Inclusive Economic Development: Treating People and Communities as Assets

Inclusive communities are productive communities. Every person and neighborhood deserves the opportunity to participate actively in governmental decision-making, to contribute to economic development through individual and cooperative initiative, and to share in the fruits of prosperity and democracy. Global Urban Development recognizes people as the world's most important resource; therefore we develop and implement urban strategies that are participatory and inclusive. Such strategies empower people to organize effectively to solve their own problems, improve their environment, and contribute to the overall productivity of their community, city, region, and nation. For example, Global Urban Development addresses the dynamics of the "informal" sector and explores ways to fully integrate every individual and family into the international marketplace, with full citizenship, property rights, and responsibilities. The adaptive methods people create and employ to conduct business, produce goods, provide services, grow food, make clothes, build housing, educate children, maintain health, and perform many other daily activities clearly contribute to the well-being of society and should not be excluded from the formal organization of economic and social life. It is far better to welcome and encourage people's creative energy and hard-working spirit by integrating everyone into mainstream institutions and ensuring that they have the basic security of tenure and livelihood. All people will then benefit much more completely from the output that flows from the many difficult and challenging tasks they regularly perform. These same principles apply in the world of the "formal" sector. The power of people to organize cooperatively in their communities is vital for solving urban problems and improving the quality of urban life. Global Urban Development emphasizes partnership approaches as the most effective way to accomplish important urban development goals, highlighting a wide variety of initiatives from around the world where community groups have successfully collaborated with business, government, and civic organizations.

This GUD committee gave birth during 2002-4 to the Community Productivity Project (CPP), in partnership with Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat). The CPP helped innovate the policy framework for Inclusive Economic Development Strategies and Community Productivity Indicators. The CPP partnership included government agencies and NGOs in Cape Town, Cleveland, Mexico City, Mumbai, London, Nairobi, Jakarta, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Tirana. Despite the efforts of Besnik Aliaj, Jockin Arputham, Nefise Bazoglu, Gregory Berzonsky, Sergio Besserman Vianna, Lance Buhl, Sundar Burra, Tim Campbell, William Cobbett, Claudia Coulton, Celine d'Cruz, Kim Van Deventer, Mary del Carmen Diaz Amador, Malika Djebli, Marlene Fernandes, Peter Hall, Emile Van Heyningen, Eric Hoddersen, Jane Katz, Jeroen Klink, Nomaindia Mfeketo, Nhanla Mjoli-Mncube, Eduardo Moreno, Geoff Mulgan, Sheela Patel, Janice Perlman, Jonas Rabinovitch, Wicaksono Sarosa, Nina Schuler, Wandia Seaforth, Nancy Sedmak-Weiss, Marta Suplicy, Nigel Tapela, Marta Tellado, Patrick Wakely, Emiel Wegelin, Erna Witoelar, Nicholas You, Robert Zdenek, and many others, and even with the encouragement of Gene Sperling and the Clinton Global Initiative, we were unable to raise the $10 million needed to do the full-scale global Community Productivity Project. The good news is that GUD will be engaging in Inclusive Economic Development in many countries during the next few years, especially in Latin America.

 

Please click here for the Community Productivity Project proposal.

 

Global Housing Indicators Networking Event, UN World Urban Forum 7, Medellin, Colombia, April 2014

 

Since 2010 GUD has been working with Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), UN-Habitat, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank, Cities Alliance, US Government, Rockefeller Foundation, International Housing Coalition, and many other organizations on the Global Housing Indicators (GHI) initiative, under the leadership of GUD Board member Jane Katz, who is HFHI’s Director of International Affairs and Programs. She also serves as GHI Manager, and as Co-Chair of GUD’s committee on Inclusive Economic Development, which is actively supporting the GHI initiative. In December 2011 HFHI and IDB organized a Housing Indicators Workshop at the IDB offices in Washington, DC, and HFHI published a key report, Global Housing Indicators: Evidence for Action. For more information, see http:globalhousingindicators.org.

 

On April 10, 2014 at the UN World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia, GUD will sponsor a Networking Event entitled “Global Housing Indicators (GHI) Working Group Launch Event: Policy Knowledge and Empirical Data to Promote Equitable, Affordable, Sustainable, and Resilient Housing and Community Development.” Speakers at this event will include: Ana Marie Argilagos, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International and Philanthropic Innovation, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington; Dr. Eugenie L. Birch, Professor of Urban Research and Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Cid Blanco Jr., Housing and Urban Planning Consultant, Rio de Janeiro; William Cobbett, Manager, Cities Alliance, Brussels; Dr. Fernanda Magalhaes, Senior Urban Specialist, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington; Dr. Ellen Hamilton, Lead Urban Specialist, World Bank, Washington; Jane Katz, Director of International Affairs and Programs, Habitat for Humanity International, Washington; Christophe Lalande, Housing Unit Leader, UN-Habitat, Nairobi; Dr. Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO, Global Urban Development, Washington; and Maria Luisa Zanelli, Advocacy Manager, Habitat for Humanity Latin America and Caribbean, Lima.

