A mixture of cannabis, battery acid, rat poison, heroin and anti-retroviral drugs. As this mixture was described to me during a visit to a slum in Durban, South-Africa, my thoughts torpedoed from concern to bewilderment. The purpose of my visit was to identify and support children with physical disabilities in this community of around 400 slum-dwellers. According to the slum’s community leader, the parents’ main concern was not children’s physical disabilities, but that their exposure to a recreational street drug called “whoonga” – a highly addictive and destructive drug. At a very early age children are caught up in a network of drug-dealing that leaves parents at the end of their tether. I urgently needed to understand the real needs and challenges of slum dwellers and to conceptualize more efficient ways of having the real needs of the urban extreme poor well represented.
“Aid and philanthropic money as a solution for the urban extreme poor is unsustainable. But what if aid, donor money and sustainable business could be combined in an interface from which the challenges of the urban extreme poor could be overcome sustainably?”
The deeper problem
Aid and philanthropic money as a solution for the urban extreme poor is unsustainable. But what if aid, donor money and sustainable business could be combined in an interface from which the challenges of the urban extreme poor could be overcome sustainably? How could a multi-stakeholder collaborative platform be used to facilitate sustainable change for the urban extreme poor? A wide range of stakeholders belonging to this platform could contribute knowledge, expertise, commodities, personnel, and finances so that all the dimensions of urban extreme poverty could be addressed. Furthermore, the balance between regulation and innovation, and a specific toolkit so that the platform could measure its sustainability performance, might just be what is needed for slum dwellers to address their deepest concerns.
The complexity of urban extreme poverty
It was projected that around 700 million people would live in extreme or absolute poverty by the end of 2022, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa, in war-torn regions and in rural areas. Someone living in a slum household is described as living with any of the following five deprivations: lacking access to improved water, sanitation, sufficient living area, structural quality or durability of dwellings, security of tenure. The Sustainable Development Solutions Network lists six basic causes of extreme poverty:
- Adverse geographical conditions: physical isolation of the region, poor climate, poor agriculture, lack of energy resources, disease ecology, major vulnerability to hazards such as floods, droughts, typhoons, earthquakes and other hazards
- Prolonged violent conflict and international sanctions
- Despotic government and poor governance
- Gender and ethnic or social discrimination
- Extreme total fertility rates (6 or higher)
- Lack of access to land.
Slum dwellers may therefore be regarded as key stakeholders in the cause against urban extreme poverty.
A possible solution
Slum dwellers, philanthropists, and leaders in sustainable business are stakeholders in the eradication of urban extreme poverty. These stakeholders are also part of an interface between philanthropy and sustainable business where they could collectively play a bigger role in the eradication of urban extreme poverty. High sustainability firms focus furthermore on a wider range of stakeholders and engagement practices than low sustainability firms would do. High sustainability firms also adopt environmental and social policies in contrast with low sustainability firms who do not have environmental or social policies. A wider range of stakeholders therefore does not only assume sustainability policies but assures increased sustainability. Therefore, stakeholders in the interface between philanthropy and sustainable business can indeed play a bigger collective role, rather than their individual parts, in eradicating urban extreme poverty. A multi-stakeholder collaborative platform could therefore serve as an ideal structure which may facilitate sustainable change in extreme poor urban communities.
Multi-stakeholder collaborative platforms form an important part of designing solutions for global challenges. Many such platforms have come into being over the last years of which UN Global Compact LEAD initiative, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Every Woman Every Child are some examples. Challenges exist in these types of platforms on the level of representation of regions, governance, and accountability, as well as leadership and transparency. However, the value of these platforms in the establishment of norms and standards, the definition of best practice and the learning and sharing among stakeholders surpasses the challenges.
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network, or SDSN, also referred to as the Post-2015 Agenda or a “unique network of problem solvers” serves as a good example of the interface between philanthropy and sustainable business. This platform has a standing open invitation for membership to universities, research institutions, foundations, civil society and other organizations. The requirement for membership is a “deep expertise in one or more areas related to sustainable development. The open invitation to membership for those who would like to share their expertise as well as the possibility of businesses becoming partners are valuable principles for the Slum Dweller Multi-stakeholder Collaborative Platform. This is a structure through which sustainable change may be facilitated in slum dweller communities, for which stakeholders need to be identified.
Key stakeholders in the Slum Dwellers Multi-Stakeholder Platform
The first key stakeholder in the Slum Dwellers Multi-Stakeholder Collaborative Platform could be Slum Dwellers International (SDI). This is a bottom-up initiative which means that slum communities are at the centre of strategic urban development in partnership with local governments, international networks, academic institutions and other funding partners. SDI follows a methodology that includes enumerating and mapping of its citizens, money savings programs as well as slum upgrading to make the urban extreme poor part of the cities they are excluded from politically and economically.
The second key stakeholder in the Slum Dwellers Multi-Stakeholder Collaborative Platform could be philanthropy/ists because of this sector’s realization that it needs to coordinate its actions and collaborate if it wants to become part of the long-term give-and-take approach that is on the eradicating-of-poverty-agenda.
The third key stakeholder in the Slum Dwellers Multi-Stakeholder Collaborative Platform would be leaders in sustainable business. New business models are emerging with small environmental footprints, promoting sustainable and inclusive growth initiated and managed by leaders in sustainable business.
Key stakeholders in the Slum Dwellers Multi-Stakeholder Collaborative Platform should not be limited to slum dwellers, philanthropists and leaders in sustainable business but also include government, NGO’s, academia, and representatives of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network involved with Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as a standing open invitation to groups or individuals who would like to share their deep knowledge and skills with stakeholders in the platform.
A safe operating space for the urban extreme poor
Against the background of the world preparing for a safe operating space for a total population of nine billion people and a slum dweller population of nearly one billion people by 2050, the interests of the urban extreme poor need to be well represented. The Slum Dwellers Multi-Stakeholder Collaborative Platform might just hold the key to fulfil this purpose by achieving the following: having a catalytic approach of collaborating with multiple stakeholders especially high sustainability firms, embracing new technology, having clear strategic intent according to a toolkit measuring sustainability performance. This platform would furthermore include standards and norms, define best practice, facilitate learning, and shape and support the collaboration between a diverse group of stakeholders on a regular basis, thereby alleviate the deprivations of the urban extreme poor.