor, and about 3.4 million live in precarious conditions in slums and low-lying lands. These people do not own the land they live on, making access to water and sanitation in urban low-income communities a growing challenge. These communities often collect water from private vendors or unreliable sources like polluted rivers, which pose biological and environmental health threats. Plus, a significant number of slum residents live without access to toilets and garbage collection services, so human waste and garbage contaminate the environment, further elevating health risks. It is clear that poor water quality is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Dhaka slums.

Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA), which was created in 1963 as a public utility under the Ministry of Local Government, supplies Dhaka with water and sewerage services. For many years, however, these services were limited only to those who had legal right to their land, thereby excluding slum residents. Today, a significant number of these marginalized communities nevertheless benefit from DWASA’s services, thanks to Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK).

DSK, established in 1992, is a Dhaka-based NGO that operates in partnership with WaterAid Bangladesh and advocates for supplying Dhaka’s residents with water, regardless of land ownership. In order to get around DWASA’s fear that slum dwellers would not pay their utilities fees, DSK designed the Watsan Project. According to the model, water points were constructed in slum communities and were then connected to the DWASA water mains. Access to these water points costs just Tk. 50 per month, and security deposits help ensure that DWASA’s fees are paid on time.

Not only does this program provide a way to supply clean water to slum communities, it also provides residents with trainings on the maintenance of Watsan facilities, hygiene, and healthy practices. These initiatives help slum residents live a life free from water-borne diseases.

Photo credits: Water.org and BRAC University

Catalina Gomez, Coordenadora da Rede em Rio de Janeiro

Uma cidade com o dinamismo do Rio de Janeiro precisa uma instituição igualmente dinâmica e eficiente responsável pelo planejamento, construção, supervisão e manutenção das obras públicas. A Secretaria Municipal de Obras é o órgão da Prefeitura encarregada de gerenciar novas construções, reformas e a manutenção da infraestrutura pública na cidade. Também é responsável pela adequada operação de 380 mil pontos de luz instalados e de gerenciar ações preventivas e corretivas contra as enchentes.

O objetivo de centralizar os serviços mencionados numa secretaria só, ajuda à Prefeitura a garantir padrões de segurança e qualidade. Também ajuda na coordenação das ações com outras instancias locais tais como as secretarias de finanças, planejamento, urbanismo, meio ambiente, saúde e educação, para assegurar que as obras públicas respondam as orientações técnicas e consigam-se desenvolver eficientemente.

Para responder a esta enorme responsabilidade, a Secretaria Municipal de Obras estabeleceu a RioUrbe, uma companhia pública criada em 1986 para liderar tarefas técnicas como desenho de projetos de arquitetura, orçamentos, licitações e supervisão das obras públicas. Mais RioUrbe não só está focada na construção de nova infraestrutura, mais também lidera varias iniciativas de manutenção das estruturas existentes. Merecem destaque as iniciativas de manutenção das infraestruturas sociais como Conservando Escolas e Conservando Hospitais.

Conservando Escolas, tem como objetivo a reforma e manutenção preventiva de escolas e creches. O projeto atende todas as regiões da cidade oferecendo manutenção de 1316 unidades escolares, onde estudam mais de 740 mil alunos. Os principais serviços oferecidos pela iniciativa incluem reformas e reparações menores para garantir estruturas adequadas que garantam a segurança e a acessibilidade para alunos e professores com deficiências.

Conservando Hospitais trabalha para assegurar estruturas adequadas, com ventilação e iluminação e padrões de acessibilidade para a rede de saúde da cidade. A iniciativa beneficia 20 hospitais, 9 institutos de saúde e 76 postos de saúde; segundo a Secretaria Municipal de Obras, só as ações na área de saúde geram mais de 1000 empregos diretos e indiretos.

A manutenção da infraestrutura pública no Rio enfrenta vários desafios na frente, mais provavelmente aquele mais relevante é a necessidade da Prefeitura de promover maior envolvimento dos moradores da cidade no cuidado e na manutenção de obras e espaços públicos. Neste sentido, são requeridas mais educação e sensibilização para que os cidadãos tenham uma cultura sólida de cuidado e respeito dos espaços públicos.

