Waterlife is a pioneer in providing high quality potable water solutions to the underserved in an affordable and sustainable manner. It has installed safe water systems in more than 1,500 villages and urban areas reaching more than one million people.

“This capital infusion provides Waterlife the growth capital to expand its scale in the underserved potable water space. We started our work in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, and presently work in six states to provide potable water solutions. We are now poised to emerge as the leading player in this segment across India. We are very impressed with Matrix’s deep understanding of the water sector and are very  pleased to have them as our partner,“ said Sudesh Menon, Managing Director of Waterlife India Private Limited.

Anurag Agrawal, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of the Investment Banking division at Intellecap, had this to say: “We are delighted to partner with Waterlife as it is one of those rare business models that has successfully demonstrated that it is possible to create true triple bottom-line returns and create tangible large scale impact on the ground in rural India. We’re confident this is just the start of many paradigm shifting achievements for Sudesh and his team.”

“It is our privilege to be associated with the Promoter team of Sudesh Menon, Mohan Ranbaore & Indranil Das. We believe Water will remain a high growth sector driven by strong government focus and socio-economic relevance of water as a resource. We believe Waterlife with its innovative business model complemented by a high quality management team is set to emerge as a leader in the potable water segment,” said Avnish Bajaj, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Matrix India.

Waterlife won the prestigious Sankalp Award this year in the Health, Water and Sanitation category.

Sankalp Forum, a global platform for social enterprises, announced that it is now accepting applications for the Sankalp 2012 Awards. The awards will recognize emerging enterprises across 6 categories, including the newly launched South East Asia Award for the most innovative social enterprise in the region. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with a social impact focus, also known as ‘social enterprises’ are encouraged to apply in order to access finance and capacity building services. An initiative by the social advisory firm Intellecap, Sankalp Forum has connected over 400 enterprises and over 400 investors in the last three years.

Social enterprises aim to provide high quality yet affordable goods and services like healthcare, education, and financial services to the poor, thus creating social benefits while making a profit. Investors are increasingly backing these and using a new strategy called ‘impact investing’, that expects monetary as well as social returns. The profit opportunity for such businesses is estimated to be over INR 32 lac crores* over the next decade. As a clear validation of the power of social innovation these enterprises have, the Government of India announced an INR 1000 crore National Innovation Fund to support such ideas.

“With some amount of social as well as mainstream funding available for social enterprises, the key game changer is identifying and exposing the best entrepreneurs to these opportunities, and preparing them to take on the challenge of scale. This is the need gap that Sankalp Forum looks to fill through its annual awards. We’re especially excited about our South East Asia award, which is the first of its kind for the region.”, said K Sree Kumar, CEO of Intellecap.

The Sankalp Awards attract applications from the most innovative, scalable and sustainable enterprises across India. The applicants are then put through a vigorous jury process. In the past Sankalp jury members have included stalwarts like PrakashBakshi, Chairman -NABARD, VipulMankad, President – SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd. and Mohanjit Jolly, Managing Director – DFJ India . In 2012, the finalists will be supported through an intensive capacity building program, including a  residentialbootcamp. They will then be invited to pitch their ideas to investors at the annual Sankalp Summit from April 11 to 13, 2012 in Mumbai, which will have over 100 investors in attendance.

In a testament to its efficacy, in the past 3 years alone, over 25 Sankalp Award finalists have received investment. In fact, FINO and eHealthpoint, winners of the Sankalp Awards 2011 received investments from Blackstone Group and Fontus Water respectively, shortly after winning the award. Additionally, enterprises nominated for the Sankalp Awards also gain preferred access to other platforms. AshwinNaik, CEO Vaatsalya Healthcare, said “If you are an enterpreneur in the social space, don’t miss the sankalp conference. Sankalp is the world economic forum for social enterprises”. Vaatsalya won the Sankalp Award in 2009, and in June this year received a third round of funding from Aquarius India and Seedfund.

Enterprises that meet the Sankalp Awards 2012 criteria are encouraged to apply before 30th November 2011. For more details, please visit sankalpforum.com.

*According to a recent report by JP Morgan.

By Usha Ganesh

South Asia is home to about 20% of the world’s population. It is also home to over 60% of the world’s poor. Rapid urbanization and expanding cities are fast becoming ubiquitous in South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh.

As urban sprawl expands to engulf nearby rural areas, it is becoming increasingly difficult to draw a clear boundary between urban and rural areas. As a result, sizable peri-urban areas dot the landscape. These areas demonstrate urban as well as rural characteristics with traditional occupations giving way to more modern ones, changing lifestyles and social interactions. Most importantly, though, this “urban sprawl” is imposing severe pressure on infrastructure in these areas, particularly in terms of access to water. Peri-urban areas are a veritable no-man’s land, as they are no longer part of the rural governing bodies’ jurisdiction, and are yet to be assimilated into that of beleaguered urban governing bodies. This compounds their vulnerability to water access challenges, as no one is quite clear on who is responsible for ensuring fair water supply to the peri-urban poor.

Water Security in Peri-urban South Asia is a three-year action research project that started in July 2010. It aims to build capacities of the peri-urban poor to cope with water insecurity. The initiative is operational in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, with four research locations – Khulna, Bangladesh, Gurgaon and Hyderabad, India and Kathmandu, Nepal. The project’s partners are the Institute of Water and Flood Management, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka; Nepal Engineering College, Kathmandu; and Management Development Institute and SaciWATERs in Gurgaon and Hyderabad, respectively. The partners collaborate to document how urbanization and climate change affect water availability in select peri-urban locations in these countries. This article presents insights from early reports and scoping studies that form part of this action research project.

Scope and Scale of Urbanization-Induced Water Woes

Unplanned urbanization, although good from a purely economic standpoint for the country as a whole, alters the usage patterns of land and water in these peri-urban areas, and creates vulnerability where there was none earlier. As in most cases, the ability to cope with this vulnerability is skewed, and the peri-urban poor bear the brunt of these challenges. The reports resulting from the scoping studies present deep insights into how unplanned urbanization and climate change can adversely alter the lives of the peri-urban poor.

Cities like Hyderabad and Gurgaon in India developed and expanded to include new districts in response to the needs of a specific industry – in this case, information technology and outsourcing. In the case ofGurgaon, there was a need for a business center near the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Gurgaon’s level of urbanization has risen from 13.8% in 2001 to an estimated 52.5% in 2011. Projections for 2021 are as high as 155%. Hyderabad is seeing similar growth patterns in the HITEC city area and near the new international airport. In Bangladesh, Khulna demonstrates a slightly different pattern. The city is growing due to increasing population density, and is facing rapid climate change challenges.

Peri-urban land development and expansion often happens by covering the land where natural water cycle occurs, such as wetlands, meadows and farms. Hyderabad, for instance, has seen a shrinking of its water sources due to low rainfall, and low groundwater recharge resulting in a depleting water table. A number of manmade tanks have been partially or wholly covered to make place for buildings and offices.

Water that earlier met the needs of peri-urban communities for cooking, drinking, washing and bathing is being diverted for leisure activities such as watering manmade gardens, swimming pools and washing vehicles within high-rise housing complexes. Gurgaon, for instance, boasts eight golf courses spread across approximately 1,200 acres. These golf courses consume close to 120 million liters of groundwater. According to Force, a Delhi-based NGO working for water conservation, this water could satisfy the requirements of 50,000 households. Water scarcity has also resulted in illegal construction of bore wells further depleting the water table: of the 35,000 bore wells dug in the last three decades, only 9,780 are registered.

In Khulna, Bangladesh’s third largest city, an increasing population and the growth of industry has led to pollution of water sources due to release of effluents and solid waste dumps. Increasing sea level and salinity are climate change challenges that exacerbate water access problems. Arsenic contamination, frequent water logging and drainage congestion are additional problems that round up the water access woes of this city.  The Khulna City Corporation generates about 240-280 tons of solid waste per day, which is dumped in low lying areas and unplanned landfills. Wastewater is channeled out through various canals and open drains into surrounding rivers and peri-urban water sources.

