scholarly journals The Urban Poor and Livelihood Vulnerability: Are Gender, Age and Marriage Intertwined

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-237
Author(s):  
Fouzia Mannan

Dhaka is the capital city and the single fastest growing metropolis in Bangladesh – by 2020 its population will have increased thirty-fold to over ten million. This rapid population growth is largely facilitated by mass rural-to-urban migration. The speed of urbanization and the enormous numbers involved make it one of the major development challenges of the 21st century (World Bank & Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, 1998). Neither public nor private facilities can meet the basic human needs (food, water, shelter, sanitation, and a safe environment) of slum dwellers, most of whom also lack livelihood security. To understand the magnitude of urban poverty, this research explores the question of whether gender, age and marital status are indeed linked to livelihood vulnerability among the urban poor. It has utilized qualitative methods of data collection -FGDs, case studies (based on in depth-interviews) and participant observation from a selected slum in Dhaka- Begultila. Results of this study has indicated that both physical and emotional vulnerabilities have a crucial impact on the livelihood pattern of the slum dwellers of Begultila. To understand the state and nature of poverty in Begultila it is important to consider non-economic factors, which have a very strong role in enhancing vulnerability among the urban poor, particularly with children, women, and the elderly. This study sheds new light on urban poverty in relation to livelihood vulnerability; and consequently, highlights the diverse experiences of the urban poor and the livelihood insecurity that automatically categorizes them as one of the most vulnerable groups within the slum community. This form of livelihood vulnerability has a crucial effect on the nature and quality of life of the urban poor, particularly for women, which in turn, perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 217-237

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Karisma Amjad

Bangladesh many older people spend their life in not only the unwell health but also in poverty which is major risk for the elderly population. This is especially true for older women, who suffer from various difficulties ensuing from prejudices to gender, widowhood and old age. Climate migrants start living in urban slums are in search of better and secure life. But urban slums located mostly in low lying environmentally hazardous area coupled with inadequate facilities like food, shelter, sanitation, health care make their life even worse. Older Women are the vulnerable groups in society in terms of climate change, movement; haphazard growth and unhealthy environment are the target group for this research. This study represents the nature and extent of elderly abuse of climate migrant urban poor women slum dwellers in Dhaka city in Bangladesh context. Besides, this paper also observe the socio-economic status of the study respondents and try to find out the self-stated reasons of elderly abuse. This study conducted both quantitative and qualitative types study on two slums of Dhaka with purposive sample survey, KII and in depth qualitative interview of selected climate migrant slum dwellers while purposive sample size of 50. Decreasing in earning capacity, inability and economic dependency, health hazard, maladjustment, changing social values have a separate role in the connection of older abuse. Planned migration, awareness program implantations against elderly abuse and secured socioeconomic factors are suggested through this paper to lessen exposure to further neglecting of elderly climate migrant women in urban slums.


Author(s):  
Sadia Afrin ◽  
Sohel Rana ◽  
Abubakar Danladi Isah ◽  
Reazul Ahsan

This research inspects the utilization of domestic space management in marginalized slums of Bangladesh towards comprehending the contribution of urban poor women’s informal employment as a private initiative. The components that influence the physical association of “home-based enterprises” (HBEs) spaces and its quality are assessed concerning the survival pattern of the low-income occupants. Further, the neighborhood and housing attributes, cultural and social, and the financial status of individuals living in slums are analyzed by in-depth interviews with questionnaires. A stratified random sampling method was used to choose 44 households in two notable neighborhoods in Dhaka City. Data was elicited through focus groups of inhabitants using qualitative research method. Thus, structured and open-ended interviews were conducted with household female members who are 18 years and above while participant observation at moderate level ensured the trustworthiness of the data. The differences observed quality and features of spaces in those settlements inhabited by the slum dwellers gave insight on the factors. The study discovered the prospect of women’s domestic spaces of home-based work in their dwelling spaces. Thereafter, the research recommends that future interferences should counter critically to the event of participation and strife contributing towards uplifting women’s situation inside a specific dwelling.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-55
Author(s):  
Sanjida Ahmed Sinthia

