Working in Low Income Urban Areas MSF - CH
Erik Rottier (MSF-CH) February 2005 Draft version
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Content 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................................3 1.1 Urban development in the developing countries....................................................................3 2. Introduction to slums......................................................................................................................4 2.1 Slums and the city ................................................................................................................6 2.2 Categories of urban slum areas ............................................................................................6 2.3 Characteristics of slum areas................................................................................................7 2.3.1 Poverty...........................................................................................................................7 2.3.2 Illegality/ irregularity of slum areas and their constructions..............................................7 2.3.3 Inadequate services .......................................................................................................8 2.3.4 Location inadequate for occupation ................................................................................9 2.3.5 High population densities and overcrowding...................................................................9 2.4 Some issues in relation to slum areas...................................................................................9 2.4.1 Institutional and legal issues...........................................................................................9 2.4.2 Economic and financial issues......................................................................................11 2.4.3 Social and cultural issues .............................................................................................12 2.4.4 Health issues................................................................................................................13 2.4.5 Power issues................................................................................................................15 3. Working in slum areas .................................................................................................................16 3.1 Guiding principles of working in slum communities..............................................................16 3.2 Intervention planning...........................................................................................................18 3.2.1 Analysis of slums, and slum and intervention context ...................................................18 Elements to be analysed....................................................................................................18 First contacts with the community ......................................................................................21 3.2.2 Definition of the intervention .........................................................................................22 Intervention components....................................................................................................23 Choice of slum areas .........................................................................................................25 3.3 Intervention start-up ............................................................................................................29 Creating mutual respect and understanding between the team and the community ...........29 3.4 Intervention implementation ................................................................................................30 Some practical aspects of working in slums .......................................................................30 Continuous study and analysis of the communities and the intervention ............................30 3.5 Intervention evaluation........................................................................................................31
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1. Introduction Around 1 person out of every 7 living on earth was believed to live in a slum area in 2001. In 2030 this might have grown to 1 out of every 4 persons inhabiting this planet. While slums, or Low-Income Urban Areas, have existed for a long time, the scale at which this phenomenon is developing currently is simply daunting. What is even more daunting is that the issue of slums and slum dwellers receives relatively little attention. Authorities usually lack the resources to deal adequately with the problems the slum communities face, and often lack the will to address these problems. Slum areas are often neglected by Non Governmental Organisations in favour of rural projects. The local press typically reinforces the prejudices that exist and do not seriously analyse the issues in relation to slum areas. Interventions that have been developed in Low-Income Urban Areas have often made things worse. There are many reasons for these problems; prejudice, ignorance, complexity and diversity of slum communities, apparent preference of donor agencies for rural areas are but a few. This document is an introduction to slums and slum communities. It is primarily directed at persons who will deal with slum areas and who are not familiar with this environment. While the document does not pretend to be comprehensive it will assist in understanding slum areas with some of its processes better, and it will guide its reader in how to approach slum communities and to work with them.
1.1 Urban development in the developing countries In 2001 the world's population was estimated to be 6,148,100,000 persons. Of these persons around 79% lived in developing countries. It is believed that 40.8% of the population in developing countries lived in urban areas, which makes for a total of nearly 1,982 million people. It is predicted that in the year 2015 the world's population will number 7,197,200,000, with 82% of these living in developing countries. In 2015 48.6% of the population in developing countries is estimated to live in urban areas. This would amount to around 2,868 million people. In less than 15 years the number of people living in urban areas in developing countries is expected to increase with 45%(190).
Total population in Low Income Countries Rural population in Low Income Countries
Urban population in Low Income Countries
Graph 1: past and predicted development of urban, rural and total population in Low Income Countries(190). 3
Graph 1 presents the rural/ urban population in low income countries in recent history and as predicted for the near future. It is expected that the total population living in low income countries will continue to grow rapidly. The growth in rural areas is predicted to level off, while growth of the urban population in low income countries will continue to grow exponentially. According to this prediction model, half of the population from low income countries will live in urban centres by the year 2031.It is alarming that, in general, the countries with the largest handicap towards a sustainable development (countries with the lowest Human Development Index (HDI) and Gross Domestic Product Index (GDPI), have the highest growth rates in urban population. As an example, on a regional basis, Sub-Saharan Africa has both the lowest HDI and GDPI (190), and has between 1950 and 2000 consistently presented the highest urban growth rate. Over this period, the urban population in the region has grown more than tenfold, with a growth rate of around 4.8% on a yearly basis. For comparison: the annual growth rate of the urban population over the same period in developed countries has been around 1.4%. This trend is clearly visible in graph 2 which shows global and urban population in the past and as it is expected to develop in the future. The total world population in urban centres is expected to rise exponentially. As of around 2015 to 2020 it is expected that the urban population in high income countries will stabilise, the growth of urban population is expected to come from low and middle income countries.
Total global population
Total population in urban centres worldwide
Total urban population in Low and Middle Income countries
Total urban population in High Income countries
Graph 2: past and predicted future development of global and urban population(190).
2. Introduction to slums Formal housing is expensive, and the poor do not have the means to pay for this type of housing. Besides that they hardly ever have access to formal housing finance systems. Even if there would be the political will to do so, governments in developing countries do not have the resources to implement a housing policy that can provide the poor with adequate housing.
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By necessity the urban poor have to satisfy their housing needs in an 'informal way'. They may live in the streets. They may have squatted public or privately owned terrains or unoccupied buildings. Or they may have bought, or be renting, a dwelling or a household plot in formal or informal buildings or subdivisions. Where clusters of poor households group together in informal settlements, slums are formed. Slum areas show a great diversity. They may consist of minimal carton and plastic structures assembled on sidewalks, riverbanks, under bridges or on the banks of railway lines. They may be formal concrete structures several levels high built on steep slopes. They may consist of rundown apartment blocks or colonial villas that house several families per room, or they may consist of makeshift constructions built on terrains that were originally a garden of a formal house. They can be found in small towns as well as in mega-cities1. Slum areas may consist of very small areas with just some households to huge urban zones with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. Certain slums have been inhabited for several generations, while many others are in the process of formation. Slums can be found in developing countries as well as in developed countries. There is no universally accepted definition of the term 'slum' or 'slum area'. The variety found in the presentation and legal status of slums makes it difficult to give an explicit and operational definition. An example of a definition of slum is: 'a district of a city marked by poverty and inferior living conditions' (300).
It is estimated that there were 924 million people who lived in slums in 2001. In developing countries 43% of the urban population is believed to live in slums. Graph 3 presents the estimates of the proportion of slum dwellers in several developing regions in 2001 (205).
Graph 3: Estimates of regional urban slum population (205). While the absolute number of slums dwellers and proportion of urban population living in slums are much higher in developing countries than in developed countries, slums are by no means bound to developing countries. In 2001 it was estimated that there were over 33 million slum dwellers in Europe, this is more than 6% of the European urban population (205). Estimates for the future are not very bright. If current trends continue it is predicted that there will be around 2 billion slum dwellers in the world in the year 2030‌ 1
Cities with over 10 million inhabitants
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2.1 Slums and the city Slum areas are a symptom of a system that is failing to address the economic and legal needs of the economically and socially vulnerable. The current movement towards economic globalisation with its resulting widening gap between rich and poor which is growing regionally and locally is likely to worsen the situation of the poor even further, and with it, that of slum dwellers. Slum areas are typically despised by the 'formal' city dwellers. Many of the problems modern cities in developing countries suffer like criminality, economic problems, moral decline, and degrading urban environment are conveniently put on the back of slums and their communities. The formal city often holds strong prejudices against slum areas and their inhabitants. To name a few: slum dwellers are dirty, anti-social, lazy, criminals, prostitutes, gangsters, alcoholics, drug addicts, ignorant, and irresponsible. The local press often reinforces this image, as do sometimes the local authorities. Considering these prejudices, it is not strange that slum dwellers often suffer from exclusion. This exclusion can take on many dimensions: social (e.g. the physical exclusion of the poor from public places), cultural (exclusion of persons who show elements linked to the culture of slum dwellers), economic (e.g. firms refusing to employ slum dwellers) and institutional (e.g. authorities refuse to address problems related to services or security in slum areas). In some societies a fatalistic attitude is taken: "if they live in slums, then they probably deserve to live there".
2.2 Categories of urban slum areas Several broad categories of slum areas can be identified (from 205): Inner city slums: these are central city areas that originally housed a more affluent population. Over time, the better off have left for more peripheral residential areas. More disadvantaged persons have gradually taken their place. Usually the inhabitants rent their habitation. To maximise their profits, landlords stuff as many persons as they can in the buildings, resulting in high population densities. This, combined with the fact that maintenance costs of the buildings can usually not be covered by the rent, result in a rapid deterioration of the edifices. Services like water supply and sewerage systems are usually not adequate as the systems are often old and not built for the number of persons occupying the areas now. Slum estates: originally these areas consisted mostly of public housing or housing linked to industrial activity. The buildings are often fairly recent structures built in the periphery of cities. The geographic isolation to which the inhabitants of these areas are often exposed, lack of communal structures and amenities, and social problems have made these areas unpopular. The ones who were better off have left, their place taken by cash poor persons who supplement the poor who were forced to stay. Lack of community involvement and lack of outside support have resulted in a rapid deterioration of the areas. Squatter settlements: these terrains have been 'taken', or squatted, without agreement of the land owner. The settlements have usually been built on public land, though sometimes they occur on privately owned terrains. They can be the product of large-scale overnight invasion, or of slow gradual growth. The squatter settlements are often built on terrains that are inadequate for construction and/ or have no commercial value (e.g. steep slopes, flood-prone areas, landfill sites), though sometimes they can affect communal areas in formal neighbourhoods (e.g. parks or green areas, sidewalks, terrains adjacent to roads). Services like water and electricity supply are often obtained through illegal connections to the existing network. The actual installation of formal services is often difficult as the settlements were never properly planned and communal areas are lacking. Illegal settlements and subdivisions: these are areas where the landowner has sold, or rents, terrains to occupiers. These areas are illegal in that the authorities have not given the permission to use these terrains for housing or to create subdivisions. Even though the form of the different slum areas and their situation differ, the squalor their inhabitants have to live in can be extreme in all categories.
