Abstract<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In October 2003, Mona Serageldin participated on “Task Force 8,” a working group for the United Nations Millennium Project<\/strong>, directed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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<\/strong> for the Millennium Development Project initiative, which includes a guide section on “The Do’s and Don’ts of Slum Upgrading.”<\/p>\n\n\n Excerpt<\/p>
[Excerpt: Report, October 2003, 1. Executive Summary – Overview, p. 5]
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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.”
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