Southern African launch of the UNCHS Campaign for Secure Tenure, Oct.1st,2000
Working on Toilets Oct. 12,2000
Rediscovering Dharavi, by Kalpana Sharma
Workshop for Journalists on Issues Related to Slums in Mumbai,October 17, 2000, Press Club
The Research on Risk Management by the poor: SPARC and Homeless Intl.
Meeting the Brazilians

MASSIVE GATHERING OF THE URBAN POOR IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
Report :sdi-net.
People's Dialogue, South Africa
www.dialogue.org.za

Over 10 000 members of the South African Homeless Peoples' Federation and allied organisations descended on King's Park Sports Complex in Durban on Sunday,October 1st, for the Southern African launch of the UNCHS Campaign for Secure Tenure.
Exceeding all expectations of the organisers, grassroots savings groups from allof South Africa's provinces travelled to the event in nearly 100 buses and dozens of minibus taxis. Joining them were delegations from urban poor Federations in Zimbabwe, Namibia, India, and the Philippines. The Filipino government also sent its housing minister. A. Jockin and Jesse Robredo, recipients of the prestigious 2000 Magsaysay Award, were also in attendance. Also represented were international development organisations such as the UNCHS, World Bank, and several bilateral development agencies.
On hand to greet the visitors were politicians and officials from Durban, kwaZulu-Natal province, and the South African government.
South African Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele was keynote speaker.
Mthembi-Mahanyele captured the sprit of the carnival-like event by saying that South Africa's housing drive had been made possible by "the partnership formed between the government and her people".
She went on to say that "most of these (People's Housing Process) initiatives were led by women groups within the South African Homeless Peoples' Federation".
An important goal of the UNCHS campaign is to gain concrete government support for secure tenure for the poor. Mthembi-Mahanyele took up the challenge: "On June of this year, the Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister announced in Parliament that government will transfer ownership of 15 million hectares of land in the next five years to the poor". Rose Molokoane, National Chairperson of the SAHPF, indicated that the Federation and allied groups would immediately begin work to prepare to participate in this programme. "Without land our people are dying a natural death. We have thousands of members all over South Africa who are willing and able to use secure tenure to build themselves and the country".

Working on Toilets:

In October '00, the alliance begins to work on sanitation in Bombay, Pune and Bangalore.

Bombay:
In Bombay, after the Chikhalwadi toilet has been constructed, there were many changes made in the tendering process by the BMC and World Bank as part of their project. In Aug., '00 the tender was opened, and almost all the parties who submitted their bids came about 15 -25 minutes last as it was one of the most wet and rainy day. These bids were not accepted and after a review, the tender was opened again in late September 00.

Why did we agree to bid for this project when we have steadfastly stated that NGOs and communities should not do this? Many reasons. Firstly, both the World Bank and BMC while wanting the alliance to participate cant seem to make the shift at the moment. Instead they have studies this process very carefully and have changed the tendering process to give NGOs a greater equal playing field. That is what they say. So both to honour that attitude and interest in exploring our process, we agree to participate in the bidding.

Secondly we want to work in partnership with the BMC and the World Bank to demonstrate that even such changes will not be the way to open the project to the other NGOs. We believe that due to our past experience which itself is very unusual among NGOs, we have been able to undertake the activities to make a bid? even there we are facing huge problems. We have had to pay a tender deposit of 16,00.000 This is not an amount that any NGO can have or whose board will agree to undertake to put it there unless it is critical to the activities and the NGO is comfortable about this.

Thirdly, it has been a strategy of the alliance to explore a compromise so that the process becomes a learning experience for all stakeholders. In the larger interest of getting sanitation allocated resources utilised, we believe that a stand off policy will only make matters worse. Instead when you work together it helps to explore what works and what does not within a project. So as things stand today, we have agreed to construct toilets in three wards for works which are 9.8 crores.

Pune:
In Pune, there are 33 toilet blocks that have been completed. These were opened with much festivity in September in a Sandaas Mela in Pune, and now the next phase to discuss the next round of construction has begun. In the last year, the toilet construction in Pune has been a very valuable lesson in how the federation scaling up process occurs. The process in a nutshell is like this. First the available leaders in the communities in that city get a back up team from the NSDF and Mahila Milan from another city which has done such work ( in this case it was Bombay). Architects and engineers with whom the more experienced team has prepared a range of standard NSDF Mahila Milan toilet designs assist the team.

What are the standard features of the alliance process as demonstrated by Pune? There are several aspects.:

Firstly, lets start with the design. They include separate entrances and toilets for men and women, lots of storage for water, access to electricity and bathing and washing, a community room and other collective usage space on or around the toilet built into the costs of the toilet. The Children?s toilet as an additional arrangement.