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2.3 Characteristics of slum areas Slums are marked by a combination of elements; obviously not all of these elements are always present in every slum:
2.3.1 Poverty Poverty is one of the underlying causes of the formation of slums, and most of the slum dwellers suffer from a poverty problem2. However, not all inhabitants of slum areas are necessarily poor. Slum dwellers who have done well often remain in slums, even though they could possibly afford formal housing. Regularly persons with a formal and secure employment like nurses, schoolteachers, or even better paid employment, are living in slums. It is important to mention that not all of the urban poor live in slums. The number of urban poor living outside slum areas may be very important. These persons may live in the street, in individual tenements ('rookeries'), in makeshift dwellings at their work or enterprise, or with family or acquaintances. Aiming interventions at the population living in slum areas does therefore not necessarily guarantee that the poorest or the ones most in need are automatically reached. Living in slums almost always has its financial price, and even squatters usually have to pay to be able to 'take' their terrain, or to stay there (e.g. payment of an entry 'fee', bribes paid to official for the 'right' to stay, fees that have to be paid to the authorities for legalisation/ purchase of the terrain). The poorest persons are therefore often not able to afford to live in slums.
2.3.2 Illegality/ irregularity of slum areas and their constructions The legal status of slum areas is often a rather complex affair. Slum areas are usually illegal, or at best 'irregular' or informal. The status of slum areas in relation to their legal and administrative situation depends on many factors. While it is not possible to mention all elements in relation to slum areas here, several are presented (several of these are covered elsewhere in this section): Squatter settlements are, by definition, formed by the invasion of areas without formal permission of the owner. As many slum areas are formed by the illegal invasion of public or private land, for many slum dwellers, illegality starts here. Squatter settlements are frequently formed in urban zones that have not been designated as housing areas. These areas may have been planned for other use (e.g. green areas, industrial areas), or may have been excluded from potential use in urban planning as the terrain may be inadequate for occupation (e.g. areas prone to flooding, areas with strong gradients). Usually slum settlements have not respected the local norms in relation to the zoning and organisation of urban areas (e.g. respecting norms in relation to accessibility, norms in relation to minimum green area). Slum areas normally do not comply with norms in relation to population density. As a norm slum areas are not covered by all formal services needed to guarantee the hygiene of the area or its surroundings. Where the services are present, slum dwellers are often not able or willing to pay for them. Slum areas are therefore often characterised by unsanitary situations and thus do not comply with the environmental health regulations. Similarly, the housing situation in slum areas is frequently illegal or irregular. Formal housing usually has to comply with standards and norms in relation to space, quality of construction, and approval of designs. These are some of the reasons why new formal constructions are expensive, and thus out of reach of the poor. As a rule building regulations are ignored in slum areas. Slum dwellers are very ingenious in finding alternative construction materials. Wood, carton, plastic, flattened drums, corrugated metal sheets, industrial waste products are but some examples of materials used to construct dwellings. These informal constructions do not comply with formal building regulations.
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Here the term 'poverty' is used for the lack of security in obtaining, over longer term, sufficient resources to fulfil adequately all primary needs of all members of the household. Some important elements linked to poverty: low income, no medium-/ long- term income security, low educational level, limited opportunities of finding employment, exposure to health risks, little access to adequate preventative and curative health care, lack of assets that can be used for obtaining credit or for earning an income, lack of backup survival strategies, prejudice.
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Over time, and after security of tenure has been affirmed, slum dwellings are often transformed from informal shacks to buildings constructed in durable materials like bricks and concrete. These buildings have normally not been formally designed by an architect or engineer, and local authorities have rarely given their agreement on its construction. It is not unusual to see constructions of multiple levels that have been raised in slum areas. Again, these buildings do not respect local regulations and regularly pose a serious threat to its inhabitants or surrounding buildings or infrastructure.
Even though certain elements of slum areas or slum dwellings may be completely illegal, the detection of irregularities may be impossible, and enforcement of the laws may not occur. Laws in relation to slums may not be applied at national level, or may not be applied locally because of political reasons, or because the slums have influential 'protectors'. To complicate things further, often local regulations do not cover the complex legal situation that exists in relation to slum areas adequately. For inhabitants of slums the security of tenure, that is, the security they have against forced short-term eviction is usually more important than the actual legal status of their household plot.
2.3.3 Inadequate services Services3 accessible to slum dwellers are regularly inadequate. They may be in a poor condition due to lack of maintenance, vandalism and poor use. In most cities in developing countries the infrastructure is old, and was designed for a population much smaller than the one using them now. Because of their illegality/ informality, slum areas are usually not a priority for the authorities for the provision of services (e.g. water supply, sanitation) or other forms of assistance. This often changes just before elections, when installation of services or the promise of pending installation is often used for political reasons. Even if adequate services are present, they may be inaccessible to slum dwellers. Slum dwellers are frequently discriminated against, often through administrative systems that may for example require a formal address to be able to register for access to the service. Nearly all services have to be paid for, and slum dwellers may be unable or unwilling to pay for the services. In the case of squatter settlements official services may be completely absent, and some have usually been taken over by the informal sector. Alternatively solutions have been improvised locally. Water may be brought in by private water trucks, often providing water of dubious quality. People are frequently paying much more for this informal service than they would if they were connected to a formal supply. Sanitation might consist of a pan linked to a simple tube that discharges sewage just outside the household plot, occasionally into the plot of the neighbour. Solid waste is frequently just dumped outside the household plot or the community, often creating problems for neighbouring communities. An additional problem in squatter settlements is that the unplanned outlay of the community complicates the installation of services. The trend of privatisation has in general reduced the access to services by slum dwellers. Traditionally, services provided by the authorities have been relatively cheap compared to the costs of providing them, occasionally they were even free. The authorities often lacked the organisation and resources to collect fees, and people who didn't pay for them were often not penalized. In democratic societies political pressure was often an effective means to keep fees low. This has changed with the privatisation of the utilities that provided services to cities. Generally speaking, private firms tend to focus on those who can pay for services, often excluding the poor, services have become more expensive (though not always better or more reliable), collection of fees has become more consistent, and exclusion of the services for non-payers has become more aggressive.
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e.g. water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, drainage of stormwater, maintenance of communal areas and structures (e.g. roads, footpaths, communal halls), electricity supply, preventative and curative health care
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Where small slum areas are bordered by formal neighbourhoods, services (e.g. water supply, sewerage, health centres) provided to these may sometimes be tapped into by the slum dwellers. Sometimes the slum dwellers are actively excluded from these services however.
2.3.4 Location inadequate for occupation Squatter settlement will typically be formed in areas where the risk of being evicted is relatively small. They are usually developed on publicly owned land as the risk of eviction is smaller then if privately owned land is invaded. Again, to minimise eviction, generally areas that have little commercial value, or that are somehow uninteresting for further development, are chosen. This usually means that the areas are perilous, have some other type of low-value use, or are difficult in access. Examples of this type of terrains are: slopes with high gradients (e.g. hills, ravines), terrains prone to flooding (e.g. in cities built close to river deltas, river banks), terrains under or just above a steep drop (e.g. abandoned quarries), 'lost' areas that have already some public use (e.g. bank of railway track, areas of discharge of solid waste, traffic intersections, terrains under hightension cables, areas close to heavy industry). As becomes clear from the examples, persons in squatter settlements are often vulnerable to disasters (e.g. landslides, mudflows, flooding, industrial accidents), health risks (e.g. infections linked to solid waste, intoxication) and/or traffic accidents. Sometimes the location of a settlement is inadequate because it affects the functioning of the 'formal city'. This occurs when squatter dwellings are built in public areas (e.g. on sidewalks, parks or sports fields). Similarly, activities of slum dwellers may infringe on public areas (e.g. when refuse of persons who work in recycling is creeping in of roads). The location of squatter settlements may be inadequate because it is virtually impossible to provide proper services to its inhabitants.
2.3.5 High population densities and overcrowding Slum areas are often characterised by high population densities. Where persons rent their dwelling, landlords will habitually put as many tenants as possible in their property to boost income 4. Alternatively tenants may share their dwelling with family or acquaintances, or with persons who will pay part of the rent. Squatter communities have usually not been subjected to a planning process that covers the entire area integrally and virtually all space available is taken for household plots. Communal areas are usually kept to an absolute minimum. Squatters typically take relatively small terrains. Crowding in slums usually increases over time when children are born or if the dwellings are shared with additional family or acquaintances. The terrains or dwellings are regularly subdivided later for family or to rent out.
2.4 Some issues in relation to slum areas Several key issues in relation to slum areas will be looked into.
2.4.1 Institutional and legal issues
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Landlords are not necessarily the large-scale owners (slumlords) exploiting slum dwellers. Often landlords are owner of one informal dwelling or formal house they have subdivided to create a separate housing unit. They frequently live in the same construction as their tenants, are poor themselves, and share the same problems of little living space and poor services.
