EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNITY-DRIVEN MAPPING: CATALYZING CITY PLANNING AND SERVICE PROVISION IN MUNTINLUPA AND OTHER CITIES LOUIE ROBERT POSADAS 3, DEANNA AYSON 2, RUBY PAPELERAS 1, CHRISTOPHER EBREO 3, LUNALYN CAGAN 4, DANILO ANTONIO 4, JOHN GITAU 4 1 Homeless People’s Federation Philippines, Inc. 2 Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives, Inc. 3 Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment, Inc. 4 UN-Habitat / Global Land Tool Network Presenter’s email: [email protected] Paper prepared for presentation at the “2019 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY” The World Bank - Washington DC, March 25-29, 2019 Copyright 2019 by author(s). All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. Abstract This paper narrates the experiences of the Homeless People’s Federation Philippines Inc. (HPFPI) and its partners in facilitating citywide community-driven mapping activities in Muntinlupa and other cities with varying contexts across the country. While these initiatives follow no specific format, it was observed that critical elements define the legitimacy of the approach being promoted. Community participation is essential in all phases as it provides an accurate, up-to-date representation of the needs and aspirations of informal settler families (ISFs) being mapped. Validation of mapping results at different levels is equally important as it generates ownership of the process among ISFs and ensures delivery of demand-driven services. As a people’s process, the results of mapping can be used in numerous ways, be it on housing, basic services provision, and city management, among others. The framework which focuses on the mapping process as a mobilizing platform and an empowerment tool presents a concrete example of a genuine participatory approach in informing an evidence-based, inclusive and sustainable city planning—one that truly considers and caters to the basic needs of society’s vulnerable sectors, primarily the ISFs. Key Words: Community mapping; Informal settler families; Participatory planning; Philippines; Service provision I. Introduction Metro Manila’s 556,526 informal settler families (ISFs)1 account to 23.5% of its total population (Metro Manila Development Authority, 2010). Of this number, 18.7% or about 104,000 families reside in danger zones such as railroad tracks, transmission lines, garbage dumps, and waterways (Department of Interior and Local Government, 2010). ISFs, especially those living in hazard-prone areas, are considered one of the most vulnerable sectors in Philippine society. ISFs’ lack of decent, legal dwellings translates to their loss of institutional identity—thus resulting to their invisibility in city development plans, further depriving them of secure access to basic services and government programs. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of voice and participation of ISFs in the planning of their cities which often results in the violation of their basic rights. In fact, ISFs acquire deeper and better understanding of their own physical contexts and struggles. Specifically, women, the elderly and children bear the brunt of evictions and the demolition of their homes enforced by city authorities, not to mention their vulnerability in times of disasters (WHO, 2005). Some government efforts such as the Oplan Likas2 in 2011 have sought to address ISF needs especially on housing but these are usually bureaucratic, fragmented, limited in scale (Galuszka, 2018). National and local government units find it difficult to implement programs for ISFs primarily because of the sheer magnitude of the problem, insufficient financial resources, lack of coordination among government agencies, lack of strong political will, and lack of accurate, up-to-date information about ISFs. Informed by the traditional top-down planning, government generated data include only census tagging and therefore limited, with little analysis on what really lies within them. The non-participation of the ISF in these efforts makes it even more difficult for government to carry out programs because of lack of trust among community members. For a developing country like the Philippines, a proactive and inclusive approach to solving problems on urban tenure security and provision of basic services among ISFs is imperative. 1 Informal settler families (ISFs) are defined as “one who settles on the land of another without title or right or without the owner's consent whether in urban or rural areas.” / Philippine Statistics Authority 2 The Oplan Lumikas para Iwas Kalamidad at Sakit (LIKAS) aims to relocate roughly 120,000 ISFs from danger areas along major waterways in Metro Manila. The said program is in line with a 2008 Supreme Court writ of mandamus, which required the reservation of a 3-meter easement zone along those waterways and the resettlement of ISFs. The national government allocated the Oplan Likas a total budget of PHP50B or approximately USD1.15B / Philippine Institute for Development Studies II. Inclusivity and participatory governance Participatory governance, considered a subset of governance theory, puts emphasis in democratic engagement or citizen participation in governmental processes such as city planning and the provision and management of basic services, e.g., health care, infrastructure, education (Fischer, 2012). The concept of participatory governance is directly related to the process of “co-production” through which inputs from individuals who are not “in” the same organization are transformed into goods and services (Ostrom, 1996). Increasing interest in these theories can be attributed to their potential to build capacities of citizens, especially marginalized sector including ISFs, in playing active role in developing, implementing and monitoring programs, projects and activities (PPAs) of the government. In addition, these approaches are found relevant in countries where service delivery is often constrained by limited human and financial resources, bureaucratic processes, partisan politics (Silvestre, et al 2016). Studies in both developed and developing countries showed that these processes have improved design solutions to PPAs and have led to quicker responses to emerging issues in the community. In the Philippines, several laws provide legal foundations for the development of participatory governance structures. The 1987 Constitution underscores the need for and the role of people’s organizations and the private sector in nation-building. Moreover, the enactment of the 1991 Local Government Code (LGC) and 1992 Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) has helped in institutionalizing the responsibility of local government units (LGUs) to ensure access to basic services and facilities to marginalized sectors. Governance structures were thus created to further facilitate people’s participation in these processes. One such structure is the Local Housing Board (LHB) which was initially conceived to manage resettlement processes and other pressing issues of informal settlements especially in cities. In some LGUs, LHBs act as a multi-stakeholder platform mandated to adopt measures and strategies for local shelter planning (Ballesteros et al 2018). However, in reality, there remain issues as to the inclusivity of these platforms as bureaucracy in the government and poverty among marginalized sectors seem to decelerate access to such services. Deliberation of ISF needs and concerns may not necessarily be reflected in these bodies (Ayson, 2018). As Ballesteros sums up, the Philippines lacks a national policy on shelter development that integrates infrastructure, housing, and environmental concerns. The current approach to shelter is primarily on a per project basis instead of a citywide shelter development. The absence of a citywide approach creates difficulties for the national government and LGUs to address the housing problem on scale. III. The Citywide Development Approach The launch of the Citywide Development Approach to Upgrading Informal Settlements (or simply, CDA)3 in 2014—a multi-stakeholder collaboration of the national and local government agencies, civil society groups and people’s organizations—marked the introduction of community-driven data collection, mapping and profiling and planning of informal settlement communities in the country. The CDA is seen as a clear alternative to the usual unsystematic, project-based and top-down planning of cities as it emphasizes the participation of all stakeholders, especially the ISFs. The CDA framework differs from the traditional informal settlement upgrading in three key aspects: 1. Informal settlement upgrading is done at scale; 2. The informal settlement upgrading process is decentralized to the LGU level, rather than centralized at the national level; and 3. It is a demand-driven approach where communities drive the settlement upgrading planning and implementation process with the support of the LGUs and the CSOs, rather than a supply-driven approach that focuses on mass construction of houses. Localizing the CDA in Muntinlupa through a community-driven mapping process The CDA was tested in three pilot cities in Metro Manila, including Muntinlupa City where the Homeless People’s Federation Philippines Inc. (HPFPI) and its local partners4 facilitated community-driven data gathering initially in 83 informal settlements across four barangays5. In Muntinlupa, the CDA espoused the following features: