IDPR, 32 (1) 2010 doi:10.3828/idpr.2009.

10

David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities

Community-driven responses to climate change in the
Philippines

Advocates of community-based adaptation claim that it helps to identify, assist, and implement community-
based development activities, research and policy in response to climate change. However, there has
been little systematic examination of the ways in which existing experiences of dealing with hazard
events can inform community-based adaptation. This article analyses the experience of the Homeless
People’s Federation of the Philippines in respect of community-led disaster responses, with the aim of
informing future discussions on the role of planning for climate change adaptation in low- and middle-
income countries.

In recent years, research agencies and NGOs have increasingly incorporated climate
change within their development work, believing they have the skills, experience, local
knowledge and networks to undertake locally appropriate vulnerability-reduction
activities that increase resilience to a range of factors, including climate change. This
is particularly evident through the recently emerging discourse of community-based
adaptation (CBA). Advocates of CBA claim that it helps to identify, assist and imple-
ment community-based development activities, research and policy in response to
climate change, especially in regions where adaptive capacity is highly dependent on
livelihood strategies. In practice, CBA can be seen as taking an ‘adaptation as devel-
opment’ approach to the challenges of climate change (Ayers and Dodman, forth-
coming). However, there has been little systematic examination of the ways in which
existing experiences of dealing with hazard events can inform CBA.
This article uses the experiences of the Homeless People’s Federation of the Philip-
pines Incorporated (HPFPI) to explore community-led responses to disasters. Through
a discussion of its work – in particular, three specific interventions – the article aims
to inform future discussions related to planning for climate change adaptation in
low- and middle-income countries, and make a contribution to the existing literature
on community-based responses to disaster events and adaptation to climate change.

David Dodman is a Researcher in the Human Settlements and Climate Change Groups at the International Institute
for Environment and Development, 3 Endsleigh Street, London WC1H 0DD; email: david.dodman@iied.org. Diana
Mitlin is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute for Development Policy and Management and an Associate Director of the
Brooks World Poverty Institute (both at the University of Manchester), and a Senior Researcher in the Human Settle-
ments Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development; email: diana.mitlin@manchester.
ac.uk; Jason Rayos Co is a Legal Consultant and Coordinator for Mindanao, Philippine Action for Community-Led
Shelter Initiatives Inc. (PACSII), Manila, Philippines; email: kulitjulian@yahoo.co.uk.

Paper submitted May 2009; revised paper received and accepted October 2009

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 2 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

More specifically, the objectives of the discussion are to demonstrate the contribution
of local communities to adaptation strategies, identify some core components of the
successes achieved in the interventions studied, and explore reasons why these compo-
nents have been effective.
The HPFPI is a national network of 161 urban poor community associations
and savings groups spanning the major regions of the Philippines (Luzon, Visayas
and Mindanao); it is a member of the transnational network Shack/Slum-Dwellers
International (SDI).1 As of December 2007, the HPFPI had approximately 70,000
individual members representing communities from 18 cities and 15 municipalities.
The federation aspires to security of tenure, decent living and improved economic
conditions, emancipation from poverty, and protection of members’ dignity and
rights as humans and as citizens of their cities. Members of the federation promote
community savings as a tool to build their own financial capacities, negotiate for state
resources, and achieve community development and social cohesion. By 2008, their
savings programme had mobilised approximately US$3.5 million in pooled resources
for ongoing local activities and the development of federation communities. The
federation has come to focus on mobilising low-income communities residing in areas
at high risk from natural disasters, assisting in voluntary resettlement and post-reloca-
tion activities, and intervening in disaster risk management and post-disaster recon-
struction processes through community-led initiatives.
The federation grew out of an initiative at a dumpsite in Payatas (Metro-Manila)
by the Vincentian Missionaries Social Development Foundation, Inc. (VMSDFI). The
foundation began with a Grameen Bank-style micro-finance intervention. By the end
of 1995 over 5,000 members were organised in community-managed savings groups,
and the groups began to spread their work outside of Payatas. However, there were
a number of limitations to this methodology, with members facing needs that could
not be met by micro-finance. In 1996, the network of savings and loan groups linked
to SDI to address their need for land tenure security. They were seeking a method-
ology that would help them achieve their aspirations for safe and secure shelter, and
they recognised that this required a strong collective presence, with new capacities to
resolve the complexities of political negotiations and build a stronger membership
base. Following exchanges with SDI groups overseas, the Homeless People’s Federa-
tion of the Philippines Incorporated (HPFPI) was officially launched in September
1 SDI is a transnational network with affiliates in over 30 countries in the global South. Affiliates are federations
of the homeless and landless poor formed from locally managed savings schemes, organised at a neighbourhood
level, whose members are mainly women. Since its inception, the network of federations has grown from the
seven founding members (South Africa, India, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Cambodia, Nepal and Thailand) to 15 active
affiliates in 2008 (with the addition of Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Ghana, Zambia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and
Brazil). The network interacts through an intense programme of international (mainly bilateral) exchanges; it
is held together by a mutual recognition of the multiple benefits of solidarity between urban poor groups. (See
www.sdinet.org and D’Cruz and Satterthwaite, 2005.)