Insights from the Scoping Studies

Field visits in each of these three scoping studies indicate that peri-urban communities do not just face water scarcity, which could be remedied by solutions to increase supply of water. Instead,the problems have more to do with water security for the peri-urban poor due to urbanization and climate change, and due to the fact that they cannot pay for it.

Urbanization in Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Khulna indicates that routes to water sources are being modified. Water from peri-urban areas are treated and moved to city centers to meet the growing demand for water by those who can pay. The peri-urban poor are unable to pay and, therefore, have unequal access to water. Despite this, many low-income localities in each of these three cities pay for water that is brought to them via tankers. According to a study on water access in Hyderabad in 2003, low-income households accessed water every alternate day or once every 2-3 days. The same study found that nearby IT companies and educational campuses such as the Indian School of Business (ISB) were supplied drinking water through several trips by tankers of the local municipality.

All cities that were included in the scoping studies indicated a marked decline in agricultural activity. In Gurgaon, studies indicate that declining groundwater and crop intensity are likely to intensify with rising temperatures. Further, access to water is often tied to access to land. Most farmers with agricultural land find it more economically rewarding to tap and sell ground water for a price than to pursue agriculture. The next generation is usually employed in nearby factories and offices, and there is little motivation to cling to traditional occupations.

Urbanization also introduces new pollutants to water sources, and the peri-urban poor often make do with polluted water downstream. Researchers on the Khulna scoping study found that the city’s peri-urban population coped by getting used to consuming polluted water.

The involvement of several government departments compounds this problem, because there is no single government department that owns the stewardship of corrective action. Myriad urban government departments have a say in water supply, water access routes, land development and usage, climate change, waste management and environment protection. What’s more, this confusion is multiplied in peri-urban areas, where some departments have taken over their roles in the newly adopted urbanized districts while others are lagging behind.

Action to Improve Water Access

To help peri-urban communities cope with water insecurity, the project teams have each adopted a location where intense community mobilization is taking place with stakeholder dialogue, capacity building of the community and the formation of village water committees for collective action. Dr. Anjal Prakash, Project Director in India says: “We are in the process of identifying the groups that are particularly vulnerable and examining how they adapt to these changes, as well as how their adaptive capacity can be improved through technical and institutional interventions.” The teams are also planning to do a cost-benefit analysis of the adaptation options which will feed into the action component of this project.

Finding and implementing solutions to a multi-layered problem like water access for the peri-urban poor would need buy-in on several fronts. Recognizing this need, the project seeks to bring together a large number of stakeholders who have the potential of influencing these issues. Adds Dr. Prakash: “This is all the more important because peri-urban areas tend to be neglected by urban as well as by rural authorities – since some of their problems fall under the mandate of neither. The project involves elements of research, stakeholder participation as well as capacity-building of target groups – government and civil society –  in meeting these challenges more effectively.”

The opinions expressed on the Searchlight South Asia site are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Sources:

http://saciwaters.org/periurban/Scoping_Study_Report_Khulna.pdf

http://www.saciwaters.org/periurban/res.html

http://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/GlobalPovertyDataPaper1.pdf

http://www.rdmag.com/News/Feeds/2011/09/environment-protecting-access-to-water-from-urban-sprawl-clim/

http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Programs/Agriculture_and_the_Environment/Climate_Change_and_Water/Pages/ProjectDetails.aspx?ProjectNumber=106248

By Nisha Kumar Kulkarni

Hyderabad, state capital of Andhra Pradesh, is the sixth most populated city in India and holds the same ranking for the country’s most populated “urban agglomeration.” The city also has a significant urban poor population. According to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation(GHMC), more than 33% of the city’s population lives in slums. The overall slum-dwelling population in Andhra Pradesh is approximately seven million people, and Hyderabad claims near two million. Regarding the growth of the city’s slums, the GHMC states: “Slum settlements have multiplied over decades and the living conditions of the poor have not improved. Environmental decline, vehicular pollution, inadequate basic services and infrastructure in the poor settlements hit the poor hardest.”

Targeting the Most Vulnerable

In 2010, the not-for-profit Kriti Sustainable Livelihoods launched the Vaaradhi pilot, a livelihoods and healthcare program for the urban ultra poor – those who live on less than US$1.25 per day – in the Film Nagar slum near Hyderabad. The project is part of the Sorenson-Unitus Ultra Poor Initiative (UPI), a three-year program by Unitus Labs, a U.S.-based international not-for-profit focused on poverty alleviation. The initiative also receives support from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation – also based in the U.S. – which aims to alleviate extreme poverty. The UPI supports partner organizations to design and implement interventions for the ultra poor and address the unique circumstances and challenges of this particularly vulnerable population. Of the five projects under the UPI umbrella, Kriti is the only partner organization not working in the area of microfinance.

“Since Unitus was experimenting with various models, it was keen to also work with social organizations that were not MFIs or their NGO arms,” says Sriram Gutta, Manager of the UPI at Unitus Labs. “Kriti is one of the first urban ultra poor pilots. [The] Unitus team was keen to work with them and see [what] an urban pilot would [be] like – what components of rural models could be replicated in urban areas and the challenges that practitioners face.”

When it comes to programs targeting the ultra poor, there are many organizations, such as BRAC, that cater to this population. However, these organizations focus on models for rural areas; too few organizations have emphasized catering to the ultra poor in the urban context. Kriti launched its Vaaradhi pilot in the organization’s home city of Hyderabad, and chose the Film Nagar Slum because it is a “notified,” or legal, slum.

“Kriti had to choose between working in a notified slum and potentially compromising on the level of poverty they could target [by] working in a non-notified slum where there [is] constant threat of eviction and migration,” explains Gutta. Since the Kriti team chose to operate in a legal slum, access to ultra poor populations may have been relatively lower than if the project was launched in an illegal, or “non-notified,” slum.

Areas of Intervention

In designing the Vaaradhi pilot, the Kriti team deduced that any effective program for the ultra poor must clearly address the issues of livelihoods and healthcare. The livelihoods program focused on home-based interventions for women. The initiative was designed based on local needs and circumstances, particularly the large Muslim population in Film Nagar, which prohibits many Muslim women from working outside the home. “Flexibility is important for the women,” states Gutta. “They need to do household chores, collect water and take care of children and elderly, among others. Livelihood activities had to be designed accordingly.” With that in mind, it was settled that the livelihoods program must be flexible and home-based; easy to learn; doable in small spaces; and able to generate adequate income. It is for this reason that Kriti decided to provide free training on agarbatti (incense sticks) rolling, microentrepreneurship, paper bag making and tailoring.

The other main component of Vaaradhi, healthcare, also needed to be made relevant to the urban ultra poor. In rural areas, healthcare is a question of access: on average, a person may travel 10 -15 kilometers to the nearest doctor. Because of that, innovations such as mobile health have arisen to serve these populations. In urban areas, the issue is different. Living in a large city like Hyderabad means that a person does not have to go far to gain access to healthcare. In fact, there are many practitioners serving these poor populations, though most are unqualified. The focal points, then, for any healthcare intervention in the urban context must be quality and affordability. To ensure sustainability, the Vaaradhi pilot was designed not only as a primary healthcare facility, but also as a healthcare education program that could work as a preventative mechanism.

Pilot Challenges

The livelihoods component of Vaaradhi did not meet all the Kriti team’s goals for the pilot, especially around participant retention. Theagarbatti rolling and paper bag making had especially high attrition rates. It was concluded that the primary reasons for attrition were long training periods, inadequate income generation after training, inability to attain a certain skill level and a general lack of interest and commitment from participants. Gutta elucidates: “[The] opportunity cost of doing that activity was perceived as too high. It is important that women earn more than what they could otherwise earn through daily wages or other activities.”

Rolling incense and making paper bags proved to be more manual-type labor, and the general perception was that more income could be generated by other activities. Even an activity like tailoring, which is not very difficult to learn, requires time and practice before it can be safely relied upon as a livelihood option. “Some women lost motivation as they couldn’t see immediate financial benefit,” says Gutta.

In addition to the attrition challenge, the Kriti team was unable to develop market linkages for its chosen livelihood activities, given the long lead times between training and income generation. Declining participant numbers only exacerbated the already long manufacturing times. It was not feasible to develop the business relationships that could have taken the activities of these women to the next level and ensure a steady supply-and-demand stream.

