Community participation: Case study: CURE INDIA

Submitted by: SNEHA HOUSING

COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION: Community mobilization is an important process of democratization in any society. This is all the more important in developing economies where mobilization of low income communities is towards the agenda of development. In the tripod of urban governance, the state, civil society and market, civil society as an agency of change has been more proactive in poverty alleviation and empowering the urban poor communities than the state, as far as Indian experience is concerned. In the normal course of development of cities of developing countries, low income residents continue to live without basic services for long periods of time, although the city governments have mandatory responsibility to provide basic services, in particular, water supply, sanitation, roads and street lights to all the residents of the city. Such a situation arises because of number of factors: lack of finances, lack of technical and managerial capability to provide basic services, lack of ability to implement city development plans, location of the low income settlement in inaccessible sites or peripheral sites making extension of basic facilities technically infeasible.

The concept of community mobilization has assumed different meanings in development experience. This is on account of different objectives the process has assumed to address. For example, some experiences of community mobilization have laid emphasis on material improvement or income enhancement as an enabling condition for improvement in other conditions in life. Then the objective of community mobilization has been economic empowerment. Some others have laid emphasis on education for empowerment of the vulnerable population. Some efforts lay emphasis on the cooperative efforts of people for enhancing democratic participation. In the last two types of efforts, economic development is the by-product of the community mobilization process. Whatever may be the approach, there are some core elements in the community mobilization process: these lay emphasis on self-help efforts of the people, planning on the basis of felt needs of the people, concern with integrated and balanced development of the entire community, training and development of local leadership. The aim of community mobilization should be all sided development of the community including social, political, economic, cultural and moral development, making the community self-sufficient and developing self-reliance.

CURE INDIA: CENTRE FOR URBAN AND REGIONAL EXCELLENCE Introduction CURE India is a Development NGO that works with poor communities and local governments, improved access to basic services, inclusive and participatory governance and building of Community Based Information System. CURE organizes and empowers low income communities, especially woman and young people in urban areas, to access water supply, sanitation, power, livelihoods, education, health care and housing. Participatory Planning and Assessment Inclusion and participation is central to CUREs philosophy and community development strategy. We believe that people are the best judge of their own needs and that demand-based services have more sustainability due to greater ownership. Inclusion in CURE projects follows a participatory hierarchy moving from need identification to prioritizing and planning for interventions to engagement in civil works through oversight, contribution in labor and resource and community management of services. The effort seeks to incrementally increase the level of participation, responsibility and ownership, and to set up and institutionalize voice platforms for government and community engagement.

CURE uses a range of participatory tools for community and local area planning. These tools have been adapted to address sectoral issues and make qualitative assessments that enable policy level decisions.

Community Mobilization CUREs strength is in its process-based approach. It recognizes the importance of involving communities in the design, implementation, management and oversight of community-based initiatives; in particular for the development of community infrastructure, promotion of livelihoods and improving access to health care and education services. CURE has mobilized women and community groups to participate in the identification and prioritization of needs, preparation of community action plans and monitoring of service provision. The effort has been to ensure representation and direct contact with poor and marginalized groups. A range of groups have been established to facilitate community mobilization. Livelihood groups for small and large business enterprises Community groups for development of action plans to improve access to basic service such as sanitation, water, power, and social welfare. Toilet/HH Savings Groups to enable families to save for investment in toilets/housing Youth groups (boys and girls) for youth led community development and civic engagement Womens groups for gender empowerment Self-Help Groups for small savings, access to credit, and loan swaps.

Pro-Poor Policy Research and Reform CURE undertakes policy-based research, combining quantitative and qualitative aspects, to advocate for pro-poor policies. This research leads to reform and poverty reduction policies at the national, state and local levels with a particular focus on urban slum upgradation. CURE has supported the national and local government (Agra) to develop its reform implementation plan and road map under sub Mission II on poverty as part of JNNURM. Pro-Poor Urban Development

CURE has significant knowledge of pro poor urban development, both urban and rural. It has worked with governments at all level to develop poverty strategies. Services for the Urban Poor under JNNURM Primer for provisioning of services USAID FIRE D III Rajasthan Mission on Urban Poverty Rajasthan Department for Local Self Government Slum Upgrading and Poverty Reduction Strategy for Agra Cities Alliance, USAID and JBIC. Strategic Approach To Mainstreaming Access And Demand In The Health Systems Development Initiative: Department of Health and Family Welfare, West Bengal with DFID Health Awareness and Promotion Strategy; Department of Health and Family Welfare, West Bengal with DFID.