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 3

1998, formalising a national network of urban poor communities that had developed
over two years.
In July 2000 a trash-slide at a dumpsite in Payatas killed more than 200 people.
News of the tragedy spread quickly and among the first to arrive were volunteers
from a savings-based community paramedics programme. In the days that followed,
savings were utilised to provide food for affected families. It was feared that the
tragedy would have a negative impact on the savings programme, but instead, savings
rose to record levels (Yu, 2002). This showed the federation leaders the value of their
organising methodology. From 2006, the federation expanded its capacity to organise
and mobilise disaster-affected communities towards the post-disaster reconstruction
of temporary and permanent housing and relocation. The experiences in Payatas
demonstrated to the HPFPI and VMSDFI that they needed to shift from short-term
relief into addressing long-term strategic needs such as relocation. This shift was in
line with the existing aspirations and work of the federation towards community-led
secure tenure.
The structure of the discussion in this article is as follows. We start off by
describing the general situation and subsequent experiences in three areas in which
the HPFPI has been active in responding to disasters that have taken place. We
then locate the approach to community-led development within the organising
methodology of SDI, and consider the relevance of these experiences to climate
change adaptation and mitigation. In so doing we highlight the contribution of
local community action and the ways in which organised communities have been
able to trigger a supportive engagement with the state, and show the importance
of tenure and shelter as sectors of intervention. We conclude by looking beyond
the immediacy of the cases to use these experiences to identify and assess the main
practical and theoretical insights for development and adaptation to climate change
in low- and middle-income countries. In terms of practice, the discussion highlights
the importance of an interaction between climate change adaptation and develop-
ment practitioners. In respect of theoretical considerations, the discussion illustrates
the potential significance of Foucault’s concept of governmentality, through its
demonstration of the way in which specific organising methodologies help to give
federation groups credibility and thereby deepen their relations with the state, while
giving them greater equality in respect of their negotiations with government. The
conclusion also points to the importance of the ‘capacity to aspire’ to new and better
development options even in the context of disasters when capacities and assets
come under severe stress.

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 4 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

Figure 1 Map showing study locations

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 5

Disasters in the Philippines

The Philippines is vulnerable to a wide range of natural hazards including earth-
quakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons and storm surges. These hazards cause substan-
tial loss of life, as well as extensive damage to homes and livelihoods: a World Bank
study estimated that the nation suffered economic losses of approximately US$500
million annually as a result of typhoons, earthquakes, volcanoes and floods (World
Bank, n.d.). Low-income urban residents are particularly vulnerable to these threats,
lacking many of the assets that protect more affluent groups; nevertheless, they have
responded in a variety of ways, seeking to recover from disasters and to build resil-
ience to future shocks and stresses. However, the Philippine government’s institutional
approach to disaster management continues to be reactive, focusing more on disaster
response than on the strategic option of mitigation and/or post-disaster support (like
reconstruction and economic recovery) as livelihood regeneration.2 This approach
fails to consider natural hazards as potential obstacles to strategic poverty reduction
and sustainable development (World Bank, n.d.). Hence, an important component
of any community’s response is negotiating the support of local governments to the
long term development priorities identified by local residents. This section describes
three disasters in different regions of the country (Figure 1), and the ways in which
communities have responded.