Vaaradhi’s healthcare component was more successful. The Kriti Health Center was set up in the Film Nagar slum whereby it is always staffed with one qualified physician, one clinic manager and three health care workers, as well as regularly visiting specialists. The clinic was stocked with popularly needed generic medications, which were dispensed as per the doctor’s prescription. The price of a doctor’s consultation was INR 20 (US$0.45). The other part of Vaaradhi’s healthcare component, healthcare education, was also successful and included modules on women’s reproductive health, pre- and post-natal care, child health, nutrition, hygiene, vision care and emergency care.

What were the challenges then? “The terrain of the Film Nagar slum affected the healthcare intervention,” answers Gutta. “The clinic was not accessible to all the houses in the slum resulting in [a] lower number of patients.” Because there are multiple entry and exit points in Film Nagar, it was difficult to guarantee that there would be enough pedestrian traffic near the clinic to grab the attention of future patients.

Going Forward

The Vaaradhi pilot concluded earlier this year, and with its close, there are clear lessons on how to implement a successful ultra poor initiative. With regard to livelihoods, Gutta notes that it is essential to incentivize participation. For example, had Kriti provided a small stipend during the training period – which BRAC does – this may have kept motivation levels up and the attrition level down. “You have to show [the poor] the benefit of this training now,” Gutta emphasizes. “If the benefit is perceived as too far into the future, [these initiatives] won’t succeed.”

More than that, the issue is about giving people the necessary skills to improve their livelihood options. “[The] government has made a start by setting up the National Skill Development Corporation,” Gutta goes on to say. “[There is need] to train people in the slum and provide them with a stable job.”

The lessons learned from Vaaradhi’s healthcare component boil down to location. Kriti was able to nurture the Film Nagar’s community interest and trust over several months, but that relationship-building did not automatically mean that people would come to the Kriti Health Center to meet their individual healthcare needs. “The location of a clinic is important.” As for the government’s role in healthcare delivery to the poor, Gutta has this to say: “[The government] needs to adequately staff public health clinics and ensure they have the necessary drugs. And it needs to drive away the ‘quacks’ and other unqualified practitioners.”

The opinions expressed on the Searchlight South Asia site are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Sources:

http://www.citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html

http://www.ghmc.gov.in/cdp/chapter%205.pdf

http://unituslabs.org/projects/active-projects/ultra-poor-initiative/kriti-vaaradhi-understanding-the-challenges-of-establishing-an-urban-ultra-poor-pilot/

By Carlin Carr

The city of Ahmedabad, India, is one of the country’s—and the world’s—fastest growing urban areas. This capital of Gujarat state has a population of nearly six million and is the seventh largest city in India. The city is experiencing many of the same issues as other mega-cities in the country, like its larger neighbor Mumbai. In spite of this, Ahmedabad is known for its entrepreneurial spirit and inventive nature. After all, it was from Sabarati Ashram in Ahmedabad that Mohandas Gandhi led the people of India on a non-violent freedom struggle to victoriously overcome British rule. Three decades later in 1972, the pioneering Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) formed in the city, and today is one of the leading organizations for underserved women in India, and perhaps the world. The city is also home to the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship, which comprises students, faculty and alumni from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and is “passionately committed to helping disruptive innovations and aspiring entrepreneurs succeed commercially.” It is not surprising, then, that this city is hosting the international traveling exhibit “Vision of 10” in October 2011, which showcases a vision for 10 sustainable cities in 2030. Ahmedabad is the only Indian city featured in the exhibit, mainly for its progressive transit system Janmarg.

In keeping with the forward-looking innovation that runs through the city’s blood, a new project was launched in July 2011 to make Ahmedabad a “slum-free city.” What is surprising, though, is that in a city of such out-of-the-box thinking and entrepreneurship, the Gujarat state government has decided to adopt Mumbai’s Dharavi slum redevelopment model (Dharavi Redevelopment Project or DRP) as it embarks on an ambitious plan to upgrade the living quarters of 440,000 slum dwellers in the city. Initially, the project, called “The Regulation for the Rehabilitation and Redevelopment of the Slums 2010” and run by the state’s Urban Development Department (UDD), will focus on 1,200 families who reside in the “crime-prone” slum of Amraiwadi. Under the public-private partnership model, an Ahmedabad-based private contractor will develop 1,136 three-story unit flats, each of 39 square yards, for allotment to slum dwellers currently living on government land in Amraiwadi. The buildings’ one-bedroom apartments will have a drainage and drinking water system and will also have a landscaped garden and school, if all approvals go as planned. However, Ahmedabad’s ideal-sounding model has created a longstanding storm of controversy in Dharavi.

The Dharavi Redevelopment Model

In 2004, the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, a complex multi-stakeholder public-private partnership initiative that includes international developers, bureaucrats, state agencies, civil society and social movements, was presented to various stakeholders, and since then has been highly criticized for its top-down approach in bulldozing a “worthless eyesore.” The goal is to rebuild the area in the likeness of Shanghai.

The state-facilitated PPP “artificially” sectioned off the small but densely populated area into five areas that were each bid upon by different private developers. Furthermore, in pursuit of making the area into an “economic hub,” critics say the government and its partners have neglected the existing thriving economy in Dharavi, which The Economist valued at US$500 million in 2005. “Dharavi is a highly developed, socially diverse and economically productive area that is the outcome of generations of investment and self-development with little assistance from authorities or formal institutions,” says the Hindustan Timesresponse article.

Knowing this, Ahmedabad has gone forward with a similar PPP model for its government-run slum redevelopment initiative. Under Ahmedabad’s Slum Rehabilitation Policy, the builder can utilize the space left after constructing houses for the slum-dwellers for commercial or other purposes, says a DNA article. Also, the floor space index (FSI)—the ratio of the total floor area of buildings on a certain location to the size of the land of that location—will be raised for builders who develop slums under the policy. And, continues the article, “the realtors will also have the liberty to use the higher FSI for that project or for their project elsewhere in the city that is planned on an area of the same size as the slum they are developing.” The pro-builder policies and the potential to turn the land into commercial space are economic incentives for the developers that will, similar to Dharavi, call into question the entire focus of the project and whether the redevelopment will really help the people who currently live on that land.

Affordable Housing in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad’s dynamism is reflected in the numerous affordable housing initiatives that have cropped up recently. “Housing is a game changer,” says B.R. Balachandran, an urban planner and Executive Director of DBS Affordable Home Strategy Ltd, who champions a low-cost housing model that offer a “holistic” approach to integrating its clients into the formal housing system. DBS looks beyond a concrete building or residence into a package of products and services that facilitate their customer base’s transition to formal ownership of their property. DBS’ target population makes between INR 10,000-30,000 (US$200-600) per month to pay for the units that start at INR 4 lakhs (US$8,000) for 220 square feet and go up to 9 lakhs (US$18,000). “The market needs to develop for this segment,” says Balachandran. The company offers social services that support housing, including facilitating access to home loans, financial literacy, livelihood support, education and health services. Most important, however, is the “active handholding” as families who have mostly lived in slums and informal settings move into housing ownership. This is critical component in making housing a “transformational intervention,” says Balachandran.

This transformational intervention is what the Dharavi Redevelopment Model is lacking and why its potential in Ahmedabad is questionable. The top-down approach and leap from slum to high-rise misses the need for incremental steps towards integrating the urban poor into the formal housing market.  The high-rise as a structure also fails to take into account the nature of how the poor live, work and socialize. In Dharavi, this has been a leading criticism of the redevelopment project: that the poor need open spaces—not small, confined flats on upper-deck floors—so that livelihoods, which often require street space for selling or rooftop space for drying, continue to thrive.

The house is an investment in their future, and, says Balachandran, “there needs to be incremental investments in this that the community needs to be a part of.” In other words, simply “replacing a bad house with a better house” lacks the holistic approach and involvement that DBS believes is essential to moving people up the value chain and into the formal housing market. For this to happen, government investment in housing has to simultaneously involve investment in moving the poor up the socio-economic ladder by including health, education and “equipping them to deal with life.”

