[sustran] poverty alleviation and basic mobility

[Brian.Williams at unchs.org]

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INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON URBAN POVERTY
CONCEPT PAPER

Draft (9 April 1997)

1.   Background in the perspective of the Recife Declaration

     The Recife International Meeting on Urban Poverty,
organised in preparation for the Habitat II Conference, and 
in
the context of the International Year for the Eradication of
Poverty, calls for a fundamental change in attitude and 
policy
to confront urban poverty.

     At the official presentation of the Recife Declaration
during the Habitat II Conference, in Istanbul, the content of
the Declaration received additional backing from mayors,
government ministers, spiritual leaders and representatives 
of
donor countries, and sparked a lively debate.  UNCHS 
(Habitat)
was urged by the mayors and other participants in the Recife
Special Event to ensure continuity to the process of advocacy
and exchange of experiences and information that was launched
in Recife, and to promote the concrete application of the
principles of the Recife Declaration and of the poverty-
related guidance contained in the Habitat Agenda.

2.   The International Forum on Urban Poverty: objectives and
focus

     The proposed mechanism for Recife and Istanbul follow-up
in the field of urban poverty is the International Forum on
Urban Poverty, a partnership among municipalities, bilateral
and multilateral support agencies, private Foundations, NGOs
and community-based organizations that are active in the
struggle against urban poverty at the local level.

     The Forum will provide a permanent mechanism for the
discussion of crucial aspects of urban poverty, of its causes
and consequences and of the policies needed for its 
reduction,
involving experts and researchers in policy analysis and
conceptual development.  It will provide an impetus to 
poverty
reduction activities, pooling resources to promote the
implementation of the poverty-related aspects of the Habitat
Agenda and the application of the principles of the Recife
Declaration.

     It will promote direct exchanges between local actors 
and
advocate internationally their central role in the struggle
against urban poverty, as agents of coordination, of 
mediation
and development which play a leading role in the physical and
social construction of the city.  Focusing on local 
government
and its key role in the struggle against urban poverty, the
Forum will contribute to strengthening the political role of
cities in interpreting the local demands and practices of
organized communities, uniting all the local forces that have
a contribution to make in fighting urban poverty and 
providing
them with a reliable link to central governments, in order to
make it possible to have their voices taken into account at
the higher levels of the decision-making process.

     Even though the role of central governments as enablers,
providing an overall framework for many city-related 
decisions
and strategies is acknowledged, urban poverty reduction will
not be achieved unless it is addressed through local 
policies,
that are close to city dwellers themselves. Experience has
indeed shown that when governments strive to confront urban
poverty they cannot succeed unless they establish 
partnerships
with cities and community groups.  Likewise, the worthy and
promising practices of so many communities and NGOs cannot
make a difference at the right scale unless the city as a
whole buys into these practices.

     The primary objectives of the Forum will be thus to
advocate for the concrete application of the principles of 
the
Recife Declaration for poverty reduction at the local level,
and to promote the horizontal exchange of experiences among
local actors, including local communities and policy makers,
both in developed and developing countries.
     
      The Forum will allow the international community to
learn about the number of practices for poverty reduction 
that
originate from municipalities and social actors at local
level. It will help in extracting lessons, analyzing and
disseminating them, contributing to strengthening the 
capacity
of the poor in organizing solidarity networks and to building
poverty reduction strategies that are based on the poor's
existing practices.

     Finally, the Forum will point to the need for 
interaction
and integration of urban and social policies, overcoming
traditional sectoral approaches and promoting an integrated
approach to public policies.

     As a result, it is hoped that the Forum will influence
global thinking and policy development in the field of urban
poverty reduction, becoming an advisory think-tank to the
international community on urban poverty issues, and offering
a facility which interested countries and cities can resort 
to
for assistance in the formulation and implementation of
poverty reduction policies at the local and national levels.

     The International Forum on Urban Poverty will be
officially launched at a global meeting of all its partners,
to be held in Florence, Italy, from 14 to 19 September 1997.