Flooding in Iloilo
The experience of flooding in Iloilo demonstrates the importance of community
and local authority collaboration in developing effective responses to disasters. The
HPFPI in Iloilo has been active for many years and has forged strong links with two
other urban poor federations to form a city-wide network called the Iloilo City Urban
Poor Network (ICUPN), which has a strong partnership with the mayor, who has
encouraged this collaboration. The creation of the network has helped to strengthen
the ability of the urban poor to negotiate with the state. The other federations concen-
trate on government relocation sites and Community Mortgage Program (CMP)3
projects. The HPFPI is most active within communities living without secure tenure.
The ICUPN has, since 2005, provided a platform for the urban poor to engage the
city in scaling up community-led shelter initiatives. In 2000, there were 41,870 house-
holds in the city, 16,574 of which were in informal settlements. An estimated 4,961

2 In the disaster management literature, ‘mitigation’ refers to reducing the impacts of disasters, an approach akin
to ‘adaptation’ in climate change literature. In contrast, ‘mitigation’ in climate change literature refers to the
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
3 The Community Mortgage Program is a government programme that assists communities at risk of eviction with
collective low-interest loans that enable them to buy their existing land or to purchase an alternative site.

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 6 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

households are occupying the shorelines of the city and are particularly vulnerable to
sea-level rise. In Iloilo, partly due to ICUPN activities, national and local government
has provided 8,741 households with secure tenure, while a further 2,700 households
have secured tenure through the CMP or by private group purchase. Communities
are working together to ensure that the the city government maintains its present
commitment to allocate 5 per cent of the annual budget to the urban poor (primarily
for land acquisition).
Iloilo is highly susceptible to flooding; it receives high levels of rainfall, and is
located on the coast in close proximity to several major rivers. Ninety per cent of
the city is less than 2.6 metres above sea level. Watershed areas upstream of the city
have also been heavily degraded, which has accentuated this problem. In June 2008,
Typhoon Frank resulted in 354mm of rainfall falling within 24 hours, with flooding
affecting 52,271 families in the wider province. Almost 6,000 people were brought to
evacuation centres. The ICUPN began organising and mobilising these identified
communities for relocation and upgrading immediately.
To respond to this disaster, the city government designated a 16.4-hectare site in
San Isidro to accommodate 1,913 affected families. This land had been intended for
the resettlement of families affected by the implementation of the Iloilo Flood Control
Project,4 but given the nature of the emergency, the government amended this plan.
The city government is providing basic facilities, and is lobbying with the project for
the more rapid development of the site (to include roads, water and electricity). The
HPFPI has been able to provide financial assistance to families that are members of
savings groups, and has mobilised funds for the rapid construction of transit housing
units, reducing the trauma faced by displaced families.
Early experiences of resettlement in Iloilo have already demonstrated to federa-
tion groups the importance of collective action. Femia Castro (President of the Reset-
tlement Sites of Iloilo City Council Project 5) explained that when they first moved
to the site in December 2003, families had to pay 50 pesos5 a day for water. After
some months, members lobbied for the water network to be extended and they now
pay 159 pesos a month, the minimum charge for water in the city. It costs 2,700 pesos
to purchase a connection, and families who have made this investment sell water
to those without a connection, charging 2 pesos for 20 litres of water. The federa-
tion has provided loan finance for investments in essential services that the city is
4 The Iloilo Flood Project is financed by the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation, through the Depart-
ment of Public Works and Highways. It includes a 4.8-km floodway, which is 82 metres wide. The total cost is 4.26
billion pesos, of which 70 per cent is allocated for construction. It also contains several broader environmental
improvements, including upstream watershed management activities. The JBIC loan is for 25 years with a soft
interest rate. The project is designed to protect against a 20-year return as anticipated when the project was first
planned in the early 1990s. (Engineer Iko, personal communication.) See the project details at: http://www.env.
go.jp/earth/cop/cop13/data/side-event/jica-jbic.pdf (accessed 23 February 2009).
5 Exchange rate (February 2009): UK£1 = 70 pesos; US$1 = 47 pesos.

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 7

unwilling to provide; a recent loan to the community has enabled the construction of
one kilometre of bamboo walkway (the settlement is low-lying and the pathways are
often covered in water).
Climate change is likely to result in an increased frequency and intensity of
flooding in many coastal towns and cities in low- and middle-income nations (see, for
example, Dossou and Gléhouenou-Dossou, 2007; Douglas et al., 2008). The experi-
ence in Iloilo shows how appropriate responses to this aspect of climate change can
be implemented through partnerships between local organisations, professionals and
city officials. As discussed in detail later in the article, access to and secure tenure
of land that is not vulnerable to flooding is achievable for individual communities.
However, scaling up post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation requires a process-
building synergy among various stakeholders, and improving the technical capacities
of communities to plan, design, implement, monitor and evaluate these activities.
The importance of the communities being able to undertake initial precedent-setting
projects is also evident.

