HIC / HEC

FROM LOCAL INITIATIVES TO CITY PLANS: CHANGING THE SCALE FOR COORDINATED MANAGEMENT OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

GLOBAL CROSS ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDIES FROM THE ASIAN, AFRICAN AND LATIN AMERICAN REGIONS

1998

I) Regional Cross Analysis of Case Studies : South Asia

II -Case Study of 3 Sub-Saharan experiences in Kenya, South Africa, & Angola

The Habitat and Environment Committee (HEC) and the Popular Urban Environmental Economy Programme (PRECEUP) organized a meeting in Bomako on the 23rd-27th of June 1998 on the theme 'From Local Initiatives to City Projects : Changing Scale to Achieve Consultative Management of the Urban Environment'.

While agreeing on the goals of Agenda 21 or the Habitat Program advocating the right of populations to access basic services such as water, sanitation, health, and employment; the meeting was called to find concrete and practical means of accessing them. Facing rapid urban growth, the State and its municipal services have the heavy responsibility of equipping -with limited resources- their cities which, despite this uncontrolled growth , continue to be managed in a conventional fashion. Their inability to meet the increasing demands of populations has stimulated the emergence of grass root initiatives from new civil society actors in the urban arena (NGOs, CBOs, communal enterprises, groups, associations, etc). In fact, the underprivileged populations and their soul partners (who may be in the community/associative sectors, or in local authorities/public sector etc.) have shown through some of their activities that civil society -notably the poorest of the poor- is capable of doing the impossible. But taking these initiatives to the expression of their full potential, entails expanding their activities beyond the micro level.

A scale change relies on the premise that we can no longer content ourselves with laboratory style activities, regardless of their success. This does not mean suppressing every initiative at a district level, but obtaining the wherewithal to surpass this stage and work for and with the majority of society. Changing scale therefore also requires a constructive dialogue between civil society and local authorities.

It was clearly recognized at the outset, that the creative energies of people can be found in the myriad of local initiatives around the world. These initiatives resulted in lessons and solutions for many problems that the State was unable to address. However, deliberate efforts are needed to widen the applicability of these lessons, so that they result in policy initiatives at a city level. There are steps and processes to be followed in order to facilitate such a transformation and the workshop sought to hold brainstorming sessions for a better understanding of these processes.

The objectives of the workshop were :

The Bamako Meeting

The workshop had participants from around the world and there was an emphasis on discussions related to practical experiences. The meeting focused specifically on water, sanitation and waste issues as a starting point for tackling the problems of urban poverty. There were field visits organized to places where such efforts were underway and four regional analyses were presented, based on case studies on drinking water supply and domestic waste management.

During the workshop, there was a general understanding that across the world, local governments were unable to meet the civic needs of rapidly increasing urban populations. Those who suffered most were settlements of the poor, and amongst them, women had to carry the greatest burden. It was also understood that the problem was not merely one of a constraint on funds, but that often many of the potential actors were not involved. Also, the enormous scope for drawing on creative local initiatives was perhaps theoretically understood, but was not put into practice. Lessons were drawn from the case studies presented from different regions of the world. The limitations inherent in the top down and mega-scale nature of urban planning became even clearer after these studies were presented. The experiences were "rich, creative, and participatory" and showed how small local initiatives could not only provide the most effective local solutions, but could also present alternatives which could make the management of today’s’ urban settlements and environment far more sustainable. There was a need for change in how urban management is perceived, in order to give local initiatives enough space to influence city planning. A cross analysis of the case studies points out some common lessons and some specific concerns. This paper will present these lessons for debate and discussion. It will also attempt to draw the links between the case studies and the conclusions of the Bamako meeting.

The conclusions of the Bamako meeting were presented in a declaration on 26th June 1998. The recommendations and conclusions were as follow :

Conclusions and Recommendations of the Bamako Declaration

"The debates helped to widen the understanding of issues related to partnership between urban development actors and the problem of scale-changing, in a context of social and environmental change in Southern towns. Participants closely examined the difficulties inherent in implementing these objectives and particularly those related to integrated waste management and supply of drinking water; equal access to information -so that all actors can reach the same level with new relationships-, genuine innovative interaction between all actors; mutual recognition and access to basic services for the majority.

The following points were also raised :

* There is a need to proceed with a systematic capitalization of experiences (experiences which are, in themselves, the basis for a change of scale), to reach an effective social change and a better environmental management.

