 ID: 125385
Added: 2008-05-29 13:24
Modified: 2009-03-06 8:11
Refreshed: 2010-03-13 17:53
|
|
How To Blog in 3 Easy Steps
|
1.Log in (bottom left-hand corner) using your username and password.
2.Click on '+' found on the right in the blue 'Weblog' bar. You can only see this if you are logged in.
3.Complete your entry. Be sure to include 'Headline/Title' (blog subject), 'Long Description' (blog body - don't forget to sign your name!) and if you like, add a Picture and/or an Attachment. Click 'Finish'.
|
|
|
|
| Focus Cities Learning Forum |
 |
K´ara K´ara Dump Site, Cochabamba Bolivia
|
The Focus City (FC) Learning Forum (June 16-21, 2008), is an opportunity for all eight FC teams from around the world to showcase their learning from the Focus Cities Research Initiative (FRCI). The goal of the forum is for the FC teams to share as well as learn from one another, in order to strengthen the individual FC projects and the FCRI as a whole. This blog is meant to be a tool in which FC team members can communicate their learning. This can be done by exchanging and writing comments on key themes, discussions, challenges, goals and success stories from the experience of individual FC teams and more generally from the Learning Forum. We invite you to add photos, write your thoughts and to be creative. Warm Regards, The LF Blogger Team Usename: lfblogger Password: crApzA
Breaking the Cycle of Urban Poverty 2008-09
Team members from the Focus Cities Research Initiative spent five days sharing their challenges and successes in tackling urban poverty and environmental decay in eight cities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Final Workshop Report Michael Graham 2008-09-12
Read Micheal Graham's report on the Focus Cities Learning Forum. Open file
|
UPE Team
Suzanne Moccia 2008-05-30 8:53
Welcome to the Focus Cities Learning Forum in Ottawa!!! (June 16-20, 2008) Let's start off with some introductions.... Posted on the side is a photo of the UPE team ... please feel free to introduce yourself to any of us and ask questions along the way, so we can all benefit from learning together!
|
|
Bonjour de Tunisie,
LF Blogger 2008-06-16 9:30
Bonjour de Tunisie, Je prends l'avion pour Ottawa dans deux heures pour participer au Forum d'Apprentissage des Villes Ciblées. Je suis HOUMAN Boubaker, Coordinateur Général du projet de la ville d'Ariana-Soukra - Tunisie J'espère enrichir le blog et partager mes connaissances avec les autres membres de VC et du programme PURE sur: - les approches participatives à multiples intervenant pour l'amélioration des conditions de vie des populations pauvres et vulnérables des milieux urbains et péri-urbains - les techniques ou les filières de traitement et de valorisation des eaux grises - la cartographie d'incidence Je joins à mon message deux photos souvenirs de l'équipe PURE visitant un quartier de la ville de La Soukra (chez Mme Hallouma: quartie El Fateh -Soukra Tunisie)
|
|
Day 1
LF Blogger 2008-06-17 8:06
The first day of the learning forum was a great success! After introductions the FC teams engaged in discussions on defining poverty, the role of donors, community participation and land tenure. These discussions were inspired from provocative and interesting keynote presentations by David Satterhwaite (IIED) and Patrick Wakely (DPU). All the teams also had a chance to present their FC projects during the marketplace bazaar. It was very engaging to listen and learn about the 8 different FC projects that are taking place around the world. The day ended with a cocktail reception and a welcome from the President of the IDRC Maureen O`Neil. Looking forward to learning more ... Warm Regards, LF Blogger Team P.S We invite those FC team members who are not in Ottawa to write comments and questions on the BLOG that we can discuss at the Learning Forum.
|
|
Jakarta team in Ottawa
LF Blogger 2008-06-16 9:37
Hi everybody, It is great that Jakarta team meeting with the other 7 of IDRC Focus Cities and we have the introduction session. Our posters and some plastic recycle bags are post in the learning forum room. Should you have any ideas or questions please post it. Warm regards from Ottawa Bye for now, Haryanti
|
|
Reduccion Vulnerabilidad - Lima-Peru
LF Blogger 2008-06-16 11:55
Hola Me siento contenta de poder participar en este Foro agradecerles por su hospitalidad y agradecerles en nombre de las personas que vive en la Margen Izquierda del Rio Rimac e igualmente reciban el saludo de todos ellos. Es importante intercambiar conocimientos experiencias para poder desarrollar mejor el trabajo en la zona de investigacion gracias yris
|
|
Multi-Stakeholder Teams
LF Blogger 2008-06-17 15:13
Making Participatory Research Work This morning we engaged with panelists from FC Teams on the following questions: 1. How has your FC team envisioned and personalized participatory research (PR) in your FC? 2. Tell us about some of the obstacles you have faced in the implementation of PR. How have you overcome these obstacles? 3. What is the most important lesson you and your team have learnt from the process of PR, and would you use this knowledge in the future? Here are some pictures.... Let us know what you think about these discussions. Warm Regards, LF Blogger Team
|
|
Hola
LF Blogger 2008-06-18 7:11
Queremos presentarles el equipo que esta trabajando en e proyecto de Reduccion de la Vulnerabilidad en la margen izquierda del rio rimac del cercado de Lima - Peru. Gina, Carlos e Yris
|
|
Achieving and tracking change in FC projects
LF Blogger 2008-06-18 11:03
Dindo Campilan (CIP-UPWARD) and Naser Faruqui (UPE) How poverty is understood within UPE, issues that exacerbate poverty and UPE and the FRCI strategy for overcoming poverty in the Focus Cities. Establishing pathways out of poverty in the Focus Cities PPT (Naser Faruqui).