Capacity Building CURE capability lies in its capacity building work in the areas of poverty reduction, development of slums and low income settlements, community mobilization and participatory learning and pro poor policy and reform. In particular, CURE focuses on training in the use of PLA tools for community mobilization, participation and assessment. Other focus areas for capacity building in CURE include gender empowerment, gender based development and budgeting, and CBIS. CUREs approach to capacity building is hands-on and experiential through participatory workshops. CURE has helped build city capacities for sustainable urban livelihood development total sanitation development access to water supply etc. CURE has strengthened capacities of government officials, NGOs and community trainers sensitizing them to urban poor issues in city development planning

CURE has a core team of field facilitators with competency in use of PLA tools for qualitative and quantitative information collection and community mobilization. Community-Based Information Systems CURE specializes in the development of Community-Based Information Systems (CBIS). CBIS is an organic information and pro-poor management tool that captures community perceptions and the needs of slum dwellers through the use of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) instruments. It then integrates these into a spatial platform using the Geographical Information System (GIS) that can be easily viewed and understood. CBIS is capable of collecting multiple layers of data at the household, community, ward, and city level, and across all sectors of development, including water supply, sanitation, livelihoods, education, and health. At the community level, the process of collecting information encourages neighbors to meet and discuss their individual and collective needs, and then analyze data to develop agreeable community action plans for implementation. The process helps strengthen community leadership structures and enables communities to get included in city planning processes. At the city level, it enables local governments to take appropriate decisions for service delivery that respond to community demands and monitor implementation. Campaigning for Cleaner Communities:

A key area of CAP intervention has been focused on hygiene awareness and changing sanitation practices, in particular for solid waste management and open defecation. Towards this end, CAP began its awareness drive with a onetime community cleanup campaign in four settlements; KWK, Kuchpura, Yamuna Bridge and Nagladevjeet.

Clean up campaigns were needed to rid the communities of years of cumulated garbage, to win community confidence and engage community in the D2D collection initiative. ANN sweepers lifted the waste from the area for dumping. They also helped clean up the drains and remove the garbage inside. Children and women participated in the rallies and the street plays organized by CAP facilitators and raised slogans on community cleanliness. Regular advocacy work was started with the support of facilitators to encourage right disposal and reduce open defecation. IEC material was collected from various agencies and posters were put up in the communities and displayed at the Kuchpura Information Centre. Repeat campaigns were organized in all the five settlements followed by specific meetings with young mothers on use of toilets and maintaining hygiene with children as also with the community at large.

Delhi in Action for Slum Development: Bhagidari with Slum Dwellers; Government of Delhi: Sanjha Prayas under Bhagidari is a partnership of the Chief Minister, Smt. Shiela Dixit and slum dwellers in Delhi. CURE is consultant to the Bhagidari-Sanjha Prayas initiative launched in March 2007. Community mobilization has been started in 19 slum areas in Patparganj, Seemapuri and Shahadra constituencies and 11 blocks of Savda Ghevra, a new resettlement being developed in Delhi to relocate and house slum dwellers. Initiatives under Sanjha Prayas have included a Safai Abhiyaan (cleanliness drive in all slum areas in partnership with MCD and DJB), Jal Mission (repair and maintenance of water supply infrastructure and improvement of water supply to all areas with DJB), Social welfare camps in Savda Ghevra (improving access to welfare schemes including transferring of pension holders from old to new areas with Welfare Department), Power camps (access to metered connections and resolving billing issues with NDPL and BSES) and Access to Livelihoods Programme (employment skills, employment and micro enterprise) through SC/ST Corporation and private sector partnerships.