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One of the complexities of dealing with slum areas is that they usually touch on the sphere of numerous departments of the authorities at municipal and national level, sometimes private enterprises, and sometimes other organisations like NGOs. Often there are no laws and regulations that apply to the complex situations that arise around slums. Where laws and regulations exist they are often not very clear in relation to slums, and even if they are clear, there are often no resources to control and apply them. To complicate things further there are often conflicts at political, professional, financial and personal level. Imagine the complexity for the authorities of having to deal with a squatter settlement that has originally installed itself on a terrain owned by the Ministry of Defence. The initial settlers were supporters of the ruling political party who were given tacit approval to install themselves there in appreciation for their support in the elections. They were promised a piped water supply by the authorities, but this promise was not respected, and they have made illegal water connections tapping into a high pressure water main which results in high water wastage. The inhabitants pay a small sum of 'rent' to a high ranking military who is a close friend to the mayor. The slum has steadily expanded and has now taken over part of a municipal park. Some inhabitants recycle plastics and metal, and some of the waste is blocking the sidewalk and spilling over on the public road. A police patrol that came to try to solve this issue was met with thrown stones and bottles. Assistance was called in but it withdrew after a shot was fired from within the community. Domestic waste from the community is blocking the drainage system of the neighbouring bridge resulting in erosion of its foundations. A pig farm that has been set up in the community is causing a huge stench that affects the slum community, the local school and health centre and two residential neighbourhoods. And this is only one of the 208 registered slum areas in the municipality... Different approaches have been used by the authorities to 'deal' with slums in the past. Until the 1970s the usual approach was simply ignoring the issue and hoping that it would eventually disappear with the development of the country. Forced eviction of slums was frequent in the 1970s and 80s. In more 'humane' regimes the approach of 'Self-help and in situ upgrading' was used. This approach was used in the late 1970s and it was concerned mainly with providing secure tenure, improving services, and providing access to credit. While the initial results seemed to be good, later analysis was showed more negative results. One of the problems was the focus of these interventions on construction activities without involving the communities and the authorities much. This resulted in neither communities nor authorities appropriating the results of the interventions. From the middle of the 1980s an enabling approach was used where slum communities were more actively involved in the design process and decision-making. The authorities play a facilitating role in that they assist with financial help, training, help in the organisation of the community and works, and advice on managerial issues. The best practice in housing interventions is currently the 'participatory slum improvement'. Ideally this uses an integral approach which covers health, education, housing, livelihood and gender. An intense collaboration with the community is needed from the beginning, with the households having to provide inputs in the intervention. Again the authorities play a facilitating role in which it ensures financial accountability and control of quality norms. All of these approaches can still be found in how authorities attempt to resolve the problems of slums (205). Slums are usually competing with the 'formal' city over the scarce government resources, and it is typically the slum population that loses out as the representatives of the 'formal' city are typically much better equipped to plead for their interests than the urban poor. They are usually better organised, better connected, better protected by laws and regulations, have more financial leverage, and add more to taxes received by the authorities and the accounts of the political parties. On top of that the slum communities have the handicap that their status is usually not conform the laws and regulations. On the other hand, the lack of resources of the national and local authorities means that resources for slum upgrading often has to come from external donor agencies, which means that there are often funds dedicated to slum areas. This does not necessarily mean that much goes directly to slums though.
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While working with the authorities is often difficult, every intervention that will be developed in slum areas will have to include the authorities. The 'slum problem' in most cities is well beyond the reach of NGOs, and the problem of slums at city-level can only be solved if the authorities develop a framework of policies, technical standards and solutions to address this issue. The need for this framework becomes even stronger with the realisation that the number of slum dwellers in cities is usually growing much faster than solutions are being brought to the slum problem.
2.4.2 Economic and financial issues Most slum dwellers are economically and financially very vulnerable. In rural areas it is often possible to obtain things without needing cash: fuel can often be collected in nature, a small terrain to grow vegetables can often be found, things can be obtained through swapping products or services. In cities the economy is a 'cash-economy'; almost everything has to be paid for in cash. This cash has to be obtained in one way or another. In general the revenues of slum dwellers are not enough to build up reserves which mean that they have nothing to fall back on if times are difficult. Even if they have been able to obtain some possessions these are often not very secure. Their housing may sometimes be seized on a short notice, and their shelter and possessions are often vulnerable to calamities like fire, landslides, or inundation. Other resources, like means of transport or tools may be vulnerable to breakdown or theft. The lack of social security means that their situation may degrade very rapidly if employment is lost or a household member falls ill. In general the average educational level of slum dwellers is below that of persons from the 'formal' city. This element, combined with prejudice, means that it is usually very difficult for people living in slums to obtain a job with some financial and social security. The jobs that are open to them are usually employments with a low status, low pay, and little job security. Alternatively they can create their own employment which usually has the same problems. Usually urban dwellers do not have the social safety net rural inhabitants have. Nor do they have access to formal financial services. The types of employment slum inhabitants occupy (e.g. primary production and services, construction) often depend on a healthy economy. Deterioration of the local and national economy tends to strike slum communities hard. One of the reasons why slums are formed is because the poor can not find affordable housing close to where they work. Even if they could pay for more decentralised housing, the poor can often not afford the fare for transport, or the hours of travel lost. Slum dwellers will often prefer to continue living in crowded and deprived living conditions close to their place of employment than to be relocated to more privileged housing far away from their. Affordable transport is one of the keys to the economic development of slum areas. Even though slums may not be seen as much of a resource, to some people they are. Landowners may let the terrain to the slum dwellers. House owners may let a room, or part of a room to families. Persons from neighbouring formal housing, or better furnished slums, may provide slum dwellers with electricity, water, or may let persons connect their television to the cable against a fee. Water sellers may earn their living trucking water to the community. Bars and shops in the slums may be interesting distribution points for the local beer or other bottled beverages. Were terrains are invaded illegally, a single plot may change hands several times, becoming more and more valuable the more time passes without eviction and the more the terrain has been improved. Squatters may try to 'take' several terrains, often in different settlements. Committees and official representatives of communities often start off as sincere self-help organisations. Some turn bad however, and they may try to turn the need of others to their advantage by illegally trading in terrains in or around 'their' slum, or they may try to seize communal resources, or resources destined for the community. The inaccessibility of slums may provide the environment some people need to be able to carry out shady commercial activities. The economic advantages that slums can bring to some should not be underestimated. While speculation, misconduct and illegal trade have contributed to the poor image of slum areas, most slum dwellers are not directly involved in these types of practices. Most are honest hardworking people who just try to make the best of the situation they are in, and they often suffer greatly for the poor behaviour some of them display. Interestingly, and contrary to common belief, slums play a crucial role in modern-day developing cities. Slum areas house a huge workforce that is at the basis of the economic functioning of the city. 11
Many low-status jobs in the service sector or in production are filled by slum dwellers. Examples of these types of jobs are housekeepers, informal security guards, cleaners, shoe shiners, sellers in formal shops, messengers, taxi drivers, and factory workers. Persons working in construction in developing country cities typically live in slums. Slum dwellers frequently hold formal jobs. Nurses, teachers, secretaries, police officers, formal security personnel, and municipal workers are just some examples of professional groups that regularly live in slums. The lack of formal employment in developing cities pushes a large part of the persons to work in the informal sector. Despite its doubtful reputation, the informal sector is the lifeline of many slum dwellers, and it contributes indirectly and directly to the economic development of a city. Some examples of informal employments that are commonly occupied by slum dwellers: shop keepers, mechanics, tailors, welders, metalworkers, and craftsmen. These activities are typically developed in the slum in the same building where the worker and his/ her family live. Many informal workshops and shops in the slum areas directly benefit the formal sector. Examples are the production of half products for the industry, production of clothes or other finished products for sale in official retailers, and small shops in slums that distribute products produced by the formal sector. Without the inhabitants of slum areas the functioning of cities in developing countries would, at best, be seriously hampered.
2.4.3 Social and cultural issues Slum communities are often a melting pot of persons from different regions, and from different ethnic, religious and political background. Slum communities are typically relatively recent, and with a fairly young population. The poor are often more mobile than the ones who are better off. Ever changing jobs, rising rents, evictions by landlords and security problems are just some of the factors that result in a high turnover in slums. These elements help to explain why these communities usually do not have a strong social and cultural cohesion. There are usually no regulations that direct the formation or organisation of the slums and the structures that are being built or used. The space available to individual households is often very small, and its possibilities limited. These elements combined with a lack of social and cultural cohesion means that individuals will often show little respect for others and/or try to appropriate communal structures or resources. This can take many forms; persons may include communal areas like footpaths in their household plot, sometimes completely blocking access; discharging sewage or other wastes in an adjacent plot or neighbourhood; selling off communal ground to persons who need terrain for building their dwelling. This results often in tensions between neighbours and neighbourhoods. There are frequently conflicts between bordering formal neighbourhoods and slums as the formal residents often consider that the slums have 'taken' their areas, that they are polluting their environment, or that they have brought problems like crime or poorly functioning services. It is interesting to see that older slums often have similar attitudes with newer slum areas settling around them. Slum dwellers are often excluded socially and culturally from the 'formal' city. Slum communities as a whole often lack a proper and clear social and cultural identity. This does not mean that individual slum dwellers do not have a social and cultural identity though. When inhabitants have come from more traditional communities, they usually maintain some elements from this social and cultural framework, and contacts are often maintained with their original communities. Often inhabitants develop 'rural' activities like growing food or raising animals. It is interesting that the links between rural communities and slum communities are sometimes stronger than the link between slum communities and the 'formal city'. Where these links have been lost, or have never been present, because of time, personal situation, or because the person has never had links to traditional communities, alternative cultural and social ties are formed. These links are often through common interest groups like religious, political or sports groups. Many of these groups that can provide a social status to persons are not necessarily harmful, some however, like youth gangs and criminal groups are.
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Youth gangs and (violent) crime are a problem that is often associated with slums. It is true that slums combine many of the elements that are linked to violence and persons being attracted to youth gangs: poverty, societies with little social and cultural cohesion, lack of social and economic opportunities, poor enforcement of law and order, poor schooling, low pay for unskilled labour, lack of guidance and support by close relatives, environment in which violence is common (122). This said, while gangs, crime and violence are often a problem in slum areas, these elements usually transcends all layers of society. The fact that the authorities are often less present in slums than in other part of the city means that gangs and criminal groups can operate more openly in slum areas. Generally the vast majority of slum dwellers have nothing to do with youth gangs and crime, and they often suffer more from the activities of these criminal groups than persons from the 'formal' city do (205) . Interestingly, youth gangs have been used by at least one government for the intimidation of political or social groups, for the elimination of persons, and for creating a general feeling of insecurity in a country. With the problems slum communities face it is surprising to see how lively the communities often are, and how positive the attitude of many slum dwellers are towards life.