* There is a need to support decentralization in order to allow a concerted scale change. Community initiatives should be integrated into new municipal policies. Permanent dialogue should be established between actors promoting these experiences and municipal authorities. Decentralization also offers the opportunity for citizens to extend control over urban environmental management, a control which has previously been the sole domain of technicians, as it is the case in certain Latin American cities. Various solutions can apply to fast growing cities’ problems. The popular sector must link up with the so-called ‘modern’ sector. Various technologies can be chosen and there is a need to integrate initiatives and solutions proposed by these constantly growing habitation sectors.

* In a context of basic service privatization, social actors must be able to participate. There is a need for coordination between privatization and community initiatives which will arise by setting additional alternative criteria, other than economic profitability. In fact, these new environmental service enterprises are not simply micro-enterprises which are subject to market laws : they constitute decentralized management alternatives which should retain the socio-cultural characteristics which give them their richness.

* Scale-changing should be accompanied by a process of institutional change, encouraging the participation of other actors. Each actor (town council, NGO, popular actor) should change their relationship with each other. Sustainable development requires social change and therefore, means changing the relationships between actors, adapting institutions, working in a more transparent manner, jointly producing accessible information, exchanging this information, and mutual acknowledgment. Interdisciplinary training which fosters dialogue between actors should strive to integrate the human and cultural dimension into technical and economic issues. Improving the training of inhabitant associations, of NGO/CBO and town council staff, is a priority task for the coming years.

* A proposal was mooted to create a ‘popular urban watch process’ as a new tool for joint management of the urban environment. As the proposal was interesting, it was decided to conduct a feasibility study on how such a project would be undertaken. A working group will be formed to outline the details of the proposals.

* The objective will be to develop these popular ‘urban watches’ as reciprocal/bilateral information producing organs (specifically offering a collective structure for popular experiences of coordinated environmental management) and a as a communication framework (between town councils, NGOs and popular movements). The popular urban watches were also created as ‘watchdogs’. These are tools which should result in increasing power for coordinated urban environmental management, or reinforce those already existing. The urban watches are not new institutions, rather, they create the possibility for synergy between all town actors. In particular, NGOs/CBOs sometimes try to do it all rather than share tasks. This, therefore, creates the opportunity to reinforce coordination between existing networks, to continue to produce information, to document innovative experiences, to dialogue and negotiate for change with town councils with the goal of granting inhabitation the resources, management capacity and accessible technology to manage local environmental services. As it was stated before and after the Conference of Istanbul, these experiences create the needed conditions for a social change. It is necessary, however, to continue to develop new approaches and new visions, through which we can change existing institutions, i.e. institutions that currently exclude public participation. It is therefore not always necessary to create new institutions.

* Conflicts exist. They were discussed about in their cultural, physical and political context. Conflicts are sometimes expressed indirectly and violently, but, in order to bring about significant changes, we must be able to communicate and express these problems. Communication breakdown and frustration are at the root of violence. The frustration of young people and women’s lot hinder sustainable environmental development. We need long term processes (not short term projects/ mechanisms), encouraging work on technical, social, institutional and financial aspects. The hope is that the popular urban watches will take on this role."

A GLOBAL CROSS ANALYSIS

This section will examine each of the regional cross analyses in three parts. The first part will list the salient features of each case study. The second part will examine the cases with reference to the four factors listed below. They are likely to make an important contribution towards the scale change which may be desirable.

The third part will list some of the common and unique features of the specific case studies.

(The Latin American regional cross analysis, however, was exclusively an analytical synthesis and has therefore only been included in the tabulated format at the end of this document. The lessons presented in the Latin American cross analysis have been included in the general conclusions drawn in this document).

I) Regional Cross Analysis of Case Studies : South Asia

(Studied by Panos , South Asia)

A) Salient Features of the case studies

Case Study 1. Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) - Malvani, Mumbai.

Malvani is a re-settlement slum, in the Western suburbs of Mumbai (India). YUVA carried out a survey and found that sanitation facilities were almost non- existent, resulting in very high incidence of typhoid and malaria.

