1. Background Theme Paper
The theme paper established conceptual and operational linkages between governance, participation and urban poverty reduction based on a central hypothesis that genuine participation is a key ingredient of good governance and an important pre-condition for adopting poverty reduction strategies in urban areas.
Recent gatherings of world leaders have identified the eradication of poverty as one of the key challenges facing mankind. Poverty has many faces and manifests itself in a variety of ways including:
Whilst the linkages between poverty and governance are not always explicit, it is clear that in many countries unless the governance framework is clearly articulated in terms of who decides on resource allocation and who sets the agenda, poverty reduction is unlikely to occur. To reduce poverty is a conscious decision taken by the community, municipal government or central government, which has to be implemented and requires hard choices to be made. At the city level a governance approach helps to overcome the conventional approaches which focus on what government can do, by addressing the broader issues of state society relationships and the distribution of power in society.
Since the 1980s the bulk of urban research and practice focused on urban management whose main concern has been on institutional development and organizational linkages, procedural and performance design, as well as resource allocation and deployment. Experience in many developing world cities suggest a need to go beyond these management issues. One key issue that has emerged is that the towns and cities have weak institutional capacities and that increasingly the majority of their population operates outside the jurisdiction of the formal management systems. The governance approach helps to transcend the boundaries by examining not only the formal municipal institutions but other societal agencies such as private service and infrastructure companies, community-based agencies and social movements. In other words there is a clear and conscious desire to be more inclusive of actors that constitute the governance of the city. The emphasis given to societal institution in the governance approach has given prominence to indigenous institutions and non-formal institutions in urban development. These include elements such as religion, lineage and ethnicity which play a key role in collective service production and consumption.
On the whole the relationships between governance and poverty are complex and multidimensional and these relationships raise fundamental questions about the state and the poor; about the changing nature of the relationships between the State and other non-state actors, in particular civil society; and about the changing nature of social policy and how the different groups perform. For urban governance we need to examine the practicality of providing and maintaining services, and developing urban economies which are functional and allow citizens to improve their incomes and assets.
Recognizing that participation of civil society in decision-making is
a key ingredient of good governance raises important questions about the
consultative approach and its implications for development. There are many
forms of participation existing in the different types of governance, therefore
there is a need to identify those that promote good governance and maximum
stakeholder participation. Questions of participation and urban poverty
concern relationships about livelihoods and how institutions mediate to
create job opportunities and reduce poverty. Addressing poverty requires
that the poor themselves be central to the process of decision-making from
the inception of development up to implementation. The major problem is
that many public and private sector agencies make all the crucial decisions
and only incorporate the poor as a token which effectively means the poor
are not involved and do not own the process. The paper finally proposed
that: Genuine participation is a key ingredient of good governance which
in turn is a pre-condition for adopting poverty-reduction strategies in
urban areas. This hypothesis needs to be translated through the various
domains of urban poverty and in particular ensuring that the action spaces
which governance creates become a vehicle for genuine participation in
decision-making.
2. Governance and Participation
The paper on Governance and Participation presented by Professor John Abbott (University of Cape Town) tackled the question of relationships between community participation and governance. The paper identified the value of governance as a concept that establishes the principle of decision-making as a shared process between the state and civil society. However the concept is limited when it comes to detailed implementation and management procedures. Community participation on the other hand deals with the practicalities at the local levels and particularly in non-formal and non-institutionalized areas. Professor Abbot argued for the need to integrate the different dimensions of governance and participation and in particular to relate it to the needs of local authorities.
First, if local authorities are committed to good governance, there is a need for them to modify their structures from line-based agencies to agencies which define their roles and responsibilities vis-à-vis the needs of civil society. This is a major step which calls for both internal and external restructuring of the ways that local government functions. This does not only apply to dealing with the poor but broadly with its functions and responsibilities. Another important dimension is to take into account area based needs which reflect the needs of civil society.
Secondly, there is a need to address the issue of legality, because whereas local governments are legally constituted elements, the various elements of civil society, particularly in the informal areas, lack legal authority and powers for formal existence. Hence they always have problems, not only of articulating their needs, but also of enjoying their basic rights. Pursuing the argument of legality is useful because it raises the awareness of communities to their rights, which they are usually denied out of ignorance. In other words laws exist but very often they are the domain of lawyers and judges, who serve the interests of those who can afford it and are aware of it. Professor Abbot raises the issue of how within the constitution of South Africa such an argument can be pursued through formation of trusts at local levels, local companies and voluntary associations.
Thirdly, once the legal and institutional framework has been established, there is a need to address the resource needs and capacity of civil society, which is primarily a question of access to decision-making, access to financial resources, access to information and to basic services. This intensifies the aspects of interrelationships and increases the capacity to exploit the action spaces which a governance approach promotes.
The discussions on governance and poverty reduction clearly pointed to a need for more understanding of both the concrete experiences and the conceptual framework. The leap from government to governance was not easily understood and therefore there was a tendency to see government and governance as interchangeable. It was therefore clear that there was a need for more concrete examples to illustrate the meanings and to highlight the differences. The experience of Recife provided an example of the operationalization of governance and poverty reduction at the municipal level. In a particular example, Government took an active role in promoting local level development, but at the same time allowing other stakeholders to play their part. Whilst the state played an active role and showed political commitment, it was clear that the role of community participation was central and crucial.
A representative of the Italian Cooperation made some important remarks vis-à-vis the issue of donor/external support to poverty reduction and improving governance. Their experience had shown the need to empower local governments as crucial in the achievement of poverty reduction. External support needs to minimize its direct involvement in local decision-making to allow for the greater participation and involvement of local communities. Experience had also shown that integrated approaches were more likely to be effective although they demanded more intensive management and capacity-building.
3. Urban Poverty in Africa
The paper on Urban Poverty in Africa presented by Professor Tade Aina (CODESRIA) highlighted the challenges for policy and action for governance and poverty reduction in Africa. The paper argues for the need for a holistic concept of urban poverty and governance which embraces the macro- and micro-economic dimensions. This is crucial for making policy recommendations that are implementable and that are sustainable. Professor Aina highlights the importance of the economic crisis which has negatively impacted on many African economies, and how cities carry all the scars in the form of growing poverty.
The paper outlines the challenges for policy and action at macro, meso and micro levels. First, the paper identifies the need to generate more desegregated data and information on urban poverty through regular censuses and national surveys. Such information needs to be readily available to policy makers and needs to be continuously updated.
Second, the need to build the national economies and city economies are crucial in this endeavour. Policies must be put in place which promote economic growth and allow communities to pursue sustainable livelihoods.
Third, there is a need to restructure the African states, allowing for more effective decentralization to urban and local government levels. Decentralization has to allow for local level resource mobilization and transfers from the national levels to allow local delivery of essential services.
Fourth, at the local level there is a need to recreate and revive urban communities, where in most cities there is evidence of breakdown. Fostering social cohesion and integration is therefore crucial in promoting neighbourhoods as the effective units of organization. Neighbourhoods must be empowered to be responsible for environmental management, public safety and security.
Fifth, there is a need to reform social policy so that poverty-reduction is not an ad hoc response but a systematic component of national and local development policy. This is important for municipalities which have traditionally not been responsible for any significant social policy formulation. Poverty reduction requires them to adopt a more proactive approach to social policy formulation.
Finally, there is a need for investment in rehabilitating post crisis
and conflict actors, especially in countries that have been involved in
civil strife - Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Somalia.
The process of rehabilitation has to carefully built into a poverty reduction
approach.