Crédito fotográfico: Secretaria Municipal de Obras de Rio de Janeiro

Catalina Gomez, Rio de Janeiro Community Manager

A city as dynamic as Rio de Janeiro requires a similarly dynamic and effective set of institutions to plan, build, supervise, and maintain local public infrastructure. From roads and viaducts to schools and health centers, the Municipal Secretariat of Public Works (Secretaria Municipal de Obras) is the institution in charge of overseeing construction, reform, and maintenance of all of Rio’s public infrastructure. For example, it is responsible for the functioning of 380,000 street lights, as well as prevention work against floods.

The purpose of centralizing these services into one institution is to help the local government ensure standards of safety and quality. It also helps to coordinate activities with other local government institutions, like the secretary of finance, planning, urbanism, environment, health, and education, so that public works are carried out with adequate technical standards and in a timely and effective manner.

In order to fulfill this enormous responsibility, the Municipal Secretariat of Public Works established RioUrbe, a public company created in 1986 as the technical arm of the secretariat to manage key activities such as project design, procurement, construction, and supervision of public works. RioUrbe is not only responsible for creating new infrastructure, but also for maintaining existing facilities. It is especially worth highlighting the two maintenance initiatives focused on schools and health centers: Conservando Escolas and Conservando Hospitais.

With the initiative Conservando Escolas or “Maintaining Schools,” the local government ensures adequate maintenance of schools and child care centers. The initiative invests in small reforms to ensure that schools offer accessibility features for children and teachers with disabilities. The initiative affects 1,316 education centers with approximately 740,000 students.

Rio’s public health network also receives support from Conservando Hospitais or “Maintaining Hospitals.” It ensures that all of its centers have adequate structures, ventilation, light, and accessibility features. The initiative oversees the maintenance of 20 hospitals, 9 health institutes, and 76 basic health centers. According to the Municipal Secretariat of Public Works, this work in the health sector generates more than a thousand jobs, directly and indirectly.

The maintenance of public infrastructure in Rio faces several challenges going forward, including the need for the local government to promote greater involvement of Rio’s residents in taking care of the city and in actively participating in minor maintenance efforts of public buildings and spaces. In this respect, education and awareness are crucial in creating a culture of care and respect for public space.

Photo credit: Secretaria Municipal de Obras de Rio de Janeiro

هويدا كامل – مديرة وحدة القاهرة

بدأ نمو المناطق العشوائية في القاهرة في عهد جمال عبد الناصر في ظل اصلاحاته الاشتراكية التي غيرت عناوين ملكية الأراضي وقوانين مراقبة الإيجار لتوفير الأراضي الزراعية للفلاحين. وقد صممت هذه الإصلاحات كوسيلة لحماية مصالح الفقراء في المناطق الحضرية، وسمحت للملاك بتوريث هذه الأراضي لمدة ثلاثة أجيال، مما جعل تغيير قوانين ملكية هذه الأراضي مهمة عسيرة. ومع ذلك، بسبب عدم وجود ما يكفي من الوحدات السكنية الجديدة بأسعار معقولة للفقراء، بدأ ملاك الأراضي ببناء المستوطنات غير الرسمية على هذه الأراضي الزراعية، مما أدى إلى نمو العشوائيات في جميع أنحاء المدينة. ثم قررت الحكومة أن تتجاهل هزه المجتمعات غير الرسمية بسبب عدم تمكنها على تلبية الطلب المتزايد للمساكن في القاهرة ذات سعر معقول . وبالتالي, لم يتم ربط هذه المستوطنات غير القانونية إلى شبكة المدينة الرسمية، مما يعني أن سكان هذه المناطق لا يستطيعون الحصول على المياه والصرف الصحي، أو الكهرباء والغاز، أو حتى الخدمات البريدية.

وبعد اكثر من ٦٠ عاما، لا تزال هذه المساكن غير متصلة إلى شبكة المدينة الأساسية حتى اليوم، وقد تتزايد العشوائيات بالقاهرة بشكل مستمر. و بسبب تواجد نحو ٦٠ في المئة من سكان القاهرة في العشوائيات في السنوات الماضية، أصبح من المستحيل أن تهمل الحكومة هذه المناطق. ابتداء من عام ١٩٩٨ بفضل تمويل من البنك الألماني للتنمية، قامت منظمة GIZ بالاشتراك مع المجتمعات المحلية والمسؤولين الحكوميين لربط هذه المستوطنات إلى شبكة المدينة الرئيسية, و مساندتهم للحصول على الدعم الحكومي للغاز, والكهرباء, والماء. والهدف الرئيسي من هذا البرنامج هو رفع مستوى الهيكل الحضري الأساسي في العشوائيات من أجل تحسين الظروف المعيشية للفقراء في القاهرة. و ما يميز هذا المشروع عن المشاريع الاخرى الممولة من الخارج هو أنه يطبق نهج تنمية قائم على مشاركة المواطنين.

