Carlin Carr, Mumbai Community Manager
Photo: Ken Banks, kiwanja.net
There has likely been no greater generational divider than the advent of technology. Across the world, youth populations are being brought up with access to technology that was not available to previous generations. This phenomenon has reached the developing world as well, where new devices are becoming smarter, sharper and, importantly, more affordable. Unlike their parents and grandparents, youth in places like India can access a vast new world with mobile technology, and a vast new world can also access them. The result is that more poverty-alleviation initiatives have focused on catering to youth with innovative uses of technology, particularly focused around education and training initiatives.
Learning on the go
For the poor, education has often taken a backseat to survival. In Maharashtra, Mumbai’s home state, literacy rates have improved over the last couple of decades in urban areas. So, too, have primary school attendance rates: Mumbai’s elementary school children are nearly all (97 percent) enrolled in a public or private institution. However, that number drops significantly for secondary school. While children in India legally cannot work before the age of 14, many start laboring much younger than that. School-aged children work as delivery boys, sweeping floors, stocking shelves and other menial tasks; employment and the need to add to the family income, not surprisingly, coincide with the time when drop-out rates rise. Many children are forced to choose this path over education.
For older generations, this early employment path was the end of their formal schooling; yet, for the technologically connected children, new ways of continuing to learn and expand skills sets are being introduced. Since handheld devices are becoming increasingly main stream among urban poor youth, this population is gaining access to more and better learning opportunities through their phones. The “classroom” is finally opening up to meet the needs of the poor. While night schools are one option, mobile learning is gaining ground as well. The traditional physical classroom that previous generations needed to attend is now more flexible, mobile and accessible to a population with varying constraints. While a public policy focus on improving access to the public school system (as well as improving the system itself), a simultaneous introduction of alternative learning arenas will only benefit these vulnerable populations.
The ubiquity of mobile phones
One of the first major purchases today’s urban youth makes is a mobile phone. Computers are still unaffordable to most families in slums, so the Internet is accessed through phones. The investment’s purpose is initially to stay connected with friends and family, but as a study by Microsoft found, there is potential for other, perhaps more important, uses. The report conducted earlier this year, Anthropology, Development and ICTs: Slums, Youth and the Mobile Internet in Urban India, investigated mobile internet adoption among teenagers in a low-income urban setting. The goal was to understand better how mobile phones are being used by this generation and how the results may be relevant for development research.
The study found that youth in India’s slums are using their mobile phones largely for entertainment purposes — games, music, videos. While this usage seems far from educational and other development initiative intentions, the study says that using mobiles for entertainment is an important start to “drawing people into the digital world.” This research is important for e-learning initiatives, since making learning interesting, fun and approachable should be primary concerns. The study says that “while internet use may eventually expand to include other (instrumental) uses, entertainment remains the hook for initial access and recurrent use.”
24/7 learning
Given this valuable information, it becomes apparent that successful programs need to enhance accessibility and affordability, but they also need to integrate a “deep sense of play, self-exploration and learning.” One of these platforms available to urban youth is the “Mobile Learning Solution,” a socially-inclusive development program founded by the NIIT Foundation that aims to upgrade the skill base and employability of marginalized youth living in the urban slums and even some rural areas.
Mobile Learning Solution seeks to create a “24/7 habit of learning,” allowing users to access information at their own convenience. The initiative seeks to upgrade the skills of youth ages 17-25 who would otherwise enter the informal sector, perhaps following the traditional employment of their parent or grandparent. “With an effort to resolve the issue of employability in slum areas, the vision of the project is to provide employability skills to the urban slum youth … using their mobile handsets,” says an article on mBillionth’s award page. Mobile Learning Solution offers English language content applications that can be uploaded to mobile phones, mostly for free. The courseware “encourages students to practice English and learn on their own, outside of the classroom environment, inculcates learning, enhances vocabulary through a self-quizzing mechanism and practices pronunciation with the audio-video word-list and Hindi-English dictionary.”