DBS has partnered with Saath, an Ahmedabad-based NGO committed to empowering and enabling the upward mobility of low-income urban households. In addition, Saath and DBS have launched a spin-off social enterprise called Griha Pravesh, a “first-of-its-kind” housing facilitation center that will act as a facilitator for clients to make more informed decisions about their home purchases; financing; and integration of community development initiatives with. Since some urban poor slum dwellers may be reluctant to move to a new area where employment opportunities and health and education services are less available than their current situation, Griha Pravesh will ensure access to programs such as those created through Saath. Examples of these programs are Saath’s Urmila program, which trains women to become “home managers” for urban households, as well as Saath’s Umeed that provides vocational training for youth from vulnerable households in areas that include business process outsourcing, bedside patient assistance, customer relations and information technology.

DRM’s Potential for Success

Ahmedabad is just setting out on the long and complicated road of slum redevelopment. As the project progresses, the government will need to keep as its focus the betterment of the people living in the slums, rather than a “beautification” of the city, which will ultimately lead to an incongruence in goals for the players involved. And, more importantly, a misaligned approach could lead to a loss of livelihood, social structures and way of life for the nearly half-million poor in the city. DBS’ affordable housing model acknowledges an important point in housing upgrading for the poor: the process that is needed to successfully integrate the disenfranchised into the formal housing market. The Ahmedabad government has at its fingertips some cutting-edge resource centers, such as the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship, as well as Griha Pravesh, and affordable housing models to work with. The time is now for Ahmedabad to truly make its city into a “Vision of 10” urban environment where all of its residents benefit from the creative, lively spirit of ingenuity that is so effusive there.

The opinions expressed on the Searchlight South Asia site are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Sources:

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_government-approves-rehabilitation-project-for-amraiwadi-slums_1566644

http://www.economist.com/node/3599622

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Final-plan-for-Asia-s-largest-slum-ready/Article1-274273.aspx

http://www.dbscommunities.com/

By Carlin Carr

The need for quality employment in the developing world underlies the success of nearly all other development initiatives. Job creation has become one of the most pressing issues on the road towards fueling the economic engine and impacting complex and intertwined poverty issues, such as education, nutrition, healthcare and housing. Without the ability to have a stable, reliable income, there is little hope for the poor to engage in sustained solutions that will improve their circumstances.

A Million per Month

Job creation, however, is only one side of the equation. A report released last month by the World Bank (WB), entitled “More and Better Jobs in South Asia,” says that a comprehensive and multi-sectoral policy framework will need to be implemented in order to meet the “demographic dividend” opportunity. This “dividend” is the return on a swelling youth population and an opening labor market for women—South Asia has the second lowest female participation rate in the world—that will continue to enter the workforce until 2040. The challenge will be to engage these new employees at “rising levels of productivity.” “An estimated 1-1.2 million new workers will join the labor market in South Asia every month over the next few decades—an increase of 25-50% over the historical average.” This means that one-million new jobs need to be added each month in order to “sustain economic growth and reduce poverty in South Asia,” says an article in The Hindu. Introducing quality jobs and having an equally qualified workforce will involve reforming the education system and developing a large-scale skills training initiative, similar to what has been launched in India under the National Skills Development Corporation initiative (see “Skills Training for India’s Youth” in the May 2011 issue of Searchlight South Asia).

A Multi-Layered Policy Framework Needed

While the private sector will play an important role in expanding job opportunities, the governments of South Asian countries have the task of creating an environment where the labor force can be expanded, upgraded and “modernized” at the same time new employment opportunities are developed. In order for this to happen, the framework will need to address infrastructure deficits, nutrition shortfalls and education gaps. “In the absence of such a framework, productivity will be growing slowly or remain stagnant and the dividend will go uncashed,” says the WB report.

Nutrition, for example, was a focal point in the WB study as a major obstacle to a healthy and productive labor force. Investment in nutrition programs, especially for woman and children, will boost school attendance and performance. The malnutrition rate in South Asia is even higher than in sub-Saharan Africa, which translates to some of the highest levels of malnutrition and anemia in the world. Pakistan, for example, has relatively lower percentages of stunting, underweight and wasting rates than India and Bangladesh, though the numbers are still higher than in sub-Saharan Africa: in Pakistan, 31% of children under five are underweight; in Bangladesh, the number jumps to 40%; and in India, it is 44%.

Until recently, Pakistan has made little investment in nutrition programs as compared to its neighbors. However, five years ago in 2006, a plan was launched to reduce malnutrition in women and children that also called upon the private sector to partner in the initiative. Still, more needs to be done at a faster and more comprehensive pace, since malnutrition at a young age impacts the person for life, both physically and cognitively. In a case study published earlier this year that analyzed urban malnutrition in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, the authors found that the “slums need targeted policy for children welfare regarding their nutrition in the form of provision of public utilities and income support.” Pakistan’s case is unique in the region since it has long been seen as self-sufficient in growing diverse agricultural produce and refined foods. Reasons cited for the lack of impact include lack of a clear and focused strategy, as well as lack of political commitment, in addition to minimal investment in nutrition interventions.

A comprehensive nutrition program often goes hand-in-hand with an increase in school attendance and performance. The education system will also need to step up to prepare students from a young age to think critically, analytically and creatively to fill spots in an upgraded job market. South Asian school systems are overburdened and underperforming: absenteeism, rote learning, under-qualified teachers and resource scarcity play into the critical need for immediate reform. In an interview with The Hindu upon release of the WB study, Kalpana Kochhar, Chief Economist for the Bank’s South Asia Region, said that given the average number of years of education of people between the ages 15-34 is only 7.1 years, “There is a stark contrast between increasing demand for higher levels of education and the educational attainment of the work force.”

Skilling in Bangladesh and Pakistan

The cross-sectoral framework and policy that is needed to meet this enormous jobs challenge ahead in South Asia will require an additional layer of training beyond foundational education. Skills training programs that provide tailored, specified classes to enhance the qualifications and preparedness of the workforce, particularly for the informal sector, women and poor youth, are in great demand. In a recent talk in Mumbai, Dilip Chenoy, CEO of the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC), highlighted recruitment and retention as major obstacles to the success of India’s program. In response, the program will be launching a communications initiative to raise awareness and increase enrollment in addition to a national fellowship program for qualified youth in poor areas. Accelerated timeframes for completing the training have also been taken into account to improve retention rates. Chenoy also highlighted the lucrative potential for partnering to fill the skills development gap: he says that it is a business opportunity worth US$120bn.

India’s NSDC provides a viable model for Pakistan and Bangladesh, where the skills training deficit is equally large but where programs are piecemeal and lack a strategic and coordinated effort that would make the necessary impact. Seventy-three percent of Pakistan’s labor force is part of the informal economy. Skills in this sector are often passed on through generations in an apprentice system called Ustaad-Shagird. According to the government’s policy document “Skilling Pakistan: A Vision for the National  Skills Strategy 2008-2012,” “Skills thus gained are no doubt practically sound, but they are usually outdated, static, job-specific, non-portable, lacking in theoretical understanding, and uncertified.”

In 2009, Pakistan’s skills development program was officially approved and launched, focusing on “innovative approaches” that incorporate economic opportunity assessment, social mobilization as well as training and post-training support for the informal sector. The program also seeks to address the need for women’s participation in the workforce, which is low at 28.82%, as cited in the strategy document. While the government has included skills training in a number of different policy initiatives recently—casting vocational skilling as a political priority—there is a “very large gap between the government’s aspirations and the current realities,” says a UNESCO report on boosting enrollment in technical and vocational training (TVET) in Pakistan. “The TVET sector across Pakistan faces many challenges, spanning issues to do with the quality, quantity and relevance of TVET.”

In one initiative, the Medium-Term Development Framework (MTDF) 2005-2010, the Government of Pakistan set an annual training target of 0.95 million appropriately skilled workers, of which 0.70 million are expected to be trained in public-sector training institutes and 250,000 by private-sector training providers. However, there are presently only 315,000 enrolled students in 1,647 TVETs. “It is quite evident therefore, that the present, supply-driven, skills development system in Pakistan would struggle to achieve this quantitative target,” says the UNESCO report.

