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Programming Considerations of Urban Security
Designing Urban Security Programs
The way that urban security programming is carried out is as important as the definition of key results to be obtained on the ground. Following are useful approaches to consider in designing interventions which address urban security:
- Livelihoods analysis
Livelihoods analysis provides information about how and why people survive difficult times, by examining the sum of ways in which people make a living. In most communities in low-income countries, poor families balance a set of food and income-earning activities to survive. Although people often use their own labor (growing food, bartering and trading, income-generating activities, etc), there are numerous small but critical ways which help the poor to get by. These coping and surviving strategies include debt (incurred or forgiven), sending children to families and other social networking strategies. The urban poor often have different coping strategies than rural communities as the urban economy is generally cash-based. The urban poor must find alternative ways to pay for the goods and services that they need for daily life. Using a livelihoods approach is a way to "tell the story" of how the urban poor survive. By understanding the range of strategies used by the urban poor, governments and donors can develop comprehensive programs which strengthen local capacity and build on existing assets.
- Integrated approaches – urban youth, gender, environment, peace-building
Addressing urban security requires the ability to program across sectors to achieve results, or to address cross-cutting topics such as youth, gender, environment or peace-building within sectoral programs. In any intervention, the program needs tools to analyze cross-sectoral dependencies and impacts and develop integrated ways to accomplish complex objectives.
- Local focus
Many tools are available from lessons learned over the past decades which enable participation by communities in analyzing and designing program interventions. These include Local Economic Development or Asset Based Community Development methodologies such as SCALE. These tools ensure that programs have the local buy-in necessary for successful achievement of results on a sustainable basis.
- Whole-of-Municipality and the Urban-Rural Continuum
Local and/or municipal governments have responsibilities under their jurisdiction which often extend to geographic areas with significant urban and rural settlements. Municipal governments are central actors in the development of programs which take into account the markets, infrastructure, social networks and livelihoods of all citizens within their jurisdiction. Urban security programs need municipal governments to include the urban-rural continuum as a basic planning unit and to leverage existing urban-rural linkages in the form of market value chains and social and infrastructure networks.
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Urban Security and Management in Complex Environments
The prevention and mitigation of violence and other fundamental factors involved in conflict, including recruitment for gang violence, extremism and global criminal networks, is an increasing challenge in rapidly urbanizing developing countries. Programs which safeguard human rights and vulnerable urban populations in local, national and regional conflicts need to utilize a stakeholder-centered, livelihood assets approach to be effective.
In addition to conflict, natural disasters have devastating effects on families and communities, destroy business and municipal assets, and divert economic development efforts to relief and rehabilitation and away from economic growth. Many countries are developing strategies to reduce the vulnerability of their communities to disasters, including assessing risks, prioritizing and implementing these plans into actions.
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Productivity of Vulnerable Populations
The cities of the developing world are growing at unprecedented rates and continue to draw people from rural areas seeking economic opportunities. Urban growth resulting from natural increase far outpaces rural migration, as the numbers of the urban poor increase exponentially more and more people are living on the edge in slums and informal settlements. Effective approaches to promote community development and meet the needs of the most vulnerable, should emphasize linkages between pro-poor growth strategies and increased economic productivity. Strengthening these linkages requires cutting across issues such as livelihoods and asset-based development, land tenure and property rights, microenterprise development, public security, urban infrastructure and service delivery, and economic opportunities for vulnerable youth and women in cities.
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Urban Food Security
As the locus of poverty shifts from rural areas to towns and cities, the security of urban food supplies in addition to other livelihood assets is critical. Key aspects of urban food security include urban food consumption patterns, food supply chains, incomes, employment and urban/peri-urban agriculture. A secure food supply system for the urban and rural poor links local and regional producers and consumers in an efficient value-chain. This is particularly useful in post-conflict situations when the need to move from emergency food aid to sustainable supply is high, but is applicable across variable conditions from mega-city slums to regional capitals, towns and peri-urban areas.
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