AttachmentNf_pov_reduction_lf.mht
|
|
For FC Team members in Colombo
LF Blogger 2008-06-16 9:33
Hello Everybody How are you all? The forum commenced today. We had introductory session and our posters look nice. Please post your ideas in the blog so that everybody can see. Bye for now Kumudinie
|
|
communaute et approche participative
LF Blogger 2008-06-17 12:19
On vient juste de terminer un exercice de travail en groupe sur la question de l`approche participative. j`etais le rapporteur du groupe et je trouve q`il s`agit d`une excellente initiative vu que le sujet de l`approche participative vue sous l`angle communautaire est devenu plus claire dans mon esprit. j`espere transnsmettre des mon retour les enseignements acquis aux autres membres de l`equipe de la Soukra.
|
|
Kampala Team in Ottawa sends the entire team updates
LF Blogger 2008-06-18 7:31
Dear team members of Kampala, We do sincerely hope all is well. Ottawa is fine but with relatively drastic weather changes. The learning forum is very intersting with many common aspects accross city teams but also issues of focus. the differences are largely locale specifics. there are many lessons to learn which emphsises not to reinvent the wheel. There is alot to share with you. the video and posters were great! regads, Kampala team
|
|
Colombo FC Video at the L F
LF Blogger 2008-07-08 0:38
Dear Friends Please enjoy the Colombo FC video describing the Country & the City in general, Situation of Underserved Settlement distribution and Colombo Project. Regards Kumudinie Samarasinghe
AttachmentColombo FC video.MSWMM
|
|
Can we share experiences on local government as project leaders, and integrating settlements into the ‘main city’?
LF Blogger 2009-03-06 8:01
The Colombo Focus City team is in the process of developing working papers that reflect the experience of the team’s action research. Two aspects that we consider to be quite path breaking is to do with, - State institution as the project leader and facilitator
- Integrating the USS with the mainstream ‘city’
While the experience of the Colombo City is extremely interesting we would like to compare it with and learn from the experiences of other cities. Would any of the global team members or resource persons know of any literature, or other web based material that we could access on the subject? We would be most grateful if you could point us in the direction. To give a little bit more background; Topic one was thought of due to the very unusual partnership of the Colombo Focus City team. It is led and facilitated by the local government i.e. the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC). Two non-state institutions (Sevanatha and CEPA) were invited by the CMC to join the partnership. In a sector where the norm is for research institutions/ NGOs to take the lead in donor funded, partnership based projects; this is surely a path breaking institutional arrangement. We are looking at the many impacts of this including the role in influencing policy. If any of the global members are interested in a discussion on the topic, we would be very keen to get facilitate it. For a little bit more on our thought process see the attached abstract for the working which will also be presented at the upcoming Commonwealth Local Government Conference. What do you think? Is this a new way of implementing a project? The second topic is a little bit more discussed among urban poverty stakeholders. In the case of Colombo, the CMC’s policy drive is towards integrating the USS into the mainstream city for reasons related to equity as well as governance. In line with national policy, the CMC has a long history of a strong welfare orientation. However, there are some aspects of regulations and policy that is creating a bottleneck in the drive for integration. In addition, of course, are the socio-political issues of integration. Would any of the global members have good experiences, literature, or material on the topic?
AttachmentSri Lanka CEPA abstract Dec 08.pdf
|
|
Can we share experiences on local government as project leaders, and integrating settlements into the ‘main city’?
LF Blogger 2009-03-06 8:10
The Colombo Focus City team is in the process of developing working papers that reflect the experience of the team’s action research. Two aspects that we consider to be quite path breaking is to do with,
- State institution as the project leader and facilitator
- Integrating the USS with the mainstream ‘city’
While the experience of the Colombo City is extremely interesting we would like to compare it with and learn from the experiences of other cities. Would any of the global team members or resource persons know of any literature, or other web based material that we could access on the subject? We would be most grateful if you could point us in the direction.
