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Newsletter 4: April 2009 |
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Welcome to the 4th Newsletter of the Social Protection in Asia (SPA) Research and Policy Networking Programme www.socialprotectionasia.org
This issue focuses on issues of shelter and social protection, discussing how shelter security and access are increasingly important in the face of urban growth. |
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| SPA Research on Shelter and Tenure Security: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Two of the ten research projects being conducted under the SPA programme examine shelter security: CEPT University, SEWA Bank and Mahila Housing Trust, Ahmedabad, India, are carrying out research on 'Inclusive Urbanization – Social Protection for the Slum and Pavement Dwellers in India.' Research explores the linkages between shelter, vulnerability and multidimensional forms of deprivation, in the urban slums in India, and the role of social protection programmes in addressing these. The Collective for Social Science Research, Pakistan in its project entitled 'Residential Land as Social Protection: Local Mobilisation in Pakistan examines the relationship between residential land security schemes and the mobilization of socially excluded and marginalized groups. The project aims to broaden the scope of conventional thinking on social protection to include entitlements to assets.  Workshop on Shelter Security and Social Protection for the Urban Poor and Migrants in Asia - CEPT University and MHT SEWA, Ahmedabad, February 11 – 12 2009. This workshop was organized through the SPA programme by CEPT University and MHT SEWA, Ahmedabad. The papers presented and discussions at this workshop explored the links between shelter security and access to various urban services, namely water supply, sanitation, transport, health care, education, social security, social assistance and livelihood security. The workshop report presents a summary of the proceedings.
Tenural issues and urban poverty would involve multiple levels of deprivations. While it is empirically marked that it is mainly the poor who are forced into informal, even illegal land settlements, it is also true that land tenure insecurity accelerates the vicious cycle of poverty. It is found through the on going research of CEPT University and MHT-SEWA in the slums of Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat, India, that insecure tenure has a negative impact on the provision of urban services, and consequently on the economic situation of the urban poor. This is discussed in the paper on Tenure Security and Urban Poverty by Darshini Mahadevia and Pooja Shah at the CEPT University, members of the CEPT University-MHT SEWA Project. |
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Transformative Social Protection (TSP) represents a process through which effectively unequal citizens can move towards full citizenship through the fulfillment of their rights, which entails an increase in their access to citizenship-based entitlements and resources, and an elevation of their social status. Limits on the participation of some groups are not incidental, and are created through social processes in which the state as well as political and economic elites also partakes. The research being undertaken by Collective for Social Science Research (CSSR) on participation of marginalised groups in some of the residential land security schemes in Pakistan, viz., Marla scheme in rural Punjab; the Sindh Goth Abad Scheme; and the Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority’s regularization programme in Karachi, brings out some of the issues surrounding transformative Social Protection and the role of ‘collective’ action. Ghazah Abbasi of the Collective for Social Science Research in Pakistan has discussed this in her paper on Acquiring Residential Land Security: An Instance of Transformative Social Protection. |
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| Other Resources on Shelter: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Handbook on UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement: The UN guidelines on evictions, based on the premise that ‘adequate housing is not merely a desired goal; it is a basic human right of all human beings…….affirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which recognizes the right to adequate housing as an integral component of the human right to an adequate standard of living’ Housing the Masses in Asia:Two Decades After Habitat I by Yue-man Yueng: Keynote Address at Housing Conference in Hong Kong in 1996, taking stock of the art in housing provision in Asian countries in the period from 1976 to 1996 Economics of Resettling Low-income Settlements (Slums) in Urban Areas: A Case for On-site Upgrading: Draft report of a research project conducted by the South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes (SANEI) Linking Urban Poverty and Housing by Ranjit Ambastha – Article in ‘Combat Law’, a bi-monthly human rights magazine. Security of land tenure today by Farouk Tebbal. Keynote address at UN-HABITAT regional seminar on security of land tenure, in Nairobi, June 2003 Legal Framework for Land Tenure in China by GUO Renzhong, YANG Chengyun of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Land Resources and Housing, China. Can Lessons be Learnt from the Improving Tenure Security in Informal Housing Settlements? Paul van Asperen and Jaap Zevenbergen – Paper presented at ENHR 2007 International Conference on ‘Sustainable Urban Areas’, Rotterdam, 25 – 28 June, 2007 A Theory of Urban Squatting and Land-Tenure Formalization in Developing Countries by Jan K. Brueckner and Harris Selod (January 2008, Revised May, July 2008) |
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| News and Events: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Habitat Bangladesh Women Build Habitat Bangladesh hosted a Women Build on 6 March, 2009 and on 3 April 2009, whereby women could assist in building on a house to help those with inadequate shelter in Bangladesh. The event was organized by Habitat for Humanity International – Bangladesh, a non-profit Christian housing program dedicated to ending substandard housing and homelessness worldwide. India's Urban Infrastructure Abysmal: Survey (4/1/2009) The condition of urban infrastructure in India is abysmal and services to the urban poor are pathetic, according to a survey by The Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a civil society organisation, involving 3,820 individuals in low and high income earning categories in six Indian cities -Jaipur, Raipur, Ranchi, Patna, Shimla and Varanasi. Despite an approved expenditure of Rs.50 billion by various state governments and municipalities under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the urban sanitation systems, water supply and waste management in these cities was in a deplorable condition, the findings indicated. PRIA publications Social Protection Forum at World Bank, Paris, 23 January 2009 - 
