Mitlin, Diana and David Satterthwaite. ‘Strategies for Grassroots Control of International Aid’, in Environment and Urbanisation, Vol. 19, No.2, 2007, pp. 483-500
Actors involved: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Slum Dwellers International (SDI)
This article is about how IIED & SDI created a fund called, “The International Urban Poor Fund” that aims at supporting improvements in securing tenure, developing basic services through grassroots initiatives. Each initiative (usually at a small-scale) is designed as a precedent to show local and national governments and international agencies that working at a grassroots level can be effective. This fund was set up to tackle urban poverty and take action in reducing it.
How does this fund work?
- Provides small grants to support saving groups formed by low-income urban dwellers to secure land for housing
- Assists them to build or improve their homes and to access basic services.
- Setting up saving schemes and federations: “Without poor women joining together, there can be no savings, without savings there can be no federating, without federating there is no way for the poor themselves to enact change in the arrangements that disempower them.”
- Accountability is important and so IIED is in charge of ensuring that that is carried out through managing the relationship with funders and supporting federations
The grassroots initiatives that work within the fund have activities such as saving, exchanges in knowledge, participation.
In the long run, these small-scale initiatives are to act as a catalyst in influencing governments and their decisions/views on how to tackle informality in their city in hope to create new policies for the benefit of the urban poor.
Legacy: Since 2001, US$4.6million chanelled to over 40 grassroots initiatives and activities in 17 nations.
Thailand Context:
The article does not state any direct involvement or projects that IIED & SDI have had in Thailand, although in table 1 it shows that Thailand had its federations set up and were affiliated with SDI. Within the table, it states that in 1992, there were 42,700 settlements that had undergone grassroots activities, 5million active savers, US$206million savings, 30,000 houses built and 30,000 families securing tenure.
Possibly find out more about the fund and its current projects in Bangkok?
Is IIED involved with supporting CODI’s projects?
For more info: http://www.iied.org
BU3 Field Trip Reading Analyses 