يشجع برنامج التنمية التشاركي المعروف ب-PDP السكان المحليين على القيام بدور نشط في اتخاذ القرارات التي تتعلق بتطوير مجتمعهم, و يوفر هيكلا لتمكين تلك المجتمعات من مناقشة احتياجاتهم مع المسؤولين العموميين. يستخدم البرنامج نهجا لتصدي احتياجات المجتمع على ثلاثة مستويات:

١. المستوى المحلي – من خلال تدريب أصحاب المصالح المحليين في أدوات و أساليب التخطيط الحضري. ٢. المستوى الإقليمي – لإنشاء وحدات تطوير المناطق الحضرية وتنفيذ إطار مؤسسي لخطة التنمية التشاركية.

٣. المستوى القومي – من خلال الدعوة لإجراء تغييرات تشريعية في سندات ملكية الأرض.

ميزة هذا النهج هو أنه يخصص الحلول نحو احتياجات المجتمع. من خلال التعبير عن آرائهم في عملية التخطيط, يشعر سكان العشوائيات بقيمة مساهمتهم في تطوير أراضيهم, مما يؤدي إلى مواصلة تنمية خطوط الأنابيب و شبكات النقل والمواصلات.

و التحدي في إستخدام هذه المنهجية هو نجاح عملية التنسيق بين الطرفين. في نقاش حول موضوع الصعوبات التي تواجهها البرامج التشاركية في القاهرة، وضح الدكتور رولاند ستروير، المدير الاقليمي السابق لمصر، أن سكان المناطق العشوائية ديهم الاستعداد لتغيير ظروف معيشتهم. و لكن بصرف النظر عن موقفهم الإيجابي، يفشل هذا النهج أحيانا كثيرة بسبب نقص في الموظفين الاداريين ذوي الخبرة. و لحل هذه المشكلة، يجب على المنظمات أن تستخدم إستراتيجية تصاعدية، و إدماج المجتمع في عملية اتخاذ القرارات التكنوقراطية.

وقد نجحت منظمة GIZ نجاحا باهرا في إدامة نفسها خلال الثورة. قام برنامجهم بتركيب أنابيب المياه وأنظمة الصرف الصحي في كثير من الأحياء الفقيرة بالقاهرة، و تم رفع مستوى معايير الطرق في أجزاء من منشية ناصر، بولاق الدكرور، وعدة مناطق عشوائية أخرى. يعتبر مشروع PDP نموذج ناجحا للتخطيط التشاركي، و بالفعل قد قامت منظمة محلية غير حكومية، جمعية الرعاية المتكاملة، باستخدام منهج متطابق لتطوير المناطق الحضرية بمدينة حلوان. ومن الواضح أن هؤلاء السكان الفقراء لديهم حاجة لهذه الخدمات، وأنهم مستعدين لبذل مزيد من الجهد للحصول عليها. لذلك يجب أيضا على الهيئات الإدارية أن تدير و تهتم بالمنشآت العامة. أبسط طريقة للحكومة لدعم تطوير الهياكل الأساسية هو توضيح التعقيدات القانونية وراء عدة قضايا مثل تراخيص البناء و ملكية الأراضي، و هكذا تتمكن الهيئات غير الحكومية في بدء مشاريع مماثلة.

Howaida Kamel, Cairo Community Manager

The growth of informal areas in Cairo began under Nasser’s socialist reform policies that changed land ownership titles and rent control laws to provide agricultural land to small farmers. These reforms were designed as a means to protect the interests of the poor in urban areas, and were structured in a way for ownership to pass through three generations, making it virtually impossible for legal changes in land function. However, with almost no new affordable housing units for the poor, it became more profitable for landowners to build informally on these agricultural lands, leading to the growth of informal communities around the city. The government turned a blind eye to these informal communities, as they could not supply enough units to meet the growing demand for affordable housing in Cairo. These illegal settlements built on the agricultural lands were therefore not connected to the city grid, meaning that they lacked access to water, sewage, electricity, gas, and even postal services.