While primary school students attend at better rates than secondary school students, the public school system at all levels is failing its students. In Mumbai, 40-50 percent of elementary school-aged children cannot read or write. Mobile-learning initiatives can, therefore, also be used to enhance the experience of students in under-served school systems and expand access to learning. Initiatives have started to target younger children as well, shifting from mobile phones as entertainment to a classroom at an early age. In partnership with Sesame Workshop India, Groupshot, a US-based design and development group which creates technology for informality, is creating mobile phone-based education tools for slum youth in India. “Revolving around the concept of the cellphone as a shared social and educational device, children will be able to engage their immediate community and environment as a living laboratory in which they will collaboratively learn through play and exploration.” New opportunities and strategies for engaging students can employ technology to support those without consistent access to education as well as supplement traditional education systems.
What this means for the “generation gap”
Breaking the cycle of poverty that has persisted for decades in most families will take great innovation and collaboration. At the core of what will launch this break is expanding educational opportunities. Given the economic constraints of the poor in India’s slums, it is difficult to see how the traditional education system can, as it currently operates, meet the needs of the complicated situations of these children. And while developing the public system should remain the state’s primary concern, technology has the potential to extend the classroom experience to a generation of mobile-connected learners in ways previous generations could never have imagined.
Like any self-learning initiatives, the key will be to make the programs interesting, convenient, affordable and easy to follow. As the Microsoft study showed, phones are already in constant use. Development initiatives can fuse current uses with innovative and effective content. If this blend happens, technology will have the potential to be adopted for a wide variety of causes — from teaching farmers to sow their fields properly to giving new mothers essential information for feeding their newborns to enhancing skills in a virtual world full of trades that can be transferred to the real world, and make a real impact.
Coastal waters and their ecosystems are a crucial source of food and protection for seaside cities, particularly for the urban poor. But competition for marine resources and the expansion of urban areas into coastal land have resulted in environmental degradation, which in turn causes food insecurity and vulnerability to the effects of climate change. To combat this destructive cycle, government and civil society initiatives in Cape Town, Jakarta, Accra, and Mumbai are working to provide environmentally conscious and socially just solutions. Read on to learn about the restoration of fishing rights for marginalized communities, efforts to preserve mangrove forests, and more — then join the conversation below.
Worldwide, however, various shifts in approaches to the management of natural resources have also emerged from improved understandings of the complex interdependencies between natural and socio-economic systems. In the South African context, between the focus on ecology (through the Ecosystems Approach to Fisheries, or EAF) and economy (through the fishing rights allocation system, or RBM), a vital concern not adequately included under the current system is that of socio-economic and management issues. In the past, participation in the fishing industry remained in the hands of the wealthy, in the form of an established industrialized white-owned sector, reinforcing both the government’s racially discriminatory policies, as well as the links between access to capital and access to the commercial fisheries. Nevertheless, in the Western Cape, small-scale fishers and communities living on the margins operated an informal fish market, especially for ‘snoek’ (Thyrsites atun), for centuries an important source of livelihood, diet, and culture.
Notwithstanding initiatives such as the Fishing Cluster Project, on a broader structural level there remained the problem of the concentration of fishing rights in the hands of a few rights holders. Due to the many artisanal fishers who were still left to operate informally, a class action case was brought against the allocation system of fishing rights. This precipitated a new small-scale fisheries policy for South Africa in 2012. Due for implementation in 2014, the new policy has a strong developmental focus. Significantly, it also promotes community fishing quotas, through the creation of legal entities representing fishing communities.