3.   The Activities of the International Forum on Urban
Poverty

     It is envisaged that the activities of the Forum will be
based on a continuous process of documentation and exchange 
of
promising practices, and on a two-yearly cycle of 
preparations
for its global meeting, and dissemination of the results of
the previous meeting.  
     During each bi-annual meeting the experiences gained
since the previous meeting will be analyzed, and the
activities undertaken evaluated, so that over time the
principles of Recife may be re-elaborated and refined. Every
time, background papers and case studies will be prepared for
the meeting, in a process of compilation and collation of the
knowledge that is available on each of the themes under
scrutiny. At the end of the meeting, the new formulations and
the lessons learnt will be included in proceedings containing
the background and case study material, as well as a report 
on
the discussions in plenary and in the . This material will be
disseminated as a base for further field applications and
advancement of the practices of local poverty reduction
activities.  Suggestions for themes to be discussed in the
next cycle will be made at each Forum meeting.

     In the meantime, the Forum will support a permanent
mechanism of documentation and exchange of experiences,
utilizing a specifically conceived format which will be
compatible with other similar databases. Also envisaged is
the possibility for the Forum to promote the initiation of
local activities in the field of poverty reduction, providing
support and guidance to municipalities interested in the
design of poverty reduction programmes. The bi-annual meeting
could in this case be the occasion for the development of a
framework for action at municipal level and for its 
periodical
review, drawing from field experiences as well as from the
expertise that is available from the Forum's partners.

     In time, with the development of the Forum, it could
become useful to organize, apart from the general meetings,
separate specialized meetings, as well as sub-regional and
country workshops on particular themes.

     The network that would be thus established would
naturally lead Forum participants to express a demand for the
advisory services that the Forum, drawing upon the collective
expertise of its members, would be able to mobilize.  It is
envisaged that such advisory services would in turn 
constitute
learning opportunities for the Forum, and that poverty
reduction activities in which the Forum would be involved
would be carefully documented for this purpose.

4.   The functions of the Forum

     The functions of the Forum may be thus summed up:

a.   EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES: by establishing an 
international
     platform for the exchange of experiences and a
     dissemination mechanism;

b.   IMPROVED KNOWLEDGE: through identification of crucial
     issues, promotion of specific research and documentation
     of field experiences. The preparation of the Forum
     meetings (choice of themes, preparation of case studies
     and background material), as well as the discussion and
     exchange during the meeting will represent the core of
     this activity;

c.   POLICY ADVICE: by constituting a focal point within the
     international community for advisory services for the
     formulation and implementation of urban poverty 
reduction
     policies;

d.   TECHNICAL SUPPORT: by consolidating and coordinating
     international expertise from governments, external
     support agencies, local authorities, NGOs, foundations
     and the private sector for the formulation and
     implementation of urban poverty reduction programmes;

e.   ADVOCACY: by promoting the principles of the Recife
     Declaration and their translation into public policy and
     practice;

f.   AWARENESS RAISING: by raising the awareness of the
     general public on the importance of reducing urban
     poverty for the promotion of social justice and the
     creation of an equitable civil society.

     The scope of these activities and their
operationalisation are dependent on the funding and resource
mobilization mechanism that will be set in place.

5.   The organization of the Forum

     It is envisaged that the operating and funding
arrangements for the Forum will be developed in the period
leading up to the Florence meeting in September 1997, and
finalized in Florence, during a specific session.

     The Forum's operating arrangements, on the basis of the
experience of similar Councils and Forums on other subjects,
will have to utilize existing institutional arrangements,
avoiding the need to create new structures.  The basic 
outline
of the Forum would be as follows:

-    The Forum would be constituted by an ad-hoc Secretariat,
     a Coordinating Committee and by the assembly of its
     members, who would be municipalities, multilateral and
     bilateral support agencies, private Foundations, non-
     governmental and community-based organizations.  The
     modalities for membership would be drawn up in the 
period
     leading up to the Florence meeting and defined in
     Florence.
-    The Coordinating Committee would be formed by
     representatives of the institutions and municipalities
     that would be directly involved in preparations for the
     next Forum meeting in any given two-year period.  Among
     the cities, there would be the city that organized the
     preceding Conference and the city that would be 
preparing
     the next one. UNCHS (Habitat) would provide the Forum's
     Secretariat.