 

Inclusive Economic Development: Treating People and Communities as Assets Committee
Co-Chairs: Jane Katz, Janice Perlman, and Edmundo Werna

Poonam Ahluwalia

Grace Akumu

Jamie Alderslade

Jobeda Ali

Besnik Aliaj

Jockin Arputham

Nefise Bazoglu
Lucelena Betancur

Iman Bibars

Liz Blake

Edward Blakely

Cid Blanco Jr.

Susan Blaustein

Albina du Boisrouvray
Andrew Boraine

Lisa Bornstein
Sandra Braunstein

Robert Buckley

Lance Buhl

Sundar Burra

Yves Cabannes

Tim Campbell

Gregory Casagrande

Margaret Caust

Chung Ying Cheng

Gail Christopher

Greg Clark

William Cobbett

Andres Coca-Stefaniak

Thais Corral

Claudia Coulton

Lauren Moser Counts

Louise Cox

Sam Daley-Harris

Forbes Davidson

Hernando De Soto

Mary del Carmen Diaz Amador

Dianne Dillon-Ridgley

Sarah Dimson

Malika Djebli

Michael Donovan

Ladislau Dowbor

Leonard Duhl

Alain Durand-Lasserve

Nathaniel von Einsiedel

Reese Fayde

Seth Fearey

Katharina Felgenhauer

Bruce Ferguson

Marlene Fernandes

John Flora

Neil Fraser

Robert Freling

Maureen Friar

Robert Friedman

Alastair Galpin

Shari Garmise

Malick Gaye

Santosh Ghosh

Elizabeth Gibbons

Ernesto Gil
John Gilderbloom

David Godfrey

Emilio Haddad

Andre Herzog

Emille van Heyningen

Eric Hoddersen

Pamela Hollie

Tim Honey

Daniel Hoornweg

Eric Huybrechts

Daniel Inkoom

Patricia Irvin

Bianca Jagger
Kim Jawanda
Lorna Johnson

Calestous Juma

Ritu George Kaliaden
Michael Kennedy
Thomas Kingsley

Vincent Kitio
Jeroen Klink

Vaishali Kushan

Vinay Lall

Claudia Laub

Michelle Lawrence

Jaime Lerner

Vivian Lin
Michael Lindfield

Richard Lumsden
Stella Madrid

Gideon Mandara

Miklos Marschall

Cecilia Martinez

Andreia Marin Martins

Patricia McCarney

Harold McDougall

Richard McGahey

John McKoy

Jane McRae

Nhlanhla Mjoli-Mncube

Eduardo Moreno

Geoff Mulgan

Fergus Murphy

Etienne Nel

Gertrude Ngenda

James Nixon

Marta Nunes da Costa

Geoffrey Nwaka

Marielza Oliveira

Mary Jane Ortega

Amara Ouerghi

Erik Pages

David Painter

Elena Panaritis

Terry Patinkin
Anthony Pell

Jan Peterson

Glorianna Pionati

Christine Platt

Mario Polese

Jonathan Potter

Roy Priest

Philip Psilos

Sangeetha Purushothaman

Jonas Rabinovitch

Bill Randolph

Jocelyn Rugunda

Donovan Rypkema

Marivel Sacendoncillo

Jane Samuels

Wendy Sarkissian
Wicaksono Sarosa
David Satterthwaite
Theo Schilderman

Stephanie Schmidt

Nina Schuler

Hugh Schwartz

Elliott Sclar

Wandia Seaforth

Nancy Sedmak-Weiss

Mona Serageldin

Asad Shah

Philip Shapira

Molly O’Meara Sheehan

Michael Sherraden

Seymour Spilerman

Marcus Spiller

Lucy Stevens

Richard Stren

Richard Swett

Marta Tellado

Kees Van Der Ree

Irene Vance

Andrea Veach

Patrick Wakely

Stephen Walsh

Rasna Warah

Emiel Wegelin

Mark Weinheimer
Dave Wetzel

Gina Whitehill-Baziuk

Rogelio Williams

Mark Willis

David Wilmoth

Erna Witoelar

Silvia Guimaraes Yafai

Guang Yang

Glenn Yoder

Nicholas You

Joel Yudken

Muhammad Yunus

Robert Zdenek

Erla Zwingle

 


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