Working paper, LEAD Pakistan, March 2017 Pakistan-SEDC-submission.pdf · city governance (Siddiqui, 2004). Most South Asian countries figure within the top quarter of the 193 countries

Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women, LEAD Pakistan 1

“Rapid Urbanization and Environmental Degradation: The Economic

Empowerment Impacts on Women in Informal settlements”

Working paper, LEAD Pakistan, March 2017

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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................................... 3

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................. 4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY……………………………………………..………………... ............................................. 10

KEY STAKEHOLDERS ................................................................................................................................... 13

SLUM MAPPING .............................................................................................................................................. 14

KEY FINDINGS UNTIL NOW ......................................................................................................................... 17

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON PRELIMINARY FINDINGS……………………………….…25

WORKS CITED……………………………………………………………………………............................29

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Abstract

One of the outcomes of rampant scale of economic growth in South Asia is the emergence of

slums, where urban poverty is on a rise and where due to environmental degradation, the poor

especially women are facing the negative impacts of economic growth. Poor infrastructure,

climate risks and enhanced vulnerability to environmental hazards in slums intersect to define

the lives of the urban poor, especially women and acts as a barrier to women’s economic

empowerment in particular and economic growth of the cities and countries in general. The

present study will gather primary and secondary data through mixed research methods and try

to establish the relationship and the differential impact of environmental degradation arising out

of economic growth on slums dwellers, especially the women.

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INTRODUCTION

Rapid Urbanization and Growing Environmental Vulnerability in South Asia

Analysis of World Health Organization outdoor air pollution in cities data reveals that, from a

global sample of 381 developing-country cities, 19 of the 20 with the highest annual mean

concentrations of PM2.5 are in South Asia. Karachi has the most polluted air amongst Pakistani

cities in the sample, with an annual mean concentration of 117 ug/m3, which is twice the

recorded annual mean concentration for Beijing, China. According to the Agglomeration Index,

an alternative measure of urban concentration, the share of Pakistan’s population living in areas

with urban characteristics in 2010 was 55.8 percent. This compares to an urban share of the

population based on official definitions of urban areas of just less than 36 percent, suggesting the

existence of considerable hidden urbanization.

In terms of our research study sites, India has the largest urban population in the world. As per the

Annual Report 2015-2015 launched by the Ministry of Urban Development, India a total of 377

million, comprising 31.2% of the India’s population, resides in towns (Census 2011). This is

projected to increase to 33% by 2026. About 6343 slums with approximately 10.20 lakhs households

were estimated to be in existence in urban Delhi in 2012 (Government of India, 2015). Zaman,

Alam,& Islam, (2010) discuss that unless there are effective policies in place to manage urbanization

the he growing disparity in living standards in Dhaka between the slum dwellers on one side and

well-to-do urban elites on the other may lead to increased social and political

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instability. Water and air pollution from poor waste and traffic management poses serious health

risks. The already acute slum population is growing further, contributing to serious human and

law and order problems.

All major cities in South Asia are facing similar problems. In general, poverty, deplorable

condition of slums, corruption and inefficiency in service delivery, weak governance and poor

finances are characteristic of all South Asian mega cities: Dhaka, Kolkata, Karachi, Mumbai and

Delhi. Dhaka probably ranks the worst, however, in terms of infrastructure, service delivery and

city governance (Siddiqui, 2004). Most South Asian countries figure within the top quarter of the

193 countries at climate risk and are among the top 20 within Asia. Since 1971, around 825,000

people in South Asian region have died in natural disasters, while direct damages were over 80

billion dollars. In the past decade alone, nearly 700 million people, half of the region's

population, were affected by one or more disasters (World Bank, 2013).

According to the World Bank’s report- Turn down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts,

and the Case for Resilience (2013), South Asia is likely to suffer the most as the result of Climate

Change. The region is likely to be impacted by extreme droughts and floods, rising sea levels,

melting glaciers, and declines in food production. Warming climate will contribute to slowing the

reduction in poverty. While the lives of everyone in the region will be altered by climate change, the

impacts of progressive global warming will fall hardest on the poor, women and children. In cities,

the poor will suffer with temperatures magnified by the so-called “heat island effect” of the built

environments. Safe drinking water will become increasingly constrained and alternatives,

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especially during and after flooding, are likely to contribute to greater water-borne diseases such

as cholera and diarrhea (World Bank, 2013).