In Bangladesh, skilling initiatives are even less coordinated and lack a comprehensive national policy. Anarticle earlier this month in the Daily Star, entitled “Bangladesh Must Speed up Productivity to Cut Poverty,” said that the working-age population makes up 62% of the population and that the informal labor force accounts for 88% of the workforce. While there is potential for “huge dividends” with this demographic, the trend shows that “productivity of both public and private sectors has not yet surpassed the 2001 level.”

While the need is imminent for a national initiative to meet the massive demand for training the poor to move them into the formal labor market, there is a need for an alternative platform for bringing together the public and private sectors, as well as NGOs, working on training initiatives. Major donor institutions such as the ADB, WB and European Union have entered the skills training arena in Bangladesh, states amajor report called “Context Analysis/Stock Taking on Skills Development in Bangladesh,” which was prepared for the Swiss Agency for Development and Coordination (SDC). “However, lack of adequate human resources, coupled with fragmented institutional structure, is a major hindrance in articulating consistent and cohesive policies in the domain of skills development. As a consequence, the NGOs and private sector initiatives have also become disjointed and dispersed, and lacks synergies of impact.”

Initiatives such as that launched by another Swiss-based organization, Swisscontact, which aims to contribute to poverty alleviation by promoting economic and social development, have been working on research and testing an enabling environment that would bring greater scale potential to the sector. One of the organization’s projects, SkillMark, focuses on developing and strengthening the market for skills development for unemployed or underemployed poor youth by piloting different business models that demonstrate market-based skills training solutions. The project was launched in January 2009 and will run through December 2013. Swisscontact says that despite a youth population (age 18-35) of 49.5 million, only 3% of the entire population in Bangladesh is enrolled in vocational training.

Meeting the Challenge

The challenge over the next few decades for nearly all South Asian countries is vast and complex. However, population demographics are working in favor of a successful outcome if a coordinated, sustainable and, most importantly, cross-sectoral approach is hastily implemented. In addition to human capacity building, the other side of the job creation equation requires the necessary infrastructure to support this growth. Lack of reliable electricity supply—particularly in Bangladesh, where nearly 80% of the population is without reliable power—is a formidable hindrance to developing and expanding business. “The lost output is, according to some estimates, as high as one percent of the GDP. This is critical because the foregone economic growth could have taken Bangladesh beyond the threshold of 6-7% of GDP growth rate that many policymakers think could make a significant and sustained dent on poverty.” In order to generate capacity over time, as well as expand the grid and distribution networks, nearly US$5-6bn will need to be invested in the sector over the next five years, according to conservative estimates.

The WB’s report says that, “The policy reforms required to boost job quality are desirable irrespective of the demographic transition. But the window of demographic opportunity lends urgency to the agenda, especially given that policies take time to bear fruit.” Creating one-million quality jobs per month will be a feat in itself for South Asia, but as millions of youth enter the workforce, they will need to be physically strong, mentally agile and technically sound to be productive assets in this new labor market. The poor, in particular, require specific attention that will provide them with the support necessary to transform their situations in this environment. The skilling model put forth by India’s NSDC offers a solution that could be adopted by Bangladesh and Pakistan for one dimension of the equation. Yet even India will need to rethink its approach and ensure that seemingly disconnected measures, such as boosting nutritional levels or making sure the lights stay on consistently, are all an integral part of a policy and movement that will truly reap rewards if consistent steps are taken in the region in the coming decades.

The opinions expressed on the Searchlight South Asia site are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Sources:

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/223546-1296680097256/7707437-1316565221185/Jobsoverview.pdf

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/193004/to-reduce-poverty-south-asia.html

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/article2479899.ece

http://www.bpdb.gov.bd/vision%20statement.htm

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/223546-1171488994713/3455847-1232124140958/5748939-1234285802791/PakistanNutrition.pdf

http://202.83.164.27/wps/portal/Moh/!ut/p/c0/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3h_Nx9_SzcPIwP_MAsDA6MQL3NXtxBvIwNzA_2CbEdFAOW90ZM!/?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/MohCL/ministry/home/sahomegeneral/sageneralleft/j_nutrition+program

http://skills-ap.ilobkk.or.th/resources/skilling-pakistan

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=204912

http://www.swisscontact.org.bd/inner.php?Title=30

http://unesco.org.pk/eedrmu/resineaa/publications/Discussion%20Paper.pdf

http://www.lcgbangladesh.org/Education/reports/Context%20Analysis%20Skills%20Dev.%20Analysis%20(Final)30.10.06.pdf

By Usha Ganesh

In an attempt to deal with the mounting energy crisis in the country, the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet in Pakistan has approved a new framework for operational and maintenance contracts that essentially handover management of power generation companies to the private sector for a period of 10 years.

This move is expected to improve efficiency at the power plants, which are currently maintained and operated by the government, and increase power supply to the tune of 1,243 megawatts of electricity. The cash-strapped Government of Pakistan cited paucity of resources and capacity to undertake the much-required upgrade for these power plants as the main reason for privatization. This move would also mean a reduced subsidy burden for the government, which otherwise bears the differential between a higher cost of production and a lower distribution cost.

Currently, four power generation companies run 10 thermal power plants at an average efficiency of near 18%. The Pakistan Energy Outlook launched during the Pakistan Energy Conference 2011 (organized by the Petroleum Institute of Pakistan) states that the energy crisis has negatively impacted the economic development of the country. Pakistan has a power generation capacity of 20,000 megawatts, and this needs to double in the next 15 years. State-owned thermal power plants suffer from poor conversion efficiencies and are also expensive to maintain and operate. Privatization will help them operate in a competitive market with no government support. The report also recommends that the government allow all power distribution and marketing companies to operate in a competitive power market.  Experts, however, question the success of the privatization in achieving efficiency since the inefficient workforce is seen as part of the bigger problem and contractors are not allowed to dismiss existing employees.

The Pakistan government’s decision to privatize maintenance and operations of power plants comes in the wake of recommendations from experts as well as citizens’ protests against increasing power outages. Cities like Lahore faced as much as 6-8 hours of power outages during the Eid festival in August 2011. Reports state that increasing outages will continue into September as the government, independent power companies and the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) are all caught in a circular debt trap. Independent power producers are yet to receive outstanding payment from PEPCO, which is yet to receive payment from government departments, which in turn are facing a funding crunch.

City dwellers, rich as well as poor, are protesting these outages, as most are convinced that the situation is more likely a result of politics, corruption and neglect rather than a genuine short supply. While the more well off citizens can afford generators to counter these outages, small vendors and daily wage earners, such as sugar cane juice vendors or welders who need electricity to practice their trade, are unable to do so. Many opt to steal electricity using kundas, or wires that are hooked on to connection points to siphon off electricity that is never paid for. Pakistan’s high transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, which are currently at 40%, include power theft. A report in Pakistan Today estimates Pakistan’s T&D losses per month to be around PKR40 billion (~US$456 million). The same report states that T&D losses due to pilferage amount to PKR240 billion per annum (~USD2.7 billion). Alternative options to access power supply have significant negative impact. If the poor simply wait 6-8 hours for resumption of power supply, they risk loss of income and, possibly, their meal for the day. Burning woodor urban waste that includes plastic results in notable environmental damage and pollution. Finally, small vendors unwilling to lose business choose to buy diesel generator sets, which they finance with loans, adding to their debt burden.

Privatization is also likely to impact the poor in other ways. Power tariffs are set to go up, as the government will no longer subsidize private players. Also, if privatization were to result in efficiency, it would involve measures to lower power theft. This would essentially mean that those who had simply helped themselves to “free” electricity would finally have to pay for it. These people are typically urban slum dwellers and informal sector business owners. Interestingly, reports referring to power theft in kachi abadis, or urban slums, cite reasons other than economics for illegal connections. Since many slums are illegal settlements, residents are unable to procure ‘no objection’ certifications (NOCs) to get legal electricity connections. They use the kundas to power their televisions and refrigerators, and pay regular bribes to keep the illegal power flowing in. Apparently, legal power tariffs are lower than these pay-offs, and the poor would be more than happy to pay for legal connections.

