A/HRC/22/61 policymaking process has been shown to enhance development efforts. Local knowledge of needs and constraints are invaluable to the policymaking process. Often innovations grown within poor urban communities to fill the service void are viable options that can be scaled up. Meanwhile, meaningful buy-in from traditionally excluded poor urban communities may enhance the sustainability of initiatives in the long run, as some of the examples in the previous chapter demonstrate; (c) Promote the establishment of social safety nets. Given the fragile economic resilience of poor urban communities where employment is unstable or uncertain, and where the bulk of incomes go towards immediate survival, social safety nets should be established to make households better equipped to recover from shocks. Initiatives that help the urban poor cope with unemployment, casual or informal employment, uncertain daily wages and disaster should be established; (d) Empower the urban poor by investing in human capital. Given the links between low wages, limited access to quality education and low skills, measures to enhance the human capital of the urban poor should be taken. Quality education and vocational training to boost access to higher wages and stable employment could have a significant impact on long-term poverty alleviation among the urban poor; (e) Apply an integrated approach. Understanding that the hazards of urban poverty are multidimensional and require interventions that span urban planning, public health, education, food security and more, it is important to avoid a fragmented approach.122 Instead, an integrated approach should be applied to ensure that the urban poor have access to basic public services at a minimum. This may take the form of several measures implemented in tandem, such as infrastructure investments to improve access to water and sanitation, enhanced vocational training and microcredit programmes. Efforts to increase access to information and communication technologies also need to be a priority, as well as measures to ensure the inclusion of particularly vulnerable or marginalized groups including women and youth; (f) Strengthen international cooperation. A long-term approach may be better suited to the systemic impact and multisectoral dimensions that are required to address urban poverty. Thus, there is an urgent need to coordinate international development efforts in order to direct rights-based foreign investment to where it can have a greater impact and avoid waste. International South-South cooperation may also yield benefits as developing countries facing similar urbanization challenges share lessons and successful strategies;123 (g) Incorporate particular regard for vulnerable groups. All these measures should integrate a gender perspective into governance processes including policymaking, public administration and service delivery, particularly issues genderspecific issues including gender-based violence, the unpaid care work burden for women and discrimination. The needs of children, older persons and disabled persons also require special attention and mainstreaming, as well as multiple discriminations based on castes, ethnicities, religion and so on through integrated programming. (h) Emphasize the critical roles of each actor – whether international, regional, State, civil society or private sector – in promoting the dignity and human rights of the urban poor, especially the marginalized and vulnerable groups. For example, the international development community can mobilize its knowledge, 122 123 See UNFPA, State of World Population 2007. See the Millennium Project for a discussion on the positive impact of fostering exchanges across federations of slum dwellers. 21