by Kalinga Seneviratne & Sivananthi Thanenthiran

by Kalinga Seneviratne & Sivananthi Thanenthiran

 UNDP
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ISBN: 983-99003-7-4
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Published by:

The Urban Governance Initiative (TUGI)

UNDP, P.O. Box 12544
50782 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: (603) 2095 9122
Fax: (603) 2093 2361
E-mail: <tugi@undp.org>
Website: <http://www.tugi.org>
Virtual Policy Studio: http://www.cebe.cf.ac.uk/tugi/

Contents
Page

Contents
Forward by Anwar fazal
Chapter 1 - The Urban Habitat
Are Cities a Negative Inuence on Development?
What Is Urban Poverty ?
How To Assess Urban Poverty
The Environmental Challenges of Asias Urbanisation
Urban Challenge in the Pacic Islands

1
3
4
7
9
13

Chapter 2 - The Urban Issues

The Major Issues of Urbanisation
The Urban Housing Crisis
Land Rights Is The Central Issue In The Pacic
Safe Water and Sanitation for Urban Communities
Crisis In Waste Disposal
Moving Forward - Problems with Urban Transport
Corruption and Urban Communities
The Informal Economy and Urban Communities

17
18
19
31
36
47
53
57
60

Chapter 3 - The Urban Vision

Urban Asias Contrasting Picture
Guiding The Urban Vision
Millennium Development Goals - The Global Challenge

69
71
77
82

Chapter 4 - Good Governance and Urban Communities

What is Good Governance?
Core Characteristics of Good Governance
Actors in Governance
People Centred Cities

89
90
92
96
98

Measuring Good Governance

Tool for the Common People
Chapter 5 - Practical Approaches To Good Governance
Building Consensus Through City Consultations
Democratising Cities
Moving Towards Creating Inclusive Cities

109
112
115
115

Chapter 6 - Making A Difference

Promoting A Collaborative Urban Poor Development Process

119
120

Urban Community Development Ofce - Thailand

Urban Poor Development Fund - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Urban Forum Movement - Thailand
Tiet Kiem Mua Xuan (Spring Saving Group) - Vietnam
Samoas Planning and Urban Management Agency (PUMA)
Combining Top Down and Grassroots Land Approaches - Mumbai, India
Toilets for All with a Little Bit of Community Education - Pune, Indi

ii

105
105

120
123
124
126
128
129
130

Chapter 7 - Reporters With A Role To Play

To Take or Not To Take Sides
Development Journalism - Committee Journalism or Government Propaganda?
Public Journalism or Civic Journalism - Reinventing Committed Journalism
Engaging The Media In Communicating Good Governance
Reporting As If The People Mattered

133
134
135
136
137
140

Chapter 8 - Working With The Media: Constraints and Promise

Reporting Urban Poverty - Mainstream Media and Its Constraints
How the Media is Responding to Poverty in Asia
Working With The Mainstream Media
Building Links and Co-operation
Capacity Building and Providing Contents
Creating Windows in the Mainstream
Community Radio - Getting The Peoples Voice On The Airwaves

149
150
150
159
159
160
161
165

Tambuli Radio - Philippines

Kotmale Internet Community Radio - Sri Lanka
Radio Sagarmatha - Nepal
Namma Dhwani Cable Radio - India

What Lessons Could Urban Communities Learm From

The Community Radio Experience?
New Technology and New Media
Appendices: Media Map of Asia and the Pacic
Directory of Urban Community Based Organisation in Asia and the Pacic

165
169
169
169
172
173
???

iii

The Asian Media Information and

Communication Centre (AMIC)
The Asian Media Information and Communication Centre
(AMIC) is a non-prot NGO with the mission of spearheading
the development of media and communication expertise in the
Asia-Pacic in order to foster socioeconomic progress.
It exists to encourage ethical and social responsibility of the
media, to support democratic access and participation in media
development and production, and to provide opportunities for
empowerment of disadvantaged sectors in the communication/
media environment.
It performs this role on many fronts: As a research centre it
examines critical issues in the media and communications sector
and their implications for development. As a resource centre
it gathers and disseminates knowledge about communication
and its effects in Asia. By conducting training and professional
consultations it is active in capacity building for the media and
their users.
AMIC was established in 1971 with the support of the
government of Singapore and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung of
the Federal Republic of Germany. The Centre is now housed
in the School of Communication and Information of Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore with whom it has a close
working partnership. The centre cooperates with governments
and national bodies and works closely with associations
such as the World Bank, Unesco and The Commonwealth
Secretariat.
Mailing address:
Asian Media Information
and Communication Centre
Jurong Point
P. O. Box 360
SINGAPORE 916412

Tel: (65) 6792 7570

Fax: (65) 6792 7129
E-mail: enquiries@amic.org.sg
URL: http://www.amic.org.sg/

The Urban Governance Initiative (TUGI)

The Urban Governance Initiative (TUGI) is a regional project developed and funded by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is an action-oriented initiative that promotes better urban
governance through:

Institutional capacity building;

Providing policy advisory services;

Enabling innovations on tools and methodologies to promote improved urban governance; and

Ensuring the dissemination of information and promoting collaborative networking on all of the
above, within and between cities in Asia and the Pacic.
UNDP-TUGIs strategy for implementation includes the following:

Building capacities for better urban governance through encouraging and promoting innovations
of inclusive and participatory decision-making processes;

Upstreaming the UNDP-TUGI Report Cards and other modalities that facilitate collaboration and
partnerships into city policy-making levels;

The production of user-friendly tools for improving urban governance structures and processes,
and encouraging the growth of indigenous experiences and knowledge systems to support the
expansion of the global movement for good urban governance;

Popularising good governance through the implementation of a complementary awards system that
also incorporates the media and the use of new information and communication technologies (ICT)
into delivering on targets for poverty eradication and improved good urban governance; and

Promoting new collaborations that strengthen national government focal points and national policy
initiatives through mapping and the building of synergies between on-going urban-related activities,
while at the same time providing linkages to other regional and international programmes.
UNDP-TUGI seeks to assist mayors, governors and other city stakeholders in building the capacity of
local governments to perform their tasks effectively. UNDP-TUGI advances the ve principles for livable
and sustainable cities including social justice, ecological sustainability, political participation, economic
productivity and cultural vibrancy.
The Urban Governance Initiative
United Nations Development Programme
P. O. Box 12544, 50782 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 603-2095 9122; Fax: 603-2093 2361;
E-mail: tugi@undp.org
Website: www.tugi.org.