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URBAN SOCIETY | Health, Children and Education
Improving health
and education for all includes new forms of community and
informal education programmes, public information centres,
extensions to the coverage of primary education for marginal
groups, health education schemes in schools and communities,
environmental awareness projects, and community-based sanitation
and waste recycling schemes.
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local level
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AMICAALL (The Alliance of Mayors' Initiative for Community
Action on AIDS at the Local Level) (2001) - Presentation
- UN-AMICAALL / UNAIDS [pdf]
The AMICAALL approach rests on the premise that if individuals
and communities are to take responsibility for addressing
the various dimensions of HIV/AIDS, they will require a
supportive policy and social environment characterized by
good governance, decentralization and strong political leadership.
It is labourintensive
work to put communities in the driver’s seat - it
demands local coordination, planning, and action, supported
by enabling national and international policies. AMICAALL
aims to strengthen the capacityof local governments and
political leaders to identify the socio-economic causes
and consequences of HIV/AIDS, and to support multi-sectoral
community-based responses to the epidemic. The initiative
will especially focus on protecting the most vulnerable
groups within communities (particularly children, young
people and women) affected by the epidemic. It will build
on local knowledge and capabilities, capitalizing on techniques
traditionally used by communities themselves to support
their sick, orphaned, and dying members. The strategy promotes
partnerships between local government authorities, civil
society organizations and communities and encourages partners
to work together, rather than separately.
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Chawla, Louise (2002) - "Insight, creativity and thoughts
on the environment: integrating children and youth into
human settlement development" - Environment &
Urbanization, Vol 14 No 2, October 2002 - IIED [pdf]
This paper discusses the benefits of involving children
in planning
and managing human settlements both for the children, as
they learn the formal skills of democracy, and for the wider
community, as young people contribute their knowledge, energies
and perceptions about local environments, and remind adults
of their rights and their special needs and vulnerabilities.
Children learn active and responsible citizenship through
opportunities to practise it – but this requires formal
channels to incorporate children into school- and community-based
programmes for evaluating, planning and caring for local
environments. This paper reminds governments of the commitments
they have made to such an approach in the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, Agenda 21 and the Habitat Agenda.
It also discusses what underlies effective children's participation
in development planning, drawing on the author's work as
coordinator of the Growing up in Cities programme and on
other innovative policies and practices. This includes a
realistic sense of what can be accomplished; supportive
adults; and particular efforts to involve girls, the youngest
and those from marginalized groups.
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Fuentes, Patricio & Reiko Niimi (2002) -" Motivating
municipal action for children: the Municipal Seal of Approval
in Ceará, Brazil" - Environment & Urbanization,
Vol 14 No 2 October 2002 - IIED [pdf]
Brazil - This paper describes how municipalities
in the state of Ceará
(Brazil) were encouraged to compete to obtain a Municipal
Seal of Approval, based on their performance in meeting
children's needs and rights. It describes how the programme
was implemented, including the criteria used to judge performance,
the communication strategy to encourage municipal participation
and the measures taken to avoid rewarding only the better-resourced
municipalities. It also discusses the scheme's links with
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1988 constitution,
with its support for local rights and guardianship councils
and for decentralization and local democracy. It describes
the results, which included major declines in infant mortality
and child malnutrition rates, and improved school attendance
and health care, and considers the implications: the scheme's
capacity to mobilize civil society, local authorities and
mayors in ways which deliver measurable progress for children
despite no monetary reward for the successful municipalities
and the small UNICEF budget that supported it.
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Guerra, Eliana (2002) - "Citizenship knows no age:
children’s participation in the governance and municipal
budget of Barra Mansa, Brazil" - Environment &
Urbanization, Vol 14 No 2 October 2002 - IIED [pdf]
Brazil - This paper describes the development
of a children’s participatory budget council in the
city of Barra Mansa (Brazil), to which 18 boys and 18 girls
are elected by their peers to ensure that the municipal
council addresses their needs and priorities. This council
determines how a proportion of the municipal budget (equivalent
to around US$ 125,000 a year) is spent on addressing children’s
priorities, and its child councillors are also involved
in other aspects of government. Each year since 1998, more
than 6,000 children have taken part in discussions and assemblies
to elect their child councillors and discuss their own priorities.
The elected children learn how to represent their peers
within democratic structures, to prioritize based on available
resources, and then to develop projects within the complex
and often slow political and bureaucratic process of city
governance.