2.4.4 Health issues The slum environment exposes slum inhabitants to many health risks. People in slums usually live in crowded conditions, in dwellings with poor ventilation, cooking regularly takes place on an indoor open fire. Air pollution is often a problem in the urban environment and this factor is added to the health risks slum dwellers suffer. Services like water supply, solid waste collection, stormwater drainage, sewage and sullage elimination are usually inadequate in slum areas or even absent. Regularly solid waste, sewage and sullage of other city areas, formal neighbourhoods or slum, are discharged in slum areas. The environment with accumulating solid waste and poorly managed sewage and sullage is favourable to insect vectors like mosquitoes, and animal reservoirs of infection like rats. The lack of traditional social and cultural framework, poverty and mobility often lead to promiscuity, which makes the population vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases. Vegetables, fruits and other quality foods can usually not be produced at household level and have to be bought. As many slum residents suffer from permanent or transitional poverty the nourishment of persons is often of poor quality. This nutritional problem is often reinforced by changing attitudes of persons towards food, with fizzy drinks, sweets and chips being preferred over more nutritious traditional food. Where alcohol and/ or drugs are widely available in a society, their abuse is often a problem in slum communities. Slum dwellers are often vulnerable to accidents and disasters. Squatter settlements usually occupy areas that are of little commercial interest. Often these terrains are of little commercial interest because they are low-lying or in river beds, and thus vulnerable to flooding, or on hills or steep gorges, and thus vulnerable to landslides. The organisation of the settlements, and way the surroundings of the slums are treated, regularly increase their vulnerability even further. Natural waterways are sometimes blocked by slum dwellings or by solid waste, increasing the risk of flooding. Deforestation, incorrect layout of footpath systems, and inadequate cut and fill to create plots, result in an increased risk of erosion and landslides. Sometimes the settlements have been formed close to industrial zones. As norms in relation to safety and environment are usually applied less rigorously in countries where slums are widespread, slum populations close to industry are often vulnerable to pollution and industrial disasters. Another notorious problem with slums is their vulnerability to fire. Dwellings are often made of combustible material, and security around kitchen fires, home-made electricity systems, and installations with gas bottles is usually poor. As the accessibility of slums is often problematic, fire brigades are often not able to operate properly when a fire strikes. Devastating fires are common in slum areas.
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A particular problem occurs with children who are enclosed in their dwelling during the day. The poor social cohesion of slum dwellers, combined with the urban cash-economy with its obligation to generate revenue to survive, means that many households, especially single-parent households, have difficulties in finding a place for children to stay during working hours. This often results in children being left alone and locked in in their dwellings. This causes different problems: many of the children have little mental, physical and social stimulation, which is harmful for their development, and children are vulnerable to disasters like household fires. Because of their location and lack of protective and safety structures slum dwellers are often at risk of dangerous traffic. Sometimes protective measures such as pedestrian crossings and bridges are avoided by people because they are at risk of armed assault. Violence is another common problem in slum areas. Domestic, sexual and youth violence, and criminal activity are all common problems in slum areas. Slums do combine many of the risk factors that are related to violence: poverty, poor social cohesion in the community, violent surroundings, family problems, and substance abuse (122). Violence and the fear of becoming a victim of it has a deep impact on people who have to live it, and people often make large adjustments to the way they live their life to avoid becoming a victim. Widespread violence obviously has an impact on the health situation in communities. Violence is another element that is often associated with slum areas and while it is often a large problem in slums, it is usually a problem in the whole of urban society. Slum dwellers usually suffer more from crime and youth violence because they have less means of protecting themselves from it, and there is usually little police supervision in slums. The mental health situation of slum communities is often not much better than the physical health situation. Poverty, lack of job opportunities and security, lack of legal and social security mean that most slum dwellers do not have much opportunities to improve their situation. A lack of a strong social and cultural framework and individualisation of the society may give people the impression of being lost. The risk of being victim of violence and crime adds to the pressure slum dwellers are under. Added to this comes an environment that is often unpleasant to live in: high population densities, waste everywhere, stench, acoustic and air pollution, and mud are just some of the problems slum dwellers regularly face in their direct surroundings. An additional mental health burden is added where slums have been formed following displacement of persons through conflict or other disaster. One of the problems in relation to health in slums is that there is relatively little information on the particular health problems of slum dwellers. In general data indicates that the health situation in the urban population is better than in rural populations. This data is not necessarily representative though, as this information is nearly always a combination of the health data of all urban dwellers, rich and poor, who have access to health care. Health statistics usually do not allow an identification of health data relating to income or neighbourhood level. It is thus difficult to obtain specific health data of the urban poor or slum dwellers. An addition problem is that, even though many health services are present in cities, many of the urban poor cannot afford to pay for these (220). Sometimes administrative problems or social factors reduce the access to medical services further. Where specific health data is available for the urban poor it is shown that the under-five mortality rate of the poorest 40% of the urban population is comparable, or even higher, than that in a rural context. Data on malnutrition and stunting in children of the urban poor show a similar picture, a situation that is comparable, if not worse, to that of rural children (152). Besides curative health care, preventative health care programmes often do not reach the population living in slums. Here again, the problems may be administrative, the illegal status of the slum areas may exclude them from preventative health care coverage. It is often wrongly assumed that the urban population does not need any health education. Data shows that this assumption is incorrect for the urban poor, health education directed at the urban poor could potentially have an important health impact (146). 14
2.4.5 Power issues Authority and power is often a complex issue in slum communities. The communities habitually lack the relatively stable and transparent traditional power structures that can be found in for example older, rural, communities. The authority that has replaced these traditional structures in urban setting, a system of formal authority with laws and regulations, and a police force to enforce these, are often not functional in slum areas. It may be that it is not a political priority of the authorities to apply the laws and regulations, or that these do not cover the complex slum situation adequately, or that police is not able to enforce them. Often it is a combination of these factors. Whatever the exact cause, the result is that there is often a power vacuum in slum communities. This void in authority and power is usually rapidly taken in by others. Authority and power in a slum is usually divided between a multitude of actors coming from the slum community and outsiders. Who and what the authority is, and how far its authority goes, is usually very difficult to figure out. To name a few examples of groups that may be coming from a slum: legal representatives of the community (e.g. a committee voted for by the community that represents the community towards authorities, NGOs etc.), mutual interest groups (e.g. sports committee, cooperatives), religious groups, ethnical groups, political groups, remains of traditional power structures (e.g. a group of elders), and youth gangs and other criminal groups. Some of these groups may be linked to one particular community, others may cover many communities. While the control by the official authorities may be reduced, it is usually not completely absent, and the authorities and police force may still play an important role in the community. The blend of all these groups combined with the fact that the communities are often made up of ethnically, religiously, politically and socially different persons means that power struggles are very common in slum areas. These internal power struggles may be linked to elements like management of community resources (e.g. informal distribution of communal terrains, management of a communal hall), formal representation (i.e. who represents the community towards authorities and external organisations), ethnic or regional composition of the community (e.g. trying to introduce as many persons from one ethnic group in the community), and control of commerce (e.g. control of the sale of drugs). To make things even more complex, external actors like political and religious groups and organisations frequently take their power struggle to slum areas. Individual slum dwellers usually do not control many resources, and do not have a large political or religious clout. A whole community however may represent many votes or 'souls' to be won, and/ or resources to be obtained. The problems the slum communities and their inhabitants suffer make them vulnerable to manipulation by political parties promising improvements, and religious groups that will bring salvation and a social/ religious identity. Political and religious groups often 'prey' on slum dwellers, and willingly or unwillingly add to the tensions and problems that exist already in low-Income Urban Areas. Ruling financial and political elites in cities in developing countries have an interest in keeping the urban poor divided and unorganised. While it is controversial to say so, one can question if there is not sometimes an active effort in creating divisions in slum communities, or at least to avoid taking steps that would lead to the organisation of the urban poor. Power structures in slum communities are often more linked to individuals, are often more volatile and violent, and almost always much less transparent than power structures in traditional communities. To complicate things further, many power structures may exist simultaneously, and they may, or may not, interfere with each other. On top of that the power organisation in a slum community is often very dynamic and unpredictable. The death or disappearance of one person or group, or appearance of another person, group or organisation may completely change the power situation in a community overnight. While these power struggles may be beneficial to some, most slum dwellers suffer of the resulting tensions, intimidation and violence.
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3. Working in slum areas This guide is written for (inter)national Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that want to develop emergency interventions or projects or small-scale programmes in slum areas.