Women’s Particular Vulnerability to Environmental Corollaries of Rapid Urban Growth

and Climate Change

Urbanization has had a dual impact on poverty and especially on poor women. Poverty and social

exclusion in South Asia are significant with 35% of the urban population; 190.7 million people—

currently living in slums and squatter settlements, the highest proportion in the region (Asian

Development Bank, 2012). Women are particularly vulnerable to the risks associated with urban

poverty, although urbanization is often associated with greater independence for women, however at

the same time, gender inequalities in cities are substantial barriers to development in many, if not

most, developing countries. (Asian Development Bank, 2012). UN-HABITAT’s State of the

World’s Cities Report 2008-2009 shows that “in some countries, woman-headed households

suffer disproportionately from inadequate housing in poor urban neighborhoods.”

In addition, climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of heatwaves in

the South Asian region (Huang et al. 2011; Knowlton et al. 2007; Meehl and Tebaldi 2004; Patz

2005). As global temperatures rise, extreme heat events are predicted to intensify in severity

(hotter days and nights), regularity (number of hot days and nights), and length (heat waves). The

2015 heatwaves in India and Pakistan claimed nearly 2500 and 2000 lives across both countries

respectively (Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan, 2016) (IPCC, 2007). Lower income groups and

women are most vulnerable to such losses. Slum residents, the elderly and the young, poor

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communities, and outdoor workers such as construction laborers are most likely to suffer from

heat stress impacts due to prolonged exposure to heat, underlying health status, and lack of

access to coping mechanisms such as air conditioning (Knowlton et al., 2007).

The report by COHRE on Women, slums and urbanization: Examining the causes and

consequences discusses the differential impact of urbanization and the growth of city slums on

women. Today, about half of international and national migrants globally are women. While

previous studies revealed that most women accompany or join family members, most often their

husbands – in the city, this trend appears to be changing. New trends show an increasing number

of female migrants migrating on their own, as an increasing number of women are now the

principal wage earners for themselves and their families. Women move to urban areas for a

number of different reasons, ranging from seeking income. Slum life has never been easy for the

urban poor insofar as housing and living conditions are concerned. For women, the problems are

especially acute (Urbanization: Challenges and Opportunities, 2014). Since women and girls

who live in slums are more involved in environment based hazardous livelihoods and

responsibilities for instance, much of the work involving disposal of garbage and solid waste is

done by women in slums. Additionally, since they spend a large portion of their time at home

their exposure to climate induced hazards such as heat waves and water borne diseases caused by

flooding and rain is more as compared to men (COHRE, 2008).

Due to the urban geographies and spatial structuring of slums, women have been classified as highly

vulnerable in terms of not only suffering from environmental hazards but also in their ability cope

and recover from them. For the purposes of this study vulnerability includes not only physical

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exposure to extreme events and adverse outcomes, but also the role of social structures and

differential access to resources in making certain groups more disadvantaged. In slums, due to

increasing population density, reduced access to basic services, greater vulnerability and

financial/livelihood insecurities, exposure to environmental hazards impacts women more due to

their position, traditional outlook on gender in South Asia, limited coping mechanism and

mobility.

The dangers to women and children in slum settlements raise additional concerns. Women living in

urban areas are far more likely to report gender based violence than those living in rural areas.

According to the COHRE report the absence of safe and private spaces in slum settlements, including

amenities as basic as toilets, also has a greater impact on women than men. When forced to relieve

themselves in public, women often wait until nightfall, when they have the additional privacy of

darkness, but also the added danger of assault. Another major challenge that women face in their

daily lives is living with inadequate basic services. Women, being responsible for domestic chores,

recognized that this situation represented a bigger challenge for them since they needed to

accomplish chores around the house in the absence of basic service (World Bank, 2013).

Women carry water in basins from the tanks to their houses in order to cook, clean, and use for daily

chores. Since women are the ones who spend more time with the children and in the house, the lack

of proper services affects them the most. When there is not enough water or gas, or when there is a

power outage, it is the women who need to improvise solutions because, as they said, the cooking,

the washing, and the bathing of babies needs to be done anyway. (COHRE, 2008) Women also said

that poor sanitation affects them and their children the most, because they stay in the

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slums longer compared to men. Women work within the slum, and they take primary

responsibility for household chores.

In terms of women who live in slums and their coping mechanisms in face of climate induced

disasters, studies have shown that women who are the sole breadwinners for themselves and their

families, are more likely to be poor, they are also more likely to experience shelter deprivation in

face of natural hazards. Natural disasters and climate-related changes to the environment, like

desertification, drought, or rising sea levels, can also disrupt the common forms of paid work in

which women engage, such as home-based businesses or peri-urban agriculture, making post-

disaster income generation more difficult and heightening financial insecurity for women (UN

HABITAT Study, 2007).

Barriers to slum‐based business growth reduce the availability of goods and services for

poor slum dwellers, increasing real and opportunity costs.

• Slums are often characterized by insufficient service provision from the public and

private formal sectors. For example, infrastructure availability is significantly lower in

slums as compared to broader cities, with access rates in slums often comparable to or

lower than those in rural areas.

• Inadequate infrastructure can reduce economic productivity by increasing the time required

to access basic services and resources (e.g., water collection outside of the slum) and by

shortening the workday (e.g., due to lack of light and electricity) (Glaeser & Ghani, 2014).

Women are generally more likely than men to be informally employed. Within the informal

economy, women typically have lower income and a higher risk of poverty than men. This is

largely driven by their overrepresentation as own‐account workers and industrial

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outworkers, informal worker segments that experience lower average earnings. Women

also tend to have lower average education levels and greater household and childcare

responsibilities relative to men, further constraining their economic opportunities

(Swaniti, 2015).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY

This on-going research in slums in Lahore, Islamabad, Dhaka and Delhi aims to address the

following broad questions: a) what are the negative environmental and climatic repercussions of

rapid economic growth and urbanization at the household level in slums of Dhaka, Delhi, Lahore

and Islamabad? b) How are these impacts undermining the quality of life and socio-economic

wellbeing of the urban poor living in slums? c) Are women in informal settlements more

vulnerable to such negative repercussions than men, and if so, what measures can be instituted to

reduce their enhanced vulnerability?

The research questions will enable us to examine the following hypotheses: a) Rapid economic

growth and unchecked urbanization has led to the formation of slums and informal settlements in

South Asia; b) The environmental degradation impacts of rapid economic growth and

urbanization are particularly severe for slum residents; c) Women in slums are particularly

vulnerable to both localized environmental degradation effects such as land erosion, water and

air contamination, as well as global climate change shocks such as heat waves, flash floods and

epidemics. Women bear the inordinate burden of insufficient access to water and sanitation and

health services (WASH), high population density, and poor housing and infrastructure in slum

areas. This undermines their economic empowerment across a range of indicators through the

loss of time, earning opportunities, and social capital.

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The preceding hypothesis is being tested using questionnaire-based household surveys. Overall,

1200 male and female respondents are being surveyed from 12 selected slums across Islamabad,

Lahore, Delhi, and Dhaka cities, 3 from each city. The 12 slums across the four cities were

selected based on a uniformly defined criterion. This included the requirement for each slum to

be, a) non-notified, b) geographically dispersed, and c) prone to an environmental hazard.

The survey instrument, a structured questionnaire, has been meticulously designed after

extensive consultative sessions in each city. The survey data is being collected based on a

multistage stratified random sampling strategy. The data from surveys will be complemented by

Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with relevant stakeholders such as the representatives of city

development authorities in Dhaka, Delhi, Lahore and Islamabad cities, as well as unstructured

interviews with community leaders from the 12 slums under survey. The survey interviews are

being conducted at the household level from men and women aged 18 and above. Well-defined

field protocols were developed and reviewed extensively prior to implementing the survey

instrument in the field. In order to ensure randomness in the data collection, a GPS-based

methodology was adopted for the identification of starting points for enumerator field work in

each slum.

Due to the wide variability in the definition of slums across the 4 cities, our study defined slums

according to the UN-Habitat criteria. The UN-Habitat describes slums as having characteristics

such as over-crowding, insecurity of tenure, densely built and poor housing quality, lack of basic

services such as sanitation and garbage disposal, high levels of indoor and outdoor atmospheric

pollution, poor safety and health status, high vulnerability to disasters such as water-logging,

storms, droughts, earthquakes, fires, and outbreak of contagious diseases (UN-Habitat, 2016). A

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slum household in our study is defined as a group of individuals who share a kitchen i.e. eat out

of/from the same kitchen.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

Our primary stakeholders are government agencies since they have the official jurisdiction to

affect change within informal settlements such as slums. This is even more pertinent since the

areas under our study are non-notified i.e. illegal settlements. The specific stakeholders include

city development authorities in the 4 cities. For Pakistan, these include the Katchi Abadis

Department of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Islamabad, the Katchi Abadis

Department of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) in Lahore and the Punjab Katchi

Abadis Directorate. For Dhaka, the relevant public agencies are Social Welfare and Slum

Development Department of the Dhaka North City Corporation and the Dhaka South City

Corporation, as well as the Dhaka Capital Development Authority (RAJUK). For India, the

relevant public agencies are the Slum Departments of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi

(MCD), the New Delhi Municipal Council (NMDC), and the Delhi Cantonment Board. Our

stakeholders also include politicians at a broader level, in particular women parliamentarians,

since political interference in the decision-making of public sector agencies across all three

countries is rife. Relevant city development authorities in all 3 countries are frequently subjected

to central government influence vis-a-vis key planning decisions. Although the politicization of

decision-making stands in the way of sound policy-making, this is prevailing mode of dealing

with key urban planning issues, and taking politicians on board our research results will be

important for this reason.