Muara Angke terletak di kelurahan Kapuk Muara yang terkenal dengan kampung nelayannya, palabuhan dan tempat pelelangan ikan. Menurut Dinas Peternakan, perikanan dan Kelautan Jakarta jumlah nelayan di Jakarta Utara kian tahun kian menurun terutama disebabkan kenaikan konstan bahan bakar minyak. Sehingga banyak dari mereka tidak melaut dengan alasan biaya tinggi dan merugikan nelayan. Untuk ini pemerintah telah mempersiapkan sebuah program pemberdayaan bagi masyarakat nelayan melalu PEMP yang bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kapasitas sumber daya manusia pesisir dalam mengelola potensi laut dan mendorong munculnya kelompok-kelompok pendukung pengelolaan sumberdaya laut dan pantai. Program ini menyediakan dana hibah untuk penguatan koperasi nelayan atau dikenal sebagai Dana Ekonomi Produktif untuk mengatasi kesulitan permodalan nelayan. Dana ini diberikan pada nelayan kecil dan pembudidaya ikan-ikan kecil serta koperasi perikanan. Skema kredit disediakan dengan bunga rendah dan cara yang tidak rumit. Pada awalnya, dana langsung diberikan pada koperasi nelayan, namun kini dilakukan melalui lembaga perbankan. PEMP memberikan manfaat bagi nelayan dalam permodalan dan meningkatkan produksi mereka. Untuk selanjutnya PEMP ini akan dileburkan dalam program pemerintah yang lain bernama PNPM Mandiri Kelautan dan Perikanan.
Though Accra is a coastal city, the limited production of crops and fishing provides for only a quarter of the population, so the city depends on transported food from the outskirts of Ghana. The cost of transporting food has raised the cost of food so much that the average person in Accra finds it difficult to eat a balanced three square meals a day. Over-fishing has resulted in dwindling catches that fail to meet residents’ protein needs. The large youth population causes a high dependency ratio, which increases the average household expenditure on food. Many former farmers are those who migrated to Accra, increasing the demand for food in the city while also reducing available labour for food production in the countryside. Climate change and over-dependence on rain irrigation are other significant contributors to the food production, and therefore affordability challenges.
However, the city’s natural coastal protector has been under severe threat in recent decades. “It has been estimated that Mumbai lost about 40 percent of its mangrove between 1995 and 2005,” says a recent article on the mangroves. The destruction of the rich forest and estuaries started during the British era when the mangroves were being chopped down and filled in to reclaim land. In the ever-growing Mumbai of today, the rapid deterioration of these important natural barriers has continued. The article says the mangroves are now being lost to all the major development in the city — “golf courses, amusement parks, sewage and garbage dumps, buildings, and other modern structures like the Bandra-Worli Sea-Link.”
Tal como se observa, si bien durante la crisis económica, el impacto, en comparación con el recibido a nivel nacional, fue menor, un habitante de la capital puede vivir (sufrir) lo que implica radicar en el D.F.
Catalina Gomez, Rio de Janeiro Community Manager
According to the International Labour Organization, over 70 million young people worldwide are unemployed. This issue is particularly prevalent in the Global South, where youth are twice as likely to be unemployed or trapped in low-quality jobs, limiting development and social mobility. Governments and NGOs have responded with educational initiatives, skills-training projects, confidence-building programs, and a fund to encourage entrepreneurship. Read on to learn about four successful approaches in Cali, Nairobi, Bangalore, and Rio de Janeiro, and then join the conversation below.
Para mitigar este grave problema, existen varias iniciativas tanto públicas como privadas destinadas a mejorar la preparación de los jóvenes. Jóvenes en Acción, un programa de ámbito nacional, prestará asistencia financiera para que puedan completar estudios a unos 4 000 jóvenes caleños. La formación debe ser en carreras técnicas o tecnológicas, aunque también se cubren cursos de capacitación y emprendimiento. El programa está destinado a jóvenes entre 16 y 24 años, que hayan culminado el bachillerato, y que pertenezcan a la Red Unidos, sean víctimas del conflicto armado y/o desplazamiento o beneficiarios de Familias en Acción (Red Unidos y Familias en Acción son programas destinados a ayudar a familias en situación de pobreza). La ayuda económica consiste en un estipendio bimensual de 200.000 COP (unos 100 US$), y se les exige estar bancarizados, algo que también redunda positivamente en su integración en el mercado de trabajo.
The aim of the Uwezo fund is to address the massive unemployment problem that affects the country, by encouraging entrepreneurship and expanding access to credit. The idea is to generate opportunities for self-employment and to enhance economic growth by investing in community-driven alternative frameworks to development and focusing on youth/women’s groups and savings chamas as drivers of the country’s economy.
