The movie, first published on the website http://www.germany-wuf.de/ which is launched by the German Government in the context of the World Urban Forum 5 , presents in brief the objective, appraoch and impact of the Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas.
In 2009, the PDP started introducing the approach of Participatory Needs Assessment (PNA) in the Governorate of Qalyubeya with regard to providing a participatory base for the upgrading and development of an informal area called Khosoos. With the support of the Governor, the PDP initiated its activities on the local level in the district and in parallel on the governorate level through the urban upgrading unit. This approach was necessary in order to ensure the sustainability of the PNA process as well as to foster a possible replication of the process in other areas or districts within the Governorate of Qalyubeya. The movie reflects activities and outcomes of this PNA mission.
The October-November 2009 edition of Cairo-based “MAGAZ-Magazine” featured a review of PDP’s recently-published book “Cairo’s Informal Areas: Between Urban Challenges and Hidden Potentials” in both English and Arabic.
The PDP has released the publication “Cairo’s Informal Areas Between Urban Challenges and Hidden Potentials. Facts. Voices. Visions.” Published in July 2009, the book provides a comprehensive look at development in the informal areas of Greater Cairo, Egypt. It combines academic and journalistic articles, interviews and speeches as well as photographs by photojournalist Claudia Wiens depicting the daily lives of residents.
Cairo’s Informal Areas aims to provide a better understanding of the residents of the informal settlements and stimulate further dialogue on urban development in those areas. It does this by presenting the perspectives of the various stakeholders involved in the process: residents of the informal settlements, governors, ministers, academics, consultants, and development
Cairo’s Informal Areas also encourages decision-makers, investors, planners and academics to see the advantage of coordinated implementation that takes the needs of residents into consideration instead of top-down, separate planning efforts.
The latest manual “Sharing Available Information through GIS” published by the PDP in 2009 explains in simple steps how to share accurate information about a local area among all stakeholders involved in participatory urban development through the simple interactive information base called Geographic Information System (GIS). Guided through the manual along sets of questions, the reader will learn how to collect data, how to build a geographical data base, how to visualize the relevant information by creating maps, and how to manage information using the GIS tool.
A manual published by PDP in 2008 explains how support for local community initiatives can foster participatory development in informal areas and lead to sustainable improvements in living conditions. The manual outlines how to plan, manage and support local initiatives; how to identify and involve NGOs, local actors and the local administration; how to implement an initiative and how to monitor and evaluate its success.
The Manual “Knowing Local Communities” published by the PDP in 2008 describes how to facilitate direct consultations with the local population to get as much accurate information as possible.
Participatory community development requires knowledge about local interests, priorities, resources, and organisational capacities. Local residents – women, men, the old and the young – and local businesses people know their communities best. They know each other, their locality, its physical environment, attitudes towards planned interventions, common and diverging interests and priorities. They can provide innovative solutions to suit their local needs.
PDP Programme Manager Marion Fischer visits the World Urban Forum 5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 22 to 26 of March 2010 to present PDP’s lessons learnt in the field of participatory upgrading of informal areas.
The World Urban Forum is one of the world’s premier conference on cities. The Forum was established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing problems facing the world today: rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies.