Memorandum submitted by One World Action
1. At the heart of much urban poverty are
the issues of social and economic exclusion. Key in responding
to these is the strengthening of inclusive democratic governance
both in urban, municipal political structures and in service delivery.
2. Social Exclusion, especially of women,
is a major contributing factor to urban poverty. Women, men and
children experience social exclusion when they are discriminated
against based on their gender, ethnicity, race, caste, religion,
language, sexual orientation, age, disability, HIV status, migrant
status, where they live or combinations of these. This discrimination
also exists within public institutions, legal systems and public
services and keeps people in poverty and excluded from decision-making
processes that affect their lives.
3. Social inclusion occurs when we work
with the most socially excluded and marginalised groups across
the world so that they can engage with and transform the institutions
and processes that discriminate against them.
4. Promoting inclusive urban development
is a key theme for all agencies and can provide an engaging link
to many people's experiences in different countries.
5. Based on the experience of One World
Action and our partners work with some of the most excluded women
and men in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America we conclude
that unless those who have been traditionally excluded from urban
decision-making processes are included, decisions will continue
to discriminate against them and ignore their needs.
6. We know from experience that enabling
and supporting women and other excluded and marginalised groups
to participate effectively in formal and informal urban governance
and justice systems and helping establish an understanding of
citizenship, improves and increases the state's responsibility
towards its citizens and the responsibility of citizens to the
state. People from the most excluded groups will then be able
to hold their municipal and national governments to account, to
ensure their needs and interests are addressed and their human
rights respected.
7. One World Action wishes to concentrate
this submission on the impact of the Department for International
Development's work on promoting inclusive democratic urban governance.
8. The British Government is committed to
fostering democracy and respect for human rights. Democratic,
transparent and accountable government at every level is the corner
stone of sustainable and equitable development and progress towards
a world in which all women, men and children can enjoy and exercise
their full human rights.
9. The Department for International Development
policy documents Governance, Development and Democratic Politics
(2007) and Reducing poverty by tackling social exclusion (2005)
provide a good foundation for the development of more inclusive
and so effective programmes addressing poverty and exclusion in
the urban context.
10. DFID has a well developed and respected
record within the fields of democracy and good governance. However
the urban context has remained relatively ignored. Work remains
to be done to ensure that adequate resources are allocated towards
programmes which strengthen democratic, transparent and accountability
urban government at both local and municipal levels, and which
support and strengthen civil society organisations. Secondly,
much remains to be done to ensure greater consistency between
DFID's work on governance and democracy and work in other areas,
particularly social exclusion and working towards gender equality.
BUILDING ACCOUNTABLE
AND RESPONSIVE
URBAN GOVERNMENT
11. A key challenge for the 21st century
is the development of new relationships between people and the
urban governance institutions which affect their lives. Previously,
strengthening civil society and active citizen's organisations
was seen as an alternative to a series of apparently unsuccessful
attempts to make governments more responsive. It is increasingly
evident that building (or re-building) relationships between citizens
and their governments means going beyond "civil society"
or "state-centred" approaches. There is a growing commitment
to focus on how citizens and their states intersect and engage
through new forms of participation, responsiveness and accountability.
This active engagement of poor women and men is essential, but
changes to administrative structures and procedures, laws and
political processes are also required to produce more responsive
and accountable governance, especially in the urban context.
12. Fundamental to deepening democracy at
every level is the need to transform decision-making and political
systems and structures to enable more equitable representation
and participation of the poorest women and men. Two parallel and
mutually reinforcing changes are necessary: enabling greater numbers
of women and members of marginalised groups to be in decision-making
positions, and at the same time, transforming the culture, structures,
and organisation of decision-making and political life. In this
way democracy can be strengthened and become a process for progressive
change. Key to these changes is women and men having the right
and the opportunity to participate politically.
13. Democracy in the urban context is critical
to democracy nationally (and internationally) and to making urban
governance work for poor women and men and their communities.
We would argue for much greater attention to be paid to building
inclusive democratic urban governance capacity at the local level.
Local government, if skilled, genuinely democratic and accountable,
and sufficiently empowered and resourced, can be a real guarantee
of quality service provision to the poorest communities, and lay
the foundations for a robust democracy at the national level.