While many initiatives have been launched under the NSDC, focusing on building a range of technical and artisanal capacities, an organization in Bangalore focuses on skill-building alongside “potential realization” initiatives. The Promise Foundation‘s research has found that while lack of skills is a major factor that contributes to underemployment or lack of employment with youth, so too does their confidence in their own abilities and job prospects. The organization’s unique method applies behavioral sciences to economic and social development.
Uma causa do fenômeno “Nem-Nem” é a desigualdade e a pobreza. A grande maioria da população carente urbana não tem oportunidade de receber educação de qualidade e porem fica desmotivada e descomprometida dos estudos. Não surpreende que as maiores taxas de abandono escolar sejam entre as populações de baixa renda.
The urban poor in the Global South lack access to banking and financial services, and women are disproportionately affected. They are less likely than men to hold a bank account, to take out a loan, or to borrow money. This is a detriment to development, since women are more likely to spend extra funds on their family, thereby improving food, education, and health. This series of articles profiles approaches to bridging the financial inclusion gender gap in São Paulo, Mexico City, Nairobi, Bangalore, and Dhaka. Read on to learn more, and then join the discussion below.
Tendo em conta a situação descrita pela Ministra, uma das principais prioridades do governo brasileiro durante vários anos, tem sido a redução de barreiras de informação e o desenho de produtos financeiros adequados para a população de baixa renda. Um dos principais mecanismos de promoção da inclusão financeira, especialmente para mulheres, tem sido Bolsa Família, o programa de transferências que beneficia a 13 milhões de famílias. O programa transfere mensalmente dinheiro para todas as famílias dependendo de seu nível de pobreza e número de crianças. O 93 por cento dos beneficiários direitos são mulheres, o que contribui no seu posicionamento e influencia dentro do núcleo familiar.
En el estudio del Especial de Inclusión Financiera de Nextbillion y Ashoka Changemakers, CrediMUJER de Perú afirma que la inclusión financiera está relacionada con el reconocimiento de los derechos de las mujeres, el refuerzo de su autoestima, autonomía económica y control de su vida.
Over the past decades, Chamas have increased in popularity: women have embraced them not only to send their children to school, undertake household maintenance, and weather them through major events and crises, but also as engines with which to forward their entrepreneurial skills and invest in income-generating activities.
Samasta started in Bangalore in 2008 and in just the first two years reached nearly 77,000 clients with a 99.97 percent repayment rate. Originally focusing on India’s southern states, the institution’s goal is to expand north and reach 1.8 million people by the end of this year. The bank’s focus is to “bridge the gap between ambition and achievement for the working poor across India, by providing financial and non-financial services in a sustainable, long-term relationship to enable them to achieve a better quality of life.” Samasta has had to expand its range of products in order to keep its clients as long-term customers.
ঢাকার বস্তিতে বসবাসরত মহিলারা সাধারণত অর্থনৈতিক ব্যাবস্থার ব্যাবহার সঠিক ভাবে করতে পারেন না; অপরুন্তু ডোনার এবং এন জি ও এর কাছ থেকে যে পরিমান অর্থ আসে তা এই বস্তির মহিলারা পান না, কারণ ডোনার এবং এন জি ও এসব বস্তি মূল্যায়ন করে না। এসব মহিলারা কোন ধনশম্পত্তিও পান না এবং তারের কোন ভুমি অধিকারও থাকে নাহ। বস্তুত, খাদ্য এবং কৃষি জরিপ অনুযায়ী বাংলাদেশে কেবল ২% মহিলা ভুমির মালিক, যা প্রতিবেশী দেশগুলোর তুলনায় অত্যন্ত কম। মহিলারা পার্লামেন্টে এবং অন্যান্য কর্মক্ষেত্রে এখন কাজ করলেও ভূমিমালিকাধীন নারীর সংখ্যা এখনো অনেক কম, যা অর্থনৈতিক নিরাপত্তা রক্ষায় অত্যন্ত গুরুত্বপূর্ণ।
As 2013 draws to a close, it is a good opportunity to reflect on what we have learned from cities in the URB.im network during the last year. Some of our community managers discuss the benefits of increased citizen participation in the planning and implementation of urban initiatives. Others highlight the effectiveness of programs that build the capacity of youth and women to be agents for poverty alleviation. Many discuss how to ensure that the benefits of economic growth and urban improvement extend to the most marginalized residents. Continue reading to learn more about our lessons learned and join the discussion to share your own.