6.   The Florence Conference: overall theme, choice of topics
     and expected outputs

     The proposed overall theme of the meeting, "Governance
and Participation: Practical Approaches to Urban Poverty
Reduction," is of mutual interest to countries of the North
and the South, builds on consensus achieved at the Recife
Conference, and furthers partnerships emerging out of the
Istanbul Conference.

     The Florence Conference will define the structure and
modus operandi of the International Forum on Urban Poverty. 
It will also focus on enabling participants to apply the
principles of the Recife Declaration and to work towards a
viable framework for urban poverty reduction.  The 
substantive
portion of the Florence Conference will be organized, over
five days, into four parts: the International Forum, (part 
I),
thematic overview (part II), analysis of sectoral topics 
(part
III), and practical application of strategies on each topic
(part IV).  It is envisioned that the International Forum on
Urban Poverty will adopt this structure for its global
Conferences.  Future Conferences would vary in overall theme
and sectoral topics, yet retain a similar format.  The Forum
will therefore provide an opportunity to operationalize a 
wide
range of themes and topics in order to make incremental
contributions to a framework for urban poverty reduction.

     During Part I of the Conference, participants will 
listen
to some examples of other existing organizations with similar
purposes in other issue areas, and consider and discuss the
proposed structure and operational arrangements for the
International Forum on Urban Poverty.  

     Participants will then focus in Part II of the 
Conference
on urban poverty reduction, under the general theme of
"Governance and Participation."  The choice of this theme
reflects growing concern in the international community about
decentralization of public administration and the need for
greater accountability among decision makers (from community
leaders to heads of state). It also reflects increased
recognition that people living in poverty have a fundamental
right to participate in decisions which impact on their 
living
and working conditions, and particularly in decisions about
resource allocation.  Questions about governance, considered
in the context of participation, highlight the relationship
between political representation and popular participation,
both in electoral politics and in economic and social
development. Similarly, debates about participation, viewed 
in
the context of governance, illustrate the importance of
decentralization and accountability to participatory decision
making. Considered together, governance and participation
constitute corner stones of a prospective operational 
strategy
to reduce poverty.

     In Part III of the Conference, discussion will focus on
four sectoral topics: (1) From urban violence and exclusion 
to
safer cities; (2) Shelter and employment; (3) Access to
affordable transport for the urban poor; and (4) Social
exclusion and the "new" urban poor.  The Conference focuses 
on
topics such as urban violence and access to transport, 
crucial
to one or more of the issue areas but hitherto largely
excluded from debates on poverty.  Such "new" topics have
gained importance in the wake of Habitat II and the
Partnerships Forums.

     For these four sectoral topics, the conference will
provide an opportunity to compare experiences from both North
and South, and will draw lessons from many different
practices, presented as case studies.

     During Part IV of the Conference--"Practical Approaches
to Urban Poverty Reduction," participants will move from
principles of governance and participation to applied
strategies and practices, as realized in the topical areas of
transport, urban violence, etc.  They will assemble in 
working
groups sessions organized by sectoral topic to identify
mechanisms and tools, and make recommendations for CBOs, 
NGOs,
local authorities, senior policy makers, and the private
sector.  The working groups will focus on partnerships, 
gender
awareness and participatory decision making techniques in
order to arrive at practical methods and recommendations. 
Partnerships are increasingly regarded as practical tools for
channelling the resources of diverse actors in the human
settlements sector.  There are a wide range of practices 
which
ensure strategies for poverty reduction fully incorporate the
needs and capacities of women.  Similarly, there are 
important
tools and methods which ensure people living in poverty are
able (legally, technically, financially) to make decisions on
how to improve the human settlements in which the work and
live.  