Clearly, the move to privatize the operations of power plants can have multiple and far-reaching ramifications for the urban poor if private players are able to operate free of political interference. Renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy, are being explored in Pakistan, but the high capital investment (i.e., solar panels, battery) required for solar energy would be a deterrent for the urban poor. It would be interesting to see if the situation spawns the growth of social enterprises in the energy sector with products and services that cater specifically to the base of the pyramid, as it has done in India.

The opinions expressed on the Searchlight South Asia site are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Sources:

http://tribune.com.pk/story/238251/laissez-faire-at-last-power-plants-to-be-run-by-private-sector-govt-decides/

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/09/city-experiences-8-hours-of-power-outages-despite-eid/

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Business/10-Jun-2011/Power-companies-privatisation-in-5-years

http://tribune.com.pk/story/155979/power-sector-reforms-pakistan-struggles-to-overcome-the-power-crisis/

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C04%5C13%5Cstory_13-4-2011_pg5_5

http://tribune.com.pk/story/244273/swelling-outages-power-crisis-likely-to-deepen-this-month/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14149617

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/09/people-of-two-localities-in-city-pilfering-power/

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/09/circular-debt-raising-concerns-in-power-sector/

By Carlin Carr

In India, 10 million people are estimated to have loco-motor disabilities, and only 5% of these disabled receive a wheelchair, brace or prosthetic that would allow them to be mobile, reports a study by Disability India, an NGO. These underserved create makeshift devices, such as a wood plank atop rollers to push themselves with their hands through heavy-traffic streets. In most cases, the disabled, who suffer a double stigma of economic and social exclusion in societies that look down upon these “abnormalities,” stay indoors in an effort not to be seen. “The most basic thing that we disabled people lack in India is easy access to anything and any place. That’s why we are called the ‘invisible minority’ because we never move out of our homes,” said a wheelchair user in India.

Often, the reason the disability has occurred is the same reason why it is essential to overcome it: lacking access to proper water, sanitation and proper health services, the toxic environment of slums causes disfiguration or need for amputation, further disenfranchising the poor.  Also, hazardous working conditions in some informal sector jobs often results in loss of limb. Each year in India, 25,000 people lose their limbs due to diseases, accidents or other hazards in unregulated job conditions.

These disabilities perpetuate a poverty trap and push the poor further from access to ever-important tools such as education, employment and healthcare. In India, 50% of people with a disability have never been to school. For children, the situation is even more dire: only 5% of children with disabilities regularly attend school. “Improved mobility is a crucial and necessary element in alleviating poverty throughout the developing world as it can allow people with disabilities to play an active role in society both economically and socially,” says Disability India.

With India’s increased emphasis on new initiatives to support the disabled since the launch of theNational Policy for Persons with Disabilities in 2006, most policies, programs and entrepreneurial initiatives have been focused around providing employment. Little attention has been paid to helping the disabled—in particular, the poor—become more mobile themselves or making public transportation more accessible to them.

Enter Jaipur Foot

In Jaipur, India, Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti began developing and manufacturing the Jaipur Foot in 1968, a handmade artificial foot and lower-limb prosthesis. In the US, this new limb would cost US$8,000 at a minimum, but often as much as US$25,000. The Jaipur Foot costs only about US$30, but is provided free of charge to all BoP patients, which, says BMVSS, is 99% of their customer base. BMVSS was one of the first to respond to the needs of the physically challenged, and today, BMVSS fits 16,000 patients annually with its prosthesis. The organization as a whole serves 60,000 people in total with the Jaipur Foot, calipers, and other aids and appliances. The prosthetic limbs provide new opportunities for people who have often been immobile for many years.

The Jaipur Foot was designed with the poor and their lifestyles in mind. This means that the artificial foot needed to work well for squatting, sitting cross-legged, walking on uneven ground and barefoot walking. This type of patient and consumer-focused mindset has helped Jaipur Foot to be a successful business model in both India and around the world. The development of a plan for low-cost production and mass manufacturing had to take into account that fittings needed to be accessible and quick to reduce patients’ time spent away from engaging in livelihood activities. Also, the limited trained workforce in manufacturing prosthetics drove the development of a simplified manufacturing process using local materials to keep the costs down. BMVSS skilled artisans who manufacture the feet are paid INR 5,000 (US$110)—nearly double the estimated per capita income in India—and benefits are included.

Public Transport

While BMVSS has been a leader in reaching out to provide new mobility opportunities for individuals in need, few other NGOs or social enterprises have followed suit in this specific area for the loco-motor disabled. Similarly, public transportation—which is how most urban poor move about the city—has made very few concessions for people with wheelchairs, crutches or other aids.  The government’s policy to improve access on trains and buses has been criticized for failing to make the necessary budget allocations, claims a DFID report “Enhanced Accessibility for People with Disabilities Living in Urban Areas.” The policy says that upgrades to the public transportation system should happen “within the limits of the economic capacity and development of relevant institutions.” The weak stance of this clause has perhaps perpetuated the lack of investment in assisting the disabled poor to gain access to the transportation services they need.

In addition, the poor are less likely to live close to public transportation, so even getting to a station or bus stop poses an issue. In Mumbai, a taxi service has begun catering to the disabled that claims to not be focused on profit but on providing a service to those in need. Founded by the Fulora Foundation, the taxi service has launched 20 modified cars as taxis for both long and short distances. Though improved mobility is helpful to the urban poor, they often cannot even afford the basic tariffs for door-to-door service. There is need for a system similar to that promoted by 1298 Ambulance service, which has a sliding price based on income. The poor are then subsidized by the users of the system who can afford to pay.

Also, since door-to-door systems are often relatively expensive, a system that adopts a model beingpromoted in Sweden may offer another solution. There, service routes for the disabled have been enacted, and as a first step towards creating accessibility for the disabled in countries with much less resources and infrastructure than Sweden, advocates in Mexico and Eastern Europe have also been working to implement this concept. This would reduce cost and be provide more flexibility in movement for the disabled poor living in urban areas of India.

Conclusion

As awareness around people living with disabilities has increased in India, so too must investment in innovations for assisting this population with being able to access the necessary medical and transport needs they have to be mobile. The ability to walk or roll a wheelchair in urban areas of India is difficult in the best of circumstances. But for the poor, mobility is a matter of accessing the resources they need to meet their daily survival needs. More enterprise, innovation and investment is needed in this area, and perhaps models being tested and developed both in Indian cities and elsewhere can be responsibly adopted to meet the needs of the poor. The Jaipur Foot has proven that these investments are not only needed in great numbers, but that they can be sustainable if the diverse circumstances of the poor are taken into account.

The opinions expressed on the Searchlight South Asia site are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5293366.stm

http://fulora.org/

http://www.jaipurfoot.org/01_org_whywere&areweneeded.asp

http://www.handicap-international.fr/bibliographie-handicap/4PolitiqueHandicap/groupes_particuliers/Femmes_Genre/mainstreaming_gender_in_disability.pdf

http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/rights-of-the-disabled-effects-of-neo-liberal-policies-on-disable-muralidharan/

http://handicap-international.fr/bibliographie-handicap/4PolitiqueHandicap/hand_pauvrete/DFID_disability.pdf

http://www.bus.umich.edu/FacultyResearch/ResearchCenters/ProgramsPartnerships/IT-Champions/JaipurFoot.pdf

http://infochangeindia.org/disabilities/features/national-policy-for-the-disabled-no-clear-roadmap-for-action.html

http://www.globalride-sf.org/images/DFID.pdf

http://www.vref.se/download/18.1166db0f120540fe049800011691/Tiwari+-+PT+Research+Challenges.pdf

By Carlin Carr

Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka exhibits South Asia’s rapid urbanization in its most frenzied state. With over 14 million residents and more than one million commuters to the city every day, Dhaka is said to be the fastest growing city in the world. The trend is expected to continue: estimates predict that by 2025, the city’s population could swell to 20 million—that’s larger than Mexico City, Beijing or Shanghai. Concerns over this growth abound. About 32% of the population in Dhaka is considered poor, with about the same percentage living in slums. As the city is estimated to grow, most new migrants will likely move to these informal settlements.

