Digya Shrestha and Jyoti Pokharel, Dhaka Community Managers
Despite benefitting from an impressive increase in its domestic food grain production, Bangladesh has yet to achieve comprehensive food security. One out of every four households in Bangladesh suffers from food insecurity, and the poorest struggle to find enough safe and healthy food to sustain themselves. Increases in domestic food production, food imports, and the management of food all contribute to the availability of food at the national level. However, the availability of food does not eliminate all food insecurity: the purchasing power of the poor and the high price of food also limit access to food.
The Association for Socio-Economic Advancement in Bangladesh (ASEAB) was established in 1993 and works for the development and empowerment of marginalized communities. One of its programs, “Slum and Urban Development Program,” focuses on nutrition and food security for slum dwellers, by helping them increase their income enough to afford basic nutrition. Since 2001, ASEAB has been providing services to 150 families living in Dhaka’s slums. The services include microcredit support, along with income-generating trainings like tailoring, block-boutique, and candle making. This services provide the urban poor with skills and opportunities to increase their income and to therefore sustain their basic demands for food.
Despite ASEAB’s contribution to improving food security in Dhaka, this program alone is not sufficient to bring comprehensive food security. The government should also play a role— for instance, by regulating food prices and by maintaining the purchasing power of poor. Another way to prevent rising prices would be to increase the government’s food stock in the market so that if a shortage occurs, the government can deliver food to the market. This solution would also prevent the hike of food prices following a shortage of supply.
The Grameen Bank’s loan system is divided into several steps. The first step is to encourage the poor to believe that they can succeed as an entrepreneur. The poor attend a training program, and then draft a credit proposal. Only then do the beneficiaries receive the funds for investment. The rest of the process includes fund collection, returns, operations, and credit cost.
১৯৬১ অধ্যাদেশে সপ্তম নম্বরের অধীনে বাংলাদেশ রোড ট্রান্সপোর্ট কর্পোরেশন (বি.আর.টি.সি) প্রতিষ্ঠিত হয়েছিল। এটি বাংলাদেশ সরকারের স্বীকৃত পরিবহন কর্পোরেশন যা সকল শ্রেণীর মানুষের জন্য সস্তা এবং আরামদায়ক ভ্রমন ব্যবস্থা প্রদানের জন্য প্রতিষ্ঠিত হয়। বর্তমানে বাংলাদেশে বি.আর.টি.সি এর ১,১১৬ টি বাস পুরো বাংলাদেশে চলাচল করছে কিন্তু এগুলো ৪৭ মিলিয়ন (প্রায় ২৬ শতাংশ) দরিদ্র মানুষের পরিবহন চাহিদা মিটাতে যথেষ্ট নয়।
Crowdmapping in Egypt started in December 2010 with the launch of Harassmap, which maps sexual harassment in Egypt through reports sent via website and text messages, based on the free and open-source Ushahidi platform. This initiative “… help[s] support face-to-face community action to mobilize the public to speak up against sexual harassment.” Last year, Harrasmap was awarded Best Use of Technology for Social Good from Deutsche Welle’s The Bobs (Best of Online Activism).
The “Knowledge is Power” campaign is a unique model in that it effectively uses the different capacities of corporate actors, civil society organizations, international institutions, as well as public institutions and various other non-governmental and community-based organizations in order to achieve development goals. The Vodafone Foundation has pledged to finance the campaign for five years. The Life Makers Association facilitates the implementation on the ground and provides training for volunteers in the associated NGOs and CBOs. UNESCO has contributed with the curriculum development and the advanced syllabi, which also includes new technologies such as Java, Android, and iOS. The campaign is approved by the National Authority for Literacy and Adult Education and the Ministry of Education, and the public support assists the campaign in achieving its goals. Last but not least, there are 20 associated NGOs and CBOs in the nine governorates that provide the classes and reach out to illiterate people in their respective communities.