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SLUM MAPPING

The tables below depict mappings of each of the 3 slums selected for our field survey in

Islamabad, Lahore, Dhaka and Delhi cities. The mapping was carried out based on information

from surveyors who carried out a thorough scoping exercise at each slum location. Slum

boundaries were delineated using Google Earth and ArcGIS software. Subsequently, 10 starting

points were generated randomly within each slum boundary to demarcate starting points for field

enumerators using ArcMap. Population estimates for each slum were also obtained during the

scoping exercise. The slum mapping and population estimates were based on details provided by

the local communities themselves on areas that they considered to be a part of their community.

Therefore, we adopted the functional definition of the slum based on each local community’s

own definition. This approach was adopted as the most viable alternative to census data on non-

notified slums, which is mostly unavailable at present.

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Dhaka Slums

Keranijang Slum, Dhaka Jhutt Patti Tong Basti, Dhaka

Population: Approximately 3 million residents Population: Approximately 1937 residents Location: The Keranijang slum in Dhaka is Location: The Jhutt Patti Tong Basti is

located in the West City locale of Dhaka city. It located in the Northern part of Dhaka in the

falls at the low-lying area of the confluence of Pallabai neighborhood. It falls under the

the Buriganga river and the Shittalakhya River. jurisdiction of the Dhaka North City

The slum has more than 3 million residents Corporation, Ward No. 2. Slums in this area

spread over a sizeable area. The slum is highly mostly rely on contaminated water for

vulnerable to flood waters. household consumption.

Sattala Basti, Dhaka

Population: Approximately 5063 residents Location: The Sattala Basti is located in

Banani, Dhaka North City Corporation,

Ward No. 19. The Sattala Basti, it is in

proximity to Banani-Gulshan lake, which is

a common spot for garbage and sewerage

dumping. The lake primarily receives

domestic sewerage without any treatment

and surface runoff. Flooding in the Gulshan

lake during the monsoon season also

threatens slums in the region.

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Islamabad and Lahore Slums

Basti Esayan, Lahore Gao Shalla Slum, Lahore

Population: Approximately 3000 residents Population: Approximately 10,000 residents Location: The Basti Esayan is located just Location: The Gao Shalla slum in Lahore is

behind Packages, a major paper and pulp located on the brink of River Ravi, so risk of

industry, which was earlier located outside flooding is significant.

Lahore, but has now expanded very much

within the city. The slum is vulnerable to the

environmental hazards from waste from the

factory.

Altaf Colony, Lahore Chora Stop Slum, Islamabad.

Population: Approximately 10,000 residents Population: Approximately 5000 residents

Location: The Colony is located near the Location: The Chora Stop slum is in Sector

Ranger’s Headquarters in Lahore. It is located E-12 in Islamabad. The slum has been

close to a ring road and is also in proximity to formed on a steep slope and is close to a

a garbage dumping site and an open drain. garbage dumping site.

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Akram Gill Colony, Islamabad.

Population: Approximately 2000 residents

Location: The Akram Gill colony in

Islamabad is in sector H-9 of Islamabad. The slum is located close to high voltage Power

Line and is also in proximity to a Highway.

Mera Jaffar slum, Islamabad.

Population: Approximately 1000 residents

Location: The Mera Jaffar slum is in

Sector G-12 of Islamabad. The slum is close to the Kashmir Highway and a

garbage dumping site.

Delhi Slums

Ghazipur Slum, Delhi. Tughlakabad Slum, Delhi.

Population: Approximately 600 dwelling Population: Approximately 600 dwelling units units Location: The Tughlakabad slum is in the

Location: The Ghazipur slum is in East South of Delhi. The slum is located on a steep

Delhi. The slum is located near a garbage slope and the surrounding area is used for open

dump and landfill site. defecation and garbage disposal.