Sixty-plus years later, these informal settlements are still not connected to the grid, and are still growing. With over 60 percent of Cairo’s population living in informal settlements, it is becoming impossible for the government to neglect these areas. Starting in 1998, GIZ, with funding from the German Development Bank, partnered with both local communities and government officials to link these settlements to the existing grid, and to support their access to government subsidies for gas, electricity and water. The main objective of the program is to upgrade the urban infrastructure in order to improve the living conditions and to reduce the health risks of those living in poorer areas of Cairo. What distinguishes this infrastructure project from other foreign-funded projects in Egypt is that GIZ uses a participatory development approach.

The Participatory Development Program encourages the local community to take an active role in the decision-making process, and provides a structure which these communities can use to discuss their needs with public officials. The program uses a three-pronged approach that addresses the needs of all three levels:

• Local: by training local stakeholders in urban planning tools and methods

• Regional: to create urban upgrading units and to implement an institutional framework for a participatory development plan

• National: by advocating for legislative changes in land titles

The advantage of this method is that the solutions are customized to the needs of the community. By voicing their opinions in the planning process, residents of these informal settlements also gain a sense of ownership of the project, which increases the sustainability of these pipelines and road networks.

The challenge of adopting this methodology comes in coordinating efforts on the ground. In discussing the difficulties of participatory methods in Cairo, Dr. Roland Struer, former Egypt Country Director, explains that “the inhabitants of the informal areas are willing to spend energy and creativity to change their living conditions. But apart from these two levels, the situation is characterized by a lack of knowledgeable administrative staff, many of whom need to be trained for the new challenges.” The critical piece of this puzzle is managing bottom-up planning ideas, and integrating the community with the technocratic decision-making process.

An impressive success for GIZ is that it has been able to sustain itself during the revolution. The program has successfully installed water pipes and sewerage systems, and has upgraded the standards of roads in parts of Manshiet Nasser, Boulaq Dakrour, and other areas. The PDP model has been deemed a success, and has already been adopted by a local NGO, Integrated Care Society, for urban upgrading projects in Helwan. While it is evident that these communities have a need for these services, and are willing to make the effort to obtain them, the governing bodies must also take an interest in the management and maintenance of public facilities. The simplest way for the government to support such infrastructure development is to clarify the legal complexities behind issues of building licenses, land-use zoning, and development funding, in order for non-governmental entities to pursue similar projects.

Photo credit: Vincent Sandoval Henriquez

The housing market in urban India has traditionally focused on the top end, with the lower-income segment virtually unserved. Families struggle, living in rented rooms in slums or low-income neighborhoods that are characterized by poor construction, cramped spaces, deplorable sanitary conditions, and a lack of basic neighborhood amenities. Monitor Inclusive Markets (MIM, a division of the Monitor Group) has spent the last six years working with developers, housing finance companies, governments, and other stakeholders to “make the market” in low-income urban housing. In doing so, MIM has found on-the-ground data that demonstrates that there is a profitable, scalable business with internal rates of return (IRRs) comparable to premium housing. Progressive developers and entrepreneurs have built a quality product profitably while creating social impact. Learn more.

Submitted by Alexandria Wise — Mon, 06/11/2012 – 01:00

Yearlong research by Monitor Inclusive Markets in the slums and other low-income neighborhoods of Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai showed that the water quality was problematic and highly seasonal — over half of all samples did not meet government standards. In addition, residents found water difficult to access, with limited hours of availability and multiple days without supply. To respond to this dire situation, MIM has launched a project to examine this need for safe drinking water and to develop a financially sustainable, pay-per-use water plant solution that provides water in an affordable, accessible, and reliable manner. Learn more.

Submitted by Amy Lin — Mon, 05/14/2012 – 01:00

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2. Work conditions: informality, coersion and change ›

Carlin Carr replied on Wed, 07/17/2013 – 15:03 Permalink

Catalina, I appreciate you bringing up the flip side of globalization, and I’d like to believe that what you are saying is true. To be honest, though, I’m skeptical. Having just gone back to the US for a month following the flurry of articles on the Bangladesh garment collapse, I heard very little buzz around this anymore. It seems that these tragedies make headlines (right now in the US, there are many articles on the 20+ children who died from their school lunches–part of a large-scale midday lunch program–being poisoned; the US stories I’ve seen are raising awareness around malnourishment of children in India) and then quickly disappear from sight and thought. Does it really influence buying patterns? I have no scientific evidence for this, but from my own personal observations, I don’t think that people are buying more consciously, keeping in mind the conditions under which their clothes are potentially being manufactured.

