Abstract
In October 2003, Mona Serageldin participated on “Task Force 8,” a working group for the United Nations Millennium Project, directed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General.
The Task Force 8 sought to recommend strategies to achieve the defined Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2004. MDGs were targets to reduce global poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and gender discrimination for populations around the world.
Along with authors from the Center of Urban Development Studies (CUDS) at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Serageldin prepared an assessment of 50 best practices worldwide as a background paper for the Task Force 8. The paper highlighted the key features underlying their success–namely, partnerships, strategic priorities, multi-sectoral action plans–and focused on programs targeting vulnerable populations and marginalized informal settlements.
Documents include the October 2003 report, a goal indicators document, a case study on the Tsiganes in Greece, and a presentation titled “Partnerships and Targeted Programs.” See also the UN-Habitat Mandate for the Millennium Development Project initiative, which includes a guide section on “The Do’s and Don’ts of Slum Upgrading.”
Excerpt
[Excerpt: Report, October 2003, 1. Executive Summary – Overview, p. 5]
1.1 Overview
“This background paper is based on an extensive review of local authority-driven initiatives that managed to improve the lives of slum dwellers. The review discusses the growing role of local authorities with reference to the institutional context conditioning government action. The imbalances created by asymmetrical decentralization of powers, responsibilities and resources is a cross cutting theme prompting local authorities to seek strategic partners for their initiatives. The conceptual framework used to define the range of locally driven initiatives that can improve the lives of slum dwellers underscores their breadth and diversity. The review focuses on process, strategy and action, and how these were shaped by the nature of the challenges that local authorities had to cope with and the partnerships they managed to structure in order to access resources, engage poor communities, reach marginalized populations and address vulnerable groups.”
“The performance of these institutional frameworks and decision making processes are assessed with reference to the difficulties encountered and results achieved. The selected initiatives presented in the different sections of the paper are grouped under headings highlighting recent trends and pointing to future directions. The paper focuses on initiatives implemented during the past decade in different economic, social, political and cultural settings. Emerging trends with regard to processes, strategies, and actions highlight the expanding scope of partnerships and the emphasis on empowerment and social inclusion.”
| Project Year: | 2003 |
| Project Type: | Research Paper |
| Geographic Regions: | Weihai, China (Conference Location) / Sofades, Greece (Case Study) |
| Reports: |
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| Authors: | Mona Serageldin; Elda Sollos; Luis Valenzuela; Peter Stathopoulos |
| Sponsors: | United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat) |
| Categories: | Informal Settlements and Urban Upgrading |
| ID: | 2003_10_001 |
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- “The Development and Morphology of Informal Housing,” Research Paper, Aga Khan Award for Architecture Seminar Proceedings, Mona Serageldin (Project ID: 1988_09_001)
- “Environmental Health Factors in Housing,” Design Study for the Rapid Urbanization of Low-Income Settlements in Urban-Fringe Districts (Project ID: 1989_07_001)
- “Financing Infrastructure Upgrading Programs,” Two Urban Development Research Papers, Mona Serageldin, 1989-1991 (Project ID: 1989_11_001)
- “Sustainable Improvement Strategies for Lower Income Urban Communities,” Upgrading Policy Plans for Amman, Aqaba, Cairo, and Karachi (Project ID: 1990_01_001)
- “The Abidjan Experience,” Four Research Reports on Community-Based Urban Development in Adjamé, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 1990-1995 (Project ID: 1990_09_001)
- “Regularizing the Informal Land Development Process,” International Case Studies for the USAID Office of Housing and Urban Programs, Mona Serageldin (Project ID: 1990_10_001)
- Design Studio 1993: “Rabat’s Urban Fringe,” Rabat, Morocco, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 199300001)
- “The Use of Land and Infrastructure in the Self-Improvement Strategies of Urban Lower Income Families,” Paper by Mona Serageldin, UN Habitat Fourteenth Commission Report (Project ID: 1993_05_001)
- “Community-Based Urbanization and Favelas Rehabilitation Processes,” Case Study, Fortaleza, Brazil (Project ID: 1995_00_006)
- “Community Based Credit for Housing, Infrastructure, and Microenterprises,” Micro-Finance Housing Shortage Study for Quito, Ecuador (Project ID: 1995_03_003)
- “Housing Microfinance Initiatives,” Case Study for USAID Microenterprise Best Practices Initiative, 1999-2000 (Project ID: 1999_00_001)
- Workshops on “Strategic Planning and Management of Municipal Infrastructure Programs,” from Review of Grant-Funded MIPs in South Africa (Project ID: 1999_05_002)
- “Development of Infrastructure and Initiating of Sustainable Projects in Elim, South Africa,” Report for UN-Habitat Best Practices Leadership Programme, Western Cape, South Africa (Project ID: 2001_08_001)
- “Local Authority-Driven Interventions to Improve the Lives of Slum Dwellers,” Mona Serageldin for UN Millennium Task Force 8 (Project ID: 2003_10_001)
- “Development Corridors and Urban Development Strategies” and “Slum Improvement Strategies and Social Inclusion,” Presentations by Mona Serageldin, 11th United Nations Conference, São Paulo, Brazil (Project ID: 2004_06_001)
- “Qassioun Urban Development Strategy and Improvement Plan,” Technical Framework for Damascus, Syria, 2006-2008 (Project ID: 2006_00_007)
- “Land-Related Issues, Dhaka, Bangladesh,” Urban Sector Strategy Report for Dhaka and Chittagong, Bangladesh (Project ID: 2006_01_001)
- “Delivery of Security of Tenure, Infrastructure Services and Access to Finance Through Community-Based Approaches,” Planning Strategy Report on Albania and El Salvador, 4th World Bank Urban Research Symposium (Project ID: 2007_00_001)
- “Township Development Strategy for Emfuleni Municipality,” Technical Assistance to Sedibeng, Gauteng, South Africa (Project ID: 2009_03_001)
- “Technical Assistance to Ezakheni, Ladysmith/Emnambithi Local Municipality,” Urban Development Strategy, South African Government Neighborhood Development Partnership Grant (Project ID: 2010_02_001)
- “The Unplanned Areas Upgrading and Employment Enhancing Programme in Egypt,” Needs Assessment and Activity Design Study for Informal Settlements, 2011-2016 (Project ID: 2012_10_004)
- “Inclusive Cities and Access to Land, Housing, and Services in Developing Countries,” Urban Development Series, World Bank (Project ID: 2014_04_001)