For most cities, addressing urban poverty is one of the many challenges and priorities in managing an economically vibrant and socially inclusive city. Over the last decade the countries of the East Asia region have reduced urban poverty along with overall poverty in income/expenditure terms, but over the medium term, the urban poor are poised to increase both in numbers and as proportions of the total urban populations. In urban areas income inequality is relatively high (higher than in rural areas) and rising. As the region is urbanizing, so too is poverty. Countries undergoing rapid urban growth, whether due to natural increase or to in-migration, confront rising demands for housing, land, and urban services. The urban residents least able to compete for such constrained supplies are the poor. | Project in Focus |
The Urban Poverty Program (UPP) in Indonesia is one of the World Bank’s largest urban community driven development (CDD)1 initiatives, targeting over 18 million people in 4,700 urban villages (wards). The project targets are the Kelurahan (villages) where the level of poverty is above 35 percent of the Kelurahan’s population. Through its innovative and flexible approach, UPP has successfully managed to involve a growing number of communities and local government in shaping the development of Indonesia’s national level urban poverty plan. The communities, with the support of local government, have implemented over the last four years a successful community development program in Indonesia, supported by about 80,000 volunteers from the community itself.
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Improving Conditions of the Urban Poor and Increasing Access to Basic Services
Recent decades have seen a dramatic fall in the number and proportion of East Asians living in poverty. For example, the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day fell from 26 to 15 percent between 1987 and 1998. Growth and the accompanying urbanization have driven poverty reduction in the region. Table 3 indicates that poverty rates in urban areas are typically well below those in rural areas, a finding consistent with the higher productivity and incomes generally found in urban areas. Thus, about 29 percent of the Philippines' population lives on less than $2 a day compared with 60 percent in rural areas. People migrate from the countryside to the city precisely because of the opportunity to escape poverty. Nevertheless, although urban income and productivity are high on average, income inequality is higher in urban than in rural areas (see table below). Such inequality in a geographically concentrated area is not only socially problematic but also politically explosive.
  Read the full section: Improving Conditions of the Urban Poor and Increasing Access to Basic Services (64kb pdf) - (extract from the East Asia and Pacific Urban Development Strategy)
1 - Community Driven Development (CDD)Â treats poor people and their institutions as assets and partners in the development process. CDD is broadly defined as giving control of decisions and resources to community groups and local governments. CDD programs operate on the principles of local empowerment, participatory governance, demand-responsiveness, administrative autonomy, greater downward accountability, and enhanced local capacity. |
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