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Kruger, Jill Swart with Louise Chawla (2002) "We know
something someone doesn’t know: children speak out
on local conditions in Johannesburg" - Environment
& Urbanization, Vol 14 No 2 October 2002 - IIED
[pdf]
South Africa - This article summarizes
the findings of a four-site study of children’s needs
and priorities, part of the process to transform Greater
Johannesburg into a child friendly city. Applying the Growing
Up in Cities model, it presents the voices of 10 to 14-year-olds
from four diverse but representative areas of the city.
For each of these areas, boys and girls describe their use
of their local environments, the places they value or fear,
the problems they face and their own priorities for making
Johannesburg a better city. Based on these children’s
experiences, a number of programme and policy responses
are recommended, many of which will be relevant to other
cities as well.
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Mann, Gillian (2002) - “Wakimbizi, wakimbizi”:
Congolese refugee boys’ and girls’ perspectives
on life in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Environment &
Urbanization, Vol 14 No 2 October 2002 - IIED [pdf]
Tanzania - This paper draws on interviews
and discussions with 40
Congolese refugee boys and girls who live in Dar es Salaam.
It describes their lives and the difficulties they face,
and discusses the implications of their clandestine existence
(since refugees are not meant to live in Dar but to stay
in refugee camps). Children have to conceal their identities
and often have their mobility restricted by parents for
fear that they will be identified as refugees. Children
talk about the harassment they suffer and how they learn
to distrust all strangers. Many parents do not send their
children to school because they feel their time in Dar is
temporary. Most children still think of Congo as home and
have little hope that things will improve if they stay in
Dar es Salaam. The paper discusses the need to recognize
the rights of the “hidden” refugees, who are
common and often numerous in many African cities.
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Merkle, Caspar (2003) - "Youth participation in El
Alto, Bolivia" - Environment & Urbanization,
Vol 15 No 1 April 2003 - IIED [pdf]
Bolivia - This paper explores a paradox
in the participation of disadvantaged youth in El Alto,
Bolivia, in local processes and activities: although they
are highly organized and active in social and cultural groups,
they fail to involve themselves in the local political system.
These young people, most of them the children of indigenous
Aymara migrants from rural areas, are marginalized within
mainstream society (as exemplified by more affluent nearby
La Paz), not only by their poverty but also by their cultural
identity. They actively organize themselves in a wide range
of groups, some of them focused on the arts, some recreational,
and some in response to particular issues and campaigns.
Many of these groups and activities are characterized by
a critical stance, an articulation of young people’s
discontent with “the system”. However, despite
their legal right to vote and to be elected from the age
of 18, they avoid involvement in the political process and
the local neighbourhood organizations through which change,
in theory, can be effected. This paper identifies the many
constraints that contribute to this lack of involvement
– including the corruption of local officials, the
low level of political education and awareness, and the
various regulations that make prosperity a prerequisite
for real participation.
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Nieuwenhuys, Olga (1997) - "Spaces for the children
of the urban poor: experiences with participatory action
research (PAR)" - "Environment & Urbanization,
Vol. 9, No. 1, April 1997 - IIED [pdf]
This paper explains why participatory action research
(PAR) could be so important in helping the children of the
urban poor, and those who work with them, generate relevant
insights into their specific needs and priorities and help
them influence decisions that are taken about their lives.
The paper begins by discussing the problems facing children
in urban areas of the South and why more participatory research
approaches which work with children have come to the fore.
It then describes what participatory action research is
(and is not) and why researchers and the institutions that
fund them have difficulty in supporting such a research
approach, especially in relation to children. The paper
then addresses the three main implications for researchers
who want to use PAR with children: taking responsibility
for the children’s needs and priorities within the
research; balancing participation and mediation; and ensuring
the
research helps to negotiate more spaces for children in
their environment and more power in their relationship with
the state
and society.
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Ramsey, Fiona (2002) - HIV / AIDS and Local Governance
in Sub Saharan Africa - Occasional Paper N°1 -
Urban Management Programme Regional Office for Africa, UNDP
/ UN-Habitat [pdf]
The objective of this paper is to highlight the challenges
faced by Governments in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic
in sub-Saharan Africa. Case studies from South Africa and
Cote d’Ivoire are presented in order to demonstrate
how different countries are responding to the epidemic.
These case studies review the national context and outline
the responses being undertaken by all levels of government,
as well as at the local level by NGOs, private, civil society
and religious and faith-based affiliations. The national
context in many countries has a direct bearing on the quality
of the local response. In South Africa, for example, the
controversies have limited the responses to the epidemic
in a collective and coherent
manner. What is evident in these two case studies (as well
as with the rest of the continent), is that the role of
local government in this epidemic is fairly recent and will
require assistance from central government, NGOs, the private
sector, civil society, donor agencies, HIV/AIDS programmes,
etc. in dealing effectively with HIV/AIDS in the workplace
and the community.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice - Public Participation
in free physical fitness program in Cordoba - [pdf]
Argentina - The PA.S.O.S. (For your optimal
health) programme has as its main the primary health prevention.The
activities are free and are directed by specialised personnel
with medical control through the programme development.