"Toilets, garbage disposal and water supply were the priority problems. The aim of the project ‘Partnerships and Community Sanitation (PACS)’ was to mobilize the resident communities into playing an active role in negotiating provision of basic amenities from the State. Community education and capacity building, were strategies brought into action by the facilitators and coordinators, to enable collective action by the residents. Additional problems were the unevenly distributed weight of the priority problems. Women were affected more than men by the lack of proper toilet facilities. In addition, the community was divided along religious lines.

Lack of toilets and water supply were priority problems that were successfully solved. The disadvantaged and fictionalized communities mobilized themselves and through collective action convinced the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to construct a community owned, managed and operated toilet. Through the same procedure they also convinced the State to provide water and electricity connections. A Toilet Committee that has functioned efficiently and harmoniously in the face of numerous setbacks continues to operate. Safety and privacy were considered higher priority than religious segregation, so the toilets were built separately for men and women, instead of for Hindus and Muslims.

The priority problem of garbage disposal was not solved but reasonable recommendations were made for future solutions. The waste management component of PACS attempted to involve children in vermicomposting at the household level. The experiment failed because basic inputs were inadequate. Vermicomposting proved impossible to monitor and the project omitted basic cultural factors related to waste disposal. Waste, according to tradition, should not be kept in the house. Therefore the plants were kept in the open, rains waterlogged the soil and the worms that were supposed to consume the organic waste and produce manure, died."

Case Study 2 . Social Mobilization for Sanitation Project - By the NGO Forum for Drinking Water and Sanitation.

To curb the high incidence of infections and parasitic diseases and to reduce infant mortality, there was a need for a comprehensive sanitation plan for rural Bangladesh.

"Priority problems were identified through the initial baseline survey conducted by the NGO forum in the Sub Districts (thanas). These were : the lack of sanitary latrines, the omission of hand washing after defecation by both the heads and other members of the household and the utilization of river/canal/pond or ringwell water instead of tubewell water. The baseline survey, which consisted of a structured questionnaire on sanitation, personal hygiene and socio-economic and demographic indicators, addressed 10% of the households in each thana.

The Field Extension Workers, successfully gained the comfort and trust of the targeted families, enabling the rest of the activities to be carried out. These local community members visited each house and spoke about sanitation mainly to female members. During each household visit where latrines were unhygienic, the idea of the construction and use of hygienic latrines for defecation by all the members of the family, was instilled. The inexpensive constructable pit latrine with cover, was recommended to the target groups as an example of an usable hygienic latrine. The DPHE and NGO forum assisted motivated household members to build ring slab water seal latrines. After a one year intervention, the number of users rose from 59% to 90% of the targeted population. Through the rigorous motivated efforts of the Field Extension Workers, a change of behavior in the number of people washing their hands after defecation increased from 62% to 92% within the same period. The importance of cleaning and maintaining latrines was also successfully stressed by the Field Extension Workers, and cleaning latrines in a hygienic manner was observed in households, increasing from 10.7% to 52%, after a one year duration project."

"Keeping the project’s key objective of increasing the use of safe water, the people were educated to use tubewell water for drinking and domestic purposes. The Field Extension Workers did achieve an increase from 82.3% to 97% of households using tubewell water for drinking purposes, and an increase from 19.2% to 46% of households using tubewell water for cooking, washing, bathing and other domestic purposes. Increased awareness of water and excreta born diseases was also shown among the targeted population."

Case Study 3: Environmental Improvement Through Solid Waste and Public Health Management -A study of Post Plague Initiatives of Surat Municipal Corporation. By the Institute of Social Services, New Delhi.

"In 1994, pneumonic plague broke out in the city of Surat in the State of Gujarat. The occurrence of the supposedly eradicated disease was attributed to the failure of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) to clean up the city."

"The SMC launched a short-term action plan to restore normalcy, involving the private sector. Priority was given to garbage disposal, removal of carcasses, anti-rodent operation and spraying of DDT on pools of stagnant water. However, longer-term strategies were needed and in May 1995, under the guidance of a new commissioner, the SMC launched an intervention to clean up Surat on a permanent basis. Environmental cleanliness became the paramount concern of the civic body. By mid-1996, the SMC had increased the cleaning of accumulated garbage collection and disposal. The city has been divided into 52 sanitary wards, and meticulous ward planning has been done for garbage collection and disposal. Households and industries were given individual cleanliness instruction, and field employees issued regular instructions and information to householders on how to sort, pack and dispose garbage off. Regular workshops were conducted in the slums of Surat to disseminate knowledge on cleanliness and hygiene. At present, garbage is collected at least once in 24 hours and all refuse is disposed off in well-maintained landfills. Private contractors currently handle almost 40% of the solid waste management generated daily in Surat. Spot ‘administrative charges’ punish those who dispose garbage off in violation of municipal laws. This punitive measure automatically increases social vigilance at the community level, thereby increasing the level of civic consciousness. Insecticide use has been reduced whereas sweeping and cleaning roads has improved.