To give a little bit more background;
Topic one was thought of due to the very unusual partnership of the Colombo Focus City team. It is led and facilitated by the local government i.e. the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC). Two non-state institutions (Sevanatha and CEPA) were invited by the CMC to join the partnership. In a sector where the norm is for research institutions/ NGOs to take the lead in donor funded, partnership based projects; this is surely a path breaking institutional arrangement. We are looking at the many impacts of this including the role in influencing policy.
If any of the global members are interested in a discussion on the topic, we would be very keen to get facilitate it. For a little bit more on our thought process see the attached abstract for the working which will also be presented at the upcoming Commonwealth Local Government Conference.
What do you think? Is this a new way of implementing a project?
The second topic is a little bit more discussed among urban poverty stakeholders. In the case of Colombo, the CMC’s policy drive is towards integrating the USS into the mainstream city for reasons related to equity as well as governance. In line with national policy, the CMC has a long history of a strong welfare orientation. However, there are some aspects of regulations and policy that is creating a bottleneck in the drive for integration. In addition, of course, are the socio-political issues of integration.
Would any of the global members have good experiences, literature, or material on the topic?
The research team from the Centre for Poverty Analysis
AttachmentSri Lanka CEPA abstract Dec 08.pdf
|
|
Lurah Budi in Ottawa
LF Blogger 2008-06-16 11:10
Helloo again from Ottawa... We had just finish the morning session in the IDRC Focus City Learning Forum, and here is Lurah Budi from Penjaringan North Jakarta, would like to send regards to all of you in Jakarta. Budi Santoso and haryanti
|
|
Hullo Kampala
LF Blogger 2008-06-17 7:54
Hullo team members, The forum has taken off ,yesterday was the market bazaar, and we displayed our project material. Today we are making our first presentation which shall incude showing our video for the poverty snap shot and presentation. We shall update you on the progress of the forum as it progresses.
|
|
The Under-estimation of Urban Poverty in Low and Middle-Income Nations
LF Blogger 2008-06-18 8:55
David Satterthwaite, IIED, 2004 (an updated version of this will be published in 2008)Summary : This discusses the limitations in the income-based poverty lines that are widely used to define poverty and to measure urban poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This includes a discussion of whether the poverty lines defined by international agencies and national governments are set at levels that are realistic in relation to the costs of living in the larger/more prosperous/more expensive cities and the prices that the urban poor have to pay for essential non-food items. The paper ends with a discussion of how the definition of poverty can be widened to include aspects other than income or consumption and how this helps identify many more possibilities for poverty reduction and much expanded roles in poverty reduction for local governments, community organizations and local NGOs. It also discusses the changes needed in defining and measuring urban poverty that are required to support this. This can be downloaded from www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=9322IIED
|
|
Urban Poor Funds; Development by the People for the People
LF Blogger 2008-06-18 8:57
Diana Mitlin, IIED, 2008 (forthcoming). This describes the Urban Poor Funds that have been set up in many nations which have the savings of members of slum and shack dwellers federations and that provide the means through which external funders can support the initiatives of these federations. This is about to be published; for those wanting an electronic copy when this is published, e-mail david@iied.org
|
|
Building Homes, changing official approaches: The work of Urban Poor Federations and their contributions to meeting the Millennium Development Goals in urban areas
LF Blogger 2008-06-18 9:49
Celine D'Cruz and David Satterthwaite, IIED, 2005 This paper is about the current and potential role of community-driven initiatives to significantly improve the lives of hundreds of millions of slum dwellers and squatters at local, city and national levels. It focuses mainly on the work of the urban poor/slum/homeless federations that have developed their own programmes, drawing on their own resources and capacities and negotiating with national governments and international agencies for support – and also for changes in policies or practices that harm or marginalize them. These are demonstrating approaches to slum and squatter upgrading, new house development and expanding provision for water, sanitation and other services that are usually far more cost-effective than the official initiatives developed by governments and international agencies. They are also more inclusive of the poorest groups and usually more sustainable. Where local and national governments support them, these also show a capacity to scale-up and include all urban-poor groups within a city.
|
|
Making Multi-Stakeholder Teams Work - Lessons and Perspectives
LF Blogger 2008-06-18 12:23
Questions for dicussions: 1. a) What do you appreciate most about working in multi-stakeholder teams? b) What factors make multi-stakeholder teams work well? 2. What are the challenges of working in multi-stakeholder teams? 3. What three wishes would you ask for to imprve future collaborative work with the other stakeholders in the partnership?
|
|
Scaling Up and Mainstreaming Innovations
LF Blogger 2008-06-18 12:53
Questions to discuss: 1. How do we scale up and mainstream innovations beyond sample households, to the target neighbourhood as a whole and across the entire city? What are the obstacles and how can they be addressed? 2. How can the changes be sustainable?
|
|
Influencing Policy
LF Blogger 2008-06-18 12:56
Question for discussions: Tell us about some of the obstacles to influencing policy in your FC. How is your team working to overcome these obstacles?
|
|
|
