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CLIMATE CHANGE, DISASTER RISK, AND THE URBAN POOR
conducting awareness campaigns, forming operational management teams, and reducing their plot size, or, in extreme cases, moving to another area because of improvement works. UN-HABITAT, the World Bank, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), UNICEF, and WaterAid together contributed US$440,000 in cash and in-kind. Other in-kind contributions totaling US$30,000 were secured from a state water-supply institution, and from a private-sector firm that made its trucks available during weekends in exchange for paying only for fuel and the driver. Community-based resources are integral to providing health services to the urban poor, which are important for prevention and environmental health interventions to ensure a safe and clean environment for residents and to prevent the outbreak of disease. For example, “preventive advocacy,” an approach through which at-risk groups promote prevention-based messages within their communities and social networks, has been effective in decreasing risk for communicable disease (Weibel 1988). Local opinion leaders, or informal leaders who are well-connected and well-regarded in a neighborhood, often are able to effectively diffuse ideas and information more effectively than other interventions (Valente and Davis 1999). Local community groups and partnerships also play integral roles in monitoring and advocating for public health services. With regard to environmental health interventions, some local communities use low-tech methods of monitoring pollution in order to inform policy makers of toxic releases or establish cooperative agreements with industrial facilities (O’Rourke 2002). NGOs such as Global Community Monitor train communities, particularly those that are disempowered and situated next to polluting facilities, to understand the impacts of pollution on their health and train them to monitor and document soil and air quality. Others both work with and advocate on behalf of these communities at the local and national levels, while still others use their international position and ties to provide support through advocacy and media campaigns. Among the lessons learned from experience of partnerships between communities and local governments are that such cooperation can be facilitated through mutually recognizing the role that each group plays; improving the dialogue to dispel misunderstandings; and understanding and recognizing what is happening at the local level and forming partnerships with local organizations. For the poor, understanding what the city can and cannot provide and what its constraints are is a first step. Strong community groups and detailed community-level information systems can be extremely effective for initiating engagement in such partnerships. For local governments, this means recognizing the contribution that the urban poor make to a city’s economy and society and involving them in discussions about needs and priorities. Local participation is crucial to ensure that the approach taken suits the needs of residents,