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Hanuman Camp Slum, Delhi. Population: Approximately 800 dwelling units Location: The Hanuman Camp slum is in central Delhi. The slum is adjacent to an open drain.

KEY FINDINGS UNTIL NOW

Research on this project began in September, 2015 and is expected to conclude later this year in

August 2017. Several preliminary findings have been made regarding our main research

questions based on the literature review and the pilot tests conducted in all four cities until now.

The pilot test data is based on a sample size of 20 respondents from each city. Due to the

statistically insignificant sample size available at this point, it is difficult to draw any concrete

conclusions about our hypothesis. The currently available data has also not yielded any concrete

findings with respect to the differential impact of environmental degradation on the women

populations of slums particularly. The complete data from the field survey will be available

within a week’s time, after which comprehensive analysis of the primary data will be possible.

Although advanced findings will be shared with relevant stakeholders in the coming months, the

following research findings have been made based on the available information.

Challenges in Data Collection

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A key issue that was faced during our preliminary research in all 12 slums was the lack of data

availability on important development indicators and the absence of reliable mapping. This was

especially the case since the slums sampled in our study were non-notified areas. Because of the

lack of basic mapping and census of slum populations, a considerable amount of time had to be

dedicated to identifying the geographic spread and population sizes of the surveyed settlements.

Although reasonably reliable estimates on these indicators were obtained from extensive scoping

exercises in all 4 cities, the data obtained was based on approximations as opposed to precision.

In this respect, Bangladesh maintains the most extensive data on slums. To date, the country has

conducted two comprehensive censuses on slums in the region. This has been complemented by

wide-ranging surveys on slums. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has maintained a

policy of conducting a census on the country’s slums every 10 years since 1995. The BBS census

on slums records data on key indicators such as income, health, education, and the availability of

key utilities such as water, electricity, and sanitation services. The Centre for Urban Studies

(CUS) in Bangladesh published the most comprehensive report on slums in Dhaka in its 2005

Census and Mapping of Slums (CMS) document1. In Lahore, the non-notified slums in the city

have been mapped by the Punjab government’s Urban Unit. Some large, non-notified slums in

Delhi and Islamabad have also been mapped recently.

Notwithstanding the challenges faced due to the lack of data collection by state agencies, slum

residents’ general reluctance to share information was also a key bottleneck. Most residents were

mistrustful of enumerators. They either took large amounts of time to be convinced to respond to the

survey or declined outright. This interfered with the speed at which the data could be collected,

1 Centre for Urban Studies, National Institute of Population Research and Training, MEASURE Evaluation, Slums

of Urban Bangladesh: Mapping and Census, 2005, Dhaka, Bangladesh and Chapelhill, NC, USA, 2006.

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and more importantly, indicated the extent to which slum residents feel alienated from the

mainstream society.

Concentration in Environmentally Vulnerable Sites

Most slums in the four cities under study are located at sites that are particularly vulnerable to

environmental and climate change corollaries. This includes high risk regions such as flood-plains,

land next to open drains, sewerage lines and landfills. This has been underscored in the previous

section that details the mappings of the 12 slums. For instance, at the Ghazipur slum in Delhi, an

open drain overflows during the rainy season, flooding homes. Such issues are particularly

pronounced in Bangladesh, a country that is highly vulnerable to environmental risks such as floods.

The large majority of slums in Dhaka have formed mainly due to climate-change related migration

patterns. Environmental issues faced by slums are exacerbated by insensitive state infrastructure

initiatives, such as the construction of a metro near the Ghazipur slum. This state initiative has led to

the inflow of unclean water from the construction site into the slum on a regular basis. The Gao

Shalla slum in Lahore is at a high risk from floods due to its proximity to the River Ravi. The Basti

Esayan in Lahore is located just behind the Packages factory, which is a major paper and pulp

production site. The dumping of untreated chemicals and production wastes in nearby sites in the

absence of state regulation puts residents of the slum at a high risk from the environmental hazards

posed by this industrial site. The Basti Esayan is also located near a cattle rearing site, which poses

health risks to residents due to the widespread presence of animal waste.

Increasing Heat Stress as the most pressing Climate Change Corollary

Residents of most slums reported that increasing heat stress was the most serious climate change

corollary that they had faced in recent years. This was particularly the case with dwellers of the

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Tughlakabad slum in India, which is located on a steep, arid area that exposes residents to extreme

heat during the summer months. The lack of greenery and vegetation in some slum settlements such

as the Ghazipur slum in Delhi exacerbated the heat stress impacts of increasing temperatures. Access

to health and disaster insurance services among slum residents was negligible.

