Reaching the Urban Poor

Book excerpt: As urban populations in developing countries continue to grew rapidly, one of the most critical issues in the Third World has become providing shelter and other basic services such as clean water, health clinics, and sewage disposal to the urban poor. This book of nine case studies of urban programs and projects in Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Korea, India, and Sri Lanka focuses on impediments to slum upgrading. The authors discuss each project's evolution, the capabilities and resources of implementing agencies, the problems of interagency relationships and coordination, costs and funding, the difficulties of developing effective linkages with poor communities, and the accessibility of the new services to the urban poor.