The original idea arose as a strategy to cover the needs
of two populations segments: those that did not have the
funds to assist to a specialised centre and people who made
physical activity on their own, without any sort of control.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice -Partners Education
Network's Schools Project [pdf]
South Africa - The project aims at improving
the standard of education and teaching in 38 "adopted"
schools situated in the previously disadvantaged areas of
Zululand through a variety of interventions and improvements
in facilities, the development of governing bodies and training
of teachers and principals.
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van Donk, Mirjam (2002) - HIV/AIDS and Urban Poverty
in South Africa - DPLG, Pretoria [pdf]
The purpose of this paper is to explore HIV/AIDS as an
urban development concern, with a particular focus on the
link between HIV/AIDS and urban poverty. The next section
looks at the concentration and manifestation of HIV/AIDS
in urban areas. It examines why HIV/AIDS is concentrated
in urban areas and which social groups are most vulnerable
to HIV infection. In doing this, it highlights factors in
the urban context that influence sexual behaviour and may
constrain individual choice in sexual behaviour and access
to HIV prevention methods. Poverty and inequality, particularly
gender inequality, are identified as core factors in enhanced
vulnerability to HIV infection.
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Wyss, K. and L. Nodjadjim (2000) - Access to Health
Care by Street Children in the Urban Context of N'Djamena,
Chad - May 2000 ESF/Naerus Workshop [pdf]
Chad - Street children are one of the
new categories of social actors resulting from the rapid
urbanisation of cities of the South. Among the numerous
problems they have to face daily, there are also obstacles
related to disease and access to health care. This paper
describes at the example of N'Djaména (Chad), their
health problems as well as efforts to provide better health
care through an action research approach.
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city level
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Arrossi Silvina (1996) - "Inequality and health in
the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires" - Environment
& Urbanization, Vol. 8 No. 2, October 1996 - IIED
[pdf]
Argentina - This paper describes differences
in unsatisfied basic
needs and in mortality rates by age group for the 20 districts
which make up the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires. It
also
describes differences in causes of death by age group between
the central city (Capital Federal) and the inner and outer
ring of
municipalities that surround it. The paper ends with a discussion
of why it is important to develop a more detailed statistical
picture of health differences between districts in cities
and examines
also the difficulties in doing so.
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Assani, Aliou (2001) - Equity and Access to Quality
Care in Urban Areas: Urban Health Project Abidjan, Bamako,
Conakry, Dakar and Niamey - Synthesis- UNICEF / French
Ministry of Cooperation [pdf]
The strategies proposed for improving the quality and equity
of care in urban areas are not only based on the findings
of the Project studies, but also on promising experiences
initiated in some countries in the sub-region, in the context
of the health system reform. In fact, they constitute a
Minimum Package of indispensable operational strategies
for improving access to quality care in urban health centres,
notably for disadvantaged people. Sooner or later, all the
countries will have to adopt these
strategies. Differences between countries will relate to
the process of implementation which will vary according
to the specific context. Often, the implementation will
require an in-depth reform of the health sector.
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Dilip, T.R. & Ravi Duggal (2002) - Incidence of
Non-Fatal Health Outcomes and Debt in Urban India - CEHAT
[pdf]
India - Poor coverage of any health insurance
programme and inadequacy of public health care system has
made India a country where out of pocket expenditure for
seeking health care contributed to 75 % of total expenditure
on health care. This paper tries to study the above phenomenon
by analyzing the household level financing of hospitalization
care services in urban India using the 52nd Round National
Sample Survey Data Sets.