The SMC also strengthened health infrastructures, revived work ethic among health workers and introduced a meticulous disease monitoring system. This provides Surat with an early warning system to give alert in case of a potential epidemic outbreak. This had a considerable impact on Surat’s health indicators. Surat’s birth rate, death rate and infant mortality rates, have all improved during this intervention period. Slum areas are now compulsorily tested for drinking water standards and, where necessary, chlorine tablets are distributed. On a priority basis, community pay and use toilets and water hydrants, and streetlights have been provided to the majority of slums in Surat. Civic consciousness has been enhanced in the slum areas, with the slum dwellers themselves taking charge of cleanliness of inner lanes. Community response has been very positive due to constant interaction with field workers and periodic interaction with senior officials. Regular public meetings are held for health education through poster campaigns, audio and video media."

Case Study 4: "Depleting Groundwater Levels and Increasing Fluoride Concentration in Villages of Mehsana District, Gujarat, India : its Cost to Economy and Health. By: the Water Resources Research Foundation (WRRF).

A high intake of fluoride (>1.5 mg/l) in drinking water over a prolonged period is known to cause damage to the enamel of the teeth, and eventually results in skeletal complications leading to fluorosis. Mehsana district is largely dependent on groundwater, both for irrigation and drinking water requirements. Fluorides and other dissolved salts in drinking water have shown a progressively increasing trend and have exceeded the safe limit in the past two decades. This means that a progressively increasing proportion of the population is affected by fluourosis."

"The defluoridation of drinking water can be economically undertaken using methods such as the Nalgonda Technique. Such techniques can provide limited water for drinking, however people require water for a variety of purposes including agriculture and industry. Hence, a long-term hydrological scheme solution is recommended. The Mehsana area has a sizable groundwater basin capable of storing enormous quantities of water in reserve. Most of this reserve has been drained and needs to be refilled through fresh groundwater recharge. Natural conditions of the area are unsuitable for large surface storage reservoirs by dam construction. Available surface reservoirs can be utilized to provide drinking water."

"The case study presents a pilot project proposal for tackling the fluoride problem in Mehsana district based on groundwater recharge. The location for intervention will be Balisana, a typical village in the district where there are very high levels of fluoride in the groundwater. This will involve community participation to a limited extent. The village Panchayat proposes to increase the storage capacity of the village tank by deepening it to an average depth of approximately 3 meters. 15 percolation wells would also be constructed."

"The only other solution to this situation, provided by WRRF, is a long distance transportation of potable water, from a surface irrigation reservoir and through a pipeline. Such an approach would require the beneficiary village to become part of a regional water supply scheme where villagers have no role to play. This solution could also be potentially vulnerable, in the sense that it implies that local communities become reliant on external sources for their water supply. In theory, the pilot project sounds viable and sustainable. However, what is unclear is how the residents of Balisana village would raise the needed sum of money,."

B) Factors Contributing to Scale Change in the Case Studies :

1) Community Participation:

The degree of community participation varied from a very high active participation in the Mumbai (India) case study, to a more passive kind in the Surat (India) and Mehsana (India) case studies. It is clear that the degree of community participation in the Mumbai slum makes it the most effective initiative on a number of counts. Even its failure in vermicomposting is likely to be overcome because of the high degree of involvement of the residents, and women in particular. However, in Surat, the fact that the initiative comes from a bureaucrat, is a limiting factor. In the Bangladesh case study it is obvious that the community has become involved beyond the point of merely being the user of a service.

2) Partnerships

All four case studies make it clear that a wide variety of partners are needed even for micro-initiatives. The Mumbai group also uses an adversarial relationship with the authorities in the Mumbai Municipality, while the remaining groups have a more cooperative relationship. The numbers of partners vary from four to six, but each represent a different sector. Except for some participation in the Surat case, the private sector is absent as a partner. This indicates that business groups have placed little commercial or welfare value in providing such services. The partnerships forged vary from community groups at the local level, to international funding agencies at an international level, and they seem to have worked well in all these cases. In all South Asian Studies, local Government bodies seem to have played a positive role in supporting the various initiatives.

