URBAN POVERTY - Approaches

1
URBAN POVERTY - Approaches

• Income consumption poverty (absolute and
  relative)
• Deprivation material basic needs (structure)
  means vs. ends
• Deprivation capability (agency)
• Livelihoods holistic but normative (structure
  and agency)

2
MODERNISATION THEORY Income Poverty

• According to modernisation theory urban poverty
  should be temporary, disappearing as urban
  consumption matches production migrants become
  integrated into city life.

3
MODERNISATION THEORY - Failure

• But experience from the 1970s
• increasing squatter settlements
• expanding informal sector
• declining access to water and sanitation
• Little sign of a trickle down economy reaching
  the vast majority of urban populations

4
URBAN POVERTY Changing Locations

• The urbanisation of poverty - spatial
• The feminisation of poverty - social
• Multiple agents acting to ameliorate poverty
  practice and policy

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URBAN POPULATION
6
URBAN POPULATION BY REGION
7
POPULATION ON lt 1/DAY - 1998 ()
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THE GROWTH OF INCOME POVERTY

• Studies in the 1980s showed that the incidence of
  poverty rose in cities and this has been
  confirmed by studies of the urban impact of
  structural adjustment since then (Chant, 1996
  Kanji 1995 Moser 1996).

9
CHINA Urban Poverty 1988-1995
Adapted from Haddad, L., M T Ruel and J L
Garnett (1999), Are urban poverty and
undernutrition growing? Some newly assembled
evidence, World Development, 27(11), 1891-1904
10
GHANA Urban Poverty 1987-1992
Adapted from Haddad, L., M T Ruel and J L
Garnett (1999), Are urban poverty and
undernutrition growing? Some newly assembled
evidence, World Development, 27(11), 1891-1904
11
INDIA Urban Poverty 1977-1993
Adapted from Haddad, L., M T Ruel and J L
Garnett (1999), Are urban poverty and
undernutrition growing? Some newly assembled
evidence, World Development, 27(11), 1891-1904
12
COLOMBIA Urban Poverty 1977-1993
Adapted from Haddad, L., M T Ruel and J L
Garnett (1999), Are urban poverty and
undernutrition growing? Some newly assembled
evidence, World Development, 27(11), 1891-1904
13
Poor City Households 11 20 range
Source http//www.unchs.org/guo/gui/1998.zip
14
Poor City Households 21 - 40 range
Source http//www.unchs.org/guo/gui/1998.zip
15
Poor City Households 41 - 80 range
Source http//www.unchs.org/guo/gui/1998.zip
16
WHO ARE THE URBAN INCOME POOR?

• Conventional Wisdom

Empirical Reality

• Informal Sector Workers

• Casual Workers

• Women-headed households

• Women-maintained households

• Residents of peripheral settlements

• Residents in a range of low income settlements

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EXPLANATIONS 1950s and 1960sIndividual Social
Problems

• Focus on private behaviour
• Focus on attitudes to social participation
• Major Disciplines - psychology, sociology and
  community development
• Main exemplar - Oscar Lewis - culture of
  poverty and underclass position

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POLICIESIndividual social problem oriented

• Compensatory measures
• Food for work programmes
• Labour intensive development strategies
• Targeted approaches e.g. problem areas street
  children women-headed households

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INCOME IS IMPORTANT BUT

• Urban life is highly monetised
• Money is important to purchase food and shelter
• this take a greater proportion of poor household
  incomes
• spatial issues are more important
• access to land, housing and services
• more crucial to urban well-being

20
EXPLANATIONS - 1970sSectoral Approaches

• Focus on insufficiency of resources for economic
  and social participation basic needs
• Major disciplines - economics, sociology,
  geography and traditional social policy
• Main exemplars - Amis (urban labour markets)
  Castells (collective consumption)

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OVERALL POLICY RESPONSESSectoral Approaches

• Migration policies
• Labour market policies
• Area-based interventions - slum upgrading or
  urban basic services programmes
• Some forms of community participation

22
POLICY RESPONSESEmployment Creation Income
Generation

• Intervention in labour markets
• Labour intensive strategies
• Enabling the informal sector
• Micro-enterprise and credit schemes
• Skills development