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Dilip, T.R. & Ravi Duggal (2003) - A study on Need
for Public Health Care Services in Greater Mumbay -
CEHAT [pdf]
India - This study report is based on
a need-assessment survey conducted in connection with the
BMC’s plan to set up a municipal general hospital
in one of its ward. The study area is unique in the sense
that it is the most populous ward in Greater Mumbai, and
yet, it does not have a single public hospital within its
limits. Data was collected from 1,035 households spread
across three health-post areas around the proposed hospital.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice - Makati Health Program
(Yellow Card) [pdf]
Philippines - The Makati Health Programme
(MHP) was designed to provide residents of the city of Makati
with monthly incomes not exceeding PhP8,000 (US$156) access
to quality health care. The cost of health care in Philippine
urban centers is so prohibitive that it is beyond the reach
of citizens belonging to this income bracket.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice - Improvement of Living
Conditions in Levice [pdf]
Slovakia - The Practice "Improvement
of the life conditions in Levice" addresses some of
the problems faced by the residents of Levice town. The
practice engages various aspects and sectors of life that
are cross-cutting in an integrated manner. The main objective
of the practice is to provide better conditions for healthy
life through the creation of more green areas and increasing
the recreational options for children and youth.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice - Solidarity in Literacy
Programme, Brasilia [pdf]
Brazil - The Solidarity in Literacy Programme
was created in 1997 by the Solidarity Community Council,
a forum for the development of social actions based on partnerships
between the federal government, private organizations, and
civil society. The Programme's principal objective is to
institute provision of education for youths and adults through
focus on municipalities that have the highest illiteracy
rates in the country.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice - Doctors of Happiness,
Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro - UN-Habitat [pdf]
Brazil - Doctors of Happiness (Doutores
da Alegria) is Brazil's pre-eminent performing arts organisation
devoted to bringing joy to hospitalised children two days
a week, 48 weeks per year. Using clown theatre as its main
language, experienced, professional artists perform delightful
parodies of medical rounds where the healing power of humor
is the chief medical treatment.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice - Maloka interactive
center of science and technology [pdf]
Colombia - Maloka is, as its indigenous
name indicates, urban landmark, encounter place and dialogue,
where possible paths open for the individual's and the society's
better future. It's a program of national projection that
looks for the contribution of social change, through multiple
strategies of democratized and permanent seeking for social
appropriation of science and technology entertaining way.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Best Practice - Repapel: Paper Collection
and Recycling in Schools, Montevideo [pdf]
Uruguay - The general goal of REPAPEL
is to generate participatory activities in primary schools,
enabling children to gain first-hand knowledge on how recycling
benefits the Environment.The project involved the distribution
of school supplies made of recycled paper, obtained from
old newspapers and other wastepaper collected in the schools
that participated in the project.
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international level
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International Labour Office: International Programme on
the Elimination of Child Labour (2003) - IPEC Action
Against Child Labour: Highlights 2002 - ILO [pdf]
This report highlights the strategy and current activities
of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child
Labour during 2002 and reviews the progress made thus far
in achieving the targets set out in IPECs Programme
and Budget for the 2002-03 biennium. In an effort to provide
a more in-depth view of important topics that are germane
to IPECs work and future strategy, three themes have
been selected for discussion in Part II.
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Riggio, Eliana & Theresa Kilbane - "The international
secretariat for child-friendly cities: a global network
for urban children" - Environment & Urbanization,
Vol 12 No 2 October 2000 - IIED [pdf]
This paper discusses the establishment of an international
Child- Friendly Cities Secretariat in Florence. The Child-Friendly
Cities Initiative (CFCI), active since Habitat II, is a
loose network of municipalities that are committed to improving
the quality of life for their child residents. The paper
describes some of the wide range of projects that have been
undertaken in response to this initiative and lists the
activities that the secretariat plans in order to support
these efforts and share information about them.
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Todd, Alison (1996) - "Health inequalities in urban
areas: a
guide to the literature" - Environment & Urbanization,
Vol. 8, No. 2, October 1996 - IIED [pdf]
Why should urban development professionals be concerned
about variations in health statistics within and between
urban areas? Firstly, because the statistics represent vast
numbers of early deaths and debilitating illnesses. Secondly,
because the distribution of health inequalities in urban
areas reflects wider social inequalities: on average the
urban rich live for longer and in better health than the
urban poor. In Tondo, a squatter settlement in Manila, Philippines,
nearly three times as many children die before their first
birthday as in non-squatter areas, while diarrhoea is twice
as common and tuberculosis nine times as common. In the
Bronx, New York City, children are five times more likely
to contract tuberculosis than their wealthier neighbours.
In London, heart disease and respiratory diseases are twice
as common in poor as in rich areas. A useful introduction
to urban health inequalities is provided by the chapter
on “Urban Environment and Human Health” in the
1996/97 World Resources Report, from which the above examples
are taken.
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UNICEF (2002) - "Poverty and Exclusion Among Urban
Children" - Innocenti Digest No 10 - November
2002 - UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre [pdf]
For many, the image of a malnourished child, a child living
in miserable circumstances and lacking access to basic social
services, has a rural backdrop. Now, with a net increase
in the urban population,
this picture is increasingly set in the slums of the world’s
mega-cities. As Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General has
acknowledged, “Cities are often described as cradles
of civilization, and sources of cultural and economic renaissance
but, for the roughly one third of the developing world’s
urban population that lives in extreme poverty, they are
anything but that. Most of these urban poor have no option
but to find housing in squalid and unsafe squatter settlements
or slums. And even though the population of cities, like
countries, has on average become older, slum dwellers are
getting younger”. This Digest addresses the reality
of these children. It highlights the chronic poverty and
marginalisation they face: many spend their days digging
in rubbish tips for something they can sell, and their nights
on the streets, where they risk violence and exploitation.
