Ashalata Das - Integrated Urban Development Phase 2 (IUD-II)
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Authors
Amanda Ross
Issue Date
2015-08
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Development
Alternative Title
Abstract
Turning slums around with a new approach Ashalata Das was recently elected to be community leader of the Harijan Samaj slum, Jessore in Bangladesh. She explained "we never dreamed of setting foot in the city hall. Now our members are regularly invited to meetings. They participate in the meetings just like other respected citizens. Practical Action has given us this dignity and voice." Practical Action launched the 'Delivering Decentralisation' project to support people living in the slums of Bangladesh to influence local authorities and service providers in the delivery of improved urban services. Ashalata comes from a dalit community who are isolated due to their caste. This project established slum community-based organisations, which brought residents together to identify their needs and priorities and build links with and influence local authorities. Practical Action then built the capacity of residents, such as Ashalata Das, to become community representatives, giving them greater knowledge of the administration systems and procedures of local authorities and empowering them to take part in the city budget and planning process and voice the demands of the slum communities. Once Ashalata realised her people were deprived of their rights, she wanted to lead her community and wanted to persuade organisations such as munipalities to honour these rights. Through this training on good governance and strengthening of town-wide forums to bring local authorities and representatives of slum communities together, our local teams changed the mind-set of government officials towards slums. They now integrate community action plans prepared by slum residents into city development plans and allocate budget for them to be delivered. There are now allowances for dalit in both education and social welfare as well as access to both primary health care and family planning. The project also helped build roads, toilets, water supply points and introduce waste collection services, including turning faecal waste into compost and biogas.