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On
August 29th the National Urban Poverty Alleviation Program-UNDP
(United Nations Development Program) and the Aga Khan University’s
Department of Community Health Sciences held the second day of a
conference at AKU campus in Karachi to address urban poverty and
its consequences.
Dr. Gregory Pappas, Chairman of the Department of
Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University said. “This
conference will help us understand that there are two cities within
one city – one part of the urban population that has all the
benefits of urban living, and the other part, the katchi abadi,
where the poor often live under worse conditions than their rural
relatives.”
The second day of the conference focused on policy
gaps and solutions. In the morning session speakers deliberated
“Urbanization and Policy Frameworks” . The session was
chaired by Prof . Mehtab S. Karim who in his remarks mentioned that
in the next 10years over 50% of Pakistan’s population will
be living in urban areas and Karachi’s population may hit
20 million by 2015, while numbers may be different for Lahore, Faisalabad,
Peshawar, Quetta, Hyderabad and even for smaller cities the growth
rates are equally alarming for all. “We must address immediately
the issues of urbanization and its consequences particularly poverty
and also solve these problems.” He also mentioned that in
the past that the Government of Pakistan has made good policies
to address poverty but has been largely unable to implement these
policies. Dr. Karim emphasized that best policy options are often
constrained by, shortage of time and resources, non-technical background
of policy makers and pressures from different stake holders such
as vested interests, social, economic and even global groups.
Dr. Parvez Tahir, former chief economics of Pakistan,
in his remarks told the conference participants that cities are
the wealth of a nation, and engine of progress. “Cities differ
in the country. Look at Lahore for some positive examples of how
cities can address their problems and move forward.” Dr. Kaiser
Bengali discussed ‘Policy Gaps in Education’ and said
that of all 20 universities in Sindh, 10 in Punjab and six in the
NWFP none offered programs in subjects that could help students
learn to generate fresh knowledge. “They on the contrary are
churning out technicians and/or salesmen for western technology,”
and related it to the slow development in the cities of the country.
The discussion also focused on poverty and disease
caused by migration. HIV/AIDS, having fast shifted from a low prevalence
stage to a concentrated epidemic phase in the country, calls for
adequately timed interventions to combat poverty aggravation and
counter growing public vulnerability to the deadly and highly contagious
disease, said Dr. Asma Bukhari, Program Manager, National AIDS Control
Program. “It has to be realized that HIV/AIDS is not merely
a health issue but also a major developmental matter,” she
said. The surge in the disease’s prevalence was also attributed
to frequent migration from within and outside the country and also
to growing pressures on available infrastructure in urban sectors,
failing to meet social, economic and healthcare needs of the resource-less
segments of society.
Dr. Mohammad Irfan of former Joint Director of Pakistan
Institute of Development Economics discussed “Gaps in Migration
Policy”. He said that urbanization must not be taken as a
phenomenon leading to poverty as it is not only illiterate people
moving to cities but many educated and skilled individuals also
migrate in search of employment. “Organization is a prerequisite
for improved GNP/GDP,” he said that developed countries across
the globe are more urbanized. Ms. Irma Malik, COP - Development
Consultants - NWFP, discussed ‘Challenges in Urban Governance
in the Wake of Decentralization’ and Dr Inayatullah Faizi
from Chitral talked about the loss of cultural traits in the wake
of migration
The second day of the conference focused on solutions.
While Government must act to address the root causes and consequences,
the conference focused on how coalitions that include NGOs, industry,
educational institutions, and the media might be able to make a
contribution. Dr, Gregory Pappas said, “We must not only look
to the government to solve our problems. Coalitions in communities
must work together to finds solutions.”
Representatives from cities in Punjab, Sindh, and
NWFP meet in working groups to address formulate priority areas,
to consider composition of the coalitions, and to plan next step.
Naib Nazim of Multan is Syed Wajid Ali Shah said, “Priorities
for coalition action can not ignore the fact that poverty must be
combated on all front to succeed. We need to work on income generation,
health, and education simultaneously.” Nazimaz Jacobabad,
Ms. Saeeeda Soomro, told the conference that NGOs are very weak
in her city and may not be able to contribute to a coalition. “NGOs
need capacity building before the can contribute. This is our ground
reality.”
The Conference ended with pledge from Mr Mr. Shakeel
Ahmad, Representative from Poverty Reduction and Gender Unit, UNDP
Islamabad, stating that coalition building/partnership is the hallmark
of UNDP’s operational modalities. “UNDP implements its
projects/programmes through national institutions especially the
Governments for enhanced ownership and sustainability. Citing the
example of clusters approach for Earthquake affected areas; he said
that it helped in addressing the problems in a more holistic way
and avoids duplications.”
Dr. Ata ul Mohsin, National Project Coordinator
NUPAP-UNDP, while expressing the concluding remarks, appreciated
the efforts of the CHS-Aga Khan University, Karachi in jointly organizing
the 1st National Conference on Urban Poverty. He added that the
meeting was unusual and encouraging for Pakistan because it brought
together both a diverse group of stakeholders to sit together, diagnosing
the problem, devise measures and suggest recommendation regarding
poverty alleviation and sustainable development of the slums/katchi
abadies in our urban centers. He added that AKU and the UNDP will
continue collaboration with all other segments of society this agenda.
Dr. Ata ul Mohsin said, “Working with the representatives
of provinces and cities we hope support and encouraged this coalition
building for urban development at provincial and national level.”
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