HOW THIS DIFFERS FROM CONVENTIONAL APPROACHES:
1. Urban poor community organizations and their networks are the key actors and control the funding
and the management; they also undertake most of the building (rather than contractors) which
makes funding go much further and brings in their own contributions
2. It is demand driven as it supports communities who are ready to implement improvement projects
and allows a great variety of responses, tailored to each community’s needs, priorities and
possibilities (for instance communities choose how to use the infrastructure subsidy)
3. It promotes more than physical upgrading; as communities design and manage their own physical
improvements, this helps stimulate deeper but less tangible changes in social structures,
managerial systems and confidence among poor communities. It also helps trigger acceptance of
low-income communities in the city’s larger development process as legitimate parts of the city
and as partners
4. It works to develop urban poor communities as an integrated part of city; people plan their
upgrading within the bigger city development framework
5. Government agencies are no longer the planners, implementers and construction manager
delivering for beneficiaries.
6. Secure tenure is negotiated in each instance but locally – and this could be through a variety of
means such as cooperative land purchase, long-term lease contracts, land swaps or user rights.