The project hopes to achieve exponential growth each year so that as the number of volunteers increases, the number of people educated will increase as well. The campaign has made astonishing progress, successfully training 8,000 volunteers and enlisting a total of 30,000 volunteers. The surplus in volunteers is indicative of the amount of support the literacy campaign has from the community of development practitioners in Cairo and throughout Egypt.
“All I remember is hands all over my body, grabbing under the layers of pullovers I was wearing, touching my breasts, opening my bra. More hands on my back and legs, my pants being pulled down. I tried to see the end of circle of men, but saw rows of men surrounding me, all pushing towards me. One man moved towards me in the middle of maybe forty men. When I could reach his hand, I just hugged the stranger and told him to help me. We moved further into the square and the man started moving faster. At that point I was not sure anymore whether he would help me or whether he was collaborating with the rest of the men. I panicked. I looked for other people to help. I saw a guy wearing one of the Operation Anti Sexual Harassment t-shirts and I started shouting louder. Luckily he saw me and made his way towards me. He grabbed me and held me and told me he would help me. I fell, the guy helped me up and I got up and was surrounded by women and men of the Anti Harassment group.” Read more or join the discussion.
“كل ال ان فكراه إن كان فيه أيادي مسكاني من كل حتة في جسمي، أيادي بتحاول تفك حمالة صدري و بتفعص صدري من تحت البلوفر ال أنا كنت ارتديه. بقية الأيادي كانت مسكاني من ظهري و رجليا، و حسيت ببنطلوني بيتشد لتحت. حاولت أنظر حوالية عشان أشوف دائرة الرجال دي بتنتهي فين، لكن وجدت صفوف من الرجل محيطة بي، وكلهم بيزقو تجاهي.”
في يوم ٢٢ يونيو من هذا العام تحدثت مع الدكتورة سحر عطية، الرئيسة الجديدة لقسم الهندسة المعمارية في كلية الهندسة بجامعة القاهرة. قدمت الدكتورة سحر نظرة ثاقبة لقضايا التخطيط الحضري في القاهرة الكبرى و الأساليب التي يتم استخدامها لتوفير الخدمات لسكان هذه المنطقة.
I managed to drive across Kasr el Nile bridge at 8:30am to find people already on the streets, cleaning up after four days of protests. I passed the Constitutional Court, where police forces had secured the area so that Judge Adly Mansour, the new interim President, could take his oath. What became publicized rather quickly was the coincidence that Judge Mansour was appointed the Head of the Constitutional Court on June 30, after his predecessor’s term had ended. While some suspect that this might be foul play, he has served on the Constitutional Court since 1992 and has held the position of Vice-President until appointed as the leader by former President Mohamed Morsi. Read more.
The entire country waited in apprehension for the 48-hour ultimatum to end. Local media had placed a countdown timer on the screen while showing the live feed of Tahrir, Itahedaya, and other major squares around the country. Large numbers of protesters started taking the streets around 3:30pm, waiting for the 4:30pm mark. With the Muslim Brotherhood supporters occupying the square at Cairo University, I stayed in the suburb of Maadi rather than go to Tahrir, especially considering the rumors that they had stopped traffic on all major bridges. Read more.
In the early afternoon, the army released the aerial footage that they captured above Itahadeya and Tahrir on June 30. This was a political move used to show the huge amount of people that had came out against Morsi, and to show that the army is dedicated to following the will of the people. Read more.
We woke up the next morning to find that those in Moqattam had stormed the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters to find rooms filled with Molotov cocktails and other types of weapons. Six were killed in the struggle. Read more.
The protests against President Mohamed Morsi started on June 30th: Egyptians all over the country took to the streets to mark the one-year anniversary of the Muslim Brotherhood in power. The Tamarud “rebellion” campaign has been working for the past three months to collect signatures for their petition calling for the President’s immediate resignation; the group recently announced that it had collected 22,134,465 signatures. Media estimates claim that up to 33 million people stood in squares all over the country, in what BBC has titled the largest number of people to partake in a political protest ever. Read more.