3.1 Guiding principles of working in slum communities To solve the 'slum problem' two general issues have to be addressed. First, the problems of existing slums have to be solved. Second, a situation where new slum formation is strongly reduced or stopped should be created. Considering the current scale of the issue and the rapid ongoing expansion of slums in many cities both of these tasks are very intimidating. One of the main problems of working in existing slum areas is that there is no universal strategy that tackles the slum issues effectively and efficiently at a larger scale. What is currently viewed as the best practice of working in individual slums is participatory slum improvement. The responsibility is handed over to the lowest level that is able to deal with it. Higher levels are there to facilitate this. What the community can do for itself, it should do for itself. The role of authorities and development organisations are to empower the communities to do this, provide technical and organisational assistance, and to organise services communities cannot arrange and manage themselves. Security of tenure is improved, services like water supply, environmental sanitation, health and education services are improved or provided, employment opportunities and conditions are improved. The exact needs will be different from case to case. Where the location of slums puts slum dwellers or others at risk, slum areas or parts of it may have to be relocated or reorganised. This process should involve the slum communities as much as possible. If possible, it is better to avoid relocation, as even relocations that have the approval and collaboration of the communities are often traumatic. Often the alternatives that are proposed are equally bad as, or worse, as their original situation. At a larger scale, the problems that plague existing slums will not be solved if the causes that result in the formation of slums are not eased or removed. This involves many aspects of which many are outside the scope of authorities and development organisations. Many elements would have to come together to solve or reduce the problems of slums and their inhabitants. Reducing urban and rural poverty; developing enabling and coherent legal and policy frameworks relating to slums; improving planning, organisation and effectiveness/ efficiency of the authorities; finding affordable local solutions and strategies that effectively and efficiently address the problems of slums are some of the key issues that have to be addressed. Often other problems like conflict and environmental degradation are added. The problems slum communities suffer are usually complex, and many issues, touching on many disciplines, have to be dealt with to address these problems. Many of these elements are outside the direct sphere of NGOs. Laws and regulations, definition of policies, health services and education are usually the direct responsibility of the authorities, as are often other services like water supply and environmental sanitation. Another problem is that NGOs usually do not have the competence to deal with all the issues that have to be covered, and their availability of funds and time are usually limited. The scale and complexity of problems in and around slums, means that it is impossible to solve all problems at once. Key problem groups (e.g. all issues that surround the health vulnerability of a group of slum communities) have to be addressed in an integral approach. No community, development organisation, government department or private company can adequately tackle these problem groups alone on a longer term. This can only be achieved by the formation of intelligent partnerships between community, donor organisations, the authorities, NGOs and possibly the private sector. What organisations have to be included in these partnerships will depend on the local situation and the real capacity of potential partners. The capacities of the different organisations have to complement each other. The partnerships will always be a compromise between potential impact and difficulty of collaboration. The more partners are involved, the more inflexible, sluggish and difficult the collaboration will be. 16
In this partnership two actors will always have to be present: the community and the authorities. The involvement of the authorities is important as elements that are covered in interventions normally fall under their authority. Besides that, the authorities are often the only partner that have (in theory at least) the timeframe to follow through with intervention outcomes. Excluding the authorities may result in tensions between the NGO and community on one side, and the authorities on the other side. The authorities have to be involved to ensure the legitimacy of the intervention. It is easy to unintentionally violate local regulations or laws, and involving the authorities provides some protection. A problem might be that local regulations or technical norms are completely inadequate. In addition, excluding the authorities may result in them refuting the responsibility they normally have towards the communities. While the authorities have to be involved to some point in every intervention, the extent to which they will be involved has to be well adapted to their real capability, and the risks that working with a political body that might be ousted out of office represents. The authorities are political bodies, and sometimes linked to ethnic or religious groups. The political or religious neutrality of an intervention may be put in doubt if ties become to strong. Often authorities and their officials have a hidden agenda. In general, one of the problems of partnerships is that every partner brings its own agenda, timeframe and limitations to the interventions. As mentioned earlier, the community should be fully involved as soon as possible, and should be given an important voice in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the intervention. This is important so as to ensure that the intervention is well adapted to the priorities and problems of the community, and to their availability of time and other resources, and that the community will appropriate the intervention as a shared responsibility. Communities and their representation often lack the managerial and organisational skills to adequately collaborate as equal partners in an intervention. Often the representatives are not able to organise and mobilise the community adequately for the needs of an intervention. Training the communities and its representatives in managerial and organisational techniques and assisting in community organisation are important elements that must be included in interventions. Sometimes the attitudes of slum communities towards external elements are submissive or dismissive. Being involved as full partners with specific responsibilities may make relations of community representatives with external bodies more equal and effective. Proper involvement of the community in interventions will enable the community in dealing with other, or future, problems in their community. Partnerships are potential minefield. It is very important to realistically assess the motivation level, and financial, technical and organisational capacity of every partner, and assess the implications of a potential collaboration. It is very important that the responsibilities of all partners and the general rules of the partnership are very well defined and agreed upon. It is very likely that certain commitments will not be respected. Coping mechanisms and alternatives have to be worked out from the onset. The NGO should be very careful of being too dependent on partners. A situation where the NGO could be blocked should be avoided as much as possible (e.g. the authorities have to complete a water supply system before the NGO can work on footpaths). What will follow is a presentation of various elements important to interventions in slums going from planning an intervention to its start-up, implementation and evaluation.
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3.2 Intervention planning The planning of an intervention to be developed in slum areas consists of 2 main elements: the analysis of the slums, the slum context and the context around an intervention, and the definition of an intervention that could be developed here. Analysis and definition normally take place simultaneously.
3.2.1 Analysis of slums, and slum and intervention context The success of an intervention depends for a very large part on how well it is tailored to the local context. The complexity of the slum context makes the proper investigation and analysis of the slums and the slum context crucial. It is this analysis that will allow assessing the feasibility and legitimacy of the intervention, the appeal and acceptability of an intervention towards the community, the direct impact and potential consequences of an intervention, and to identify threats, risks and bottlenecks to the intervention, and plan coping mechanisms. Elements to be analysed While there will often be cross-cutting issues that apply to slums in general, or slums at national/ municipal level, every slum is distinctive, and every slum area that will be covered should be looked at. Figure 1 presents the different elements that will have to be assessed.
Figure 1: Elements that have to be investigated and analysed. What follows is a short description of these factors. With some factors examples are presented for illustration. The variation that surrounds slums and the slum context and the multitude of elements that have to be covered in an assessment make it impossible to present a comprehensive checklist that is universally applicable. (1) Social factors: social factors are issues linked to how persons and different groups interact in society. It includes interactions, social values people hold, prejudices against groups and their exclusion, and traditional authority. Social factors are often closely linked to cultural factors.
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Examples of what has to be looked into: prejudices of formal society against slums and its inhabitants, social exclusion of slum dwellers, prejudices that exist within slum communities, social values that different groups hold in slums, relations with neighbouring communities, how are social values evolving, what limitations and opportunities do social factors bring to the intervention. (2) Cultural factors: these factors are linked to the customs and beliefs people hold. This includes religious factors, traditional customs, beliefs and power structures linked to origin, ethnicity and religion, attitudes to persons of other cultures. Examples of what has to be looked into: what are the traditional customs and beliefs of slum dwellers in relation to potential intervention components, what are the traditional power structures and how are they maintained in slums, the relations between different cultural groups in society, attitudes of persons to collaborating with foreign aid and development workers. (3) Legal factors: this concerns laws, regulations and norms, in relation to slums, the activities the intervention plans to develop, and to the intervention itself. Besides looking at what they are, it should be investigated how and who controls and enforces them, and how strictly this is done. Legal factors and institutional factors are very closely related. (4) Institutional factors: issues in relation to the national and local authorities that concern slum areas, the activities of the intervention, and the intervention itself. Where NGOs and private sector organisations (formal and informal) provide services in slums, or could potentially provide these services, they should be included in the assessment. Examples of what has to be looked into: what department is responsible for what in the slum context, what are the official and real attitudes and policies of different departments towards slums, how many resources are really used for slum services and upgrading, level of corruption in key departments, what limitations and opportunities do institutions have in relation to slum areas. (5) Political factors: this concerns everything that relates to politics and power. It includes issues in relation to 'formal' politics as well as power games, and corruption. The assessment should try to cover political parties and figures, and persons or groups that wield power inside and outside slums. Many of these elements are hidden, and great care should be taken in the investigation. It is unlikely that an outsider will get a complete picture of all power games that play in slums, even after having worked for a long time in a slum. Examples of what has to be looked into: what political parties are present in the country, what are their guiding principles and their power base, what role do rich families play in the country politics, talking to a local NGOs working with gangs on groups operating in specific slum areas. (6) Historical factors: these factors relate to the history of the country, city and community. Examples of what has to be looked into: causes of slum formation, history of the slum areas, conflicts between slums and municipality, conflicts between communities. (7) Technical/ physical factors: this heading covers technical and physical issues and limitations in the community, and physical elements or infrastructure. As well general elements as elements in relation to intervention activities should be covered. (8) Environmental/ geographical factors: issues that relate to the environment and general surroundings of the slum areas. This will cover as well natural geographical aspects, manmade environmental issues as relations to neighbouring communities. Examples of what could be looked into: analysis of height curves to assess flow patterns of stormwater, geographical borders of the communities, environmental degradation and its effects. (9) Health/ risk factors: the health situation of the slum communities, factors that expose the slum communities to health risks. Access of different population groups to preventative and curative health care should be assessed. Besides health factors, elements that make the communities vulnerable to disaster should be covered.
