Advances in the Evaluation of Informal Settlement Upgrading in Brazil by TAMARA WHITE B.A. (Anthropology) Oberlin College, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Planning) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April, 2013 © Tamara White Abstract This thesis focuses on the practice of evaluation of informal settlement upgrading projects in Brazil. The country experienced a wave of rapid urbanization over the last sixty years, with eighty-four percent of the population now living in cities. As cities lacked affordable housing options commensurate with their burgeoning populations, informal settlements proliferated. Over several decades, policy responses have evolved to promoting the upgrading of these settlements. A wide variety of strategies has been employed to address the material, social, and legal issues associated with informal settlements. The actors have been equally diverse, including federal and municipal government, NGOs, international agencies, and community-based organizations. After more than a generation of concerted trial and error in designing and implementing upgrading programs, how have monitoring and evaluation practices been put to use? Grounded in an understanding of global urbanization trends and current debates around the practice of monitoring and evaluation, this study aims to: 1. Establish the importance of monitoring and evaluation as a critical element in improving the outcomes of upgrading and building an international body of knowledge around effective upgrading programs; 2. Assess the current practice of monitoring and evaluation of upgrading programs in Brazil; 3. Identify the challenges and barriers that currently impede the broad usage of such evaluation systems, and; 4. Identify the national trends that point to increased use of monitoring and evaluation in the future. This research finds that systematic monitoring and evaluation of the development outcomes of upgrading programs rarely occurs. Academics and researchers conduct a wide range of evaluative studies, though these tend to be isolated and non-continuous. International donor agencies, and more recently the federal government, require project evaluations be conducted on particular projects, though these tend to remain at the level of project outputs. Many trends, however, indicate that the nascent practice of monitoring and evaluation is attracting increased interest from policy-makers, practitioners, scholars and stakeholders. It is concluded that M&E practice will continue to be refined and experience broader application in the coming years. ii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................................. v Terminological Considerations ...................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... i Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Why Brazil? .............................................................................................................................. 2 Why Monitoring and Evaluation? ............................................................................................ 3 Research Questions .................................................................................................................. 4 Methods .................................................................................................................................... 4 Research Limitations and Other Considerations ...................................................................... 5 Organization of Thesis .............................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2: Global Trends in Informal Settlements and Upgrading ................................................ 7 World Population Growth and Urbanization ............................................................................ 7 New Urban Growth Typologies ............................................................................................... 12 Expanding Urban Demands and Pressures ............................................................................. 13 Accommodating a Growing Population .................................................................................. 16 Informal Settlements .............................................................................................................. 17 Strategies to Address Informal Settlements ........................................................................... 17 Chapter 3: Monitoring and Evaluation as Critical Elements in the Development Process .......... 22 Introduction to Concepts ........................................................................................................ 22 M&E in Theory and Practice .................................................................................................. 23 Evaluation Categorizations .................................................................................................... 23 Evaluation’s Purpose in Urban Development Programs ....................................................... 25 Increased Application of M&E in Development ..................................................................... 28 Discourse Around “Good Practices” ...................................................................................... 29 General Barriers and Challenges in M&E Application ............................................................ 34 Problems within Evaluation Methodologies ..................................................................... 35 Problems with the Implementation of Evaluation ............................................................ 36 Embedding M&E within an Organization ......................................................................... 38 (How) is learning from practice put to use? .......................................................................... 39 Prescriptive Texts on How to Evaluate Informal Settlement Upgrades ................................ 41 iii Chapter 4: Informal Settlements and Brazil’s Housing and Urban Development Sector ............ 44 Urban Demographic Shift ....................................................................................................... 45 Conditions for Informal Settlement Growth ........................................................................... 46 The Evolution of Housing and Urban Development Policy ..................................................... 48 The Early Years: 1900-1988 .............................................................................................. 49 Democratization and the New Constitution ..................................................................... 54 Housing Policy in the New Millennium ............................................................................. 60 Future Challenges ................................................................................................................... 65 Chapter 5: Monitoring and Evaluation in Brazil ............................................................................ 68 Emerging “Culture of Information” in Public Administration ................................................. 68 Monitoring and Evaluation within the Housing and Urban Development Sector.................. 71 Insufficiency of Current M&E of Settlement Upgrading ................................................... 72 External Evaluations by Academics and Research Institutions ......................................... 73 Evaluation of Internationally-Funded Large-Scale Upgrading Programs ........................ 75 Content and Quality of Evaluations .................................................................................. 78 Barriers to Broader Usage of M&E ......................................................................................... 79 Promising Trends and Conducive Conditions ........................................................................ 81 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 87 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................... 90 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 102 iv List of Figures Figure 1: Changes in Total Fertility (children per woman) over time ............................................ 8 Figure 2: Changes in Life Expectancy over time ............................................................................. 9 Figure 3: Brazil’s Total Population (in 1000s) over time ............................................................... 10 Figure 4: Proportion Urban Population (of Total Population)