On July 13, 2010, approximately 15 buildings in the areas of Establ Antar and Ezbet Khairallah were demolished. As written in the 2011 Amnesty International report, families in these buildings were forced to remove their personal possessions and pay 200 LE (approximately $36 USD) for truck to take their belongings to alternative housing units in 6th of October City. Once the demolition began, security forces at the scene began to offload the belongings of 21 families, claiming that they were trying to cheat the enumeration process for free housing and they weren’t residents of the area. These families were then told that by paying 5000 LE ($890 USD) to a middle-man, they could be placed on the enumeration list. Read more or join the discussion.
In cities around the world, the question of who does urban planning, and how, is central to the creation of just cities. This week’s conversation focuses on how to design city planning instruments to be more inclusive. Examples include government programs, participatory development schemes, biometric databases, and promising newly-elected officials. Read on to learn more about urban planning in Mumbai, Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, Jakarta, Dhaka, and Mexico City, and then join the discussion below.
India is giving its citizens unique identification numbers at a daily rate equal to the size of small countries. Daily, nearly 40,000 new registrants hand over biometric data to government database registration centers. The undertaking, says The New York Times, will be “the world’s largest biometric database, a mind-bogglingly complex collection of 1.2 billion identities.” The Aadhaar program hopes to improve access to the country’s public distribution system and eliminate corruption by giving millions of poor people a simple but, until now, elusive official identity.
Dr Kidero’s has pledged to thoroughly re-examine the Nairobi Metro 2030 strategy, in order to ensure that Nairobi “residents enjoy a better life arising from better management of their city’s resources”.
O planejamento das cidades Brasileiras é uma responsabilidade municipal. O Estatuto das Cidades é o nome da lei que guia o desenvolvimento urbano e o planejamento no país. O Estatuto foi aprovado em 2001 e entre outros requerimentos, estabelece que cidades com mais de 20 mil residentes desenvolvam um Plano Diretor, como o principal instrumento para guiar seu desenvolvimento urbano. Este plano deve ser atualizado a cada 10 anos. Adicionalmente, o Estatuto estabelece que as cidades com mais de 500 mil habitantes deverão desenvolver planos de transporte integrado compatíveis com o Plano Diretor.
Pemandangan gedung-gedung terbengkalai kerap merupakan akibat negatif pembangunan yang mengabaikan aspirasi masyarakat. Contohnya adalah kejadian yang terjadi di Jakarta Timur dimana masyarakat memprotes dan berusaha menghentikan proses pembangunan kios komersial yang diprakarsai oleh Pemerintah Daerah di dalam sebuah Taman Kota. Masyarakat berkeberatan dengan pembangunan tersebut karena dianggap merugikan dan dengan upaya warga akhirnya kegiatan pembangunan berhasil dihentikan. Sesuai sistem perencanaan kita, pada dasarnya Musrenbang merupakan wadah paling tepat dalam menyampaikan aspirasi. Pendekatan yang partisipatif memungkinkan warga hadir ke Musrenbang dan menyampaikan aspirasi secara langsung. Namun demikian seringkali prioritas kegiatan yang muncul sering hilang ataupun berganti saat dilaksanakan Musrenbang di tingkat yang lebih atas. Hal ini di percaya karena adanya intervensi politik dari beberapa pihak yang memaksakan agar programnya menjadi daftar prioritas untuk dibiayai oleh pemerintah. Intervensi dan tidak adanya keterbukaan informasi dan anggaran menyebabkan masyarakat seperti buta mengenai rencana pemerintah dalam melaksanakan pembangunan. Sekretariat Nasional Forum Indonesia Untuk Transparansi Anggaran (Seknas Fitra) merupakan salah satu garda depan dalam mendukung keterbukaan informasi anggaran melalui advokasinya menuntut agar masyarakat dilibatkan dalam proses perencanaan penganggaran dari proses penyusunan, pembahasan, pelaksanaan, hingga tahap evaluasinya. Dengan mengetahui anggaran daerah, masyarakat akan mampu mengetahui rencana pemerintah dan pada saat yang sama mereka juga akan menyampaikan aspirasi dan kebutuhan mereka sesuai kemampuan daerah.
