En Flyer Slum Upgrading

Division 42 Governance and Democracy

Kontakt: Günter Meinert, Priority Area Manager Sustainable Urban Development Phone: +49 (0)61 96 79 -1662 Fax: +49 (0)61 96 79 - 6104 E-mail: [email protected] Sectoral project “Policy Reforms for Urban and Municipal Development” Friedegund Mascher (Project Manager) Phone : +49 (0) 6196 79 - 16 57 Fax: +49 (0) 6196 79 - 61 04 E-mail: [email protected]

Would you like more information on informal settlements? Then visit URBANET, an internet-based knowledge network on the topics of regionalization, decentralization, municipal and urban development. www.gtz.de/urbanet

Cooperation with global initiatives – Cities Alliance The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH plays an active role in the Cities Alliance global partnership. Launched by the World Bank and the United Nations Center for Human Settlements (UN Habitat) in 1999, this global alliance of cities and their development partners promotes new tools, practical approaches and knowledge sharing for broad-based urban poverty reduction. By supporting City Development Strategies (CDS) and city-wide and nation-wide slum upgrading initiatives, this worldwide alliance directly improves the living conditions of poor people through concrete measures in the urban area. More information is available at: http://www.citiesalliance.org

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5 Postfach 51 80 65726 Eschborn Phone: ++49 (0)61 96 79 -0 Fax: ++49 (0)61 96 79 -11 15 Internet: http://www.gtz.de

Foto: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Scholz

18 Principles for Participatory Slum Development from Nagpur (Selection): Slum improvement /development includes improving access of slum communities to basic physical and social infrastructure, economic opportunities, tenural rights, information and institutions, focussing on the poor. Slum improvement / development is achieved with the active involvement of slum communities during the planning, implementation, monitoring and management process, and through contribution of part of their own resources required for development, operation and maintenance. No works, work orders, tendering or cost estimates without a preliminary design. Slum improvement / development may also include relocation of slum communities from areas where improvement measures cannot be effectively carried out, however always with allocation of alternate suitable space. Training and capacity building of different groups form an integral part of the process. This also includes enterprise development in construction to enable slum communities to take up minor works related to infrastructure improvements and housing. No planning without community within slum areas. Community Level Action Plans (CLAPs) are formulated by multidisciplinary teams in collaboration with slum communities, who articulate their priorities and make development choices. CLAPs incorporate all proposed improvements, are endorsed by the respective Ward Committees/Corporators and form the basis for all action and investment in slums.

Slum UpgradingImproving Living Conditions in Informal Settlements

The challenge: Poverty is becoming increasingly urban In 2001, 924 million people, around 30% of the urban population worldwide, lived in informal settlements – about 43% of the urban population in developing countries. It is estimated that this number will increase to 2 billion in the next 30 years, if no countermeasures are undertaken. The income of households in informal settlements is usually low and, above all, irregular. In addition to their primarily informal-sector incomes, the residents of these settlements suffer from multiple disadvantages: public services are inadequate, access to health care, education and socio-political decision-making processes is limited and the protection of public security is seldom garanteed by public authorities. Slums or informal settlements are the result of a multi-dimensional combination of poverty or low income, inadequate housing and poor governance. Poor households are forced to seek affordable accomodation and land that become increasingly inadequate.

Slums, informal settlements, spontaneous settlements, squatter settlements, favelas, Barong-Barong, Bastee – definition of terms The starting point is the phenomenon of settlements with problematic legal status, inadequate infrastructure and public services that have sprung up and continue to grow in large and small cities during the process of urbanization. While the term “informal settlement” emphasizes the residents’ lack of property rights, the expression “slum” focuses on the inadequate infrastructure of these settlements. In general slums suffer from: inadequate supply of basic public services, such as e.g. water, sewer systems, streets, electricity, schools and health centers; poverty and low income; political and social exclusion; insecure tenure situation or informal settlements; inadequate and substandard buildings; high population density; cramped living quarters and unhealthy living conditions.

Strategies and reactions For a long time, the neglect, eviction or forced resettlement of informal settlers was the only response of developing countries to the continuing urbanization process. However, there is now an international consensus that comprehensive improvement of the living conditions in informal settlements (slum upgrading) is necessary in order to create conditions for longterm poverty reduction and to gradually raise the quality of life in poor neighborhoods. Legal guarantees for housing (secure tenure) attempt to create protection against eviction. This approach also found expression in the Millennium Declaration of the United Nations. In the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) United Nations member countries committed themselves to halving the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water (Goal 7 / Target 10 / Indicator 30) and to improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2010 (Goal 7 / Target 11 / Indicators 31, 32).

Reasons and causes for the formation of slums Poverty

Inadequate, insufficient housing

Land speculation

Income disparity

Corruption

Migration

Poor urban governance

Social Exclusion Weak or declining economy

Learning from experience – projects supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH in the area of slum upgrading Since the 1980s, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH has been supporting projects in the area of slum upgrading. This has yielded broad expertise that is used in cooperative projects with German Financial Cooperation (FC) and also in multilateral initiatives.

The example of Dakar (Senegal) – Cooperative Settlement Upgrading Project In order to improve conditions in spontaneous settlements, the government of Senegal drew up a program to upgrade and legalize illegally established neighborhoods. For practical implementation of the program, a foundation was set up, which is supported by GTZ and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) Entwicklungsbank (development bank). A particularly important task of the foundation is to improve the difficult relationship between the government and land squatters and mediate between them as a neutral party. In consultation with the population new infrastructure, streets, drinking water supply and sewage systems are to be provided. Residents whose houses must be removed because of the construction measures will be provided with alternative plots. Through the sale of plots to residents, the squatters can gradually become landowners. The price of the properties is affordable and the buyers can pay off the purchase price within five years. That money, in turn, flows into a fund to finance housing construction. Basic principles of slum upgrading – experiences in Nagpur (India) In the framework of an eight-year GTZ-supported project in informal settlements in Nagpur (India), local stakeholders, in discussions with the affected slum dwellers, jointly formulated 18 principles for slum development. These can be viewed as general guidelines for the preparation, implementation and supervision of participatory slum improvement projects.