Youth energy and their participation will boost slum and city development Youth Report Card tool monitored housing and basic services in slums in Berhampur Youth as agents of change can take leadership to change the city through participating in local governance and take the responsibility to make the city a clean, green, safe and healthy, resilient, inclusive, planned, productive and developed. Youth constitutes a major part in the demographic structure of Berhampur city. Even though Odisha has commissioned the Odisha State Youth Policy, 2013 and provisioned many aspects of youth development there is less scope that young men and women do not actively participate in city planning and development. 26,270 households residing in slums (Census, 2011) with a population of 1, 17,541 in 163 pockets scattered all over the city. The citizens living in slums have numerous problems and challenges such as poor housing and no clear tenant rights and poor basic service delivery. An attempt has been made by Youth for Social Development (YSD) a youth led and youth focused non-governmental organization based in Berhampur, Odisha with the support from UNHABITAT to contribute to the development of young people in the slum communities of Berhampur and to the improvement of the overall living conditions of slum residents through secure housing, land rights and better public service (water, sanitation, electricity and street light, roads and transport) delivery. This has been done through leadership training, increase knowledge on slums development among youth and engaging youth with the local government. The fast track survey i.e. Youth Report Card conducted in 20 slums with the involvement of youth leaders of youth clubs in slums. The basic purpose is to assess the quality of public services like housing and land rights and basic service in slums; to create benchmark of quality of public services for future comparisons and to empower youth to identify issues and engage with the local government to improve service delivery. The major findings shows Only 4% have access to toilets in their house, 8% appears to have access to community toilets, while the remaining go open defecation. 6% households have water connection at home while 51% have access to roads and 10% of the households do not have electricity connection. Facilities of public toilet, garbage disposal along with storm water drainage needs urgent attention in all the slums. Overall the slums project a bleak picture with regard to service delivery of various agencies like BMC, transport, PWD, etc. On the whole, it appears that slum households are used as vote bank during elections rather than rehabilitating and developing them. Street roads achieved the top satisfaction levels among the slum dwellers with 42% satisfied with street roads. None of the services received complete satisfaction at least by half the households in slums. Major policy suggestions to improve service delivery are It is essential for the BMC to improve its service on emergency basis, particularly in the case of public toilets, drainage, and garbage cleaning. Slums essentially are the epitome of the discrimination in urban spaces. Hence, it is essential to provide dignified living conditions in slums by the government. The government need to provide land entitlement to the residents of slums. Since the land value of slums is considered as good value in the market, it will financially support and help the slum-dwellers. Existing slum dwellers should be involved in planning and clearing of slums. Slum level open meetings should be held to determine and resolve slum level issues. All households in the slum need to be given property entitlement in the name of female member of the household. Urban housing for the poor with proper service delivery mechanism and infrastructure facilities need to be provided with immediate attention. Rehabilitation or redesigning of slums need to include community space and children play are in the slums. The state government in coordination with the local government create urban land bank for preventing emergence of new slums and providing housing for the urban poor. Make women active participants in the planning and implementing stages of various activities of the slums. Civil society organisations (CSOs), community based organisations (CBOs) should be involved in the development of slums with emphasis on participatory planning and empowerment. Slum Rehabilitation and Development Policy (SRDP) should aim at women as they are the worst affected due to lack of infrastructure facilities and poor service delivery. In the occasion of dissemination workshop of ‘Youth Report Card’ here in Ganjam Kala Parishad on 14th December 2014 more 150 young women and men gathered to voice their issues and priorities. Four ward corporators of Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) and officials from GUTSL and SOUTHCO witnessed the events and shared their perspective and action on housing and basic services in slums.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 14:07:24 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015