Secara konseptual, proses Musrenbang dimulai dari tingkat terendah yaitu desa hingga nasional, namun dalam praktiknya masih menyisakan banyak masalah. Proses penjaringan aspirasi masyarakat tidak selalu berjalan mulus dan tidak setiap kebutuhan masyarakat dapat terakomodasi dengan baik maupun dapat terealisasi dalam kegiatan pembangunan. Salah satu bentuk penjaringan aspirasi adalah melalui penyampaian usulan kepada anggota parlemen, terutama selama masa reses. Salah satu organisasi yang secara aktif memberikan dukungan kepada anggota DPR RI untuk menjaring aspirasi selama masa reses adalah Kemitraan melalui sebuah program yang disebut sebagai Jabat (Jangkau dan Libatkan). Tujuan utama dari program ini adalah untuk mendekatkan anggota parlemen kepada konstituennya dan menyerap sebanyak mungkin aspirasi untuk disalurkan melalui program-program anggota parlemen. Program Jabat mendapat sambutan baik dari anggota dewan yang ikut terlibat serta konstituen di dapil dewan sebab dengan agenda reses ini tercipta komunikasi dan ada mekanisme dimana masyarakat bisa berkomunikasi langsung dengan anggota dewan perwakilan mereka dan mengetahui sampai sejauh mana aspirasi yang mereka sampaikan telah ditindak-lanjuti.
Selain itu, aspirasi dapat disampaikan masyarakat melalui rumah aspirasi yang dibentuk anggota dewan seperti halnya rumah aspirasi milik Budiman Sudjatmiko, anggota DPR RI dari fraksi PDI Perjuangan yang membuat Rumah Aspirasi Budiman di salah satu dapilnyaa, Banyumas, Jawa Tengah. Rumah aspirasi ini berfungsi sebagai wadah penyalur aspirasi dan tempat mengadu masyarakat terkait permasalahan yang terjadi di wilayah daerah pemilihan Budiman. Tidak jarang Budiman mengadakan dialog dengan masyarakat sekitar. Aktivitas Rumah Aspirasi Budiman sebagaian besar dibiayai oleh Budiman sendiri serta donasi yang sifatnya tidak mengikat.
রাজউক তাদের “হাতির ঝিল” প্রকল্পের কাঠামোর মধ্যে পরিবেশ ও সংযোগ সমস্যার সমাধান উল্লেখ করে। হাতির ঝিল খাল এলাকাটির পরিবেশগত অবনতির মাত্রা তীব্র হওার কারণে খালটি ‘মৃত খাল’ হিসেবে পরিচিতি লাভ করে, যেখানে শুধু কালো পানি প্রবাহিত হতো। সময়ের সাথে সাথে বর্জ্য ফেলবার কারণে হাতির ঝিল খাল একটি বর্জ্য জমি হয়ে ওঠে। পরিবেশগত অত্যাচারের পাশাপাশি, এই বর্জ্য-জমি ভূমিদস্যুদের শিকারে পরিণত হয় যারা খালের চারপাশে বৈধ ও অবৈধ বসতি স্থাপন করে। এই অসুস্থ পরিবেশ ও অপরিকল্পিত বসতি চর্চা হাতির ঝিল খাল এলাকায় অনেক উন্নয়নমূলক পদক্ষেপকে সমস্যাজনিত করে তুলে।
En este sentido, para FOSOVI la planeación urbana participativa es un proceso de toma de decisiones compartidas sobre un deseo, donde los fines son seleccionados democráticamente y puestos en práctica colectivamente; y que además serán soluciones sustentables en el tiempo para lograr mejores condiciones de vida de los grupos involucrados.