3) Replicability of Tools

Except for the Mehsana de-flouridation effort, the technologies used by the remaining three groups can easily be understood by anyone and used anywhere in the world. The design may be local but their principles are universally applicable. The Mumbai (India) and Bangladesh technologies are low cost technologies and can be constructed and maintained by the users themselves. The Surat and Mehsana efforts require much more expensive inputs. Unlike the Mehsana case, the Surat Municipality accepts its basic responsibility in keeping the city clean after the plague, and happens to have the resources to meet this effort. If it works out, the Mehsana effort might be cost effective as a deflouridation technique. However, it is too early to judge as it has not yet been put into effect. As the case study says, it is not clear on how the village will be able to raise the money required for contribution, or how the other villages in Mehsana would be able to raise the 2/3 of the amount being provided by the WRRF in Balisana. Replicability therefore is also questionable concerning monetary requirements and dependencies.

Educational tools are easily replicable and potentially more effective. The Mumbai group shows local authorities can be 'pressurized' to raise performance and the Bangladesh initiative illustrates the importance of involving a cross section of society in transferring information and putting things on a common agenda. These educational and mobilisational tools render initiatives effective, even when monetary constraints exist.

4) Sustainability and Control

The controls of the Bangladesh and Mumbai efforts rely on the community. Neither of them are dependent on continued monetary inputs, and even the initial costs were low if calculated per-capita. They are therefore obviously sustainable. In fact, the hygiene effort in Bangladesh has had a permanent impact without needing any further inputs. It has resulted in a change in attitude. The Surat effort is sustainable as long as the municipality feels responsible. The controls in the case of Surat rely on the administration rather than on the community. The Mehsana case is dependent on high capital costs, yet including solutions in which the controls would continue to rest outside. It therefore seems the least sustainable.

C) Common Lessons and Unique Features of the Case Studies :

While community participation is a common feature in all four case studies, the Mumbai (India) and Bangladesh initiative seems to have laid a greater emphasis on participation of the community -especially on women's participation-. The four studies cover areas such as cities (Surat, India), city peripheries (Mumbai), rural/urban areas (Bangladesh), and rural areas (Mehsana, India). The fact that the Mehsana initiative has not really reached a stage of implementation makes it an inadequate choice to study. The use of folk groups, education institutions and even dialogues with religious groups was a unique and positive feature of the 'effort' put into action in Bangladesh. The dependence on the initiative of a single motivated bureaucrat in Surat is a cause of concern, as it does not seem that community controlled measures that were put into place. A less motivated individual at the helm in the Surat municipality, could mean a return to the kind of rot that led to the plague outbreak. The potential to influence policy exists in all four cases. However, there is no evidence yet that any of the efforts made will result in 'far reaching policy changes'.

II -Case Study of 3 Sub-Saharan experiences in Kenya, South Africa, & Angola

A) Salient Features of the Case Studies

Case Study 1) Kenya - Composting Carried out by Women Groups in Nairobi.

Since the 1980s there has been a rapid increase in rural-urban migration in Kenya. Traditionally, only men migrated to the urban areas, but now even women move from the rural areas to improve their socio-economic status. The urban growth has led to a rapid increase in poverty. It is estimated that 46% of the urban population in Kenya live below the poverty line. Lack of formal employment opportunities and the fast growing informal sector (8.1%) offers alternatives in the waste management sector.

More than 50% of the population live in informal settlements with no access to even basic services, because such settlements are deemed to remain illegal. In Nairobi, waste management has been the domain of the Local Authority, the Nairobi City Council (NCC). However, the Nairobi City Council has only been able to collect 400 tons of solid waste out of the 800-1000 tons generated daily.

The waste is mostly collected by women from the settlements. It is first sorted into organic and inorganic waste. Then the organic waste is further processed to remove foreign objects. The next step is to store waste for composting in a site, either near or away from the settlements, depending on land availability. The land for composting is rented by the women to the chief of the area. Once the compost is ready, it is sieved and put into bags, ready for sale.

