A/HRC/22/61
needs they identify. The key components of the project are community-coordinated and
managed water and sanitation services, waste management and childcare; livelihood
training, facilitating engagement in the municipal planning process, and access to credit and
savings schemes.
57.
The South African Homeless Peoples‟ Federation114 illustrates how communitygenerated associations can drive self-built housing improvements, particularly by bringing
together a network of autonomous savings and credit groups from across South Africa. It
was created to address a void in housing improvement options for the urban poor, who are
largely unable to meet the requirements to qualify for the national housing subsidy. The
Federation requires that members commit to a savings and credit group. It assists them by
providing bridge-financing to secure land tenure and build homes; facilitating exchanges
between member neighbourhoods and cities to increase knowledge, skills and practices to
address common needs within poor urban communities; mapping and surveying settlements
to identify needs and collect data for negotiations with municipal authorities; and
constructing demonstration homes.
58.
The Manila Water Company, Inc.,115 is a compelling example of a public-private
partnership that has been largely successful in providing improved access to water for the
urban poor in Manila. In 1997, the Company won a Government concession to serve the
east service zone of Manila, encompassing a population in which the urban poor make up
40 per cent of inhabitants. By approaching them as a viable customer base and revenue
source, the Company‟s customer-centred culture and model of community engagement was
successful in extending the water infrastructure to informal settlements, reducing illegal
tapping and maintaining a profitable enterprise. It provides a useful illustration of how
market forces might be harnessed to improve water access to the urban poor when
combined with a pro-poor approach and anchored by a strong public partner.
59.
Cooperatives exist in cities across Latin America, Asia and Africa that organize
poor, urban informal workers who make a living by sorting and collecting waste. The case
of CEMPRE (Compromisso Empresarial para Reciclagem) in Brazil shows how
cooperatives can partner the private sector to improve job creation and waste management
among the urban poor. CEMPRE116 is a non-profit association created in 1992, financially
supported by private firms operating in Brazil, that helps waste pickers form cooperatives
in order to secure better prices for the wastes they sell to industrial recyclers and waste
processers. These cooperatives have been shown to be effective at securing better working
conditions, higher pay and opportunities for members to gain further education, collect
savings and more.117
C.
Regional and international communities
60.
The work of ILO with national and regional bodies is a model of both international
support and regional coordination for poverty eradication. At the national level, ILO works
114
115
116
117
Ted Baumann and others, “The age of cities and organizations of the urban poor: the work of the
South African Homeless People‟s Federation and the People‟s Dialogue on Land and Shelter”,
Working Paper No. 2 on Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas (IIED, 2001).
See USAID, “Enabling Water Services Delivery for the Urban Poor in Asia: Best Practices Review
and Workshop” (2006).
Martin Medina, “Globalization, Development, and Municipal Solid Waste Management in Third
World Cities” in Private Sector Involvement in Solid Waste Management (Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Zusammenarbeit, 2005).
See Oscar Fergutz and others, “Developing urban waste management in Brazil with waste picker
organizations”, Environment and Urbanization, vol. 23, No. 2 (October 2011), p. 23.
19
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents