Development and Cooperation


	Contributions from the Column Focus Innovative milieus “My real education was working in the slums“ Finding ways out of poverty Energy efficiency for Rio de Janeiro Split households 12/2004		“My real education was working in the slums“ [ Interview with James Annorbah-Sarpei ] Professor Sarpei, poverty in Ghana is often seen mainly as a rural problem. Is urban poverty neglected? This has long been the case. When I came to Nima for the first time in 1968 I was struck by the poverty I found within Accra, the capital of our country. Although people were aware that things were not alright, official policy ignored the problem. People regarded poverty in Nima, a migrant quarter, as a problem of aliens. On the other hand, Ga Mashie, the old port area in Accra, has always been there and only deteriorated into another distressed area after the port and the fishing activities had been removed to Tema 30 km east of Accra in the 1960s. Here the official attitude was that Ga Mashi residents were indigenous people and fishermen who don’t belong to the Ghanaian mainstream. Has this attitude significantly changed? Yes, to some extent. Today official policy acknowledges, for example in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy, that urban poverty exists. But how to tackle it remains a problem. And urban poverty is still increasing in Ghana. What are the main reasons? First, the difficult economic situation in Ghana following the oil hikes in the 1970s, and second the failure of development politics since independence. The third reason is, however, a widespread attitude among young people in poor areas who moan that they are suffering and that somebody else has to deal with the problem. What role does rural-urban migration play? Movement from rural to urban areas is steadingly increasing. More and more people who cannot see their way forward in Ghana are coming to the cities. They see Accra and other urban centers as junctions to Europe and the West. They come and try to gather information on where they could go to. Then they try to get a visa and to raise money to get a plane ticket. How to deal with migration to urban areas? Should one simply try to halt it? The problem is that mainly the young and smart people head for the cities and they are the very people who could bring innovation and change to the rural areas. In effect, the rural economy suffers, which makes it even more attractive to leave. Accordingly, one should create options in rural areas instead of simply trying to stop rural-urban migration. One of my first projects with CENCOSAD was to bring young people from the arid northern districts in Ghana down to the plains around Accra where water from the Volta lake was used for irrigation to grew sugar cane and rice. They saw that to rely on rainfed agriculture is not the only option, and that provided an alternative for many people in northern Ghana. Are there any positive implications of migration to urban areas? Sure. Look at the industrial revolution which was accelerated by a labour force that was released from rural areas into the urban centers. Innovation always starts in the urban centers. If smart young people who come from the rural areas find jobs in the cities then one can capitalise on them. For example, we built on this opportunity in some of our programs to create what I call plazas of „cross-fertilisation“ of ideas and skills: different types of artisans are grouped together in one urban area. If, say, an auto mechanic has a problem in the house he cannot solve he calls his neighbour next door who may be an electrician. They look at each others problems and bring their ideas together and create innovations. These are places that are noted all over Ghana. The next step would be to link these small-scale artisans with manufacturing and industry to upgrade them. Slum areas are often seen mainly as a problem or, even worse, as a danger to the residents as well as to wider society. Is this an appropriate view? Before I went to Nima that was indeed my view. I had a morbid fear. But then I realised that it was different. In all the years I worked with people from poor areas not a single penny has been picked from my pocket. I more and more appreciated and valued the people. I always tell people that my university education was just an education in literacy. But my real education was working with people in the slums. Many of them have lots of experience, working as labourers in many different places. The more I met with communities in slum areas, the more I realised that they have a great potential. This inspired me to continue my work in slums. The poverty we are talking about is material poverty. But I realised that these people are rich in experience and rich in values. Together we were building institutions and creating social infrastructures which those people who held their PhDs could not even think of. How do the slum residents themselves see their situation? Are they aware of this potential? No. Initially they simply look for survival. In that mode they do not trust each other. It takes time before a sense of community can emerge. But when this happens people begin to build on common traditions and to make the common experience of living together in one place. This is the moment when people begin to identify with the area they live in and when it is possible to start working for changes. How does one trigger self-help capacities? Take the example of the housing estate in Tema, the industrial center near Accra that was set up in the 1960s. There were residents fom many different places and we artificially had to create communities. I realised that the best way to do this is to help people to articulate their problems. Initially they struggled with their problems individually and tried to solve them on their own, going to this or that agency. When they realised that others have the same problems they started to create relationships and to build communities. From that moment on people were able to shape and transform their environment. People came together in clubs or ethnic groups which then became building blocks for community action. The two major slum areas in Accra, Nima and Ga Mashie, differ in their historic backgrounds as well as social structures. On the one hand, there is Nima, the village-like suburb consisting of a variety of migrant communities with different ethnic roots. On the other hand, there is Ga Mashie, the former economic center and port area of Accra. Are the self-help capacities of the people in the respective areas different as well? Yes, the most striking difference is that the migrant slum communities are more eager to improve their situation. One reason may be that they have nothing to look back to. The other reason is that the migrants, at one point, consciously decided to come to the city to improve their lot. On the other hand, people in the aboriginal inner-city slums think that the government owes them something. They look outside and wait for someone to help them. Migrants, instead, all over the world and not only in slum areas, want to make money. That is an advantage of these communities, whereas the passive behaviour of people in inner-city slums makes work more difficult. Aboriginal slum residents may have a representative in the municipality they can appeal to. The migrant community, on the other hand, probably lacks this possibility and instead has to strive for recognition. Mobilisation is easier in these communities once the initial fear has been overcome that one might not be accepted. Are bilateral and multilateral donor strategies in slum areas appropriate? No, often they are not. Take Nima as an example: we started working there more than 30 years ago and there is still a lot to do. By contrast, donor programs usually are time bound. This blue-print approach is not conducive to sustainability. In a project I did for the FAO and the Dutch government I helped these two donors to realise that you can have a program that slowly evolves rather than being time-bound and forced into a straitjacket. In the 1980s there was a window of opportunity to switch to such a flexible approach, but in the 1990s this window closed again as the industrial countries themselves faced economic crises and cut down aid budgets. Questions by Tillmann Elliesen. Professor James Annorbah-Sarpei heads the Center for Community Studies, Action and Development (CENCOSAD) in Accra. He has worked with slum communities in Ghanaian cities for more than 30 years. In 1968 he and fellow students from Legon University, Accra, founded Operation Help Nima to support the residents of the largest low-cost area in Accra. prof_annorbahsarpei@yahoo.com