The exchanges between the International and local groups centered on contrasting styles and strategies of the urban poor groups.

Main concerns identified by the International participants were:

The need to focus on building strong self-reliant communities.

To build greater capacity to present alternative solutions to government in negotiating rather than demands.

To initiate savings and credit movements within communities and in sector groups.

To increase the number of exchanges between groups and build supportive networks.

Whereas the local groups identified their main issues as:

Internal organising condition: the lack of strong local as well as national urban poor networks; organised local grassroots urban poor groups are still in their infancy stage; weak organising skills among community leaders and NGO activists; low level of horizontal trust among the urban poor.

A variety of anti-poor policies of government and bureaucracy. Examples can be seen in the preceding pages.

A strong dependency on government policies for welfare and facilities.

A need to diversify strategies and learn from the international groups who attended.

Both groups were in agreement that APD2 could be a catalyst for change in Indonesia. It was a time when each gained greater understanding about each other’s context and strategies. Their was solidarity in a commitment to build on this increased understanding and continue to work together in the future.

 

Government Officials involved in various dialogue with the People

National Minister of People’s Welfare
Mr. Yusuf Kalla

National Minister of Settlement and Public Utilities, 
Mr. Sunarno

Head of the National Land Bureau, 
Mr. Luthfi Nasution

City Council, Mayor and other local authorities form the city of Solo, Central Java

 

Governor of South Sumatra

People from Palembang under threat of eviction request help from the governor  

UPDATE  FEB 2003

SDI - ACHR Follow UP

In 2003 Jan 4 to Feb 5th, 3 members of the South African Homeless People’s Federation traveled to 7 cities in Indonesia at the request of the Uplink network of urban poor groups in Indonesian cities. They shared their experiences of forming savings groups, federating the groups into a national movement and their successes at acquiring land, building their own housing and negotiating with governments. 

During the activities savings schemes were either initiated or fine tuned in each of the cities.

 A group from South Africa will return in April of this year and in the meantime Uplink will keep the cities in contact with each other through exchanges and email .