Emerging Networks of Organized Urban Poor: Restructuring the Engagement with Government Toward the Inclusion of the Excluded

Abstract

Aim of this article is to address the issue of citizen participation and democratic engagement within a specific area-slum upgrading-presenting and theoretically discussing the approach of an international network called Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI), which represents member federations of urban poor and homeless groups from about 30 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The article addresses the model of intervention embraced by the network, the activities carried out, its philosophy, etc., mainly focusing on the way it envisions and pursues the engagement of local governments in upgrading slum dwellers living conditions. The basic idea within SDI is that the lack of participation by the urban poor has historically been one of the major obstacles to achieve real development: either the government or the donors' agencies, in fact, usually treat the poor as beneficiaries of someone else's actions, thus undervaluing their knowledge and skills. Radically opposing this view, SDI interprets its role not as an intermediary agency of slum dwellers in the engagement/negotiation with local governments but rather as an ''enabling tool'' of direct negotiation between the urban poor and the public institutions. SDI's most relevant feature, in fact, is surely the genuine leading role assigned to the slum dwellers grassroots organizations.Résumé Cet article traite du problème de la participation citoyenne et de l'engagement démocratique dans un domaine particulier, la réhabilitation des A preliminary draft of this article has been presented at ''Citizen Participation and Democratic Engagementbidonvilles. Il présente et il discute sur le plan théorique l'approche d'un réseau international nommé Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI), qui représente des associations composées de groupes de sans-abri et de démunis urbains dans environ 30 pays d'Asie, d'Afrique et d'Amérique latine. Cet article aborde le modèle d'intervention adopté par le réseau, ses activités, sa philosophie, etc.… en se concentrant principalement sur la manière dont il envisage et suit l'implication des gouvernements locaux pour l'amélioration des conditions de vie des habitants des bidonvilles. Selon l'idée maîtresse au sein de SDI, le manque d'implication des démunis urbains constitue historiquement l'un des obstacles majeurs à un réel développement : en fait, le gouvernement ou les organismes donateurs traitent généralement les démunis comme les bénéficiaires des actions de quelqu'un d'autre, dévalorisant ainsi leurs connaissances et leurs compétences. S'opposant radicalement à cette idée, SDI se voit non pas comme un intermédiaire jouant un rôle d'implication ou de négociation entre les habitants des bidonvilles et les gouvernements locaux, mais plutôt comme un « outil d'établissement » de négociations directes entre les démunis urbains et les institutions publiques. En fait, le réseau SDI se distingue certainement parce qu'il donne authentiquement le rôle principal aux associations d'habitants des bidonvilles.Zusammenfassung Ziel dieses ...

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