In Kenya, a number of women groups are involved in composting organic waste. The Kenyan study examines seven women’s groups. The amount earned depends heavily on accessibility to markets. Out of the seven groups studied, four groups earned less than the other three. These four groups’ settlements are located in the interior, with access only through narrow, unsurfaced roads. The other three areas are located at the point of sale and in these areas, demand outstrips supply.

Waste management in Kenya gained impetus in 1987 when a sports association, the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA), combined its sports activities with 'community self-help'. The community service replaces sports fees, which the young ones cannot afford.

Another support organization, The Foundation for Sustainable Development in Africa, does not depend on donor funding. It operates as a commercial entity. As one of its many activities, it trains the composting groups and sends an extension worker every two weeks to the groups. The Foundation assists in packaging and marketing the compost whenever possible.

In Kenya, it seems that the various stakeholders have been working well. However, the degree of commitment by the stakeholders varies. The public sector, especially Local Authorities, initially gave their support but have now virtually given up. At the beginning, the composting groups received support on a continuous basis from the NGOs, but are now self sustaining. They still receive help from some NGOs, but at longer time intervals.

Although there were a number of beneficial environmental effects from composting, a number of environmental problems remained unsolved, such as the problem of inorganic waste. There were for instance, no formal recycling plants for recycling plastic.

Case Study 2- Gender impacts of Alternative Sanitation System in South Africa; a Case Study of SOSHANGUVE.

The study area is located in the Northern part of Pretoria, in the province of Gauteng, one of the nine provinces of South Africa.

The objectives of the study are to analyze what were the socio-economic impacts of alternative sanitation systems, on the lives of the residents of SOSHANGUVE (an informal township). It looks at the aspect of replicability and desirability, especially from a gender perspective.

The toilets are an Aqua Privy system. The Aqua Privy system was introduced in areas where there was no access to individual water connections. It requires less water than the conventional system. The toilets require pouring water into the bowl after every use and the effluent flows into a soakway. The sludge needs to be emptied periodically. No foreign objects can be put in, and only clean water is to be used.

The study found out that there were major drawbacks of the system, from the women’s viewpoint, in terms of design and location of the toilets, maintenance problems; cost implications; perceptions around hygiene and health and environmental impacts.

Case Study 3 - Community Based Solid Waste Pilot Project in Luanda’s Musseques, Angola.

The urban population growth of 470% over the last twenty years, coupled with the effects of a lengthy civil war on existing infrastructure, have resulted in serious solid waste management challenges for the city of Luanda, Angola. Population growth has occurred mainly in the unserviced musseques (informal, spontaneous settlements) of the city’s peri-urban areas where difficult access, and widespread, unauthorized dumping render the waste management problem even more difficult. Traditional solutions are not feasible in this situation; to merely remove the backlog of accumulated waste from the musseques would require a 500 to 600 percent increase in collection capacity of the underfunded provincial sanitation company.

Development Workshop implemented a pilot initiative to develop and test a model for sustainable management of solid waste from the musseques that are not served by environmental sanitation programs. The strategy is to study methods of reducing the daily waste production at source before it becomes refuse, refusing what can be refused, and recycling what can be recycled. Through these measures, the quantity of solid waste requiring collection will be reduced. Reduction makes it easier to collect waste, saves on collection costs of hauling waste out of the musseques into the landhill, and increases the feasibility of providing continuous waste removal services for unserviced areas. The active participation of the community is a key component.

The project has challenged the widely held notion that trucks and containers are the only way of getting rid of garbage and keep the musseques clean. The pilot initiative has identified waste reduction and waste refuse as viable strategies for dealing with solid waste in the musseques and has set up a continuous removal system managed at community level. By separating sand from other household waste, the waste generated could be reduced at source by at least 50% (by weight). Residents were taught that sand is not a waste but rather a useful commodity that must be treated separately from other household waste.

The sand recovered from the waste was re-used as infill material to improve the roadways within the community through a ‘food for work’ programme. The project improved 16 sections of the roadway with a total area of 1800 square metres and eliminated the largest dumpsite. The improved areas have generally held well through the rains.

The project has also demonstrated that the active participation of the community and local leaders can help bring about significant improvements. Involvement in the project has helped to improve management capacity and increased confidence in local authorities and community leaders.

Its success has renewed the confidence and willingness of both the musseques residents and the government to address what has been viewed as an insurmountable problem.

