Partnerships for Slum Improvement; The ADB-JFPR and DSWD Projects in Muntinlupa City and Payatas, Quezon City

This is the product of an in-depth documentation of two urban development pilot projects in Muntinlupa City and Quezon City, Philippines. These projects were undertaken as part of a slum improvement initiative in which the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) collaborated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), local government units (LGUs) and national government agencies to achieve improvements in the living conditions and quality of life of these targeted communities of the urban poor. Both projects focused on four specific areas: land acquisition; site development and housing construction; livelihood and microfinance; and education, training and exchanges. The authors take pains to describe accurately not only project accomplishments but also the various stumbling blocks encountered and the lessons learned.
Having established the context in which the projects are situated, Chapter one then documents the background of the various NGOs and community organizations involved in the initiatives. This is followed, in Chapter two, by a detailed description of the communities in Muntinlupa City, which were located along the railway tracks and would to be relocated to an alternative site. Issues surrounding housing conditions, dangers, access to water, waste removal and associated socioeconomic characteristics are discussed. The report highlights the longstanding relationship between the communities in Muntinlupa City and the affiliated NGO, Muntinlupa Development Foundation (MDF).
Chapter three describes the search for a relocation site and the collaborative inclusion of local residents and MDF in the process. Participation by community residents in the selection and negotiations concerning the relocation site is underscored. The collaborative nature of the process is further emphasized in the discussion of local government involvement and the manner in which government officials assisted in securing the relocation site. The steps taken to gain access to credit are described, along with the selection of project beneficiaries, lot assignment and site development. The report offers a candid discussion of the difficulties experienced during these processes and the lessons learned.
Chapter four discusses the livelihood and microfinance programme, which is based on the widely acclaimed Grameen Bank approach. The participatory nature of the finance scheme is described in great detail, and the continued collaboration between the community and MDF is emphasized. However, the chapter also outlines the finance scheme’s decline in popularity as bureaucratic issues became increasingly difficult to overcome. The remainder of the chapter focuses on the education, training and exchanges aspect of the initiative, including discussion of training in new enterprises, skills workshops, forming cooperatives, financial management, national housing laws and settlement formulation policy. Chapter five summarizes the Muntinlupa City project accomplishments and settlement management policies, and offers a brief overview of relocation plans.
Chapter six introduces the Pataya community and its history in the Golden Shower area, with a focus on their initiatives in the early 1990s around land acquisition and negotiations for land purchase. Immediately evident is the lack of a pre-existing relationship between the community and the implementing NGO. Bringing the discussion to 2004, Chapter seven discusses problems with the Community Mortgage Programme and issues of accessibility, in addition to the complexities of obtaining land titles through government channels. The latter half of the chapter describes the process of site development in terms of infrastructural requirements and access to services.
Chapter eight describes the limited success of the microfinance programme, and a plethora of related st