     The discussion on the cross-cutting themes will enable
participants to reflect on experiences from North and South,
and analyze the practices presented in the working groups.

     A Task Force will be established to consolidate the
substantive elements of the case studies and plenary and
working group discussions.  The Task Force will present a
report in plenary which will form the basis of the activities
of the Forum on each of the topics in the next two-year
period.

     The Florence Conference will conclude with a final
session dedicated to the presentation to the plenary and the
media of the Task Force report which will gather comments and
suggestions of the participants throughout the Florence
Conference and modify the proposed arrangements for the Forum
accordingly.  This will lead to the preparation of a final
document on the organization and activities of the Forum 
which
will constitute the reference document for the Forum's
activities in the follow-up period. 

7.   Meeting organization and participants

     The Florence Conference will be held from 14 to 19
September 1997.   The programme of the Conference is 
attached.

     The maximum number of participants is tentatively set at
150.  Efforts will be made to balance the participation of
policy-makers, local officials, NGO representatives,
educators, practitioners and community representatives from
the North and the South, with an emphasis on local actors and
local government representatives.

     The languages of the meeting, as in Recife, will be 
four:
English, French and Spanish, plus the language of the host
country (Italian in the case of Florence).  The meeting will
be organized in plenary sessions and in  on the various
topics.  All plenary and committee sessions will have
simultaneous interpretation in all four languages.

     A general background document on the overall theme of 
the
Conference,  "Governance and Participation: Practical
Approaches to Urban Poverty Reduction", will be presented in
plenary at the beginning of the Conference.  On each sectoral
topic, a keynote paper and one case study will be presented 
in
plenary (two speakers, 20 min. each), followed by discussions
in plenary and in working group .  On the cross-cutting
elements of  participation, partnerships and gender, a brief
orientation will be presented in plenary, followed by the
discussions on the four sectoral topics in working group. The
case studies will be from the North and from the South. The
case studies should present an applied experience in an urban
setting, preferably one which demonstrates community, local
and national levels of decision making--rather than a 
national
or isolated neighbourhood experience.  Their presentation
should ideally include a video.

     Plenary presentations of case studies will allow greater
exchange among participants, providing a richer input into 
the
groups' discussions.

     The working groups ' tasks are: (1) to discuss the theme
according to the background documentation that will be
prepared and to the experience of each participant; (2) to
analyze the case study(s); (3) to make recommendations on 
what
the Forum's activity should be regarding that specific theme;
and (4) to contribute operational strategies/guidelines for
urban poverty reduction, in the context of the specific topic
under discussion.

     The discussion on the Forum organizational and
operational setup will be held in plenary and in specific
working groups and will be coordinated by a Task Force which
will be established at the beginning of the meeting.

     For each topic/theme, there will be focal points, who
will be responsible for: (1) coordinating the development of 
a
concise, 5-10 page theme paper; (2) contacting partners to
discuss the selection of the speakers and case study(s); (3)
preparing a draft agenda for the discussion in the working
groups; and (4) identifying two facilitators who will service
the working group and the Task Force, respectively.

     The Task Force will provide the substantive elements of
the Conference proceedings to the Forum.  The Task Force
members will be charged with consolidating discussions in the
working groups, and revising proposed operational
recommendations. In addition to developing substantive 
outputs
for the Conference, the Task Force will facilitate long-term
plans of action and networking for partners on the different
themes.  

     It is envisaged to hold a preparatory seminar in
Florence, immediately preceding the Forum meeting, for the
facilitators and rapporteurs who will be servicing the
Conference.  Facilitators and rapporteurs will be identified
well in advance, and will be involved in the organization of
the Conference from early on.INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON URBAN 
POVERTY
Florence Conference (14 - 19 September 1997)

GOVERNANCE AND PARTICIPATION:
 PRACTICAL APPROACHES TO URBAN POVERTY REDUCTION
Draft programme


Sunday 14 Sept.- Evening  - Opening Session
18.00-20.00 (Plenary)
     This will include opening speeches from the Municipality
     of Florence and from the Italian Government; an
     introduction from UNCHS (Habitat) on the outcome of
     Recife and Istanbul on urban poverty reduction 
strategies
     and on the Meeting's objectives; opening speeches by the
     Forum's other partners