The Mayon mudflow, Bikol, Province of Albay

The beauty or uniqueness of the Bikol experience is the pervading belief and commit-
ment of affected families and communities to act and save to recover and to prepare for
and evade future disasters. The communities showed this through their volunteering
efforts and adoption of the savings programme, collectively saving close to 500,000
pesos in less than a year … They have shown that they can be self-reliant and not
be dependent on government dole-outs. They have shown that they can collectively
contribute to their own development and to that of the municipalities as well. (Jocelyn
Cantoria, HPFPI Bikol Region Coordinator)
The experiences in Bikol demonstrate the potential of a strong community network
to support families experiencing disasters even if they do not have a previous engage-
ment with the federation. Several typhoons affected the region of Bikol, about 200
miles south-east of Manila, in late 2006. Then, on November 30, Typhoon Reming,
with heavy rains and winds of more than 225 kilometres per hour, triggered floods and
mudslides (Figure 2) around Mount Mayon, an active volcano with an accumulation
of ash and volcanic rock on its slopes. More than 208 people were reported dead, and
another 261 missing.
HPFPI leaders visited the site on 6 December 2006 and established contacts with
residents of the affected communities. Based on the discussions, the HPFPI national
leadership decided to concentrate reconstruction efforts in three municipalities: Guino-
batan, Camalig and Daraga, all in the province of Albay. Between February 8 and
16, 2007, federation leaders met with different community representatives to plan the
initial activities. Discussions were focussed on setting up community processes capable

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 8 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

Figure 2 Housing affected by the Mayon mudflow

of achieving long term solutions. Strategies included organising settlers’ communities,

surveying affected communities to gather accurate data, institutional strengthening
of community organisations, horizontal exchanges, and the promotion of commu-
nity savings (see below). Between March and April 2007, surveys were conducted by
community volunteers. By September 2008, less than two years after the mudflow,
local savings organisations had 1,147 members and total savings of 853,000 pesos
(approximately US$18,000), and three groups had acquired land suitable for resettling
343 families.6 According to the motto of the United Reming Victims Homeowners
Association Incorporated (URVHAI) – Biktima noon, Tagumpay ngayon – the residents
have moved ‘from victims to victors’.
Although there has been considerable success, this has not been an easy process.
One of the local federation coordinators explains:

6 The savings groups borrowed from the regional Urban Poor Fund of the HPFPI to raise the required finance as
their savings were not sufficient for land purchase.

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 9

when we start to tell people to save, they would say ‘here come Noel and Emily’ and
they call us ‘homeless hopeless’. We save money and the DSWD [Department of Social
Work and Development] say to us, ‘how come you get money from those that need
money? Those people can’t afford even a kilo of rice. Don’t think that people can save
money.’ The director asked us how much savings we had, and I replied ‘6000 pesos.’
Then he laughed and said, ‘What will you do?’. And I said, ‘We will buy land.’ (Noel
Aguila, local federation coordinator)
Noel explained that recently, the DSWD has asked to work with the federation. In his
eyes, this is a considerable step forward; previously, squatter communities were not
even invited to attend disaster preparedness seminars.
The importance of the federation process in enabling effective responses was
highlighted in numerous discussions with federation members. As one speaker from
the URVHAI group explained, ‘Before the federation, there was no system for savings
and collective organisation that helped to negotiate cheaper prices with landowners.
Now we negotiate to pay on an instalment basis. Also, here in the Bikol region it is
not possible to buy a 100-square-metre piece of land; we have to buy land by the
hectare.’ The federation process has also been essential for the successful management
of repayments. Local organisers have to know when families will have money, based
on their livelihood strategies. Income patterns vary significantly, necessitating the local
management of loan accounts: coconut farmers are paid every three months; security
guards are paid on the 5th and 20th of each month; other formal workers are paid
on the 15th and 30th; market traders are paid twice a week in different towns; and
other remittances are received irregularly. At the same time, local savings groups have
strong participation from local barangay7 councillors and are beginning to negotiate
with municipal officials for support for infrastructure investment.
The experiences of the HPFPI in Bikol following the Mayon mudslide have illus-
trated the versatile role of community savings in facilitating the acquisition of and
relocation to safe areas as a mechanism for disaster preparedness and disaster risk
reduction. With climate change expected to exacerbate certain risks and hazards (see,
for example, Satterthwaite et al., 2007; Dodman and Satterthwaite, 2008), community
savings ought also to be recognised as a potential CBA strategy that builds resilience
among poor groups. However, there is still the need for greater linkages to be made
with geohazard and weather institutions in order to identify hazard and risk factors for
land that is being settled. This is recognised by residents and organisers in the region:
Even if you build a sturdy house, if the flood and the rocks that come from Mayon are
of this volume and size, the house will definitely be destroyed. It is no longer a design
question but a question of whether your present site is hazard-prone or not. (Rogelio
Vilanueva, HPFPI Bikol Region Coordinator)