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Examples of what has to be looked into: occurrence and causes of transmittable and nontransmittable diseases, nutritional problems, and mental health problems in the community. Examples of vulnerability are exposure of slum inhabitants to inundation, landslides, or to industrial disaster. (10) Economical factors: these are factors associated with the production, distribution, and consumption of resources. This usually plays at national/ local level. Examples of what has to be looked into: what is the role of slums in the city/ national economy, what are other economic interests that surround slums, what occupations are found in the slum communities, what is the economic vulnerability of slum areas? (11) Financial factors: issues related to money and its use. This usually plays at local/ individual level. Examples of what has to be looked into: how much income do the poorer persons in slums have, how is this income used, what is the expendable income of the poor, what is the access to formal and informal financial services. (12) Personal factors: factors proper to individuals that (could) affect the slum or the slum context. These factors are often linked to persons who wield some type of power in slum areas, or who has an impact on slum inhabitants. Sometimes politicians, army or police personnel, or individuals from the private sector play an important role in slum communities. Identifying persons that wield power in slums is often difficult, and delving into this should be done with much caution. Personal factors are often closely linked to political factors. Examples: a slum lord who owns a large part of the slum, a priest who attends problems of slum residents, a politician who receives protection money, a leader of a gang. Two perspectives have to be used when assessing these factors: What elements affect, or could potentially affect, slums and their inhabitants, and what elements could be threats or opportunities to the intervention and its collaborators. How thorough the analysis of every factor has to be, will depend on the type of intervention, the context in which the intervention will be developed, and the urgency to start the intervention. Time and effort dedicated to the investigation and analysis is usually well spent. A compromise will have to be found though; the more thorough the analysis is, the better the intervention will be adapted to the local context, and the more resources and time will be spent without attending the problems of the communities. Investigations for development projects will typically take a good number of months, though longer explorations may be justified for complex interventions. It cannot be assumed that persons who have worked in slums in a specific city are familiar with slums they have not worked in, or slums they covered in the past. It is good to involve the staff of the future intervention as much as possible in the investigation and analysis, as this will prepare the terrain for the introduction of the intervention in the community. Similarly it can not be assumed that representatives of communities (who are usually men, and often middle aged, relatively better off, and often with an average better schooling level) know their communities and its problems very well, or that they represent the general views of the community or its level. The assessment should analyse what the population sees as problems, their causes and their solutions. These elements have to be gone through with persons representing different groups in the population (e.g. men and women, persons of different age groups, religion, ethnicity, political orientation). The strategy used in the intervention should be adapted on what is found in this investigation. Communities often see the difficulties they face from a more integral viewpoint (e.g. Poverty, security problems, difficulty in finding adequate employment). The intervention should try to address these fundamental problems that are identified by the communities as much as possible. As this covers different disciplines, it will usually be necessary to work in partnerships to be able to do attend these issues. 20
There are many potential sources of information on slums: national and local authorities, NGOs working in slums, NGOs working with a theme similar to the intervention planned, multilateral organisations, donor agencies, public and private health service providers, schools, nursery school, academic institutions, religious institutions, special interest groups, the local press, police, legal service providers, engineering consultancy firms, public pressure groups, Community Based Organisations (CBOs), slum dwellers, people living in formal areas close to slums, field visits to the slums. Some sources will be free; others may charge a fee for specific information. Where interventions will work with certain individuals coming from different slums (e.g. an intervention attending the medical needs of urban poor with HIV/ AIDS), the investigation will focus more on slums in general. Interventions working in individual slums (e.g. an intervention that will install a small-bore sewerage system in 3 slum areas) will need to investigate the individual slums in depth. It is important that the assessment and analysis of the slums, its inhabitants, the authorities, and possibly other stakeholders that are related to the slums is sufficiently complete so as to plan the intervention realistically, and to be able to assess its feasibility. First contacts with the community Slums communities have often been confronted with political parties, authorities, religious groups, special interest groups and sometimes NGOs and businesses making false pledges and claiming time and resources without delivering on their promises. A history of slum clearances, corrupt officials, criminals coming from outside the slums and other opportunists trying to extract money from slum dwellers often has made slum residents nervous and mistrustful of outsiders. Individuals and groups that develop informal semi-legal and illegal activities typically do not like strangers visiting and enquiring. As described earlier, there is often antagonism between different groups in communities, and community groups may see an external organisation as a threat to the equilibrium that often exists. It is therefore important that the organisation is neutral in 'slum politics', and is perceived that way by the community. Organisations and persons that are not known to the community will usually be met with suspicion if entering into slum communities without proper introduction. It is in the initial contacts with a slum community that a part of the foundation of the future collaboration will be laid. Getting it wrong may result in the implementing organisation being considered dishonest, incompetent, or politically, religiously or ethnically partial, or even informants for the authorities. This may result in a lack of confidence of the community, estranging parts of the community from the intervention, sabotage, security problems, or having the community expulse the implementing organisation. The approach for initial entry into the community will depend on the context. Usually the best way would be to be introduced by a person, group or organisation that is generally trusted and appreciated in the communities. Alternatively, a meeting can be called for where a delegation of the community is met. If it is clear what slums should be visited the best way of entering in a community is often to be introduced to the community by an NGO or CBO. Ideally the NGO or CBO has similar views as the implementing organisation. If this is not possible, there may be other alternatives. The authorities may be considered relatively neutral; especially personnel from the health services and schools might be able to assist. Where the vast majority of slum dwellers are of the same religion, or where religious beliefs of persons are not a point of conflict, religious institutions or persons may help in the introduction. There may be other organisations or persons who can facilitate the entry into a community. Being introduced in the community does not necessarily mean that the facilitators are present at the first meeting. It is often enough that key representatives have been informed of the assessment for a future intervention, and that a meeting between representatives and implementing organisation is organised. 21
Another approach is to call on representatives of the community to meet the implementing organisation. This approach can be used if it is not clear what communities would be interested in collaborating with the intervention, if the organisation wants to get to know the representatives of several communities rapidly, or if it is urgent to rapidly select communities. The results of this approach will be more difficult to predict than when individual communities are visited. Good organisation is important to avoid that a large amounts of persons show up, or that persons who are not the 'official' representatives of the community show up. If there are tensions between communities then it is better to avoid meetings where these communities come together. Whatever approach is used, the implementing organisation should try to obtain as much information about the potential target areas as possible before entering in contact. Information of particular interest is information on the religious, ethnic and political background of the slum community, divisions and conflicts in the community and the key persons or groups in them, and potential security risks. It is important to be honest and transparent towards the communities and its representatives. It should be made clear to the communities what values the organisation stands for. When it is more or less clear what activities the intervention will probably develop the information should be passed on to the community. It should be clear to the community what the intervention can do, what it can not do, when it will probably be developed, and what is expected from the community. The community should be informed on threats that could block an intervention (e.g. finding a donor). Creating false expectations will sooner or later backfire on the implementing organisation, and on other organisations that might want to work in the same community in the future. It can not be expected that representatives of the community will pass information given to them, and as soon as a more concrete collaboration is probable, a reliable way of communication with the community has to be looked for. It should be assessed what the most appropriate way to do this will be, it could be through meetings that group the whole, or sectors, of the community, through posters, or possibly through other reliable local means of information transmission (e.g. local radio).
3.2.2 Definition of the intervention While the investigation and analysis advance objectives, indicators, methodology, target area and population, potential partner organisations, risks, and needs in time and resources will become clearer. The type of interventions NGOs develop will usually fall into one of the categories listed below. 1. Interventions aiming to solve specific problems a whole slum community, or a large parts of it, suffers from. Examples are a project that will improve water and sanitation services in a slum area, or a programme of slum upgrading. This type of intervention typically asks for the mobilisation of large parts of the community and collaboration between communities and implementing agency is typically close. NGOs are usually limited to working with one, or some, slum areas. Typically these types of interventions are developed as pilot projects to be extended by the authorities, or as a means of pressure on authorities to deal with slum issues. 2. Interventions targeted at specific individuals or groups that suffer from specific problems. Examples of these types of interventions would be a programme that brings medical and social assistance to persons living with HIV/ AIDS, or a project that improves the organisation and lobbying skills of local Community Based Organisations (CBOs). Typically the dealings with individual slum communities as a whole are limited. These interventions often do not specifically target slums or slum dwellers, but for example the poor or persons with specific health problems, of whom certain may happen to live in slums.
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3. Interventions aiming to change the policy, politics or attitudes of the authorities, other institutions, or society in relation to slum areas. These advocacy interventions may be stand-alone interventions or be part of the two intervention types mentioned above. Advocacy activities may directly involve slum communities in its implementation, though often they are not directly involved. Unless the needs of slum dwellers are that important that an intervention becomes necessary, interventions of the type 1 and 2 should be accompanied by type 3 (advocacy) interventions. Considering the scale of the slum problem and its continuous expansion it should always be tried to attend to the general problem the intervention tries to attend. Intervention components
Figure 2: Scheme of intervention components needed to maximise impact. 23
Development projects or programmes aim to solve specific problems the target population suffers from. They usually do this by putting in place a mechanism (e.g. medical service, water supply system, access road) that will assist in achieving this. It is the actual use of this system that will bring the improvement to the target population. Figure 2 presents this model in schematic form and presents the component groups an intervention will usually have to include to be effective. Construction, installation, provision of material: this assures that the infrastructure and materials needed for the system are present. This can be anything from the construction of a health post, provision of non-renewable medical equipment, installation of a handpump, construction of a communal latrine. Often much of the construction and installation work in slums will be the done by the community itself. While this is beneficial for many reasons (e.g. appropriation of the intervention by the community, empowerment of the community, reduction of intervention costs) care should be taken in not charging too much responsibility on the community. Slum dwellers are usually poor, and often have to work long hours to make ends meet. Asking too much time or resources from the community may result in people turning away from the intervention because they are simply not able to give the time or resources they are expected to give. This one of the reasons why the community has to be involved in the planning of an intervention, they should be able to choose the service level that they prefer, taking into account the resources they have to offer for it. Training: training serves two purposes: firstly it gives people the skills to build, install, organise themselves, and manage implementation activities; secondly it tries to change the attitude in users and operators of the system. Users are motivated to utilise the system, continuously and in a correct manner; and operators to motivate them to properly conduct their work. When training slum dwellers it is important to know that most slum dwellers are obliged to work during the day, and that training activities often have to be organised in the evenings, weekends, or holidays. Here too it should be avoided to ask too much time from the slum dwellers, they rarely have much time available. Another complication of organising training in slum communities is that the population the training is aimed at is often very diverse. Educational levels in slums often range from illiterate persons to persons who have an academic degree. Sometimes different languages are used in the community. The way the training is organised should take into account that there are often groups or persons that are at conflict in the community, and putting these groups or persons together may create problems. This may be even more critical if persons of different communities come together in the training session. It is possible that different sessions will have to be directed at different persons or groups. Proper training is often crucial to the success of an intervention, and enough personnel and resources have to be dedicated to this component. It is usually preferable to have specialised persons working specifically on the training component. The persons of the intervention that will organise the training will have to have to be competent in the domain he/ she teaches, the person should have some natural authority over the participants, and the person should be able to manage arguments that might arise in the training. More information on training activities can be found in the document 'Organisation of training activities' that can be found in annex. Community organisation: community organisation and community development is as important as it is complex in slum interventions. Community organisation and empowerment consists of empowering community representatives and CBOs by helping them to organise and give them tools of organisation (e.g. typewriter, bookkeeping tools and forms) and communication (e.g. megaphone, community public boards). Possibly support in creating structures that assist the representatives in developing old or new tasks (e.g. a system of representatives of neighbourhood). Assist community representatives in formalising their legal status. Help the community representatives connecting to the authorities and other organisations that might be of help.