Monday 15 Sept.-Morning - PART I: The International Forum on
Urban Poverty
9.00-12.30 (Plenary)
-    General presentation of the International Forum :
     objectives, working modalities, participants, sphere of
     activities: (30 min.).
-    Habitat International Coalition (20 min.)
-    European Forum for Urban Safety (20 min.)
-    Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (20
min.)
Coffee Break (10.30-11.00)
-    Questions and Answers (30 min.)
-    Discussion (45 min.)
-    Establishment of a Task Force, which will gather 
comments
     and suggestions of the participants throughout the
     Florence Meeting and modify the proposed arrangements 
for
     the Forum accordingly for presentation to the final
     Plenary (15 min.)
Lunch (12.30-14.00)

Monday 15 Sept.- Afternoon -  Part II: Governance and
Participation
14:00-17:00 (Plenary)
-    Presentation by the Government of Pernambuco:
     "Reflections on Recife" (20 min)
-    Questions and answers (30 min)
-    Keynote Address: "Governance and Participation" (25 min)
Coffee Break (15:15-15:30)
-    Presentation: "Participation, Partnerships and Gender"
     (20 min.)
-    Presentation: "Practical Approaches to Urban Poverty
     Reduction: Suggestions for Achieving Outcomes of 
Florence
     Conference" (20 min)
-    Discussion (50 min.)

Tuesday 16 Sept.- Morning - Part III: Select Topics of Urban
Poverty
9.00-12.30 (Plenary)
     1. First topic:  From Urban Violence and Exclusion to
Safer Cities
     Keynote paper and case study (2 speakers 20' each +
     discussion)
Coffee break (10.30-11.00)
     2. Second topic:  Access to Transport for the Urban Poor
     Keynote paper and case study (2 speakers 20' each +
     discussion)
     General discussion
Lunch Break (12:30-14:00)

Tuesday 16 Sept.- Afternoon
14:00-17:30 (Plenary)
     3. Third topic: Shelter and employment
     Keynote paper and case study (2 speakers 20' each +
discussion)
Coffee break (15.30-16.00)
     4. Fourth topic: Social Exclusion and the "New" Urban
     Poor
     Keynote paper and case study (2 speakers 20' each +
     discussion)

Wednesday 17 Sept.- Morning-
9:00-10:00 (Plenary)

Part IV: Practical Approaches to Urban Poverty Reduction

10:00-12:30 (working groups )
-    Introduction to Working Group Discussions (15 mins.)
-    4 working groups: Discussions on the four sectoral
     topics.

Lunch Break (12:30-14:00)

Wed. 17 Sept.- Afternoon      
14:00-15:45: 4 working groups
-    Discussions on the four sectoral topics.
Coffee break (15:45-16:15)
16:15-18:00: 4 working groups
-    Discussions on the four sectoral topics.

Thursday 18 Sept.- Morning
9.00-11.00: 4 working groups on sectoral topics: working plan
and networking and 
      a working group on 'Forum Action Planning' 
Coffee break (11.00-11.30)
11.30-12.30: Continuation of 4 working groups on sectoral
topics: working plan and networking and a working group on
'Forum Action Planning'.

Lunch Break (12.03-14.00)

Thursday 18 Sept.- Afternoon -     Presentations and cultural
                                   visits organized by the
                                   City of Florence

Friday 19 Sept.- Morning - Conclusions 

9.00-13.00 (plenary)
     Presentation of the conclusions of each working group to
the plenary and media.
     (2 h)
Coffee break (11.00-11.30)
     Presentation of the conclusions of Task Force on the
future work of the Forum to the plenary and media.(1 h) 
     Closing ceremony


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Brian Williams, Human Settlements Officer
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT)
Research and Development Division
P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya
TEL: (254 2) 623-916
FAX: (254 2) 624-265
EMAIL: brian.williams at unchs.org