November 2001 Insights Issue #38

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City politics: a voice for the poor?

By 2020 the world's urban population is set to rise by almost 1.5 billion. Cities and towns house an increasing proportion of poor people, partly because of the increased share of urban population of the total but also because economic recession and adjustment policies often hit poorer urban residents the worst. Cities are associated with economic growth and wealth generation and yet inequality is high. Poor people generally live in substandard conditions, may not benefit from job creation, and suffer high levels of pollution, crime and violence.

How can city governments cope with the challenges of population growth and increased global economic competition, while also meeting the needs of poor residents. Is urban governance responsive to the needs of the poor? Attempting to answer this question, most articles in this issue of Insights are drawn from a recent comparative study of ten cities (see chart below) funded by the Department for International Development (Escor) investigating the relationships between city government and civil society organisations.

Are the agencies responsible for city government, especially the municipalities, addressing the needs of poor people? Are NGOs and people's organisations increasing their importance in service delivery? Or is their role one of advocacy and lobbying? If so, how do they relate to the formal political system? Do city governments have sufficient resources to fulfil their responsibilities, including poverty reduction? How can the well-being of poor urban residents be assured? When is priority given to poor residents' urban governance institutions?

To assess the responsiveness of city government to poor people, three key questions need addressing:

How can the poor influence the agenda of the institutions of urban governance?
The influence of poor residents on decision making is governed, in part, by the formal political system. Democratisation gives people a vote. This vote means more, however, when elected representatives depend on the political support of poor people - where they are in a majority, or are well organised, or where there is a ward-based system. If poor people are organised enough to articulate their needs and demand a fair share of urban resources, the case studies reveal the importance of NGOs in facilitating the organisation of poor groups, as in the Philippines or India, and the additional strength poor groups gain from networking.

Where poor people are not organised, however, does not mean they are politically powerless, as Benjamin's discussion of the informal political processes in Bangalore demonstrates. Poor people in this situation, however, are prey to the disadvantages of patronage and unlikely to be included in formal consultative processes, as Gardener notes.

For an electoral system to be truly responsive, specific mechanisms and channels, such as consultative and participatory processes at city and sub-city levels, are needed to complement representative democracy. Although, as Beall and Mitlin warn, these channels do not necessarily include the poorest or make a marked difference to resource allocation, pro-poor decisions are unlikely without them.

How can cities finance their activities and reduce poverty?
The responsibilities of city government vary widely, some even include developmental functions. Democratisation has not, in many of the countries studied, brought allocation of financial resources or revenue-raising capacity sufficient for local governments to fulfil their responsibilities. The responsiveness of city governments to poor people's needs depends therefore, as Devas shows, on whose voices are heard in the arenas of political decision making. Responsiveness also depends on how available financial resources are allocated and how the programmes they finance are designed. Devas concludes that there is scope for city governments to increase the revenue they collect from property and business, as well as to borrow for capital investment.

Whether increased financial resources would benefit poor people depends on how the demands of external investors and creditors are reconciled with the demands of poor residents; the willingness of politicians and officials to address the distributive implications of existing and planned spending; and efficient and transparent financial management. If funds are made available to sub-city levels of government or if expenditure can be influenced by ward councillors, Devas suggests, the funds might then be used to meet the priorities of poor residents.

What are the necessities of urban living and how can access to them be ensured?

An adequate income: work opportunities must thus be the top priority. Amis suggests that the scope for city governments to influence basic economic trends, generating increased demand for poor people's labour, is limited.

City governments can, however, support the urban economy in general and the economic activities of the poor in particular. Firstly they can ensure that the basic services on which an urban economy depends are efficiently provided. Secondly city governments can refrain from activities that destroy the assets and livelihoods of the poor, especially eviction of informal settlements and micro-enterprises. Savings and credit schemes, Satterthwaite suggests, can be more appropriately organised at a community level and supported by NGOs.

Land ownership is a common aspiration for poor households. A home with secure tenure (not necessarily title) provides security, an appreciating asset, access to services, and a base for economic activities. Increasing the opportunities for poor households to gain access to a well-located plot of land is an important component of any poverty reduction strategy. Many never fulfil their dream and the needs of those who cannot, or do not wish to, become home owners should not be neglected, however.

Local government, the contributors suggest, is potentially more responsive to poor residents than are central government agencies, although this depends on the balance of political power and bureaucratic perceptions. The limited ability of public sector organisations to secure benefits for the poor from formal public-private partnerships in land development, Payne concludes, suggests that more informal arrangements and the involvement of CSOs may be better ways forward.

Environmental services. Land alone will not reduce poverty but must be linked to a healthy living environment - a package of appropriate and affordable environmental services, such as: access and public transport, water and sanitation, solid waste collection, and energy for cooking and lighting.

Rather than discussing appropriate standards, detailed issues of financing and affordability or how continued provision can be assured for each of these services, the research focused on how far decision making channels, mechanisms, and partnership arrangements ensure that providers are responsive to the needs and priorities of poor residents.

Collaborative planning and decision-making arrangements are one promising alternative, despite the current shortcomings of City Development Strategies described by Gardener, and of Participatory Budgeting by Devas. Above all, for responsiveness to the poor to be built in to such processes, local bureaucrats need to change their attitudes and working practices.

Is it possible and acceptable for poor people to have to rely on their own resources - their households and networks - resources that are very limited? Informal networks and links can, however, provide mutual support and access to politicians and bureaucrats, as Beall and Mitlin and Benjamin discuss. Community associations are not always present, inclusive or transparent, but they often play an important role in articulating the views of poor urban residents and in organising self-help activities.

There is scope for formal representative community organisations, for informal links between people's organisations and the power structures, and for networking between people's groups. NGOs can play an important role in developing the capacity of community organisations and in facilitating networking, as illustrated by Etemadi. Although in some cities NGOs play a role in service delivery, there is a danger that the resulting close relationship with local government detracts from their ability to empower poor people and challenge inappropriate policies.

City governments, it is clear, cannot cope with the challenges of population and economic growth and respond to the needs of poor people alone Only in alliance with other actors is there some hope that poverty can be overcome. For CSOs, many of which were forged during struggles for democratisation, this implies moving beyond confrontation to engagement. To form alliances between CSOs and city governments that put the interests of the poor first, poor people must be able to exercise their political rights.

Carole Rakodi
Department of City and Regional Planning
Cardiff University
Glamorgan Building
King Edward VII Avenue
Cardiff CF10 3WA
UK

T +44 (0)29 2087 5781
rakodi@cardiff.ac.uk

See also
Environment and Urbanisation, 12/1, 2000 (www.catchword.com); Journal of International Development, 2001; International Planning Studies 6/4, 2001; 'Urban Governance and Poverty: Lessons from a Study of Ten Cities in the South' by Nick Devas et al, 2001
www.bham.ac.uk/IDD/activities/urban/urbgov.htm

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