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POLICY RESPONSESHousing and Shelter

• Enabling strategies in housing provision
• Increased security of tenure and occupation
• Housing finance
• Appropriate urban design

24
POLICY RESPONSESInfrastructure Services

• Water supply, sanitation, drainage, Street
  lighting and garbage collection
• Primary health care and education
• Affordable transport
• Appropriate policing

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CHANGING UNDERSTANDING OF POVERTY
PC
PC CPR
PC CPR SPC
PC CPR SPC Assets
PC CPR SPC Assets Dignity
PC CPR SPC Assets Dignity Autonomy
PC Private Consumption (Income) CPR Common
Property Resources SPC State Provided
Commodities
Source Baulch (1996), Editorial, IDS Bulletin,
27(1), 1-10
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EXPLANATIONSSystems and Relational Approaches

• Focus on social relations
• Focus on situational and institutional analysis
• Major Disciplines - political science,
  anthropology, interdisciplinary approaches
• Main exemplar - Perlman (marginalisation),
  Chambers (livelihoods)

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CHARACTERISTICS OF URBAN POVERTY

• Restricted access to labour markets
• Limited opportunities in the informal sector
• High cost of living in a monetised economy
• Exclusions through the operation of land markets
• Poor housing and living environments
• Food insecurity and malnutrition

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URBAN INEQUALITY

• As well as recognising that many poor people live
  in cities, we also need to recognised that these
  are often very unequal cities
• The urban poor may have greater proximity to
  facilities and services than in the countryside,
  but this does not mean they can necessarily
  afford or access them

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CUMULATIVE IMPACTS OF URBAN POVERTY
Source http//www.worldbank.org/urban/poverty/def
ining.html
Inability to afford adequate housing
Lack of access to credits for business or house
Lack of employment, inability to have a job, lack
of regular income and social security, poor
nutrition
Tenure insecurity, evictions, loss of small
savings invested in housing
Sense of insecurity, isolation and disempowerment
Unhygienic living conditions, low quality public
services
Poor health, poor education
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POLICY APPROACHESSystems and Relational
Approaches

• Cross-subsidisation initiatives
• City-wide and sector-wide responses
• City mandates developed with sufficient resources
  and in liaison with national governments and
  sectors
• Participatory development approaches

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RESPONSES - GOVERNANCE

• Rights and resources to participate in urban
  governance
• Access to information
• Access to expertise
• Legal and planning literacy
• Access to decision-making forums
• Access to judicial system

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LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES

• A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets
  (including both material and social resources)
  and activities required for a means of living
  (Carney, 1998)
• is the mix of individual and household
  survival strategies, developed over a given
  period of time, that seek to mobilise available
  resources and opportunities (Grown and Sebstad,
  1989)

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LIVELIHOODS

• Origins in rural poverty where households
• have a portfolio of assets
• Tangible (stores of cash and food, land, skills)
• Intangible (claims on others and government,
  access rights to welfare services)
• decide on portfolio use
• For earning, by disposal, for kinship
  obligations, development of mutual support
  networks, or changes to diet.

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LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES

• Depends on the portfolio held
• Capability to find and make use of livelihood
  opportunities
• influenced by households composition

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LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES

• Strategies adopted aim to
• cope with and recover from stresses and shocks
• stinting, hoarding, protecting, depleting or
  diversifying the portfolio
• maintain or enhance capabilities and assets
• provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for
  the next generation

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LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES

• Poverty is thus characterised by
• Lack of assets and the inability to accumulate a
  portfolio of them
• Lack of choice of alternative coping strategies

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URBAN LIVELIHOODS
Urban livelihoods involve mobilising resources
and combining them through a mix of

• Labour market involvement
• Savings
• Borrowing and investment
• Productive and reproductive activities
• Income, labour and asset pooling
• Social networking

38
URBAN LIVELIHOODS
The mix of strategies are adjusted by individuals
and households depending on

• Their circumstances age, life cycle, education
  tasks
• The changing context where they live and work

39
URBAN LIVELIHOODS
Although economic activities are the main
livelihood strategy of urban households, they may
be supplemented by

