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The Urban Governance Conundrum: Meeting the Challenge of Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas

The Urban Governance Conundrum: Meeting the Challenge of Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas. Nicola Banks Research and Evaluation Unit, BRAC Uganda 40 years of Bangladesh: Retrospective and Future Prospects 27 th -28 th November 2011. Overview. 1. Urban poverty in Bangladesh

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The Urban Governance Conundrum: Meeting the Challenge of Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas

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  1. The Urban Governance Conundrum:Meeting the Challenge of Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas Nicola Banks Research and Evaluation Unit, BRAC Uganda 40 years of Bangladesh: Retrospective and Future Prospects 27th-28th November 2011

  2. Overview 1. Urban poverty in Bangladesh 2. Exploring the neglect of urban poverty: • National image and identity • Governance structures and processes • Political economy of urban poverty 3. Towards improved urban governance for poverty reduction 4. Concluding remarks

  3. 1. Urban Poverty in Bangladesh • An increasingly urban future includes the urbanisation of poverty. • Six city corporations; 271 pourashavas

  4. 1b. Urban Poverty in Bangladesh (ctd) • The urban poor suffer most violently from poor urban planning and governance: • Lack of access to land, vulnerable to eviction • Inadequate and unsafe housing • Limited access to services • Underrepresentation in political issues • Urban poverty continues to be neglected in policy and action. • Limited emphasis in PRSP • No funds earmarked for the urban poor

  5. 2i. The neglect of urban poverty: National image and identity • Government continues to envision Bangladesh as ‘rural’. • Rural areas are seen as the ‘legitimate’ place for the poor: • Urban poor associated with crime and squalor • Unwillingness to invest in urban areas for fear of greater migration.

  6. 2ii. The neglect of urban poverty: Governance structures and processes Two-tier system of urban governance: • Municipal government best-placed to address urban poverty, but... • Central government unwilling to hand over power and resources to democratically-elected municipal government: • Prevents representation of local electorate to national level and reduces effectiveness of municipal governments. • Ward commissioners have limited resources and responsibilities. MAYOR ZONES (10) WARDS (90) (65,000 to 100,000 population)

  7. 2iii) The neglect of urban poverty: Political economy of urban poverty Limited political participation of the urban poor • Voting rights extended to urban poor in 1994; limited decentralisation limits interaction between municipal governments and urban poor. • Informal modes of urban governance through politically-affiliated mastaans’: • Provide illegal services and mediate with external officials at financial and social cost. • Mobilise support for re-elections and ensure ‘stability’/social order. • Exclusionary and self-interested.

  8. 3. Towards improved governance for urban poverty reduction • Concentration of urban poor households is a strength in urban governance for poverty reduction: • Greater scope for community mobilisation and negotiation with government agencies • BasteeBasheerOdhikarSurakha(BOSC), a network of slum committees across City Corporations: • Creates accountability mechanisms to include urban poor in municipal governance. • Improvements in legal water and electricity connections, re-negotiating traditional forms of service delivery. • BUT, impact limited to municipal level given high degree of centralisation.

  9. 3ii. Towards improved governance for urban poverty reduction • Strengthening municipal governments is politically complex: • Less power for State; handing over power to a political ‘threat’ • Recent signs of greater recognition of urban poverty: • Urban Sector Local Consultative Group moved towards social development and poverty (2008). • Renewed efforts to ratify Urban Sector National Policy (2011). • Greater number of programmes for urban governance and poverty reduction (UPPR; UGIIP) • Although partly ‘frozen’ by lack of national commitment, these progresses critical to keeping dialogue on urban poverty alive.

  10. 4. Concluding remarks • Improvements in urban governance for urban poverty reduction must be three-fold: • Strengthening municipal governments to be responsive and accountable to poor residents. • Accompanied by mobilisation of urban poor communities to transform the relationship between them and the state, and ensure they can benefit from urban development. • Recognition of urban poverty as a legitimate group for support, and its incorporation into national policy and programmes for poverty reduction.

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