Months later, a female photojournalist out on an assignment in an abandoned mill area in the center of Mumbai endured a similarly brutal assault and gang rape. As it turns out, the men had done this to ragpicker women in the area before, but few women, especially the poor, feel comfortable stepping forward. Mumbai has always been touted as a safe city for women, but incidents like these have rattled this sense of security.
Politics, technology, infrastructure development, and finance ruled the discussion board in 2013 and laid important cornerstones for future discussions on how the country will develop and evolve.
Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero was voted in on a slew of electoral promises — amongst which, to improve service delivery to the capital, improve the living standards of slum dwellers, and address the problem of Dandora, the city’s overflowing dumpsite. Ten months after elections, the promises are yet to be met: Kidero has held meetings with representatives of Nairobi’s different slums, where he reiterated his commitment to increasing employment opportunities for youth; his wife has made public donations to various slum orphanages; and the Dandora question is under discussion.
In infrastructure development, despite a few hiccups, work on Nairobi’s southern and eastern bypasses continued to move forward, as did the construction of Nairobi’s new international airline terminal, which was launched in December despite the chaos that followed the burning of the arrivals terminal in August this year. The Nairobi light commuter rail network opened a new station, the Safaricom Kasarani stadium was brought to completion, and Machakos county (part of the city’s larger metropolitan area) unveiled its ambitious development plan and how it intends to create Machowood, Kenya’s first dedicated film production studios.
Finance went from strength to strength as the Kenyan stock market continued to rise throughout the year and the government began to recognize that the most sustainable form of development was the one that came from the grassroots. As a result, efforts were stepped up to invest in youth and women’s savings groups through the newly introduced Uwezo Fund.
Makoko’s slum clearance, part of the city’s effort to make the city safer and more modernized, illustrates the importance of considering the social impact of urban planning and growth projects. The economic and social effects of this slum clearance on the communities are grave: residents become displaced, lose their shelter, sense of safety, and livelihood. Other initiatives in Makoko have been more successful: the innovative floating school project plans to make education more accessible to slum residents.
Por ejemplo, el mapeo comunitario en Nezahualcóyotl, facilitado por la Universidad de las Américas, identificó las variables de vulnerabilidad de la población; al igual que los pobladores de San Andrés Totoltepec en Tlalpan, impulsado por la Organización Fomento Solidario de la Vivienda (FOSOVI). Los habitantes de ambas localidades realizaron un diagnóstico comunitario para visualizar las carencias sociales que debían de satisfacer, así como los recursos disponibles para obtener soluciones. En este sentido, se da evidencia de que la misma población que se encuentra en situaciones de vulnerabilidad, puede generar sus propias soluciones y así ser una comunidad que desarrolla estrategias de vida. El factor elemental en estos modelos de desarrollo local ha sido la intervención de actores externos, como las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, que habilitan mecanismos que cohesionan el capital social de las personas y empoderan para que la población descubra su capacidad.
Hoy en día, la agenda de desarrollo rompe con el paradigma de los enfoques de políticas públicas desde arriba, para focalizar los esfuerzos en metodologías que permitan vincular a los diversos actores que juegan un rol activo en la promoción del bienestar. En este sentido, Enrique Betancourt, urbanista de la Ciudad de México, nos compartió en una entrevista, que uno de los grandes retos para esta ciudad es un paquete de acciones coordinadas — estrategias que integren el equipamiento e infraestructura con programas sociales y con un fuerte componente de participación ciudadana. Así mismo, la inclusión de la población marginada, como una tarea de planeación urbana, está relacionada con garantizar a las personas el derecho a la ciudad. Es decir el tutelaje de que todos accedan a los beneficios de vivir en comunidad, lo cual impulsa cambios de manera más rápida y eficiente. De acuerdo a Betancourt, es necesario borrar las barreras institucionales, sociales, y físicas que promueven que hasta ahora se dividan los ciudadanos de primera y segunda clase. Para lo anterior, es necesaria una sinergia de actores y del fortalecimiento de la capacidad de las organizaciones sociales para ofrecer la atención de servicios de manera descentralizada y abarcando a la población que aún no ha podido ejercer su derecho.