B) Factors in the Case Studies that can Contribute to Scale Change:

1)The degree of community participation

An outstanding feature of two of the Sub-Saharan case studies is the extremely high degree of community participation. As a matter of fact, in the case of Kenya and Angola, the initiative for solid waste management has come from the community. They are both outstanding examples of how the community can and does find beneficial ways of tackling problems that others may have found impossible to tackle, with the resources available. They have converted waste management into an economic activity and have shown that economic and civic interest can be combined even by the poorest of the poor. On the other hand, in South Africa, the low degree of community involvement - particularly from women, who were not consulted for the Aqua Privy toilet system-, seems to be the first and primary reason for its likely failure.

2)Partnership

The Sub-Saharan case studies show a different kind of partnership. The obvious lack of resources and intent from the Government has led the people to seek partnerships of a different kind. The initiative by a sports association to take community self help from youth in lieu of a sports fee; the fact that the Foundation for Sustainable Development does not depend on donor funding; the role of the private company URBANA 2000 in Angola, and the negative role of the local Government in Kenya the NCC, have shaped the kind of waste removal initiatives that have emerged in Angola and Kenya. In South Africa, the initiative seems to have come from the Government, and because the primary users - women, and local NGOs were not made partners; it seems to have suffered in impact although the intent was there. The facilitating role played by Development Workshop - the NGO in the Angola case study shows the effective role a benevolent support group can play to bring different actors together so that they become partners.

In fact this case study indicates that a Government initiated effort, without community participation, can easily fail. On the other hand, if there is Government support to peoples initiatives, impinging factors like resource constraints can be easily overcome. The harassment of women in Nairobi by authorities who view their settlements as illegal, hinders their waste removal/composting efforts. On the other hand, the Angolan Government recognized its resource limitations and encouraged NGO’s and the community to take the initiative.

3)Replicability of Tools

The technologies used for waste removal in Kenya and Angola have clearly been developed locally. They also have wide applicability. For instance, The Angolan method of removing sand from the solid waste and to use the sand, stones and fines for improving the very poor quality of roads, is both a replicable method and an example of the kinds of innovative tools that can be evolved. The technical help sought by Development Workshop to detonate explosive material in dumps, and the fact that ordinary residents learnt the proper method, show how much can be done by the residents themselves. Once again in the South African case, The Aqua Privy technology was clearly brought in from outside and not even properly modified to suit local requirements.

Unlike the planned building efforts’ awareness in the South Asian Case Studies, the educational processes seem to have emerged during the activities themselves, in the cases looked at in Africa. The degree of innovation in the Angolan and Kenyan case is in sharp contrast to the South African case. One contributing reason is probably the commercial nature of the former, and therefore the need to innovate. For instance, the commercial value of the waste removal techniques in Kenya and Angola have clearly increased their potential replicability. This indicates the greater potential for replicability of any activity, with a commercially viable component.

The organization that seems to have played a very constructive role under difficult circumstances, is the Development Workshop in Angola which realized its strengths and weaknesses, and brought different competent actors together. The understanding of such a role is, in itself, an extremely useful and replicable tool.

4) Sustainability and Control

The kinds of composting efforts in Kenya show that when composting/recycling is linked to an economic activity -urban farming or sale of compost in this case-, the activity is more sustainable. The Angola case study showed that even where the economic benefit was not obvious at first, the use of waste for road repair converted it into an economically useful venture. Also, controls in both cases lay with the people and therefore there seems to be every reason that this kind of activity would be sustainable, both locally and if applied elsewhere. The advantage with the Kenyan case is that it is less dependent on a collective effort than the previous example, and it can be sustained and controlled even by individuals. In the South African case, it is likely to collapse unless modifications are made, as it is being rejected by the very people who were to benefit from the Aqua Privy toilet. It is a lesson on the dangers of a top-down approach.

C) Common Lessons and Unique Features of the Case Studies:

The sub-Saharan case studies are divided largely into the Government initiated effort of South Africa, and the peoples’ initiative in Kenya and Angola. In both Kenya and Angola, resources with local Government bodies are extremely meager. In Angola, the Government was not negative to the process and it drew financial benefit when the local body started charging rent for the market space made available as a consequence of clearing waste. The South African case was completely gender insensitive. The Kenyan Government was hostile to the women composters as it viewed their settlements as illegal.