• Migration
• Maintenance of rural ties
• Urban food production
• Decisions about accessing education, health and
  housing
• Participation in social networks

40
URBAN LIVELIHOODS
Livelihoods concept recognises multiple
activities for survival and improving well-being

• But it rests on two problematic concepts
• HOUSEHOLD
• STRATEGY

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HOUSEHOLD
A group of people who contribute to and (or)
benefit from a joint economy in either cash or
domestic labour

• Whilst many urban households fit this definition
  many do not even those who do fit
  households change over time due to

• life cycle and ageing
• Culturally prescriptions
• Decisions about the movement of members
• Distribution of power within the household
• Relations with others households and groups

42
STRATEGY
The concept of strategy restores agency the
poor are not passive victims

• But strategy also implies control over assets and
  environment to pursue goal-oriented behaviour
  therefore do the poor

• React opportunistically to changing circumstances
• Defend themselves against further impoverishment
• Keep themselves on even keel
• Engage in risky but potentially profitable
  activities
• Who makes the decisions within the household?

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URBAN LIVELIHOODS FRAMEWORK
Human
Social
Natural
Physical
Financial
Five livelihood assets
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Natural Capital

• land
• water
• wild life
• biodiversity
• environmental resources

Natural capital is of importance in peri-urban
setting
Carney 1998, p. 4
45
Social Capital

• networks
• membership of groups
• relationships of trust
• access to wider
  institutions of society

• Bonding social capital (strong ties)
• Bridging social capital (weak ties)
• Linking social capital - vertical links with
  those in positions of influence

Carney 1998, p. 4
46
Human Capital
Carney 1998, p. 4
47
Physical Capital

• transport
• shelter
• water
• energy
• communications

Carney 1998, p. 4
48
Financial Capital

• savings
• credit
• private transfers
• pensions

Carney 1998, p. 4
49
VULNERABILITY CONTEXT Trends 1
Resource Stocks
Vulnerability Context
What is happening to natural resource stocks and
quality?
Population Density
What is the current density and how is it changing
Technology
What technologies exist which are of likely
benefit to people in the area
Carney 1998, p. 4
50
VULNERABILITY CONTEXT Trends 2
Vulnerability Context
Politics
How are people in the area placed in terms of
political representation
Economics
How do economic trends affect livelihoods
Carney 1998, p. 4
51
VULNERABILITY CONTEXT Shocks
Vulnerability Context
Climate
How does the climate affect peoples livelihoods
and well-being (rainfall and rainfall variability)
Conflict
Is there any civil or resource conflict (or
likelihood of such conflict) in the area
Carney 1998, p. 4
52
VULNERABILITY CONTEXT Culture
Vulnerability Context
Culture
What effect, if any, does culture have on the way
people manage their assets and the livelihood
choices they make

• unexplained differences between areas
• ways in which things are done and constraints

Carney 1998, p. 4
53
STRUCTURES PROCESSES
Vulnerability Context
Transforming Structures and Processes
STRUCTURES

• levels of government
• private sector
• civil society

PROCESSES

• Laws
• policies
• Incentives
• institutions

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LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES
Infrastructure and services
Vulnerability Context
Transforming Structures and Processes
LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES
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LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES
Infrastructure and services
Vulnerability Context
Transforming Structures and Processes
LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES
LIVELIHOOD OUTCOMES
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CARE Livelihood Framework
http//www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file
/docrep/003/X9371e/x9371e12.htm
57
CARE Livelihood Security
http//www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file
/docrep/003/X9371e/x9371e14.htm
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CARE Livelihoods Analysis
http//www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file
/docrep/003/X9371e/x9371e14.htm
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LIVELIHOODS APPROACH IN POLICY TERMS

• A critical response to the inadequacy of
  income/consumption approaches to poverty
• An approach which recognises social and
  institutional relations
• Identifies and recognises vulnerabilities but
  builds on strengths of the poor themselves
• In policy terms - an enabling approach

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Web sites

• CARE International Make Cities Count
• http//www.careinternational.org.uk/resource_centr
  e/urban/makecitiescountseries.htm
• CARE Livelihoods
• http//www.careinternational.org.uk/resource_centr
  e/livelihoods.htm