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh is extremely populated, unhygienic and environmentally degraded city. The growing number of population and environmental degradation are due to natural disaster and economic depression. As a result, the rate of urban poor is and producing huge pressure on urban lands, housing and infrastructure. Due to limited resources these poor people encroached open spaces, wetlands, vacant plots or even footpath for shelter. They don’t have any access to proper job market, healthcare facilities, education and sanitation either. These constraints are mostly resulted from the failures of the government in initiation proper policies and measures. Past policies of slum clearance, modernist apartment projects, housing provision, self-help, sites and services, and in-situ upgrading have not been effective at solving the crisis. This is now prime time to established planning and environmental management policy and sustainable development of the city area. Urban land management, rehabilitation and socio-economic development of the slum dwellers are also very important issues. The key focus of this paper is to find out sustainable development process for urban slum dwellers and build sustainable living place for them which are free from eviction, criminals, rent seekers and other miscreants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-230
Author(s):  
Lutfun Nahar Lata

In Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh with a population of 18 million, nearly one-third are living under the threat of eviction without resettlement due to lack of tenure security. This occurs despite the Bangladesh government’s ratification of multiple international conventions as well as provisions within the national Constitution with regard to people’s rights. Within this context, drawing on Lefebvre’s theorization of space and using the right to the city (RTC) framework, this article explores the urban poor’s right to housing in the context of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Findings suggest that the local and central government officials categorize slum dwellers as encroachers and criminals, who pose a direct threat to an orderly, clean and green city. Hence, they cannot be allowed to exist in the city. Additionally, the state has shifted the development of land and housing markets to real estate developers, following a neoliberal economic model. Consequently, a few powerful developers control Dhaka’s land and housing markets, only supplying housing for the growing middle class. Access to these houses is far beyond poor people’s reach. Thus, the urban poor’s housing rights are denied both by the state and by the market in Dhaka.


2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glyn Williams ◽  
Umesh Omanakuttan ◽  
J Devika ◽  
N Jagajeevan

This paper examines how India’s national urban development agenda is reshaping relationships between national, State and city-level governments. Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the flagship programme that heralded a new era of urban investment in India, contained a range of key governance aspirations: linking the analysis of urban poverty to city-level planning, developing holistic housing solutions for the urban poor, and above all empowering Urban Local Bodies to re-balance relationships between State and city-level governments in favour of the latter. Here, we trace Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission’s implementation in Kerala’s capital city, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), where the city’s decentralised urban governance structure and use of ‘pro-poor’ institutions to implement housing upgrade programmes could have made it an exemplar of success. In practice, Trivandrum’s ‘city visioning’ exercises and the housing projects it has undertaken have fallen short of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission’s lofty goals. The contradictions between empowering cities and retaining centralised control embedded within this national programme, and the unintended city-level consequences of striving for Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission funding success, have reshaped urban governance in ways not envisaged within policy. As a result, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission has been important in rescaling governance relationships through three interlinked dynamics of problem framing, technologies of governance and the scalar strategy of driving reform ‘from above’ that together have ensured the national state’s continued influence over the practices of urban governance in India.


Social Change ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 179-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koushambhi Basu ◽  
Salil Basu