7 The barangay is the smallest unit of local government in the Philippines.

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 10 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

Further information on the likely impacts of climate change in the region is required
to ensure that the relocation sites, and the buildings constructed on them, are climate-
proof.

The Mandaue Fire

Nothing is impossible when we get together. (Telly Subang, local leader, LTHAI)
Although not a natural event, the fire affecting Lower Tipolo, Mandaue City (Figure
3), illustrates many of the vulnerabilities facing urban groups, and many of the strat-
egies that can be used to respond to a disaster event. In this case, a highly organ-
ised community was struggling with a hostile local authority. The Lower Tipolo
Homeowners’ Association Incorporated (LTHAI) has been implementing a commu-
nity savings programme since 1996, mainly for the purpose of acquiring land and
for use in emergencies. A fire on July 25, 2007 destroyed 247 structures on this site,
leaving 913 people homeless. Despite the trauma, the disaster became an opportu-

Figure 3 Lower Tipolo, Mandaue City

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 11

nity to strengthen their claim over the land, first promised to them in February 1998
in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by the government of Mandaue
City and the local government unit-organised Federation of Mandaue City Urban
Poor. However, since that date the municipality had been delaying the land transfer
and seeking to divide and manipulate the local residents so that they would agree to
abandon their claim to the site.
The settlement is located on the foreshore and is at risk from seawater inundation.
Part of the community’s response to the fire has been a more general upgrading of
the site, including landfilling, providing access to the road network, creating space
for community use, and the subdivision of the land. The residents living on the
fire-damaged portion of the site (the fire was concentrated in the area of federation
membership) have decided to divide the land area equally among themselves (with 36
square metres for each family) so as to accommodate everyone, including long-term
tenants. Community savings have served as a local counterpart for a loan of three
million pesos (approximately US$63,000) from the Urban Poor Fund of the regional
federation to facilitate the landfilling process. The local community has organised the
provision of volunteer labour and food for workers. Community savings continue; as
of August 2008, the total Urban Poor Fund savings of LTHAI were 256,500 pesos.
The local community has been able to negotiate support from the barangay, which
has assisted with permissions and sometimes the loan of machinery. More recently,
there has been support from the Mandaue City Housing and Urban Development
Office (HUDO) through its head and senior staff; attitudes became more positive
after a new head was appointed following a change of mayor in May 2007. The
recent establishment of a Technical Working Group to support the development of
the entire 9.2 hectares is likely to be beneficial. The group brings LTHAI, HPFPI and
Philippines Action for Community-Led Shelter Initiatives Inc. (PACSII) together with
local academics, the national Housing Authority, the Presidential Commission for the
Urban Poor, the DSWD and the local government. Attorney Francisco Amit, head
of the Housing and Urban Development Office in the City of Mandaue, explained
that the annual budget of the city council is about 1.3 billion pesos and most of it is
dedicated to infrastructure investment.8 Under previous administrations the needs of
the urban poor were not considered, but the new mayor is keen to reverse this policy.
There are no figures for the total size of the urban population in need of shelter assis-
tance, although it is estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000 households. About 1,500
households are living in the danger zone alongside the creek and the city has recently
identified 1.5 hectares for their relocation.
These activities demonstrate the ability of low-income urban residents to
implement activities that reduce vulnerability to sea-level rise caused by climate
change, a major issue in many low- and middle-income countries (see, for example,
8 Interview, 13 October 2008.

