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CLIMATE CHANGE, DISASTER RISK, AND THE URBAN POOR
elevating pit latrines and building foundations, which increases street flooding (Kiunsi et al. 2009a). Maladaptation may also include planned development policies that fail to take into account the future effects of climate change. There are many examples of good practices in addressing the backlogs in infrastructure and service provision for the urban poor in developing countries. For instance, an approach that has resulted in effective identification and mitigation of risks is where city or municipal governments work with the inhabitants of the informal settlements and their community organizations to ensure provision of resilient basic services. This approach is now evident in a wide range of cities, although with differences in the balance between what governments do and what households and community-based organizations do. What these have in common, though, is recognition by local government officials and politicians of the areas where so much more can be achieved if local government supports the investments and capacities that community organizations can bring. There is also recognition of how community investments can be integrated into municipal investments in ways that expand coverage and lower unit costs. Other examples of good practices come from local government-community organization partnerships initiated by federations of slum/shack dwellers or homeless people. This is perhaps surprising in that federations or other forms of collective organization formed by low-income groups generally seek to influence government by making demands on them, not by offering partnerships (Mitlin 2008). But in 33 nations, women-led grassroots savings groups, and the larger slum/shack/homeless people’s federations they form, are engaged in initiatives to upgrade slums and squatter settlements, secure land tenure, develop new housing that low-income households can afford, and improve provision for infrastructure and basic services. These federations have demonstrated a capacity to undertake citywide surveys of informal settlements that include detailed profiles of each settlement and maps. They have also shown their capacity to do detailed enumerations of every household in informal settlements that can then form the information needed for upgrading and infrastructure and service provision. These are both very valuable for any local government wishing to reduce vulnerability and improve conditions in informal settlements. Individual civil servants or politicians have often catalyzed much improved community-local government relations that led to partnerships in service provision. Yet, the continuity of such partnership in the absence of capable institutions is threatened when politicians’ terms ends or they are moved. There is also the constraint on these partnerships from the many community leaders who are not representative or accountable to those they “lead” and who are enmeshed