They lack a secure home, can’t afford access to health
services or education, and there is nowhere safe for them
to play. Denied a voice, they can neither denounce the conditions
in which they live, nor realise their enormous potential
to inform solutions.
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web
sites
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World Declaration on the
Survival, Protection and Development of Children; Agreed
to at the World Summit for Children, 30 September 1990 [pdf]
1. We have gathered at the World
Summit for Children to
undertake a joint commitment and to make an urgent universal
appeal - to give every child a better future...
ILO - International Programme
on the Elimination of Child Labour: Text of the Convention
Article 1:
Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall take immediate
and effective measures to secure
the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child
labour as a matter of urgency. [pdf]
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Documents highlighting DFID's published
work in support of health, children and education
in urban areas: |
Cameron,
Sara (2001) - Bangladesh: Basic Education for
Hard to Reach Urban Children - DFID / UNICEF
[pdf]
Bangladesh - The Basic Education
for Hard To Reach Urban Children project aims to serve
harshly exploited working children. It was top down
by design, but with good reason. It confronted widespread
beliefs that denial of education for children in deeply
impoverished families was an unavoidable fact of life.
Such children were (and still are) expected to work,
often in circumstances that are hazardous to their
health and well being. Thus education for working
children was not a priority of families, communities
or government. The Hard to Reach project was an attempt
to achieve an ambitious breakthrough in establishing
recognition of the rights of working children.
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"Defeating
Disease through Housing" - Wakely, Patrick; Nicholas
You (2001) – Implementing the Habitat Agenda:
In Search of Urban Sustainability - DPU [pdf]
Bolivia - Fundación Pro Hábitat's
'Project Chagas 2000' brought together a range of
problems faced by poor communities in Tarija, South
Bolivia: health, housing, training and education.
It enabled communities to increase their understanding
of the problems and develop their own solutions to
them. It also explored the wider implications of poor
housing and the importance of community involvement
and it scaling up.
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"Healthy
Cities Programme Turku" - Allen, Adriana;
Nicholas You (2002) – Sustainable Urbanisation:
Bridging the Green and Brown Agendas –
DPU [pdf]
Finland - The Healthy Cities initiative
involves various activities and projects, dealing
with administration and the active participation of
both city inhabitants and voluntary organisations.
People are encouraged to exert their influence and
act on issues they feel are important.
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Riley,
Liz; Janelle Plummer, Kevin Tayler & Patrick Wakely
(1999) - Community Learning and Information Centres
as a Tool for Sustainable Development - Working
Paper no. 96 - DPU / GHK / DFID [pdf]
The central focus of the research is the community
learning, information and communication (CLIC) processes
that surround access to, and the delivery of, urban
infrastructure and services by low-income communities
and public sector bodies in India. Information, communication
and learning are the basis upon which change takes
place in people’s attitudes and actions.
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Fighting
Aids in Msunduzi (2002) - Sustainable
Urbanisation: Bridging the Green and Brown Agendas
- DPU / DFID [pdf]
South Africa - As the problem of
HIV/AIDS is too big to be addressed by any one organisation,
involvement of many organisations in a city is crucial
to tackle this disease, by bringing together resources
to sustain awareness, prevention, treatment and care.
Msunduzi, near Durban, is a city of 570,000 people
in the epicentre of the South African AIDS pandemic.
Msunduzi has an HIV prevalence of approximately 18%,
with an estimated 100,000 people living with
the virus, 250 AIDS-related deaths per month and 10,000
AIDS orphans.
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Schilderman, Theo (2002) - Strenghthening
the Knowledge and Information Systems of the Urban
Poor - DFID / ITDG [pdf]
A key reason for embarking upon this research was
that earlier surveys, evaluations and experience had
concluded that development agencies and researchers
who possess knowledge on urban development had not
been very effective at disseminating that knowledge
to the urban poor, resulting in only limited uptake
and impact at the grassroots. There appeared to be
various reasons for that: they were not spending enough
attention to exploring the information needs and resources
of the urban poor; dissemination was too often top-down
and using inappropriate information resources; and,
whilst some successful examples existed, participatory
communication methods were still to some extent being
developed and certainly needed wider replication.
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