The 3rd ILO-WB "Show and Tell" on Social Protection, was held on 23 January 2009 at the World Bank Office in Paris. The annual event offered a forum for international organizations to exchange information on past, ongoing and planned activities in social protection. During the exchange, the Secretary General of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) outlined the current ISSA programmatic priorities, including demographic change, coverage extension, social security reforms and the administrative efficiency of social security institutions, and confirmed that the ISSA will hold a seminar on the impact of the financial crisis on social security in April, in collaboration with the ILO. Social Protection Commitments in the G20 Financial Crisis Communiqué - In the official communiqué issued at the close of the G20 London Summit G20 leaders make a strong commitment to social protection pledging over $50 billion to support social protection, boost trade and safeguard development in low income countries resources for social protection for the poorest countries. |
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| Forthcoming Events: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Social Protection in Asia - Annual Policy Conference and Research Workshop, 1-5th June 2009, Hanoi
The SPA annual policy conference and research workshop will be held in Hanoi from 1-5 June 2009. The event on 1st-2nd June consists of a regional meeting of researchers, policy makers and representatives from other organisations to discuss the challenges of extending social protection in Asia and to learn from experiences across the region. We aim to provide a platform for discussions on key issues of Social Protection in Asia, and an opportunity to strengthen links between policy makers and researchers concerned with social protection. This will be followed by a Research Conference to review progress of a series of on-going research projects funded under the SPA programme (http://www.socialprotectionasia.org/Research%20Partners%20.asp). Experts will be invited to provide feedback on the research and to help situate research in the broader ‘policy context’. It is expected that over 60 participants primarily from Asian countries will attend the meeting, including representatives from each SPA research project, SPA advisory board members, academics and policy makers and representatives from other organisations. |
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| Useful Links: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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http://www.sparcindia.org The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Center (SPARC) –with a link for a number of reports and documents on surveys, housing, capacity building and changing policy, infrastructure and case studies including for a paper on a normative framework on secure tenure http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/lt-home/en/ FAO’s resources on land tenure. Includes information resources, publications, studies, policy series, notes, manuals, journal, miscellaneous documents, technical papers and CD Roms. FAO also publishes and distributes materials that offer background information and guidance on land tenure issues. http://www.worldbank.org/urban/symposium2007/papers&present.html World Bank’s Urban Research Symposium, 2007, papers and presentations BBL - Financial Crisis & Mandatory Pension Systems in Developing Countries: Short and Medium-term Responses for Retirement Income Systems: 
A presentation by Robert Holzmann, Director, HDNSP, Jan 13, 2009 The international financial crisis has already had an important impact on defined-contribution and defined-benefit public and private pension schemes. In the face of declines in asset values, illiquidity in international financial markets and increasing pressure on fiscal resources, many country authorities are looking to the World Bank for guidance as to potential measures to mitigate the effects of the crisis and its future impact as well as measures that can assist in risk management in the future. This session highlighted the Bank's initial thinking on short- and medium-term measures for developing countries. The link also includes a note entitled ‘The Financial Crisis and Mandatory Pension Systems in Developing Countries - Short- and medium-term responses for retirement income systems’ Fiscal Stimulus Plans: The Need for a Global New Deal - Isabel Ortiz (March 18, 2009) This article reviews the fiscal stimulus packages announced in 43 countries. In March 2009, the total amount announced for these stimulus plans is US$ 2.18 trillion, or 3.5% of world’s GDP, mostly in higher income economies. The majority of these recovery packages contain measures to stimulate firms, consumers, and public investment in infrastructure. The author argues that a country approach is inadequate;a global crisis requires global responses. Developing countries will be hit hard; there is a need for increased ODA to enable them to engage in countercyclical stimulation. Stimulating global demand (and reducing poverty) will require further redistributive measures. Responses have been slow. There is an urgent need for a coordinated expansionary global stimulus package. Social Protection and Financial Crisis: What Do We Know? by Mark Davies and Allister MacGregor (March 2 2009) – IDS In Focus Policy Briefing 4 |
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| About SPA: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Social Protection in Asia is a research, networking and advocacy programme that aims to create a regional voice and develop a research base for advocating innovative and informed policy on Social Protection issues. We welcome your contributions The SPA Network aims to keep people informed of required and requested information and to facilitate collaboration on social protection. To do this, the network needs you! If you would like to share your experiences, express your views or share information, for example, if there is an event you think network members would be interested in, please contact info@socialprotectionasia.org The next newsletter will provide reports from the forthcoming SPA annual policy conference and research workshop. |
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The SPA Programme is funded by The Ford Foundation www.fordfound.org and |
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