David Satterthwaite

Now possible to support SDI’s global poverty fighters and their initiatives with modest donations. So many SDI examples of how far they make modest funding go. If the big funds don't support them we can sdinet.org

How galling for US President Donald Trump who has criticised Britain’s aircraft carriers “…which aren’t the best aircraft carriers” when his US13 billion aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford suffering widespread toilet and sewage system failures at sea and cannot operate.

Arif Hasan reflects on what he has learnt from his 50 years engagement with urban development. This blog covers national issues. Blog 2 will focus on local and community issues and Blog 3 on international agencies Inequality with so many aspects: Housing/ Plot density Quality, accessibility and cost of health care and education What has changed for the best is women’s public presence. There are now national women’s football, cricket and hockey teams, and women compete successfully in athletics and martial arts. They actively participate in politics, take part in demonstrations, and often arrange them. Many women are in important government and private sector jobs. But they complain that they still have a long way to go before they can use their independence to achieve some form of equality with their men. They earn, but they still have to cook and clean, too. iied.org/what-i-have-le…

iied.org/what-i-have-le… ears-engagement-urban-issues

doi.org/10.1177/095624… Paper on “Living systems infrastructure of Kolkata” by Jenia Mukherjee includes very detailed coverage of the East Kolkata wetlands. The EKW recycles 750 million litres of municipal wastewater, produces 22 tonnes of fish and 150 tonnes of vegetables per day, and caters to the survival needs of 200,000 people. To date, Kolkata has no sewage treatment plants within its municipal boundary and EKW treats almost 80 per cent of the city’s effluents and waste. These free ecosystem services would have otherwise cost the city around US$ 80 million per annum. published in Environment and Urbanization

Building in space will have a huge energy cost/carbon based fuels cost. This include the energy costs of transporting all the people/materials/goods that would be needed.

Anger issues and infrastructure in Karachi: why are we all so angry? There is so much literature on what causes or exacerbates anger but so little on anger itself. Nudrat Fatima Junaid explores anger issues and infrastructure in Karachi: why are we all so angry? iied.org/anger-issues-i…

TRUMP cannot be pleased to find that the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Al Gore in 2007

if Trump is a peace maker how come he is at war with the planet

Keeping “living heritage” alive The April 2015 Gorcha earthquake killed 8,962 people injured many thousands more. In the absence of government action, communities have organised and drawn on their living heritage in reconstruction. see attached for account of what they have done iied.org/mobilisation-l…

The only thing in which Trump is consistent is being wrong

How can businesses, health services, government institutions …… claim to be more participatory and open when response to e mail is no reply and response to telephone is an endless taped message saying your service is important to us that often ends in being cut off

Cash transfers One of the important innovations in poverty reduction in the last few decades is cash transfers. They should provide a small but regular cash grant. These have proved popular among those that receive it [and some grumbling about how low it is [and who is entitled to it and for what]. At their best, they reach low income groups with funds without c0mplex registration procedures. These schemes are also popular with government and international agencies, largely because it is much simpler to run, especially if there is no means testing Usually the transaction costs are pushed onto recipients [eg filling out long and complex application documents, having a computer or bank account and smart phone determining eligibility …….. iej.org.za A new study on The pitfalls of poverty targeting by Siyanda Baduza, Kelle Howson, That o Setambule and Thobani Khumalo (Institute for Economic Justice) is aptly subtitled “the systemic exclusion from a South African social assistance transfer. The grant is targeted at people with monthly means (“income or financial support”) below R624 (US$33). This is well below the country’s extreme (or “food”) poverty line. re They found that an average of 75.9 per cent of respondents to their survey were eligible each month. However, only 10.3 per cent of this group had actually received payment in the month they applied, The research team identified many barriers to application. Application can only be made English when most SRD grant applicants do not speak English at home—the application process is only available in English. All discussions and transactions have to be made on-line.

New book on the rise and collapse of more than 400 societies over 5,000 years. Lessons: people are fundamentally egalitarian but are led to collapses by enriched, status-obsessed elites, while past collapses often improved the lives of ordinary citizens. Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp

Housing that low-income households can afford. Everyone concerned with this should read this assessment of four projects by Guillermo Delgado and Diana Mitlin UNIT COSTS $16,249: housing developed by a state-owned company, the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) $1,680: serviced site development by a social enterprise, Development Workshop Namibia (DWN) $2,016: community-led housing project developed by a social movement, the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) $188: a community-led informal settlement upgrading project in the Usab Informal Settlement (UIS), which produced serviced sites, a plot of land with access and utilities (including water, sewerage, electricity) already in place. The purchaser either builds the dwelling themselves, or manages the process. So community led upgrading was 1/ninth the cost of a a conventional housing unit and was affordable to all ; the conventional unit was affordable to none. Faced with low incomes and high costs, community organizations do what they can do to reduce costs. Important role of savings and sweat equity Upgrading not only provides tenure and services but also the foundation for incremental housing development and there is no loan to repay iied.org/what-works-for…

How little we know about the health impacts of extreme heat in urban areas in much of the global south. This is even more so in the informal settlements that house much of their population. They struggle to live and work in temperatures of 30 + degrees for parts of the year. - Some go much higher as in Delhi reaching 48 degrees. And the lack of records on causes of death ..... A study by Marcelle Mardon and Mussa Raido and the Tanzania Urban Poor Federation showed how their homes are ill-suited to extreme temperatures, with 75% of dwellings lacking any tree cover, and the use of building materials such as corrugated metal, creating intolerable conditions both day and night. It is usually women who are most exposed; with over one third of women running enterprises from home, and all women undertaking gendered caring and cooking roles, many are tied to their houses, with little opportunity for respite from the heat. Due to poverty and a lack of knowledge of effective adaptation strategies, coping with heat is largely limited to low-cost responses – such as opening windows, wearing lighter clothes, sleeping outside and taking baths – particularly when the use of fans is too expensive READ ON iied.org/rising-heat-le…

We don’t need nuclear power Controversy about whether we need massive investment in nuclear is not new. Mrs Thatcher’s government were planning to build 32 plants. The greens opposed this and wanted no nuclear. Gerry Leach from iied produced a very detailed Low-energy strategy for the United Kingdom. This showed that with cost effective conservation of energy and sensible investment in renewables no need for nuclear

How to fight back against Trump? Look to poor people’s movements Liz Theoharis and Noam Sandweiss-Back, the Guardian 2/6/25

Overheard during a break at a seminar “will you stop staring at my breasts” “I am sorry but I was trying to read your name-tag”