The Kenyan and Angolan case studies show that alternative and viable solutions to "waste removal by garbage trucks" do exist and can be found. Such methods also have beneficial effects in terms of income generation and improvement of basic infrastructure. There was a lack of support from technically competent bodies in the case of waste removal efforts. If recycling plants for plastic and other inorganic waste were to be set up, the economic benefits of waste management as executed in Angola and Kenya could be even greater. The role that can be played by larger, more technically competent actors, is not being fulfilled. The Angolan experiment for road improvement (including the innovative use of materials like wasted car’s frames), is a lesson in developing local expertise.

CONCLUSION

From Case Studies to Bamako -from Bamako towards Urban Watches.

It is now recognized globally that meeting the basic civic needs of rapidly increasing urban populations is going to be one of the greatest challenges for all Governments and development Agencies.

The meeting in Bamako took place with the recognition that in the face of severe resource constraints, specially in the countries of the South, it will be impossible for local Government bodies to cope with the problems. There was also an understanding that the best solutions to these problems lie in the creative efforts of the people themselves. There are sufficient examples of groups of people who have responded to these challenges at a local level. They have worked out methods of meeting the basic civic necessities of their habitats, despite hostile conditions. However, these efforts have remained localized. The challenge which planners face, is the transference of these micro efforts to larger scales. Thus, the theme of the Bamako Meeting was : "Changing the Scale - from local Initiatives to City Plans".

How can this be done ? Obviously the first step is to identify such creative and innovative local efforts. Having done so, one must analyze them to see if they can be applied on a larger scale. Interventions needed for the change of scale, will also have to be specified and acted upon. One also has to detail factors that are necessary to make the shift possible.

The Regional Case Studies and their syntheses paid attention to these very factors. In this global cross analysis, four necessary pre-requisites for enabling this change in scale, have been high lighted. They are : 1) A high degree of community participation. 2) Partnerships which can be forged. 3) A use of de-mystified and easily replicable tools. 4) Sustainability of the effort.

The Regional Case Studies have been looked at in the context of these four important pre-requisites. Looking at examples discussed in the Bamako meeting and in the Case Studies looked at, many of the efforts clearly offer solutions at a Regional or even at a Global level. It is obvious, however, that the structure and network required for making this feasible, still have to be created. The complex requirements of such a structure has delayed the emergence of a concrete plan of action. The Bamako meeting itself, offered a ‘tentative solution’, which was contained in the declaration adopted at the end of the meeting. The potential that seems to exist in the concept of Urban Watches -a new platform for the joint management of the urban environment-, needs to now be explored and acted upon. The case studies themselves dealt with efforts that were consciously ‘location specific’. Only a new, broad based institutionalized platform can facilitate the transformation of these experiences, in a manner that they could effectively impact policy. The platform of urban watches has the space to be able to serve as a support for micro-efforts. Such a platform would also give struggling groups at a local level, an idea of their potential effectiveness even in a global context.

While the Bamako meeting raised the Urban Watch concept, it did not translate it into a working model. Between the creative efforts detailed in the case studies and the change in scale desired, lies a missing link. The Urban Watch concept, if properly developed, could fill this gap up.

Note: This Global Cross Analysis draws heavily on the background papers of the Bamako meeting, as well as the Asian, African and Latin American studies. The description and information of the local efforts is taken entirely from these papers contained in the Bibliography given below.

Bibliography

1. From Local Initiatives to City Plans. Changing Scale for Shared Management of the urban Environment. Agenda Notes for the Bamako, (Mali) Meeting 23rd-27th June 1998. PRECEUP, HEC, NEDA, SDC, French Cooperation, European Union, June 1998.

2. Bamako Declaration, Bamako, (Mali), 26th of June 1998.

3. Regional Synthesis-Comparative Analysis of three case studies in Latin American informal settlements. Prepared by HEC, Habitat and Environmental Committee.

Ines R. Tarquino, Ramon D. Munoz, Mariela G Vargas. Universidad del Valle/Cinara, Research, Drinking Water Development, Sanitation and water Conservation Institute. Santiago, June 1998.

4. Regional Cross Analysis for South Asia. PANOS South Asia, Katmandu, Nepal.

5. Urban Community Waste Management. A Sub-Saharan Region Study prepared for HIC/ Habitat and Environment Programme. Draft Working Paper - Zarina Ishani and Davinder Lamba. Mazingira Institute, June 1998.