Issues in the Upgrading of Informal Settlements

1. Workshop to Assess Issues in the Urban Fabric in two Districts Mashad, 1st to 5th July, 2006 Issues in the Upgrading of Informal Settlements

2. Discussion Topics • Consequences of current dynamics in the medium term including stakeholder analysis • Measures needed to be taken to ameliorate problems • Institutional development to manage the implementation of measures • Impediments to implementation • Means to reduce or overcome impediments

3. Stakeholder Analysis • Electricity Company • Gas Company • Water Supply and Sanitation • Telephone Company • Traditional Local Institutions • Irrigation Groups • Mosques • Astane Qods Razavi • Waqf • Private Sector • Basij • NGOs • Citizens • Sectoral Department of Min of Health • Sectoral Department of Main of Education • Islamic City Council • (Management Office of Marginal Settlements) • Technical and Civil Engineering Department • Architecture and Planning Department • Urban Service Assistant • Illiteracy Eradication Agency • Technical and Vocational Training Agency

4. Main Issues • Poverty • Unemployment • Poor environment and lack of related infrastructure • Participatory planning and Management • Lack of Funds/Banks • Security • Lack of Education • Health

5. Poverty – Unemployment • Regional Economic Development Policy • encourage employment in the periphery • Local economic development (LEDA?) • Micro-finance for investment • Banks (Postbank) • Savings?, Cooperatives? • Public/international support (eg IFAD) • Ministry of Welfare, Charity organisations • Tax Write-offs to encourage charity • SME training (BDS)/snowballing/cluster development

6. Environmental Infrastructure • Co-financing of physical infrastructure • Combining self-help with infrastructure providers • Ensure production of detailed maps and plans for building infrastructure

7. Participatory Planning • Programme to develop participatory decision-making from provincial to local level – to be initiated by a committee involving key government and civil society voices • Recreate provincial coordination body and create at other levels • Promote transparency/freedom of information and active communication and responsiveness to encourage trust and • Planning to be accountable to the coordination bodies • Greater powers and resources to local council

8. Security • Community-based security (neighbourhood watch) Education and Training • Vocational training • Illiteracy eradication • Informal knowledge transfer (incubator) • Land for schools • Municipality to provide cultural centre including library • and evening courses

9. Health • Health centres/local programmes exist (government and NGOs) • Private investment in hospitals/major health facilities • Improve drinking water quality – sewage and water supply authority

10. Challenges • Rapidity of population growth has made it very difficult for government or the private sector to provide formal housing (war – drought - migration from inner city) • Lack of coordination of government agencies reduces the effectiveness of guiding the development process • In addition to pressure for housing land speculation has encouraged land use changes on the urban fringe • Informal developers have improved the subdivision process to provide a usable system of access • Rapid provision of basic infrastructure by providers is a further facilitator of informal development • Government categorises informal settlements and whilst demolishing some is open to facilitating formalisation in many cases. • NGOs have been shown to be effective agents for assisting residents and government to improve quality of life in informal settlements • The long-term sustainability of the informal development process is deeply questionable