In cities around the world, children are at especially high risk for various forms of physical and mental abuse, including neglect, economic exploitation, and sexual violence. Consequently, civil society organizations and governments alike are using a broad range of strategies to ensure that this vulnerable demographic is protected and enabled to thrive. Initiatives include government-run crisis centers for victims of sexual abuse, the creation of stronger legal protections for children, and a campaign to stop corporal punishment in schools. Learn more about these efforts to end violence against children in Chittagong, Mexico City, Mumbai, Accra, Jakarta, and São Paulo, and then join the conversation below.
যৌন নির্যাতন ও ধর্ষণের এই প্রচলন বন্ধ করার জন্য, বিশেষ করে তরুণীদের উপর যৌন নির্যাতন বন্ধ করার জন্য সরকার পুরো বাংলাদেশে ২০০১ সালে “ওয়ান স্টপ ক্রাইসিস সেন্টার (ও,এস,সি,সি)” প্রতিষ্ঠা করেছে। এই সংস্থাটি বাংলাদেশের বিভিন্ন এনজিও যেগুলো মহিলাদের দ্বারা প্রচালিত হচ্ছে এবং রয়েল ডেনিশ দূতাবাসের তত্ত্বাবধায়নে প্রচালিত হচ্ছে। চট্রগ্রামে ও,এস,সি,সি ধর্ষণ ও যৌন নির্যাতনের শিকার ব্যক্তিদের বিভিন্ন সেবা দিয়ে থাকে; উদাহরণস্বরূপ, স্বাস্থ্য সেবা, বাসস্থান পরিসেবা, সামাজিক সেবা, মানসিক স্বাস্থ্য সেবা, আইন এবং পুলিশ সহায়তা এবং ডি,এন,এ পরীক্ষা করার সেবা দিয়ে থাকে। শিশুরা তাদের সেবার বৃহত্তম গ্রাহক।
Entre los programas de REDIM se encuentran: la construcción de una agenda de políticas públicas sobre la infancia y sus derechos; propuestas para la legislación sobre derechos de la infancia; talleres, materiales de análisis, y producción de conocimiento dirigidos a padres, escuelas, instituciones y a la sociedad en general, y también vigilancia y defensoría de los derechos de la niñez.
Así mismo, REDIM y UNICEF generaron una iniciativa llamada “10 por la Infancia”. La iniciativa tiene medidas estratégicas para avanzar en la defensa de los derechos de las niñas, niños y adolescentes con el apoyo de las instituciones gubernamentales, congresos locales y federal, y la sociedad civil. En abril del 2013 el Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal firmó el acuerdo para la adopción de los 10 pasos:
Así mismo, respecto a las acciones de incidencia en política pública, las OSCs participantes han generado diversas propuestas de políticas, además del continuo debate y posicionamiento de las sugerencias a través del proyecto “Por una Ley de Altura”; cuyo objetivo es difundir los contenidos, efectos e impacto de la Ley General de Protección a la Niñez que fue aprobada por la Cámara de Diputados, así como las áreas que requieren reestructurase para la creación de una ley integral para una mejor protección de la niñez.
A study conducted last year by the Parent-Teacher Association United Forum found that 100 percent of the 150 teachers they interviewed had used corporal punishment on their students. “The findings left school principals shocked,” says a Times of India report on the issue. The principals may not have known of the extent of the issue, because few incidents were actually being reported to them, neither by the students nor by the parents. Often, parents supported the idea of punishment by the teachers, stating that the child likely deserved it.