Health issues from Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution as the most Pervasive Problem

Data from the pilot tests also revealed that indoor and outdoor air pollution is the most pressing

environmental challenge faced by slum residents in all cities. Respiratory diseases from poor air

quality were reported to be the most common types of health repercussions of locating in

environmentally vulnerable sites. Skin infections were also a commonly reported health issue,

following by vulnerability to contagious diseases.

Poor Sanitation and Maintenance Services across all slums, although Variations Persist

Across all 12 slums, pungent smell from open drains, nearby waste dumping sites, and garbage

accumulation is a common feature. Thus, sanitation conditions across all surveyed slums were

mostly poor. However, some slums fared better than others based on the availability of private

toilets within the household. In most slums, residents were relying on public toilets that were

poorly maintained and mostly dirty. However, slums where private toilets were available within

each household, such as the Sattola basti in Dhaka, poor maintenance and lack of waste disposal

services meant that sanitation and hygiene conditions were notably poor. However, the worst

conditions were observed in slums where there was a complete lack of toilets. This included the

Tughlakabad slum in India, where the absence of sanitation facilities meant that residents had to

rely on open defecation. Moreover, most slums do not have access to regular waste solid disposal

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services. For instance, in Lahore, the Gao Shalla slum was characterized by mounds of

uncollected solid waste across the site. However, the Sattola basti in Dhaka happened to be an

exception in this regard, where residents sampled during the pilot tests reported having access to

waste disposal facilities.

Infrastructure Conditions are mostly Poor, but Vary Widely across Slums

Most slum residents reported bad roads to be one of the most pressing issues they faced. Although

infrastructure conditions were observed to be poor across all slums in comparison with the formally

demarcated areas of all cities, there was a wide variation in the quality of roads and the built

structures in all slums. For instance, most houses and roads in the Sattola Basti and Kerinjang slum

of Dhaka were constructed from permanent materials such as bricks and cement. On the other hand,

slums such as the Jhutpatti Tong basti in Dhaka and the Tughlakabad and Ghazipur settlements in

Delhi were mostly composed of homes and roads constructed from temporary materials such as mud

and cow dung/dirt. As a result, residents of such slums were highly to vulnerable to rains, since water

could easily seep into their homes. Moreover, the temporary nature of roads in such areas meant

roads remain slushy for many days during the rainy season. This interfered with residents’ ability to

commute, and restricted their mobility within the slums. The accumulation of rainwater on streets

and inside homes, together with clogged drains, provides a breeding ground for rats, mosquitos, flies,

and other disease inducing insects. Contagious diseases were more common in slums with roads

constructed from temporary construction materials such as mud, since they tend to retain water over

much longer periods.

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A telling finding that emerged from the pilot survey data from Dhaka was that all slums,

regardless of the state of their built condition, had highly reliable access to power and clean

water. Moreover, this power supply was purchased legally from government sources, despite of

the fact that these slums are non-notified. Similar to electricity, all slum residents sampled during

the pilot test in Dhaka reported as having reliable access to clean water supply private sources.

Preponderance in Low-paying Jobs that are nevertheless central to the City Economy

Most of the male respondents in all surveyed slums were employed as laborers in the waste

picking, garbage sorting and recycling industries in Delhi, Lahore and Islamabad slums. Very

few male respondents in the 3 Delhi settlements were employed as drivers, carpenters, plumbers

and peons. It was noted that waste picking was a common occupation among both men and

women in the Ghazipur slum. However, this occupation was hazardous because of the steep

garbage dumps residents had to climb for this purpose. The newly set up garbage dumping

factory near the Ghazipur slum had also recently provided jobs to a large number of men and

women in the slum. On the other hand, many men and women in the selected Dhaka slums were

employed in the garments industry. This was due to the preponderance of the garments industry

in the city. In addition, a few slum residents in Dhaka were also employed as car and rickshaw

drivers and as owners of small businesses. The common forms of occupation among slum

residents across the cities took a toll on residents’ health, especially during the summer months.

Dizziness, headaches, nausea, and heat strokes were the common forms of challenges faced at

work during summer months.

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Income Levels, Risk Aversion and Dedication to Work

Most slum residents reported to have income levels that were equivalent to their expenditures.

Very few slum residents across all 4 cities reported to have any savings. Similarly, very few

residents reported as having accessed loans. A surprising, yet preliminary finding from slums in

Dhaka was that the few residents who had tried to access credit and loan facilities had been able

to do so easily. It is important to probe this finding further and discover whether this is because

of the easy availability of microcredit facilities in the country.