The municipality, Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), has begun to strategize and implement programs to expand an urban system unprepared to absorb the massive migration. One of these initiatives is the city’s public toilet program. In 2005, the Bangladeshi government launched the National Sanitation Strategy, which declared “Sanitation for All” originally by 2010, but that date was later revised to 2013. Under this directive, the strategy clearly identified roles and responsibilities, mainly that the municipalities would install and set-up public toilets, then would lease them out to the private sector for maintenance. In theory, this type of public-private partnership has the potential to work to everyone’s benefit: relieved of the day-to-day responsibility of public toilet upkeep, the DCC is free to work on new programs to meet the needs of its citizens and to continue installing new toilets to keep up with the growing demand. On the other side, the private sector benefits from the pay-per-use system, and because of the reporting structure—individual operator to the city’s government—the public would ideally have access to clean and well-maintained facilities.

A recent study, however, reveals that the program has done little to impact the sanitation situation in Dhaka, and in fact, has brought into question the program’s entire strategy.

The Situation

More than five million people in Dhaka lack access to a public toilet. The economic and public health impact is enormous: poor sanitation costs Bangladesh over Tk 295 billion (US$3.88 billion) a year—mostly attributed to healthcare costs—which amounts to 6.3% of the Bangladesh’s total GDP. For the people in need of sanitation facilities in Dhaka, just 47 public toilets are operating with open access, revealed the study by the Center for Urban Studies, Dhaka, and WaterAid Bangladesh. That means that one-third of the city’s population is forced to defecate in public, along roadsides, alleyways, railroad tracks or riverbanks. A separate report estimates that about 5.5 million urban poor workers, such as rickshaw drivers, are outdoors in the city for an average of five to eight hours a day. During this period, they would likely not have access to a public toilet; and if they did, its state would likely be in disarray. “There is no scientific estimate available about the number of public toilets that may be required in the city to serve this huge population. Yet, one can infer that the current number of public toilet is grossly inadequate. So, although the sanitation strategy puts emphasis on the provision of public toilets in adequate numbers, it practically has no implication,” reports the Daily Star.

The city originally had 69 public toilets constructed, though two were demolished because their location was said to be blocking foot traffic. Out of the remaining 67 toilets, incredibly, only five (less than 10%) are fully operational with a urinal, washing and toilets functioning at a basic minimum. Often what was found was that most facilities were only partially operating with regular maintenance nearly non-existent. Shockingly, many facilities—nearly 70%– were being used by the local operators to wash cars, sell water, sleep, or as small shops. Only 43% of toilets have regular water supply, and just 20% of toilets have functional lighting facilities. The program has been skewed in favor of the private lease holder, and as theDaily Star article reports there is a “serious gap” between the sanitation policy and program. Despite these violations of their contracts, the private operators have never faced any consequences or actions against them, further exemplifying the municipality’s complete lack of oversight.

Poor Economics

While the private overseers gain their lease on the public toilets through a competitive bidding process, it would seem that the vetting would also analyze the operator’s abilities and dedication to serving the public good. Yet, in this case, the lease holders were focused mostly on profit maximization, and the DCC neglected its duty to ensure the public had access to the promised program. And the result has been costly for the government, not to mention a complete disservice to the people of Dhaka. Only the lease holders seem to be benefiting from the government’s investment. The DCC receives about Tk 200,000 (US$2,700) annually from each of the public toilets; however, the private lease holders earn nearly Tk 800,000 (US$10,800)—307% more than what they invested. The report claims that the majority of this revenue is from the other activities happening on the toilet block premises.

The other portion of the private lease holders’ income is the pay-per-use system, where users are charged a fee to avail of the latrine. The financial agreement between Dhaka’s municipality and the private operators is that the users should pay between Tk 0.5 (US$0.0067) to Tk 2 (US$0.03). In reality, the poor are paying nearly 20% more for services than they should be. The study found that the operators are charging between Tk 2(US$0.03) to Tk 10 (US$0.15), depending on the services. While critics contend that the pay-for-use system itself is flawed—prohibiting the poor by virtue of any cost when they will likely choose a free outdoor area—other well-functioning systems around South Asia have proven the opposite. NGOs such as Sulabhin India charge for use of their toilet block services—making concessions for cost based on income—and these models have proven both a financial and social success. Prices are posted publicly so that no underhanded inflation can take place. Funds are used to pay an operator who oversees the facilities’ maintenance and cleanliness.

In addition to mismanagement of the pricing and profits, the entire allocation of funds for sanitation has been less than necessary. A study of 21,121 households in Bangladesh by the Human Development Research Centre with the support of WaterAid, UNICEF and the Ministry of Local Government Division, has shown that the government allocated Tk 4 billion (US$5352.6 million) over the period from 2004-2010 for 42 separate sanitation projects. A municipality like Dhaka receives approximately Tk 292,000 (US$3,840) per year in sanitation subsidies. Outdated subsidies per latrine Tk 520 (US$7.10) are estimated to be 1/3 below the market price. Government investment in the sanitation sector is needed to steer the sanitation program in the right direction.

Can PPPs Work with Sanitation?

Yet, given the state of affairs with Dhaka’s public toilets, the entire policy agenda is under scrutiny now. The public-private partnership has become a much-touted solution to some of development’s most pressing issues. However, the failure of the PPP between the Dhaka City Corporation and the private companies has revealed necessary administrative infrastructure in the system for PPPs to work. Foremost is a DCC-promoted monitoring and supervisory body to ensure that allocated funds to the facility operators are following the terms of the agreement. While this seems basic in nature, it is obvious that lack of oversight has devastated the existing sanitation program and has left any expansion to meet the 2013 goals in a tenuous state.

Conclusion: Bangladesh 2013

Failed sanitation has ripple effects far beyond broken down toilets. It is a public health issue and embarrassment to the highest degree. The poor—who are nearly uniformly the most affected—are subjected to yet another social humiliation. Women, perhaps even more than men, suffer under this failing system. A BRAC-sponsored video released last week suggests that girls in Bangladesh often drop out of school because of bathroom facilities that are either shared with boys or, at times, non-existent. The dropout rate goes up when girls begin menstruating. Therefore, sanitation policy must consider that widely available public toilets will improve the overall health of the city by reducing widespread disease caused by defecating in open areas, but it will also likely increase attendance at school, improve the working conditions of the urban poor who are out in the city throughout the day and provide one of the most fundamental services to daily human needs.

To reach the government’s goal of “Sanitation for All” in less than two years, rapid increase in funding alongside a revamping of the current system will be essential. The DCC’s sanitation agenda also needs to be progressive and forward-thinking and account for a growth trend. Annual expansion and construction will need to meet a potential for the population to increase by nearly 50% in the next 14 years. Looking at the needs and locations of this expanding poor population should drive the placement of new facilities and services. As it stands, existing toilets are not often in appropriate and accessible places for the urban poor who need them. The acquisition of land in such a densely populated city will potentially cause issues as the DCC moves forward. Appropriate planning, investment and cross-city and sector partnerships are necessary to create a PPP model that can be replicated to tackle other needs across Dhaka city in the near future.

The opinions expressed on the Searchlight South Asia site are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Sources:

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=193444

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=194379

http://washasia.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/bangladesh-brac-video-shows-importance-of-school-sanitation-for-girls/

http://washasia.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/bangladesh-govt-sanitation-subsidy-scheme-ineffective-experts-say/

http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=203397&cid=2

By Nisha Kumar Kulkarni

Over the last two decades, alongside the story of India’s impressive economic growth is the story of its urbanization. Average economic growth has been 6-7% per annum over the last 20 years. Urban centers like Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai have seen their industry and populations explode to new highs, placing tremendous strain on existing systems and infrastructure. The story of urban India’s success, though, seems skewed: media reports and research make allusions to the notion that South Indian cities have handled urbanization more successfully when compared to their northern counterparts. Is this indeed the case? And if yes, why so?

Growth Story

Today, India’s urban population is 377 million people. In the next 20 years, the McKinsey Global Institute(MGI) projects that India’s total urban population will be approximately 590 million, resulting in the newfound importance of a city’s role. By 2030, MGI estimates that cities will generate 70% of new net jobs overall, producing about 70% of India’s GDP.

