Participatory urban governance: The Experience of Santo Andre.

Social exclusion can be understood as the absence of basic rights compatible with a social minimum that allows the exercise of citizenship. Defined in these terms, the concept of exclusion is much broader than poverty; considering that the latter concept is usually associated with variables, such as famine and lack of income. Exclusion and inclusion are multidimensional; they are reflected through economic, social, cultural and urban facets. Therefore, policies aimed at social inclusion need to go beyond mere sectoral approaches: the right to the city; based on the access to minimum social standards, requires the implementation of a set of integrated policies aimed at social inclusion.

Based on these assumptions, the municipal administration of Santo Andre for the 1997-2000 term initiated the so-called Integrated Programme aimed at social inclusion. It implemented a pilot project in four slum areas, comprising some 20 per cent of the slum population of the city. The main characteristics of the Programme over the period were:

Set of integrated policies. The economic dimension-without doubt the central one-was incorporated through projects focussed on incubators for cooperatives, micro-finance, vocational training and a minimum income programme. The social dimension was tackled through programmes aimed at literacy campaigns for

adults, community health, and culture and leisure for street children, among others. Finally, slum upgrading, enabling the integration of slums into the overall urban fabric, and community cleaning programmes facilitated the urban inclusion of target populations.

Integration of local government. In order to go beyond a merely sectoral approach, characteristic of public administration, the municipality created a general coordination unit composed of several secretariats. In addition, a more technical unit among the planners of these secretariats was installed, with a field team that included people from the community coordinating the day-to-day work.

Measurement of social inclusion. A map with indicators of social inclusion and exclusion at the city level was developed. For each region, a relative indicator was elaborated, which was based on a set of more specific variables. This methodology tried to allow for the multidimensional character of social inclusion-going more in depth, therefore, than the usual approaches focussed on urban poverty.

Community participation. The target areas of the pilot project were chosen through the well-known mechanism of the participatory budget. In addition, there were periodical meetings with community associations. Finally, programmes in community health, literacy for adults and cleaning in slum areas were all implemented by community agents living in the slums.

Partnerships. To date, the programme has established partnerships with 14 national and international organizations: the UNCHS Urban Management Programme, the European Commission, the Interamerican Bank, the central government and universities, as well as local nongovernmental organizations.

An evaluation of the initial stage of the Programme shows that several significant results were obtained in terms of the integration of previously fragmented approaches, the upgrading of slums, social and cultural investments, and the economic re-insertion of families. However, several challenges remain. The Programme needs to be replicated beyond the four slum areas; at the same time, the local government is facing financial budgetary constraints. Coordination among the institutions of the municipality also needs to be further streamlined. Finally, the existing overall channels of community participation and the indicators that measure the results of the programme also need to be further integrated into the Programme. In view of this, the following changes have been incorporated for the present administration, 2001-2004:

Servicing all excluded families. While maintaining the approach of the Integrated Programme, it is extended to service all slums--with differentiated slum upgrading projects giving priority to regularization of tenure--and all families excluded economically through the redefinition of the minimum income programme and the incorporation of alternative income and employment generation programmes. At the same time, overall strategies aimed at combating urban violence and famine are being incorporated into the programme, adding additional complexity.

Institutional changes. In order to increase the operational efficiency of the Integrated Programme, a special Secretary for Social Inclusion and Housing has been created, who directly coordinates all activities that are part of the Programme, in addition to the issues related to housing, the minimum income programme and street children.

Local observatory for social inclusion. On the basis of the results of the map of social inclusion and exclusion, implementation will be improved, allowing for a better correlation between urban indicators and municipal policies. Firstly, the map will be dynamic and adjusted over time. Secondly, the correlation between several territorial scales at the micro and macro levels-neighbourhoods to intra-city regions and the overall city--will be improved. Finally, the community will be involved in the elaboration of indicators. This will allow for a rich set of quantitative and qualitative indicators and subjective evaluations. The first such participatory diagnosis was completed in February 2001.

Celso Daniel is the Mayor of Santo Andre, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

RELATED ARTICLE: The City of Santo Andre

Located in the southeastern part of the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Santo Andre has 648,433 inhabitants. The city has strong industrial roots. It is currently going through an intense process of economic restructuring. While established industries remain, service and commercial activities are growing. The standard of living in the city as a whole is reasonable. However, 16 per cent of its inhabitants live in slum areas. Santo Andre thus reproduces on an urban scale the sharp contrasts that exist between the rich and poor segments in Brazil, a legacy of the country's overall development model. The macroeconomic stagnation of the 1980s and 1990s has further exacerbated the social exclusion of the poor in Brazilian cities.

'City Life' Launched

With half of humanity already living in cities and that figure forecast to rise steeply in the next 30 years, BBC World has launched a new 26-part "City Life" series devoted to urban issues. Produced by TVE--with support from the UN Department for Public Information, UNCHS (Habitat), the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Health Organization, the Rockefeller Foundation and other sponsors--the City Life programmes focus on problems facing the world's twenty-first century mega-cities and their struggle to provide houses, jobs and services to all their citizens. In the first programme, broadcast on 12 April, Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UNCHS (Habitat), explains that urbanization is "a trend which cannot be stopped", especially in the developing countries, and "the challenge therefore facing us in this century is how to make cities a better place".

Globalization--and its impact on the lives of ordinary people--provides the backdrop for the new City Life programmes. Reflecting arguments about how best to tackle social development, social exclusion and inequality in a rapidly globalizing world, the series asks whether cities really are engines of progress. In many cities of the developing world today, up to half of the urban population lives in slums or squatter settlements, with no access to clean water or basic sanitation, and with the ever-present threat of eviction. In City Life, analysis of these problems and their possible solutions are provided by a host of experts, as well as by ordinary people who tell their own stories from towns, cities, villages and squatter settlements in countries around the world.

City Life also takes its theme from Istanbul+5-the five-year review of the second Habitat Conference held in Istanbul five years ago. This summer, politicians from across the world meet in New York to review progress on the Habitat Agenda--the blueprint for urban action drawn up in Istanbul in 1996. They debate how the cities of the 21st century should be run, what can be done to make them better places to live in, and how cities can share their prosperity with all their citizens. Working in partnership with Panos Network, Interworld Radio, UNED Forum, One World Foundation and the Women's Feature Service in Delhi, TVE's City Life series is complemented by radio and print features, webcasts, background briefings and an online debate, all available on the new City Life Web site: www.lifeonline.org. The series is broadcast several times every week on BBC World, with further broadcasts planned in other countries.