Counting the most marginalised

Whilst the level of urbanization in Uganda is still relatively low - according to a report published in 2002 by the World Bank, only around 12% living in urban settings - all the indicators suggest that this will grow rapidly, reaching 30% in 2035. In recent years, Uganda's urbanization rate has increased significantly as rural poverty and conflict in the northern part of the country have driven people to the cities (http://www.citiesalliance.org/ca/uganda-community-participation).

This means that in order to deal with the approaching influx of city residents, the cities of Uganda need to reassess their current policies towards the urban poor as they will make up the largest percentage of the new city residents.

These cities, in conjunction with Cities Alliance, have entered into an agreement with the Federation and their support NGO to work on the 'Transforming the Settlements of the Urban Poor in Uganda (TSUPU)'.

The federation will be enumerating in 6 cities; Mbale, Arua, Mbarara, Kabale, Jinja and Kampala. By establishing federations at the local level, communities area able to organize around activities such as savings groups, enumerations and mapping, which gives them a platform for collective action.

These activities will also help communities to obtain the knowledge and information that they need to engage with the local and national governments on municipal development strategies and slum upgrading plans. This will have wide ranging implications as, for example, over 60% of Kampala's residents live in informal settlements.

The information that the federations gather will help the communities identify development priorities and advocate for better services, tenure and housing. This data can, for example, be used by community groups to present to City Councils, Local Councils or Central Government to campaign for various issues.

The participatory process helps uncover the specific issues that communities face that are particular to each area. This is important to note, as one cannot assume that each slum area will be the same as the next.

A key aim of this project is to create a sense of ownership and inclusiveness of the enumeration process, and for the communities to use this information in their discussions with government.

By doing this process, the voices of the most marginalized are given a space to address their development needs in a manner in which they have never been able to before.

Who we are

This blog will proved regular updates from the Ugandan Slum Dwellers Federation and their support NGO ACTogether as they undertake the largest slum dweller enumeration in Uganda's history.

Firstly, a bit of back ground...

The Ugandan Slum Dwellers Federation is the national urban poor federation of Uganda, which was established in 2002. The Federation is a member of the Slum Dwellers International (SDI) network and currently boasts 38, 000 members in six urban centres across the country.

All federations in the SDI network are collectives of slum dwellers whose main activity is the operation of savings and credit schemes. Leaders walk door-to-door gathering small change from neighbors, and conducting daily community needs assessments (asking each other how they are doing).

This process is designed to maximize the contact that people have with each other, enabling strong bonds to form around their shared identity as poor people. When people interact with each other every day - whether it be over savings & loans or the threat of eviction - their sense of being a community intensifies.

As members say, "Daily savings is a ritual that is not just about collecting money, it is about collecting people, collection information about their lives and learning how best to support them."

ACTogether are the support NGO for the Ugandan federation and was founded in 2006.

ACTogther prides itself on supporting the federation, so that when projects such as this large scale enumeration come along, the urban poor are able to enter into negotiations as an empowered and organized entity.

When communities change from recipients of aid to participants of aid projects, the result is win-win for everyone. As a result of the active participation of the slum dwellers, the policies become more pro poor, which in turn means the process will become more inclusive of the most marginalized members of society.