14. A strong civil society and active citizen's
organisations are essential components of democratic decision-making
and inclusive urban governance. Southern active citizen's organisations,
trade unions, women's organisations, human rights organisations,
community movements, and the media have important roles to play
in ensuring greater consultation and participation on policy decisions,
programme design and planning and implementation. DFID should
recognise this role in all its development co-operation and allocate
significant resources towards building and strengthening citizen's
movements and other active citizen's organisations working on
urban issues in cities and towns.
15. We would argue for significant resources
to be allocated towards strengthening inclusive democratic culture
at the local level, through support for capacity building in responsive
and accountable governance of local government officials and representatives,
right to information legislation, and public scrutiny processes.
DEMOCRATIC INCLUSIVE
URBAN GOVERNANCE
16. Democratic inclusive urban governance
is fundamental to tackling the crises and challenges of urbanisation
and poverty facing our financial systems and democracies. Transparency,
accountability and responsiveness are essential to developing
democratic inclusive urban governance. Our research shows that
when these principles permeate civil society/private sector/state
relations, the likelihood of developing robust systems and institutions
that are accountable to people are increased.
17. We urge DFID to take forward the commitments
and policies outlined in the 2006 White Paper "Making
governance work for the poor". The 2006 document
was clear in stating that governance was about "people
and their relationships, one with another, more than it is about
formal institutions—that the biggest difference to the quality
of governance is active involvement by citizens". This
is vital in the urban context too.
18. As a central component of promoting
democratic inclusive urban governance, One World Action's "Just
politics agenda for more women in politics" was developed
as a set of recommendations aimed at governments, donors and civil
society to support women to claim their political rights and to
transform political agendas to address the needs and interests
of women and men. We believe that women's full participation in
urban political life is the only guarantee that their rights will
be protected and upheld. There is growing evidence that women's
greater representation in municipal political bodies makes a difference
for women and society at large.
19. The backbone of democratic inclusive
urban governance is informed and active citizens and their organisations.
DFID's February 2006 policy document "Civil society
and development: how DFID works in partnership with civil society
to deliver the MDGs" is a strong statement of purpose
on DFID's engagement with civil society. This document should
contribute to strengthening and further developing DFID's thinking
in this area. It should also acknowledge the key role that active
citizens and their organisations, especially women's organisations,
play in urban poverty reduction and in establishing and strengthening
accountability and building good governance.
GENDER EQUALITY
AND WOMEN'S
EMPOWERMENT
20. Urban poverty and injustice will never
be tackled until women have equal rights. DFID is unambiguous
about this and the 2007 policy document "Gender equality
at the heart of development" reiterates this commitment.
DFID's focus on educating girls, improving maternal health, fighting
HIV/AIDS, investing in women entrepreneurs, addressing violence
against women and girls, combating gendered aspects of conflict
and security and aspiring to address women's political representation
are all putting women and girls at the heart of development. We
welcomed the Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP) where DFID further
elaborated this commitment to gender equality. We were also pleased
at the substantial progress that has been made since the implementation
of the GEAP. This must be translated into DfID's support for programmes
and initiatives that address urban poverty and exclusion.
SOCIAL EXCLUSION
21. As DFID has recognised, social exclusion
keeps people in poverty and is a major cause of why people fall
back into poverty. Unless the most excluded and marginalised women,
men and children are put at the heart of development, urban poverty
elimination will not be achieved. The 2005 DFID policy document
"Reducing poverty by tackling social exclusion"
reiterates this point by stating that social exclusion matters
to DFID because "it causes the poverty of particular people,
leading to higher rates of poverty among affected groups and because
it reduces the productive capacity—and rate of poverty reduction—of
a society as a whole".
22. DFID needs to ensure that adequate resources
are allocated towards urban programmes which strengthen inclusive
local and municipal governance democracy, transparency and accountability
through:
— changes to administrative structures
and procedures, laws and political processes, including processes
of public scrutiny; and
— enhance the mobilising, analytical, advocacy
and networking capacity of citizens' movements, women's organisations,
trade unions, and other civil society bodies to contribute to
decision making within these structures and procedures.
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