E-News 22

E-NEWS No 22 March 2000
Eviction News Cambodia, Bangladesh, UN HABITAT and ACHR	Thailand - Uttaradit Partnerships, Young Professionals, Communities and the Mayor
People's Dialogue SDI Backyard Fax 2000 - Occasional Paper	International YP’s International Students in Phnom Penh
Vietnam - 5 Cities New Collaboration between ACHR and UNCHS	Understanding Karachi Mafias, Municipalities, Maps New Book by Arif Hasan
Community Exchanges FACE to FACE Launch in UK. Plus Exchange Calendar	News Briefs - ACHR In-House On ACHR Programmes & People .... Who’s Where... Doing What
E-News 21 January 2000

1. EVICTIONS UPDATE

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA

SOLUTIONS PROPOSED

January and February saw increasingly alarming reports from Phnom Penh about threatened forced evictions particularly from the largest slum community in Bassac along the river bordering the city and subject to a city "beautification" plan.

The alternative strategy for the communities

Information
Savings
Proposing Feasible, Alternative Plans

	SUPF - the community Federation had previously surveyed all urban poor areas of the city have now re-checked the information on the affected sites. Such detail - on numbers of families, space, length of stay, employment etc - is vital when communities begin to negotiate with governments or the private sector.
	Savings schemes have existed in Bassac for many years - along with SUPF’s other savings schemes sufficient capital has accumulated to take advantage of the Urban Poor Development Fund’s housing loan scheme if orderly relocations are required.
	Young Professional architects from Thailand have joined the local YP’s at Phnom Penh's URC in drawing up alternative plans for the affected communities and sites incorporating ideas for land sharing. These alternative plans are gradually being introduced to the Municipality's Planning Department and other government officials.
	ACHR - Somsook Boonyabancha and Jockin Amputham have also been holding a series of meetings with higher level government officials with the aim of helping to develop positive solutions to the cities growth and development problems, for the city and urban poor.

More information contact achrsec@email.ksc.net

DHAKA - BANGLADESH

NEW IDEAS - SEARCH

In response to the announcement of wide scale evictions in Dhaka, the Coalition for the Urban Poor (CUP) in Bangladesh organised an International workshop Feb 18-19 in order to bring new ideas and support to the threatening eviction crisis. A Fact Finding Mission and further exchange will be organised
.. more news soon.

_________________

ACHR & UN HABITAT

Billy Corbett, who heads the UN HABITAT programme on "Security of Tenure" has proposed a new strategy to launch this new global campaign by proposing a "UN-led" not "UN-run" campaign.
He has proposed that the major coalitions concerned, including ACHR, collaborate with UNCHS to plan the campaign.
Let's see.
More information: Contact achrsec@email.ksc.net

_____________

For Information on ACHR's Eviction Watch and Housing Rights Programme
Click here

Send news of Forced Evictions to ACHR SEC and Joanna at the Urban Resource Unit Malaysia. Joanna will ensure the regional focal points in ACHR received news and give support if requested.

2.People's Dialogue Backyard Fax 2000

A Note From People's Dialogue
Cape Town South Africa

The first of this century’s People’s Dialogue “Backyard Faxes” - occasional papers - was sent out last week and as usual it has some very interesting, thought provoking and innovative ideas for all us working with poor communities.

It explores the South African Homeless People’s Federation’s

	relationship with government
	its poor peoples pedagogy in relation to other conventional learning institutions
	its relationship with the mass media

The Backyard Fax is available by contacting Peoples Dialogue,
South Africa Web Site.

A Bit About the South African Homeless People's Federation

The South African Homeless People’s Federation has managed to house more than 7000 of its members in the past 3 years, not in tiny concrete sheds (a la the government - private sector solution) but in decent three and four room houses. They have also secured tenure for 20,000 families and provided employment and income generation opportunities to thousands of their 350,000+ members.

The Federation’s scale and its automatically practical approach to poverty eradication makes it one of the most interesting learning institutions in the country. For almost a decade now the Federation model has been an extraordinary manifestation of a poor people’s pedagogy.

Through its exchange programme methodology it has opened communities of the poor to a wide spectrum of social, economic and political strategies to be used in accordance with local priorities.

From the perspective of rural and urban poor communities the Federation is recognised as a network builder, a facilitator of options, a mechanism for building confidence and a tool for busting communities out of the isolation that is at the root of their impoverishment.

In other words the Federation is an outstanding learning institution because it follows the contours of the everyday life of its members – the poorest and most marginalised women (and men) in South Africa's cities and towns. As such the Federation’s learning processes capitalise on the unexpected, the accidental, the unordered and the illogical.

Send mail to Maurice Leonhardt achr@loxinfo.co.th with questions or comments about this web site. Last modified: June 26, 2000

Send mail to Maurice Leonhardt achr@loxinfo.co.th with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: June 26, 2000