Secondly, the knowledge building and collective process. The team however uneven it may be works together and begins to locate places to construct toilet blocks, and begins to engage the community especially the women in the process. Often the blocks are in areas the alliance may not have worked in before. In which case they come and visit the areas and toilet blocks constructed by the community in that or another city. They examine the skills and capacities of the local groups to participate in the process and encourage whatever involvement is possible. They are involved in the discussions with the municipality and however uncomfortable the others are the process seeks to walk the core groups of that city through the whole process.

Thirdly comes the technical and managerial process. The first three to five toilets are often the most difficult to construct and take the longest time, many mistakes are made, and much learning occurs. Here the drawings and blue prints are done explained to people, often they don?t make sense initially, but over time the links are made very quickly. The permission for construction, acceptance of submissions by the municipality ? all these are huge stumbling bock. These are often seen as weaknesses by others initially and often form the basis why many projects get abandoned. Bot in the alliance they are the steep learning curve of the local and support group to both teach and learn, as well as to challenges the existing process in how it operates.

What happens in Pune next?
Three things have begin almost simultaneously.

One, the communities have begun to look at issues of improvements as well as maintenance. Out of their contribution and a fund specially created for this purpose, Mahila Milan in Pune will have the responsibility to manage and maintain the toilets.

Two, A team from Bombay and Pune have gone to Bangalore and in the first week of October begun to work with the Mahila Milan in Bangalore to start construction of toilets there.

Third, the next phase of construction has begun in Pune itself. There are 70 new blocks that will be constructed.

Bangalore:

When Jockin went to Bangalore to be felicitated by the city he found that both the Municipal Corporation and the Slum Board were willing to go into partnership with the alliance to upgrade the 67 slums in the city which need urgent assistance. There are already many such activities that were done by the alliance there but on a much smaller scale. Now that city too will go into partnership with the federation. Here the work in Pune especially the activities done by Mr. Giakwad the Commissioner of Pune have been very appreciated and the Bangalore Municipality has asked him and the federation to share their experience and work together with the Bangalore community and corporation

Rediscovering Dharavi, By Kalpana Sharma

Kalpana Sharma has written a book recounting the history of the "largest slum in Asia" , bringing to life the men and women who live there. The book is available at : http://www.rediff.co.in/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/;execmacro/b_detaildisp.d2w/output?product_id=668748

A Workshop for Journalists on Issues Related to Slums in Mumbai
October 17, 2000, Press Club

More than half of Mumbai's population lives in slums and squatter colonies. Though slums occupy only eight per cent of the city's land, their existence has often been a cause of much contention and debate. As Mumbai has grown as a city, so have the number of conflicting issues relating to the slums. It started off with arguments against slums on grounds of illegality and aesthetic ugliness and now increasingly, the deliberation is about slum settlements vis-à-vis the environment, urban infrastructure projects, and so on.
On the other hand, no one can underestimate the large percentage of the city's workforce that actually comes from slum colonies. In many ways, the slums, or rather the people who live within them, make the wheels of this city run smoothly.
The real debate is not about "these people" versus "those people" but about balancing the needs and concerns of the various groups that comprise the city. It is about reconciling the environmental needs of the city with the housing needs of the urban poor, or balancing the rights of railway commuters vis-à-vis the resettlement of railway land residents.
As journalists we need to inform ourselves of every aspect of this problem. A better understanding of the issues relating to Mumbai's slums would help us in better understanding Mumbai and also in covering it more widely and substantially as reporters and editors.
Thus, we, a group of Mumbai journalists working in the print media, have decided to organise a day-long workshop for young journalists on the subject of "Issues related to Slums in Mumbai". The idea is to inform journalists of these issues and to discuss them with the people directly involved with them - these include state officials, environmentalists, slum-dwellers and their organisations, lawyers, urban planners and others.
Programme
Issues related to Slums in Mumbai
Session I: (10.30 a.m. to 1 p.m.) Proliferation of Slums: Reasons and Solutions
This will include a panel discussion, with an overview being provided by an urban sociologist, a perspective on the state's policy towards slums as well as a view from the slumdwellers themselves.
Speakers: Mr D T Joseph, director general of shipping and
former secretary, urban development
Dr Sujata Patel, head of department, Sociology, University of Pune
Mr A Jockin, president, National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF)
Moderator: Gurbir Singh

Session II: (2 p.m. to 4 p.m.) Slums & Conflicting Interests
A panel representing shelter rights activists, environmentalists, and commuters.
Speakers: Sheela Patel, SPARC, B K Subba Rao, legal counsel, Citizens for a Just Society,
P K Das, Nivara Hakk Suraksha Samiti, Mukul Marwah, CPRO, Central Railway,
Mr J C Daniel, honorary secretary, Bombay Natural History Society(BNHS)
Moderator : Dilip D'Souza