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Another aspect of community organisation is being aware what is happening in the community. Slum communities are very dynamic environments, and the situation in a community, bordering a community or in the relation between community and implementing organisation may change rapidly. This has to be detected and reacted to in an adequate manner as quickly as possible. Rumours are easily started and move very quickly, reacting adequately to these often asks for a quick reaction. The strategies that will have to be employed to organise and develop a community are almost as diverse as the communities themselves. It can only be achieved by knowing the community very well and being continuously very close to the community and the processes that occur in them. It will often ask for specialised persons who will only deal with this aspect in an intervention. A large part of community organisation will normally consist of training activities. When working in a slum area one should try to work as much as possible with existing organisational structures in the community. This is to avoid conflict and confusion by creating parallel structures. When it is difficult to work with the existing structures, new structures may be created (e.g. neighbourhood representatives). This is a potential source of conflict though as existing structures may see these new formations as a threat to their power base. Institutional development: this element is about reinforcing the capacity and motivation of the institutions to manage, supervise, coordinate, operate and maintain services well. An additional aim of institutional development is rendering the functioning of institutions more transparent. Institutions are primarily the authorities, secondary other organisations in society that work in domains linked to the intervention. To be able to conduct effective institutional development a thorough analysis of the institutions has to be conducted as to their current responsibilities, organisation, policies, capacity and attitudes. Based on this the weaknesses and problems in relation to the intervention can be identified. If the institutions and their leadership are open to it, activities can be developed that will improve their functioning and transparency. Institutional development can involve many elements: training, provision of material and tools, advocacy for a change in policy or change in organisation or legislation. Advocacy: advocacy tries to improve the situation of persons in needs through pressure and lobbying with authorities or other actors in society that can make a positive impact. When working in slums some form of advocacy is often needed to improve the general political situation or the legislation in relation to slums. This often means working with other NGOs or organisations and the press to expose existing or future problems and to exert a pressure for improvement on the relevant bodies. As NGOs only have a limited capacity, their biggest impact can often be achieved through advocacy. It is crucial that the intervention is adapted to the needs and vision of the inhabitants of the target communities, and that the intervention does attend issues the target population considers to be problems. NGOs often view the needs of communities from a particular perspective (e.g. health, water supply, advocacy for a change in policy), and this approach is often imposed on the community. While it is inevitable that there is some bias in the approach used in an intervention, this bias should be avoided as much as possible. Choice of slum areas What follows are a number of factors that may be considered when choosing slum areas to work in. Some of these factors are less important if the intervention will target specific persons or households (e.g. if the intervention targets persons with HIV/ AIDS living in slums) living in slums and if the intervention will not bring structural improvements or high profile services to slum areas. In some cases the needs of the slum dwellers are that important that many other considerations become secondary.
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Feasibility and efficiency of the intervention: the first factor to consider is whether the global outline of the planned intervention is feasible, and whether the resources that will have to be invested justify the impact the intervention will have on the ones the interventions is targeting. Security of tenure: security of tenure is about the security households have against (forced) eviction. People have security of tenure if they feel reasonably certain that they can live on the plot for a longer period, it does not necessarily mean that households own the land or that they hold a title to the land they occupy. Security of tenure sometimes is official, through official ownership or an entitlement to the use of the plot. Sometimes the security of tenure is linked to the fact that slums are left alone as laws and regulations are not enforced. Where there is little security of tenure it is unlikely that the inhabitants will want to collaborate with an intervention that will involve community participation. That said, structural improvements through interventions may sometimes be sought by persons who live on plots that offer little security of tenure. These persons will usually come from relatively new squatter settlements. Sometimes this is because of an urgent need for services (e.g. demand for a piped water supply), sometimes however it may be used as a strategy to improve the legitimacy of their claim for a plot. In the latter case, working in these areas may cause conflicts with the authorities or with land owners and structural improvements of the slum may be lost if the slum dwellers are evicted anyway. Ownership of household plots: in slum areas, even in squatter settlements, it is common that part of the population will rent their dwelling or plot. In the planning of an intervention it should be considered that upgrading a slum area or bringing high-profile services (e.g. construction of a health centre) will most likely result in increased rents. This will especially affect the poorest, as they will not be able to afford higher rents. In addition, where many people are renters, it is not very likely that there will be much collaboration of the community in the implementation of the intervention. In slum areas where the 'landlords' own one, or some plots or dwellings, or rent out subdivisions of their dwelling, and where they live themselves in the slum this may be less of a problem than where the 'landlord' is a 'slumlord' owning and 'milking' large slums. Still, caution must be taken. Landlords will rarely respect contracts or agreements that would protect inhabitants. Size of a slum area: size does matter... Generally speaking, the larger a slum area is, the more complex it is to work in them. Again generally speaking, the larger a slum area is, the more subgroups and divisions are to be expected. The larger a slum area is the more resources it occupies and represents, and the bigger the political interests. Besides this it will be more difficult to be known and accepted in a large community than in a small community. This makes it more difficult to obtain the collaboration and organisation of a larger slum area. Alternatively, a large slum area may be split up in sectors. This may create tensions within the slum and between organisation and parts of the slum however. Every slum is different, and investigation and analysis of, introduction to, collaboration with, and organisation of every slum area will take its time. The risk of only including small slums is that the intervention becomes inefficient. An adequate size of a slum for an intervention will depend on the type of intervention, the time available, the capacity of the implementing agency, and very importantly, the level of organisation and motivation of the slum community. Age of a slum area: inhabitants of newly formed slums are typically motivated to improve their situation as they are in need of services and of some kind of recognition of their community. They will often give priority to improving their individual dwellings to working on communal structures like footpaths or well-designed small-bore sewerage systems though. Newly formed squatter settlements are usually not certain whether they can stay, thus they have little or no security of tenure. Often they lack the social cohesion and organisation necessary to collaborate well with an intervention and be organised. 26
The 'older' a slum community is, the better defined and more stabilised the informal power structures are. While this will sometimes facilitate working in slums, it is not always positive as these structures are often used to monopolise and politicise potential assistance to the community. Persons in older areas are often more fatalistic about the inconveniences and injustices they face, and they often have access to key services like water, electricity, sanitation through legal or illegal, formal or informal, public or private means. Bad experiences with authorities, NGOs and possibly other organisations have often made inhabitants of older slum communities suspicious of institutions that make promises. Unless the intervention addresses issues that are considered as large problems in the community, it is often difficult to obtain a full collaboration in these areas. Where slums have evolved out of more formal neighbourhoods there is often not a specific moment of creation. While the reality is obviously much more complicated than what is presented here, the age of a slum area may indicate some potential opportunities and problems in working in them. Community organisation: it is impossible to work in a community that has no organisation whatsoever. Normally communities create their own form of formal and informal authorities. As discussed in the previous chapter, these authorities may be linked to several elements, and several community organisation structures may be present in a community. These structures will usually have their problems. Suspicion to outsiders, political involvement, despotism, and corruption are common problems in organisational structures in older communities, while poor organisation, rivalry and conflict are more common in organisational structures in younger communities. The capability and integrity of organisation structures of a community should be analysed as thorough as possible if one is going to develop an intervention in a slum area. This is not always innocent though as many persons who are part of these structures are suspicious about probing persons and members are sometimes part of unsavoury or illegal groups. It is unlikely that the functioning of these structures will become clear in the planning phase of an intervention. Talking to persons who are in these structures, other members of the communities, authorities, and possibly other organisations that deal with these areas will probably give strong clues as to whether it is possible to work with these organisational structures. Security of organisation staff and collaborators: the risks that are present of working in specific slum areas should be assessed as carefully as possible. Failing to do this may result in having to end the intervention prematurely, or exposing staff, collaborators or slum inhabitants to dangers. Composition of a slum area: generally, the more homogeneous the composition of a community is in relation to origin, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation, the more cohesion there is in the community. The more cohesion there is in the community, the bigger the chance of success of an intervention. The more heterogeneous the community is, the larger the risk of strife, conflict and manipulation becomes. Adequacy of slum location, slum plan and environment: the most important element here is the security of slum dwellers. This plays mainly for squatter settlements. These settlements are often located in hazardous places; examples are areas at risk of flooding, slums built on steep slopes, slums that are directly bordering traffic arteries and slums built on sites used for discharging solid waste. These areas are often inadequate for habitation. Interventions that will bring important improvements in infrastructure like installation of a water supply system, small-bore sewerage system, footpaths and access roads will motivate persons to stay, and may even draw more persons to the slum. Sometimes the problem is not the location of the slum, but the way it has formed. The layout of the slum may make it nearly impossible to eliminate stormwater, buildings may be made in a way that exposes its inhabitants and neighbours to serious risks, accessibility may be very poor, communal areas may be virtually absent. Sometimes environmental factors make occupation a problem. Sometimes these problems can be reduced or solved by adding elements to the intervention. From the slum dwellers perspective this discussion is often largely theoretical as slums, once formed, are unlikely to disappear. The resilience and endurance of people is often amazing and terrains cleared of slums will sooner or later be retaken if they are in attractive locations and have not found other use. 27
