What do you think of when you hear ‘slums?’ Slums are overcrowded, non-durable, and unsanitary residence areas developed on the outskirts of or within urban areas. They lack access to the necessities of life and foster a hub for organized crime as well as a breeding ground for infectious diseases. What we don’t immediately think of is the people living there.
Slums house people who have migrated from rural areas, with dreams of climbing the socio-economic ladder. The problem of such establishments has stumped governments for years because of this very misplaced perception that is subjected toward ‘Katchi Aabadis’. To solve the issue, we need to understand that these are not some inconvenient parts of the city but a community full of human spirit and opportunities.
Simply razing their homes and providing subsidized housing doesn’t seem to do the trick. Residents usually end up back in the slums after putting their new accommodation up for rent to make ends meet. This approach fails as it dismisses the priorities of residents themselves like low-cost living, easy access to the city for jobs, and basic amenities.
One of the worst cases of such assisted rehabilitation programmes is Mahul Gaon in Mumbai that sits between chemical factories, with people forced to breathe toxic air and consume chemically polluted food and water.
Another popular approach involves public-private collaboration for upgrading their living conditions through in situ development, but it is subject to similar limitations.
All these alternatives miss the mark as they lack one crucial ingredient: the voice of the actual people involved. The solution lies within. The governments must step into such underserved sections and talk to the people as well as their informal leaders.
Community engagement has proven the key to a brighter future for slums all around the world. Initiatives that employ and mobilize the people from within these areas like the Green Exchange Program in Curitiba, Brazil which allows the exchange of recyclable waste for fresh produce, bus tokens, and other supplies, constitute our best step forward. Other participative programmes are seen in Manila (Philippines), Nairobi (Kenya), and Cape Town (South Africa) which employ local people for construction projects and maintenance of various community services organized in the slums.
Such a collaborative approach results in stable income sources, provision of high-quality community service, and an elevation in general living conditions. We can turn the situation around in Pakistan as well where 56% of the population still lived in slum households until 2020, as per United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
Slums will see better days as soon as we stop undermining the potential of people living there and treat them as a capable section of society. Additionally, we need to offer them a seat at the stakeholders’ table and include them in the conversation about their future.
Tooba Tahir (QAU, Islamabad)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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