What does this projected growth really mean for urban India? To be ready for it, MGI estimates that 600-900 million square meters of commercial and residential space needs to be built annually – the equivalent of building “a new Chicago” every year. And if that was not enough, 2.5 billion square meters of roads will need to be paved, as well as construction of 7,400 kilometers of metros and subways. In both cases, the infrastructural requirement is 20 times that of the capacity added in the 2000-2010 period. Getting urban India ready for its future will be expensive: the average per-capita capital expenditure for India’s large Tier 1 and 2 cities is US$243.50. This per-capital cost amounts to an average required investment close to US$92 billion just for India’s current urban population and at least an additional US$52 billion to account for the estimated increase of 213 million urbanites by 2030.

The Southern Perspective

According to the 2011 India Census, approximately 31% of all Indians now live in an urban setting. This statistic, however, is on the lower side when one considers that India’s southern states have a higher rate of urbanization. South India demonstrates the greatest movement towards urbanization where – with the exception of Andhra Pradesh – all states claim that more than 35% of their populations is urban. In Tamil Nadu alone, ~48% of people live in urban areas.

What is more is that the southern states also claim India’s fastest economic growth since the last census in 2001: in the 2007-2008 period, the economies of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala each grew at 10.62%, 12.92% and 10.42%, respectively. These statistics are greater than the yearly national average rate. What factors have fueled this growth? It is no secret that India has become the world’s IT king and services emporium: the flow of international business leaving footprints in India has changed the economic landscape. The global rise of India’s IT, manufacturing and service industries have birthed metropolitan hubs, with particular concentration in the south.

India’s Silicon Valley

Earlier this month, economics columnist Rupa Subramanya Dehejia touted her native city of Bangalore as “the city that globalization built.” Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka and the IT hub of India. The city’s meteoric rise results directly from India’s economic reforms 20 years ago that opened the country to the world. And the city has flourished since then. One-third of India’s total exports consist of IT offerings and outsourcing services, of which 33.3% comes from Bangalore directly.  In the 1998-2005 period, real income increased by 73%, which is considerably higher than the national average. In 1998, Bangalore’s average real income was 24% higher than the country; just last year in 2010, it was greater by 70%.

After Mumbai and Delhi, Bangalore is India’s third most populous city with nearly 5.44 million inhabitants. And despite the city’s wealth and success, it faces the same conundrum of other major Indian cities. In the 2001 census, it was noted that 23% of Bangalore’s population lives in urban slums. In March of this year, The Times of India reported that that number has increased by nearly 10%, where every third Bangalorean lives in a “sub-human slum.” According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP), or Greater Bangalore Municipal Body, the city has 569 slums where as many as 341 are unauthorized settlements. BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah has said: “More than 1,000 slums can be found in the city if we do a detailed analysis. But not all of them have been notified as slums…We need to take up development works here [in Bangalore].”

As is the case in other cities like Mumbai, the increase in slum dwelling populations is attributed to rural-to-urban migration. Professor S. Madheswaran from the Center for Economic Studies at the Institute for Social and Economic Change reinforces an important lesson: “Migration and urban poverty are directly proportional to each other.”

If urban poverty is worsening in Bangalore much like in its northern sister cities, what makes the city an urbanization success story? History demonstrates that aside from Bangalore’s modern economic successes, it has been an example of strong urban planning. The city, or at that time “town” was founded in 1537 as a mud fort near what is today modern Bangalore. In 1831, the town was incorporated into India’s British rule with the establishment of the Bangalore Cantonment. The British later returned the town to the King of Mysore, thereby making it a twin city to the Cantonment and following the European style of civic and infrastructural planning. After India’s independence in 1947, the Cantonment and Bangalore town were united to form a single municipality that is known as Bangalore, or ‘Bengaluru,’ today.

However impressive its city-planning has been over the years, Bangalore is confronting infrastructure problems common to other Indian cities. Over the last 64 years, basic services and infrastructure have been built to meet the needs of a modern city with the founding of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, for example. But Bangalore’s roads were not meant to accommodate car traffic. The city’s road network exceeds 1,800 miles, but with vehicular traffic growing at an average of 8% per year, the city is struggling to keep up with the pace of modernity, much like it is with migration.

Gurgaon: Rising North Satellite City

In a June 2011 article, The New York Times looked at Gurgaon, 1276 miles to Bangalore’s north, in Delhi’s neighboring state of Haryana, and assessed the city as an example of “dynamism meets dysfunction.” Gurgaon is 15 miles to the south of India’s national capital New Delhi and considered one of its four major satellite cities. Oftentimes, it is confused as part of the capital itself. As per the latest census data, the population of Gurgaon is more than 1.5 million people. Today, Gurgaon is one of India’s fastest growing districts, having grown more than 70% since 2001.

In describing the Gurgaon contradiction, Jim Yardley of the Times wrote: “In this city that barely existed two decades ago, there are 26 shopping malls, seven golf courses and luxury shops selling Chanel and Louis Vuitton.” He continues: “Gurgaon…would seem to have everything except…a functioning citywide sewer or drainage system; reliable electricity or water; and public sidewalks, adequate parking, decent roads or any citywide system of public transportation.” Although Bangalore has its own infrastructural challenges, those challenges seem minimal compared to the dearth of systems and services in Gurgaon. The difference is in the initial phases of city planning and continued maintenance. Gurgaon was never meant to be a city: it was a small farming village as recently as the 1970s. When companies like DLF and General Electric started developing Gurgaon, other companies followed suit and thus the city started to acquire more prominence.

The private sector has come up with its own set of solutions that by no means caters to the city’s entire population, but provides temporary “band-aid” type solutions. For example, companies and real estate developers have massive diesel generators on-hand in the event of electricity failures, or they employ city-wide private buses and taxis to compensate for no public transportation.

As is a common sight in a city like Mumbai, the have and have-nots live side-by-side in Gurgaon, and that juxtaposition partially explains how Gurgaon is both a success and a failure. As can be predicted, real estate prices are astronomical. The global outsourcing demand and its proximity to Delhi has made Gurgaon an ideal location for private business. The rise and success of its private sector has proven Gurgaon to be more efficient than the government itself in filling in civic and infrastructural gaps. But problems like inconstant electricity, pollution, very limited transportation and water scarcity persist.

With such an absence of public works, how do the poor fare? Although there is no official data on how many slum dwellers are in Gurgaon, it may be as many as 450,000 people (~50% of the city’s population). It has been also suggested that 250,000 migrants live in Gurgaon, slightly greater than the 200,000 migrant workers cited in the Times article.

What Next?

In the cases of Bangalore versus Gurgaon, it is evident that Bangalore has been better prepared to confront the challenges posited by urbanization. More traditional city planning helped Bangalore to perhaps ease into its status as a major Indian city today, and it has inherited the problems typical for an Indian city as well. Other major southern cities like Chennai, for instance, also benefit from proper city planning due to its historically important position as an economic and military center. It can be argued that India’s south has been better prepared for urbanization because of its exposure to global influences via international commerce and trade on its shores.

The fact that Gurgaon was a small village before becoming part of Delhi’s metropolitan hub is not singular in India; as the boundaries of Indian cities expand, they encroach upon rural areas ill-equipped to handle urban demands. In this dynamic, what has happened is that the disparity between the haves and have-nots is sharper, and the situation obviates the necessity of greater investment and intervention to make Gurgaon—and others like it—a stronger city.

Because there is a prevailing lack of faith in the Government of India’s efficiency, the private sector has risen to the occasion in Gurgaon and filled in important civic leadership gaps. However, this has not been equitable. The rise of informal settlements will continue, and that in conjunction with the public works void of the city means that the poor and vulnerable will be weaker still.

As India’s star continues to rise, its dynamism needs to be the antidote to its dysfunction. Can cities like Gurgaon learn lessons from its southern counterparts? Bangalore’s history has prepared it for urban demands, but its success is really a story of the last 20 years, just like for Gurgaon. There is both intellectual capital and wealth present in both cities that may prove to be the catalyst for fortifying urban planning efforts. And, undeniably, the government has a role to play as well.

The opinions expressed on the Searchlight South Asia site are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Rockefeller Foundation.

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