The core mandate of the government-owned Osu Children’s Home is to take children from the street and provide them with appropriate care. The goal is to afford them hope for a better future and to fully reintegrate all children admitted into the home into mainstream society. After working with the children, they are reintegrated into their families. Unfortunately, this is the home’s only option, because of lack of funding and challenges in maintaining the home.
Yang menarik dari standar minimum pelayanan ini adalah kewajiban bagi tiap daerah untuk menyediakan Pusat Pelayanan Terpadu (one stop service) atau PPT untuk korban kekerasan. PPT ini sendiri akan melibatkan rumah sakit, puskesmas, unit pelayanan perempuan dan anak yang berbasis di kantor polisi, lembaga bantuan hukum, trauma center, rumah perlindungan anak (shelter) dan jejaring lain yang dapat membantu proses penyembuhan korban.
Um dos esforços mais importantes no reconhecimento dos direitos das crianças e adolescentes tem sido a aprovação do Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA) em 1990. O ECA é um conjunto de normas que detalham os direitos das crianças e identificam os protocolos de atenção nos casos de violência, delinquência e justiça de menores.
According to the WHO, more than 450 million people worldwide suffer from mental disorders. These illnesses are particularly common, and are especially destructive among the poor, those with chronic health conditions, minority groups, and communities exposed to conflict and disasters. Moreover, almost 75 percent of the Global South’s mentally ill remain untreated. In honor of World Mental Health Day (October 10th), read on to find out what is being done to resolve this issue in Bangalore, Cape Town, Accra, Bogotá, and São Paulo, and then join the discussion below.
In Bangalore, the Richmond Fellowship Society has been operating services since 1986, though it is part of the world’s largest global charity network focusing on mental illness. The organization says that over 10 million people in India suffer from schizophrenia, “while the figure for those suffering bipolar affective disorder, depression and anxiety disorders stands at a colossal 150 million.” While the numbers cut across socio-economic status, the poor, especially the homeless, are inordinately affected. Experts estimate that by 2020, mental health disorders will be the second leading cause of disability and death. The World Health Organization (WHO) has created a comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020 to increase awareness and services.
Within such harsh conditions, one notable project on the Cape Flats is the Sultan Bahu Drug Rehab Centre in Mitchell’s Plain, which has achieved the highest drug addiction recovery rate (87 percent) and retention rate (83 percent) in the entire province (its three drug rehab centres in the Western Cape also form some of the only internationally accredited facilities of their kind on the continent). This is all the more remarkable given that most rehab centers have a success rate of less than 3 percent.
The Rehab Centre is a social outreach project of the Sultan Bahu Centre (SBC), a faith-based NPO which provides a wide range of social projects throughout the country, and its achievements have not gone unnoticed by Provincial Government. To improve service delivery to the poor, the government has increasingly recognized the need for partnerships with other stakeholders, such as faith-based organisations (FBOs) or NGOs. Thus, the Department of Social Development in the Western Cape recently announced that the Rehab Centre would be awarded the first pilot outpatient opiate replacement program in the country, which allows patients “a fine line of functioning” not based on intoxication and withdrawal. With this the SBC will form one of the beneficiaries of the R87 million (US$ 8.7 million) pledged to fight the province’s drug scourge. Moreover, National Government has requested that it provide rehab programs throughout the country.
The stigma associated with mental health issues stresses some family members, who then fail to associate with such patients even after treatment, making their integration into their families very problematic. Some relatives ultimately abandon their family member in state institutions in order to limit the negative perceptions others will have towards them.
Existe una vinculación estrecha entre trastornos mentales, consumo de estupefacientes y los habitantes de la calle. Según el estudio de la SIS, en Bogotá el 68.1 por ciento consumen bazuco y el 80.5 por ciento de ellos lo hace todos los días. Además, el 64.6 por ciento consumen marihuana, el 63 por ciento de estos de forma diaria. Aunque la Secretaría de Salud de Bogotá reduce la incidencia de este tipo de problemas al 30 por ciento, y es muy difícil establecer una cifra exacta, es sin duda demasiado elevada. La falta de acceso a los sistemas de prevención y tratamiento agrava aún más los problemas de los habitantes de la calle, que se ven forzados a acudir a las salas de emergencia en momentos de crisis, poniendo una fuerte sobrecarga en estas salas, que en todo caso no están preparadas para solventar los problemas de fondo de este colectivo.