I know this sounds like a pessimistic take, but it seems like the only incidents that make headlines are huge tragedies. Only then does the world take notice, and even then only for a split second. More proactive protective approaches for workers need to take place domestically. I believe in the approaches mentioned in the Bangalore article–grassroots workers’ movements and tightening of government regulations. However, given the complex international connections today, you’re right to say that we have to think of the solutions more globally. And we all are responsible, even after the headlines go away.

By Tracey Grose

With the roll out of its Firefox OS phone on July 2, 2013, the Mozilla Foundation, nonprofit provider of Firefox browser, has made a huge contribution to the open-source movement and expanding global to smart devices. The Firefox OS phone is the first mobile device to be run completely on web technologies. Launched initially in Spain, Telefónica will sell the ZTE Open powered by Firefox OS for 69 Euros (about $90), and will include 30 Euros worth of credits for pre-paid customers.

What does this mean for the typical smartphone user? And what does it mean for emerging markets?

As Steve Lohr, New York Times’ “Bits” technology blog, frames it, “Mozilla’s inspired foray into opening up the mobile device is part of a broader global open-source movement that promises to empower creativity and economic agency and to propel innovation globally.”

The open platform of the Firefox operating system allows broad access, new potential for specialization and new economic opportunity for small business. The HTML-based operating system is more economical because there is less need for software. This OS also opens the phone up to any developer to build applications tailored to the specific needs of populations in parts of the world with unique needs and until now, limited access to smart devices.

Writing apps is as easy as writing pages for the web. These apps are not locked into proprietary platform but can be accessed through the web browser of any smart phone. Further, anyone can sell an app on the Firefox Marketplace, allowing developers to create their own customer relationships. The platform will have carrier billing using payment platform Bango.

As Mozilla’s CEO, Gary Kovacs sees it:

“The introduction of the open mobile OS continues the Mozilla mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web for users and developers. As billions of users are expected to come online for the first time in the coming years, it is important to deliver a compelling smartphone experience that anyone can use, […] The large number of operators and manufacturers now supporting this effort will bring additional resources and diversity to our global offerings.”

The Firefox mobile device presents the latest disruption to the continual changing smartphone market. See the informative series on the changing smartphone and app markets from Haydn Shaughnessy at Forbes. For an insightful comparison of the different approaches to mobile by Mozilla and Google, check out the accessible piece by Christopher Mims on Quarz.

By Tracey Grose

With the roll out of its Firefox OS phone on July 2, 2013, the Mozilla Foundation, nonprofit provider of Firefox browser, has made a huge contribution to the open-source movement and expanding global to smart devices. The Firefox OS phone is the first mobile device to be run completely on web technologies. Launched initially in Spain, Telefónica will sell the ZTE Open powered by Firefox OS for 69 Euros (about $90), and will include 30 Euros worth of credits for pre-paid customers.

What does this mean for the typical smartphone user? And what does it mean for emerging markets?

As Steve Lohr, New York Times’ “Bits” technology blog, frames it, “Mozilla’s inspired foray into opening up the mobile device is part of a broader global open-source movement that promises to empower creativity and economic agency and to propel innovation globally.”

The open platform of the Firefox operating system allows broad access, new potential for specialization and new economic opportunity for small business. The HTML-based operating system is more economical because there is less need for software. This OS also opens the phone up to any developer to build applications tailored to the specific needs of populations in parts of the world with unique needs and until now, limited access to smart devices.

Writing apps is as easy as writing pages for the web. These apps are not locked into proprietary platform but can be accessed through the web browser of any smart phone. Further, anyone can sell an app on the Firefox Marketplace, allowing developers to create their own customer relationships. The platform will have carrier billing using payment platform Bango.

As Mozilla’s CEO, Gary Kovacs sees it:

“The introduction of the open mobile OS continues the Mozilla mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web for users and developers. As billions of users are expected to come online for the first time in the coming years, it is important to deliver a compelling smartphone experience that anyone can use, […] The large number of operators and manufacturers now supporting this effort will bring additional resources and diversity to our global offerings.”

The Firefox mobile device presents the latest disruption to the continual changing smartphone market. See the informative series on the changing smartphone and app markets from Haydn Shaughnessy at Forbes. For an insightful comparison of the different approaches to mobile by Mozilla and Google, check out the accessible piece by Christopher Mims on Quarz.