Session III: ( 4.30 p.m. to 6 p.m.) Media & Coverage of the Slum Issue
A panel of senior media persons will discuss how the press is currently covering slum issues and what more it can do.
Mr S Balakrishnan, Metro Editor, The Times of India
Mr Kumar Ketkar, Editor , Maharashtra Times
Ms Kalpana Sharma, Deputy Editor, The Hindu
Ms Smruti Koppikar, City Editor, Indian Express
Moderator: Kalpana Sharma
Just to let you know, this is not the first such workshop we have organised for journalists. With a goal of continually educating and updating journalists on the various issues they cover, in 1998, through funding from Panos, South Asia, and UNICEF, Mumbai, we organised a three-day workshop for Maharashtra-based (Indian-language and English-language) journalists in Panchgani to discuss issues relating to public health. In 1999, through the Foundation for Humanization, two fellowships were awarded to Marathi-language journalists based in Raigad and Mumbai to follow up on stories of their choice.
Kalpana Sharma, Deputy Editor, The Hindu
Rupa Chinai, special correspondent, The Times of India
Sameera Khan, Journalist, writer, researcher
Freny Manecksha, freelance journalist
Meena Menon, freelance journalist
You can contact us at medianetin@yahoo.com

The Research on Risk Management by the poor: SPARC and Homeless Intl.

In the last year the first phase of the research began to document and quantify the manner in which the Alliance of SPARC NSDF and Mahila Milan have taken on issues of housing construction and its Financing. This study has many other countries and organizations which are also being documented with their involvement. In a Workshop in January 2000. ( For more information on that workshop and the documentation look at the homeless International web-site.)

During that workshop the focus of the study sharpened on the following issues. Firstly, how do organizations ( of the poor and those who finance their activities by giving loans) assess the risks. Who takes what kinds of risks in such a process?

Secondly, what creates the foundation of initiatives taken in housing construction and its financing taken initially into a scaling up process? and to what extent can such a process be scaled up.

Thirdly, seeing that this is a valuable process to support and further explore, what kinds of instruments financial products, and organizational partnerships are needed to be put into place to make this happen.

Given the fact that SPARC within the SDI network is leading in this process at the time of the study, its activities and its attempt to get financial support is seen as a action research for this process.

In November 2000 and in either December or early next year Ruth Mcleod and Sheela Patel will travel to the US and Europe. The purpose of the visit is to meet with Financial Institutions Bilateral and Multilateral agencies to both share this initial finding for the study and to explore what products are available to finance such activity and what that will mean for the projects in hand.

In November the Visit will seek to undertake the following:

Meeting with MIT-in Boston for a dialogue to share finding in an academic environment.

Meeting with Ford Foundation, UNDP, Citibank and others in New York.

Meetings with World bank and USAID in Washington.


The goals is to share the information and to explore whether any of the organizations are interested in this I activity and would like to explore any collective activities with the SDI network and other organizations working on housing finance.
Meeting the Brazilians
30th October 2000

Finally the 5 Brazilians came to Bombay with Michael Hoffman as their translation support ( set by Peoples? Dialogue Cape Town). They arrived late on 27th October and went straight to the Sahil. Celine and Jockin left the day the day before to the Philippines.

On the 28th 29th October they relaxed and spent some time in Byculla, it was Diwali and new year from the Indian full of fire crackers and noisy lighted evenings. Father Jorge was also there and they spent some time with him.

On 30th early morning they went with Byculla leaders to save money early in the morning, Michael said he had to stuff all the money in his pocket and it was ready to burst. "it?s a fairly large percentage of their income that they save, how do they do that? Michael asked. The response was "Like almost all of us, people need money at different times of the year, and this is now a good place to keep the money when you earn it. Also, with more loans people take, incomes have begun to raise and so people save more."

The daily saving as it always does, astounded everyone and EVERY DAY! Got everyone?. In the refection it became clear that the process when ritualized, takes only half an hour, and the relationship of trust, combined with the deep rituialisation, allows the leader to not only collect money but also to check out on what is happening in households.

In the afternoon they came to the Khetwadi office and we got to know a bit more about what they do, and they said

that the communities link to each other through their NGOs and that on the ground political parties and their presence made working together very hard.
That they saw much less commercialization and more community spirit here than in Latin America
I took then to the launch of the publication of the inquiry into the Sanjay Gandhi National Part demolition order by the High Court, where three retired judges have written their observations. It was to give them a feel of what else goes on in the city and to see the larger concern we have about how the courts don?t really work for the poor.

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