Para su implementación, se formó un Comité Técnico integrado por miembros de las diversas instituciones, consultores y representantes de entidades socio-económicas en el territorio, para direccionar el proceso de elaboración e instrumentación, la aprobación de los documentos y líneas de acción, la priorización de acciones y el establecimiento de sistemas de control y seguimiento. De tal forma, con la población interesada de San Andrés Totoltepec durante la primera fase se realizó un pre-diagnóstico a través de investigación de campo, mapeos y un diagnóstico participativo. En la segunda fase se construyeron objetivos, así como líneas de acción estratégicas para cada área de la Delegación, proyectos críticos y conciliación de opiniones en mesas de trabajo; lo anterior relacionado con los temas de usos actuales del suelo, medio ambiente, infraestructura urbana y estructura urbana. Durante la tercera fase se determinaron las prioridades específicas así como las metas y concreción de proyectos urbanos prioritarios; seguidos por la elaboración de proyectos y programas. En la última fase se llevó a cabo la aprobación del PPDU por el Comité, el establecimiento de los procedimientos para su ejecución y seguimiento al programa y la Consulta Pública. En este último punto, se presentó el programa a la población y vecinos de la demarcación para que fuera un proceso consensuado y democrático.
Transport and infrastructure remain key components when designing urban space. Urban planners are required to evaluate transport routes, modes, and costs, to ensure the city functions efficiently. Across Tanzania key means of public transportation in, and around, the city includes boda-boda’s, or piki-piki’s, (motorcycles) and daladala’s (small buses). Such means are cheap, frequent, and although carrying capacity is limited, space can be made to squeeze another passenger on. However, with rising concerns over road safety, the costs of congestion, and the need for improved supply, the future of such transportation remains debatable. As the agenda shifts to designing ‘sustainable cities’, whereby urban environments can meet contemporary needs without jeopardizing that of future generations, we need to question what it means in the developing world. The concept of environmental justice is key. Discussions on environmental justice integrate calls for sustainability and recognition of the social, spatial, and economic, inequalities individuals face in relation to the environment . Environmental justice recognises the urban environment as political. Access, externalities, and use-value, of the environment are political. Read more.
When discussing cities in Africa, and ‘African urbanism’, the focus quickly turns to the state of informality. Such raises the question of how developmental is informality? Who benefits from informality and for how long? Furthermore how can a system whereby the formal-informal are intertwined work? The issue has been a burning topic in Mwanza over the past week. Mwanza is a small city located on the southern coast of Lake Victoria, inhabited by around 635,730 people (Mwanza City Council, 2014). With development continuing, land markets remain a crucial asset. Over the past few weeks the focus has been on land – measuring plots of land, providing individuals with land titles, and bringing all dwellers under the formal land system. Nationally, the Tanzanian government claimed all citizens who do not have a land title should be granted it within 21 days of having their land assessed, measured, and the boundaries drawn. The proposed deadline suggests the end of an invisible population, putting people on the formal map and recognising formal dwellers. However, the achievement requires understanding how the system of informal-formal works. At a local level informal actors are key in determining the right to formality and future of urban planning. Read more.
One of the key debates that have emerged within development studies is to whom does the responsibility lie? The structuralists among us focus on the ‘state’. It is defined as the state’s duty, and responsibility, to meet people’s needs. Alternatively, perspectives emerge identifying the state as an enabler – the key actors are civil society. The focus on grass-roots action has, however, raised considerable debate. Critics have argued firstly, civil-society is not necessarily positive. The broad category of ‘civil-society’ – whether communities, NGOs, or FBOs – rely on ‘social-capital, defined as the linkages amongst members of society. However, such capital assets by which people are argued to be able to rely, and draw, upon have been shown to have negative components and remain structured within a system of power inequalities. For example not all women joining a micro-finance programme are strategically empowered as the burden of time-poverty remains and not all can have their voice heard. Secondly, the social-capital resources are not indefinite but rather constrained and limited over time through a ‘poverty of resources’ (Gonzalez de la Rocha, 2001). Thirdly, should we be relying on social-capital to meet needs? However, traditionally, within many cultures in Africa, the community has played a major role in creating self-sufficient communities. Therefore do we need to revitalise the focus on social-capital? Read more.
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.