Urban poverty is a multi-dimensional problem which has been studied from different perspectives by various researchers. An important way of understanding the magnitude of urban poverty is by exploring the conditions of life in urban slums. More important is to understand the problems and needs of slum women who have the primary responsibility of their families. Any improvement in their status will directly benefit the families as a unit. This paper aims to highlight the perceptions, sufferings and felt needs of urban poor women, based essentially on case studies conducted in a slum of Delhi. A few suggestions for betterment in the quality of life of urban slum dwellers have also been given.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Stephenson ◽  
Galina Lesco ◽  
Viorel Babii ◽  
Andrei Luchian ◽  
Nataliia Bakunina ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Brief behavioral interventions are seen as an efficient way to improve knowledge, change behavior, and reduce provider stigma regarding sexual health. When grounded in evidence-based behavioral change techniques and delivered using Brief Sexuality-related Communication (BSC) tools, brief behavioral interventions can address client-driven sexual health goals in a single session with their provider. Evidence for the efficacy of brief interventions for creating gains in sexual health comes largely from resource rich settings, and there is a lack of knowledge of how brief interventions can be implemented in the more resource constrained environments of low- and middle-income countries. As a first step in developing a brief intervention to address sexual health issues in Moldova, this paper reports on qualitative data collected from Moldovan providers to understand their attitudes, willingness and perceived barriers to the brief intervention and its implementation. Methods Thirty-nine in-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted between February and March 2020, with health providers recruited from three primary health care institutions, two Youth Friendly Health Centers and counselors from three NGOs who work with key populations in Moldova, including health centers selected from two cites - the capital city, Chisinau and from the Comrat Region. The IDI addressed four domains of provider attitudes: 1) attitudes towards the intervention; 2) willingness and motivation to implement the intervention; 3) logistics of providing the intervention and 4) ability to implement the intervention. A coding analysis approach was applied to all interview transcripts. Results Providers largely reported being willing to be trained in and implement the brief intervention. Willingness to implement the intervention stemmed from two perceptions: that it would improve the ability of providers to talk with their clients about sex, and that vulnerable groups would benefit from these conversations. However, while there were generally positive attitudes towards the intervention, providers consistently reported structural barriers to their perceived ability to implement the intervention. Conclusions While providers reported high levels of initial acceptance of a brief behavioral intervention, care is needed to ensure that brief interventions, and the training of providers on brief interventions, incorporate cultural attitudes and norms around sex, particularly in highly patriarchal settings, and provide opportunities for providers to practice the intervention in ways that address their assumptions and implicit biases.


2020 ◽  
pp. 095624782097944
Author(s):  
Janine Hunter ◽  
Shaibu Chitsiku ◽  
Wayne Shand ◽  
Lorraine Van Blerk

The COVID-19 pandemic has had disproportionate economic consequences on the urban poor, particularly on young people living on the streets. As the pandemic moves from acute to chronic phases, novel methodologies can be used to rapidly co-produce outputs and share learning opportunities with those living in urban poverty. A “story map” focusing on the effects of the pandemic and lockdown was co-produced by UK researchers with street children and youth and practitioners in Harare, Zimbabwe in June 2020. Story maps are web applications combining participant-generated visual media into online templates, with multimedia content supported by narrative accounts. This story map reveals young street participants’ experiences of lockdown, including the effects on their livelihoods, sources of food and support networks. Its purpose is to tell the “story” of street lives, and to provide an advocacy tool and learning resource for policymakers, academics and practitioners working with young homeless people.


1981 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 420-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia S. Cook

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs provides a useful operating framework for professionals working with residents of long-term care institutions. The difficulties and obstacles that the elderly often encounter in these facilities are addressed and discussed for each level of the theoretical model.


2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. MAZHARUL ISLAM ◽  
KAZI MD ABUL KALAM AZAD

SummaryThis paper analyses the levels and trends of childhood mortality in urban Bangladesh, and examines whether children’s survival chances are poorer among the urban migrants and urban poor. It also examines the determinants of child survival in urban Bangladesh. Data come from the 1999–2000 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. The results indicate that, although the indices of infant and child mortality are consistently better in urban areas, the urban–rural differentials in childhood mortality have diminished in recent years. The study identifies two distinct child morality regimes in urban Bangladesh: one for urban natives and one for rural–urban migrants. Under-five mortality is higher among children born to urban migrants compared with children born to life-long urban natives (102 and 62 per 1000 live births, respectively). The migrant–native mortality differentials more-or-less correspond with the differences in socioeconomic status. Like childhood mortality rates, rural–urban migrants seem to be moderately disadvantaged by economic status compared with their urban native counterparts. Within the urban areas, the child survival status is even worse among the migrant poor than among the average urban poor, especially recent migrants. This poor–non-poor differential in childhood mortality is higher in urban areas than in rural areas. The study findings indicate that rapid growth of the urban population in recent years due to rural-to-urban migration, coupled with higher risk of mortality among migrant’s children, may be considered as one of the major explanations for slower decline in under-five mortality in urban Bangladesh, thus diminishing urban–rural differentials in childhood mortality in Bangladesh. The study demonstrates that housing conditions and access to safe drinking water and hygienic toilet facilities are the most critical determinants of child survival in urban areas, even after controlling for migration status. The findings of the study may have important policy implications for urban planning, highlighting the need to target migrant groups and the urban poor within urban areas in the provision of health care services.


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