Para atender o grande desafio da atenção à saúde mental, o governo brasileiro vem apresentando avanços importantes liderados pelo Ministério da Saúde. No tema regulatório, o ministério aprovou no ano 2001 a Politica Nacional de Saúde Mental que estabelece importantes orientações de política afastando-se das hospitalizações e dando prioridade aos serviços de terapia e reintegração social. Adicionalmente, a legislação orienta que os municípios são as unidades encarregadas de providenciar os serviços de saúde mental no seu território.
Land titles have a big impact on the lives of the poor: without them, residents of informal or marginalized communities are in constant fear of relocation or demolition, and are prevented from benefiting from the land’s productive uses. Housing tenure gives slum residents a guaranteed right to the land and their properties, and enables them to make investments that improve their living conditions. The following articles describe four initiatives in Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, and Bangalore that are working to resolve the tricky issue of land titling. Read on to learn more, and then join the discussion below.
Uno de los proyectos mas exitosos dentro de este programa se está realizando en Bogotá. Se trata de un asentamiento informal extendido sobre 70 hectáreas en las localidades Álvaro Uribe Uribe y Suba, y en el que vivían más de 5.000 familias. El proyecto fue lanzado en 2008 y en la actualidad se han entregado ya 4.200 títulos. El proyecto es singular por su tamaño, es el mayor de Colombia, y por el alto porcentaje de éxito conseguido con el mismo. Alejandro Quintero, coordinador del Grupo de Titulación y Saneamiento Predial del Ministerio de Vivienda considera que el proyecto constituye un modelo a seguir en otras ciudades, y ya tienen previsto aplicarlo en a Cúcuta y Melgar.
Minha Casa Minha Vida está focado em apoiar famílias de baixa renda na aquisição de moradia nova e na provisão do seu título de posse. O programa foi criado em 2009 e conta com a liderança e financiamento do Ministério das Cidades. Este ministério tem construído mais de um milhão de unidades habitacionais no Brasil e tem previsão de entregar mais dois milhões até 2014. Especificamente no Rio, Minha Casa Minha Vida é liderado em parceria pelas secretarias de habitação dos governos estadual e municipal; até hoje já fizeram entrega de mais de 60 mil moradias novas construídas em espaços regularizados, garantindo condições legais, habitacionais e ambientais adequadas.
Reflecting global trends over the last decade, however, a more flexible approach is also emerging, as represented by the Urban LandMark (Urban Land Markets Programme Southern Africa) programme, which advocates for opening up more officially recognised channels of land supply as a primary means for improving the pro-poor access to and functioning of urban land markets, and the benefits that flow from it. Based in Pretoria, the programme was set up in 2006 with funding from the UK’s Department for International Development (UKaid), and is now hosted at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa.
A third important — though not emphasised — aspect of the incremental approach is the potential role accorded to space; for recognising local practices also means engaging the socio-spatial relationships that underpin them. Since municipal registers of informal settlement occupants have already been found to play a role in the land market, by linking it to the actual spaces through which practice occurs (e.g. layout plans), they may become an important hybrid resource for tenure security, and economic and social functions.
Yet housing tenure is a complicated issue. India’s most recent policy to tackle urban poverty and create “slum-free cities,” Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), recognizes the importance of tenure in creating inclusive cities, but has run into obstacles. RAY’s main tenet is “the security of tenure through entitlement.” In order to enforce this, the policy states that no Central Government support will be given to states which do not give legal entitlement to slum dwellers. The progressive mandate, however, has been less than well received from local governments, leaving RAY in a state of stagnation. “Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) has failed to take off, with states expressing reluctance to comply with mandatory provisions for availing central funds under the scheme such as according property rights to slum dwellers and earmarking 25% of the municipal budget for spending in colonies and slums where the urban poor live,” says a 2012 article in the Hindustan Times. Policymakers have had to revisit the strict mandates to encourage movement with the scheme.