Contrary to the common perception of slum populations as reprobate, pilot tests revealed that most

slum residents were highly prudent about how they spent their incomes. Most respondents reported to

prioritize goals such as spending on the purchase of durable household assets, on marriages and

dowry, and saving to be able to better face future disasters or unforeseen shocks. Pilot test data

revealed that most slum residents were hardworking individuals who were busy with productive

work of different kinds throughout the day, and only look minor breaks in the middle. A number of

men reported as working in night shifts. Across all 12 slums, the lack of employment opportunities

and extreme poverty were reported to be the most serious issues faced by residents.

Literacy Levels

Data from the pilot tests revealed that most slum residents ranked low on literacy indicators, even

though variations persist across slums with regard to this indicator. Very few of the respondents

reported to have received secondary education. Most residents of slums such as the Jhutpatti Tong

basti in Dhaka reported themselves to be illiterate. Literacy rates were noted to be higher in slums

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such as Dhaka’s Keranijang and Sattola bastis. Across all 12 slums, more men were found to

have received primary education as compared to women, who were mostly illiterate.

Women’s Contribution to the Domestic Economy

The domestic contribution of women across all slums as paramount, and did not rely on help

from their spouses. Women, on average spent 6-7 hours on domestic chores, and most women

with small children or toddlers stayed at home to look after the kids as opposed to working.

Those women whose kids are above the age of 4-5 mostly left their children behind and went to

work. These children were either looked after by other female family members or by neighbors,

indicating strong community bonds in the area. Women also reported relationships with

neighbors as being particularly strong, and their most common form of entertainment.

Regular Conflicts with State Authorities across all Surveyed Slums

Although slum dwellers are in perennial conflict with state authorities. Public agencies grapple

with the dimemma of whether to leave slums as they are, demolish them or upgrade them in view

of the limited resources available for dealing with the issue. The New Urban Agenda was

recently adopted by the UN-Habitat to help tackle the issue of informal settlements and

affordable housing challenges. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 of the UNDP’s Agenda

2030 underscores that national social protection programs should address the specific needs of

slum dwellers through the provision of primary health care, safe water and sanitation and clean

living environment. The construction of a metro near Ghazipur slum has threatened the people

that they will be removed from the area.

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Despite of such conflicts however, the slum populations of all four cities under study continue to

expand rapidly. Islamabad, despite being a well-planned city of over a million residents, has

experienced a dramatic rise in the number of slum residents in the last decade. The population of

Lahore, the second largest city of Pakistan, has almost doubled to 10 million residents since 1998.

According to the Lahore Development Authority’s (LDA) estimates, almost 30 percent of the

notified localities in Lahore fall in the category of slums. In India, it has been estimated that a total of

33,510 slums exist in the country’s urban areas. Around 40 percent of these informal settlements are

registered with state authorities and the remaining are unregistered. According to a 2013 study

conducted by the Indian National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), an estimated 8.8 million

households with some 65 million residents in the country lived in urban slums. Of all the slums in

India, 5.6 million were estimated to be notified and 3.2 million were non-notified. In Delhi alone,

almost 50 percent of the city’s residents live in slums. The slum population of Bangladesh is also

sizeable, with a total of some 2100 slums countrywide. The country’s slum population is estimated to

be nearly 5.3 million, with Dhaka alone home to some two million slum inhabitants.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

Our analysis should contribute constructively toward these stakeholders' work and decision-

making, since currently there is a dearth of studies on slum livelihoods within a climate change

and women's empowerment nexus at a broader level and in the four cities under study.

Several studies have been conducted in Dhaka, Delhi and Lahore slums to examine slum

livelihoods and women's empowerment issues. However, very few of these have focused expressly

on the climate change, environmental degradation and women’s empowerment nexus.

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Specifically, a read through our analysis will convince policy-makers that slum residents, in

particular women, are important contributors to the informal economy. These women (and men)

are at the forefront of devising innovative solutions for overcoming the special challenges

posed by slum environments, both in terms of income generation and the provision of basic

services. This should provide some necessary policy-backing for women’s economic

empowerment initiatives in the informal sector.

In an era of growing environmental degradation and climate change effects, the tenuous, if

inventive, livelihood strategies of these informal settlement residents are increasingly under

threat. To this end, our research should a convince the various stakeholders about the growing

need for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in their urban resilience

strategies, with particular attention to the case of slum residents.