The question is more important for the implementing agency as it should ask itself whether it wants to encourage occupation of dangerous or inadequate areas. In some cases the benefits an intervention will bring to the slum dwellers will outweigh the disadvantages, in others not. It will have to be assessed from case to case. Attitude and capacity of the authorities: the authorities are usually much more present in urban areas than in rural areas, and they will nearly always have to be involved in one way or another in interventions in slums. The attitude of the authorities towards slums in general, and specific slums will have to be assessed to see whether interventions are likely to succeed. Attitudes of authorities may cover slums in general, or may be linked to regional, ethnic or religious composition of slums, or the political affiliation of slum dwellers. When looking at attitude, one should look at the official policy towards slums as well as what the departments are really doing in slums, and how they are doing it. Attitudes may vary at the different levels in departments. Even if the attitude towards slums would be positive, authorities often lack the capacity in resources, and often organisation, to effectively work in slums. Often lobbying and training activities will be necessary to improve the attitude of the authorities towards slums, and their capacity to work effectively in them. Technical and financial feasibility of the planned activities: the location, arrangement and accessibility of slums sometimes make it impossible or impractical to apply certain technical solutions, or make it very expensive to apply them. Risk of expansion of the slum or departure of the poor: slums that are being upgraded may become more accessible, more valuable, provide a higher quality of living, or provide a higher status to its inhabitants. There is a risk that inhabitants will want to cash in on the added value by creating subdivisions of their dwellings or that communal areas will be taken by new households. Sometimes new settlements will spontaneously form around upgraded slums to try to benefit of the newly acquired benefits, or possibly to try to have the new areas included in the upgrading effort. Properties or right of use in slums that are upgraded become more valuable, and sometimes the poorest households will have to cash in on the value added to their plot or dwelling and leave for other slums. It is very difficult to avoid these potential problems and systems that prevent people from selling or subdividing their plot or dwelling rarely work. Impact on surrounding areas: many structural improvements in slum areas have a direct impact on areas that surround them. Installation of stormwater drainage or small-bore sewerage systems may cause problems where they are discharged, poorly planned water supply or electricity supply systems may cause problems if the capacity of existing systems is not enough. The positive and negative impact of an intervention on surrounding areas must be realistically assessed. Structures or services present in the community: there is an order in the development of services and structures in slum areas. Some services are dependant on others for their proper functioning. It is of no use to build footpaths in concrete if they will have to be broken open two years later to install tubing for a (new) water supply system. A small-bore sewerage system is dependant on a reasonably reliable water supply system that provides water in enough quantity to work adequately. A water supply system needs a way to eliminate waste water adequately. Absence of certain structures or services in a slum community may limit the possibility of developing certain activities. Sometimes other elements will be important in the selection of the slum areas (e.g. slums formed by the persons displaced because of a disaster). The list of factors that may have to be looked at may look quite intimidating. The factors that will be important, and their relative weight, will depend from intervention to intervention though. It is important to define properly the selection criteria and to investigate the criteria chosen. Organisations working in slums will usually be limited in time and resources, and choosing the right communities to work in could be the difference between success and failure of the intervention. It may sound defeatist, but a great many slum areas may have to be excluded as the chance of success of working in them is small. 28
3.3 Intervention start-up Intervention start-up consists largely of two elements: setting up an organisation capable of implementing the intervention, and creating a situation of mutual respect and understanding between the intervention team and the community. The set-up of an organisation consists of creating the supporting sections (e.g. administrative, financial, logistics sections) and the executing sections (i.e. the section that directly work to accomplish the objectives of the intervention; e.g. medical section, construction section, water and sanitation section, training section). A team has to be set up, briefed, and possibly trained, and transparent procedures that allow this team to function well have to be set up. This is more or less universal in all interventions, and it will therefore not be covered in this document. Creating mutual respect and understanding between the team and the community Interventions that work closely with communities are very dependant on the communities for their success. This is especially true for working in slums. The community will probably have to provide time and other valuable resources for the intervention. The community will have to play an important role in the co-planning and organisation of the intervention. Besides that the community will have to allow the intervention to take place in its area, and often guarantee the security of team members and materials used in the intervention. None of these aspects will be possible if there is no mutual respect and understanding between the intervention team and the community. At the intervention start-up there is normally already a rapport between the community and the implementing organisation. The collaboration will normally have started before, and at this point the rapport has to be made stronger, and extend to more members of the community. While it can not be expected that a direct rapport can be made with all members of the community, it should be tried to connect in one way or the other to a large part of the community. Building rapport with a community is not an overnight affair; it takes steady proximity with the community and the right attitude. Team members should have the time to build a rapport with the community and they will have to be present frequently in the community, communicating with different community members. Besides time and proximity, attitude is very important. The attitude should be a sincere interest in the particularities and problems of the community, and respect towards all members of the community. Honesty and transparency towards the community are other requisites for building the trust needed to have a healthy collaboration. The team members and organisation should show continuous consistency. Creating false expectations, or giving false information should be avoided, and team members have to be told that they should delegate questions they don't know the answer to, or answer them when they have verified the answer. These attitudes, especially respect of persons, should be shown by all team members, and they have to be thoroughly briefed on this. All team members should know what the implementing organisation stands for, and what it will do in the community. People are naturally suspicious, and they only believe things when they see them. One way of building a rapport more quickly is to rapidly reduce, or solve, some specific problems of the community through developing small joint activities. For example the construction of a wastewater discharge system around a public standpost that before was always muddy, or to collaborate on the construction of a small bridge to cross a stream that divides a community in two. Other elements that will support the building of a rapport are the true involvement of the community in the planning and development of the intervention, and attending problems that the community identifies as important. It is the proximity that will allow a team to fine-tune an intervention to a community. The better the team knows and 'feels' the community, the quicker potential problems are identified, usually community members will come forward with them, and the more adapted to the community the solution will be. In communities where security is a problem, the proximity a team has with the community will be their protection. 29
Demanding activities should be postponed until this rapport has been built and an understanding has been created. In practise it will often take several months, sometimes even longer. Sometimes it just doesn't work, and the intervention in that specific community will probably have to be cancelled.
3.4 Intervention implementation In this phase the activities of the intervention will be developed. Only practical aspects of working in slums will be looked into here. Some practical aspects of working in slums Working in slums is often difficult point of view logistics and transport. This is especially true for squatter settlements. As these communities are usually poorly planned access is often a problem. Getting team members and material into the community often means having to walk or carry them over difficult terrain. It is often a problem to leave a vehicle unattended, and often even attended, close to slum areas. Assistance from the community in helping to carry material and looking after vehicles has to be assured early on. Sometimes formal enterprises will refuse to work with slum communities, or refuse to deliver material to slums or provide services in them. Alternatively prices may be higher than if it would be related to 'formal' city parts. The vast majority of slum dwellers work in normal working hours. They are therefore often only available in the evenings and weekends. This means that training and other communal activities have to be organised at this time. This can create different problems. Team members will often have to work outside official working hours, which can drive up the budget for salaries, and cause frustration in the team. In the evening general safety is poorer and public transport is often more dangerous to use and sparser, and a reliable and relatively safe way has to be figured out for team members to return home. Population densities in slums are generally high, and every available space is usually used in one way or another. This means that it is often difficult to find a site in the community to develop activities like training, or where materials and tools can be stored safely. Often space will have to be looked for outside the community. Alternatively community dwellers will have to provide space. Likewise it will usually be very difficult to find adequate office space in slums. Continuous study and analysis of the communities and the intervention As mentioned several times before, slums are very dynamic areas. Manipulation by external groups like political or religious elements is common, and power struggles are frequent. Security problems arise quickly. Rumours are easily started and travel fast. The target communities will have to be studied and analysed throughout the intervention period to identify threats and opportunities that arise. The longer it takes before they are identified, the larger problems can grow, and the bigger the chance that opportunities will be passed over. This study and analysis is the task of all team members, and they should be encouraged to 'tune their antennas' continuously to what is happening in the community. The more the team members are present in the community, communicating with the slum dwellers, the better this will work. If there is a good rapport with the slum community, it is the community that will point out many of these threats and opportunities. It is important to understand that intervention hardly ever turn out the way they were planned from the beginning. A flexible approach to the intervention has to be taken to adapt it continuously so that it will be as effective and efficient as possible. That's one of the main reasons why monitoring the intervention and studying and analysing the community and the context are so important. Often very important changes have to be made to avoid wasting time 30
3.5 Intervention evaluation As has become clear from this document, the slum context is a very complex one to work in, and interventions developed here should be properly investigated in methodology, effect and efficiency. Only a relatively small number of interventions in slums are successful. Many more are only successful to a limited extent or have a minimal real impact in the communities. Often problems are solved or attenuated, but the intervention generates new problems, sometimes unexpected ones. Some factors are related to failure of interventions (e.g. not involving the community, not knowing the community and the context in which the intervention will be developed, not being able to build a rapport with the community, inflexible intervention approach). Others are related to project success (basically the opposite of failure factors). Nevertheless, there is no magic bullet strategy that automatically turns an intervention into a success. More interventions in slums should be studied and realistically analysed to see what approaches have in the end the best impact on the greatest possible number of slum dwellers, at the lowest cost. Realistic evaluations of slum interventions will contribute to arriving more closely to this aim.
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(152) Making Cities Work (2005) Urbanization, Poverty, and Health. USAID. < http://www.makingcitieswork.org/www/urbanthemes/urban_health/urbanization_and_health/urban_health_ doc> : 30.03.2005. (180) United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (1986) Trilingual thesaurus in the field of human settlements, downloaded 15.01.2004 http://hq.unhabitat.org/register/item.asp?ID=331 (190) United Nations Development Programme (2003) Human development report 2003. Oxford University Press, New York, US. (200) United Nations Human Settlements Programme - UNHABITAT (2001) The state of the world's cities report 2001, downloaded 14.01.2004 http://hq.unhabitat.org/register/item.asp?ID=66 (205) United Nations Human Settlements Programme - UNHABITAT (2003) The challenge of slums: global report on human settlements 2003. Earthscan Publications Ltd, London, UK. (210) United Nations Population Division, 1999 Revision from World Resources Institute, Earthtrends: the environmental information portal http://www.earthtrends.wri.org/text/ (220) Waelkens M. P. and Greindl I. (2001) Urban health: Particularities, Challenges, Experiences and Lessons learnt. Deutsche Gesellschaft f端r Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) Eschborn, Germany.
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