Our research should demonstrate that the sampled slums in Dhaka, Delhi, Islamabad and Lahore

are the direct offshoots of ill-conceived urbanization policies, or the lack thereof. These include

the failure to provide affordable housing solutions, among other factors. To this end, our

research should convince state authorities to own their responsibility for providing affordable

housing provision, either through the allocation of property rights to the non-notified slums

under study or through a greater role of the public sector in low-income housing provision.

Our research should also convince the various stakeholders to invest in scaling slum residents', in

particular women's, enterprising livelihood solutions and contribute toward their human capital

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development. This is worthwhile goal when one views cities as "engines of growth"

and considers that a sizable population of Delhi, Dhaka, and Lahore is housed in

informal settlements.

Moreover, the key contribution made by slum residents to the city economies, underscored in the

previous section, necessitates their integration into the formal urban structure. The achievement

of the New Urban Agenda goals of the UN-Habitat should not automatically mean the tearing

down of slums. Instead of demolition, slum upgradation processes need to be aided by

interventions that empower slum dwellers to map their communities and collect relevant data on

key development indicators.

The process of upgradation and property rights allocation in slums should be aided by the

identification and mapping of all notified and non-notified slums using satellite based technologies

and physical surveys. Periodic mapping of non-notified slums is necessary to identify key changes in

population size and migration trends. Remote sensing technologies such as Quickbird, IKONOS,

Google Earth and SPOT analysis may be used for this purpose. These represent relatively simple and

inexpensive solutions to the issue for two reasons. Firstly, anyone with GPS equipment can now

identify the geographic coordinates of any location on the planet. Secondly, mapping with Google

Maps is freely accessible to anyone with internet access. Google Earth displays high-resolution

imagery from various time periods. This can be enormously helpful for presenting alternative solar

illumination angles as well as seasons for easy interpretation of city blocks under different lighting

conditions. GIS data on slums should be complemented with comprehensive physical surveys and

geo-located photographs. This is because remote sensing on

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its own cannot give insights into internal slum conditions or slum microstructures beyond the spatial

resolution of the sensor. Physical surveys are necessary for identifying the true scale of the

development issues faced. This includes details such the durability of the housing structures, the

number of people living in each room, access to toilets and water, and access to services such as

health and education. The collected data can subsequently aid planners in devising context specific

policy blueprints for each slum under study. Subsequent to the data collection, each slum dwelling

can be provided with a unique postal address. This will help planners to ensure the inclusion of all

households in development interventions. Slum dwellers can also use their new postal addresses for

opening bank accounts, obtaining ID cards, and claiming various social benefits.

Slum dwellers can aid the above process by working in collaboration with NGOs, local public

representatives, and government officials. Community and local councilors can also play a key role

in furthering this process. Local NGOs can use the data gathered to identify slum households and

ensure that they are all able to access primary health care and education. It has been observed that

where slum dwellers have been actively engaged in such processes, vast improvements in socio-

economic wellbeing have been achieved with very little help from the authorities.

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Works Cited

Asian Development Bank (ADB). 2012. “Urban Poverty in Asia.” National Institute of

Urban Affairs. Web.

Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). 2008. “Women, Slums and

Urbanisation: Examining the Causes and Consequences.” Geneva. Web.

CSIS Centre for Strategic and International Studies. 2014. “The Challenges and Opportunities of

Urbanization.” Conference. Web.

Glaeser, E., & Ghani, A. 2014. “Urban Imperative: Toward Shared Prosperity.” Jstor. Web.

Government of India. 2011. “Report of the Working Group on Urban Poverty, Slums, and

Service Delivery System.” Steering Committee on Urbanization, Planning Commission, New

Delhi.

Government of India. 2014. “Report of the Expert Group to Review the Methodology

for Measurement of Poverty.” Planning Commission. New Delhi. Web.

Siddiqui, Rehana. 2014. “Energy and Economic Growth in Pakistan.” The Pakistan

Development Review. 43:2. Web.

Swaniti. (2015). Issues with Affordable Urban Housing in India- An analysis. Swaniti

Initiative. New Delhi. Web.

World Bank. (2013) Disaster risk management in South Asia: A regional overview.

(GFDRR project highlights) no. 6. Washington DC: World Bank. Web.

Z Zaman, H. U., Alam, T., & Islam, J. (2010). Urbanization in Bangladesh:

Present Status and Policy Implications. ASA University Review, 4(2). Web.

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Documents

Working paper, LEAD Pakistan, March 2017 Pakistan-SEDC-submission.pdf · city governance (Siddiqui, 2004). Most South Asian countries figure within the top quarter of the 193 countries