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 12 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

McGranahan et al., 2007). This is often seen as requiring large-scale infrastruc-

tural intervention, possibly involving the displacement of coastal communities. In
Mandaue City, community organisation and savings are demonstrating an alternative
mechanism, showing how small-scale land management activities such as landfill can
provide much needed protection from future flooding. Although the city government
had been uncooperative until recently, the barangay has been much more supportive,
showing the importance of engagement with officials at the most local levels. The
experience here also shows that community savings can function to address post-
disaster responses in a densely populated urban setting, and that strong local organisa-
tions can lead, over time, to more favourable relations with local government officials
and politicians. A disaster may be an opportune time to build more collaborative
relations.

Learning from disasters: the relevance for CBA

Having development aspirations that are difficult to achieve alone is a reality for
many of those with low incomes living in Southern towns and cities. There are many
reasons why families need collective action. A central reason in the context of shelter
is the need to renegotiate political outcomes to achieve an improved regulatory frame-
work and increasing financial redistribution in favour of the poor; this can also enable
communities to negotiate for the right to manage their own affordable improvements
and avoid top–down delivery. Collective action can also reduce the risks associated
with being poor; groups ‘insure’ households and help families deal with vulnerability.
Reconciling different community priorities and building effective development strate-
gies requires the active involvement of local communities. To illustrate how this can
take place, this section describes the methodologies of Shack/Slum-Dwellers Interna-
tional (SDI) (the network that the HPFPI joined), the ways in which these methodolo-
gies have been used with communities that have experienced disasters, and the lessons
that this provides for climate change responses.
Disaster risk-reduction, community-based responses to disasters, climate change
mitigation and climate change adaptation are interrelated processes (see Table 1).
They all require interventions by a range of stakeholders, at a variety of scales, and
are fundamentally based on the reduction of risk to human lives and livelihoods. Effec-
tively addressing any of these issues requires ‘mainstreaming’ policies and practices,
rather than a disjointed implementation of projects. However, while the principles
of disaster risk-reduction and community-based responses to disasters are relevant to
climate change adaptation and mitigation – indeed, more frequent and more extreme
weather events are one of the most likely results of climate change – climate change
mitigation and adaptation require a more sophisticated awareness of the uncertainty
inherent in predictions about an unknown future.

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 13

Table 1 Responding to disasters and to climate change

Summary definition Spatial scale Time scale

Community-based Reducing risk to human lives,
disaster response livelihoods and property as
a consequence of disaster
events
Disaster risk-reduction Reducing risk to human lives,
livelihoods and property as
a consequence of disaster
events
Climate change Reducing risk to human lives,
adaptation livelihoods and property
through managing the
actual and anticipated
effects of changes in climate
means and extremes
Climate change Reducing risk to society and
mitigation the environment through
reducing greenhouse gas
emissions and preventing
harmful climate change
Local scale; involving
community members
Various scales, up to
global
Beginning at the local,
with a particular role for
communities
A global challenge
(reducing global atmospheric
concentrations of greenhouse
gases), but requiring
interventions by governments,
industries and citizens.
Strong but not exclusive
focus on international
negotiations
Present, based on
analysis of past risks
Present, based on
analysis of past risks
Present to future, based
on future climate
predictions
Present to future
predictions suggest
that more rapid action
will yield greater
climate benefits

Collective savings at the community level

The importance of savings emerges in the cases discussed above. In Bikol, savings
have helped to address the consequences of disasters, strengthening agency and giving
‘victims’ an ability to define and realise their own preferred development responses. In
Mandaue, relations between savings scheme members helped them to respond rapidly
to the fire, immediately taking advantage of the situation to seize the initiative and
‘re-block’ the site prior to moving back onto the land, and in so doing forcing negotia-
tions with the authorities. In Iloilo, savings have enabled groups to improve on state
provision when they have been relocated. Savings are central for SDI affiliates; they
are the means to strengthen complementary capacities and values within low-income
communities, enabling the creation of a combination of strategies, processes and
asset consolidation that, when used together, offer a new development trajectory for
low-income urban citizens. That is a bold claim and the following paragraphs elabo-
rate how this is realised. This trajectory is relevant to all forms of settlement improve-
ment, and the discussion in this sub-section elaborates on the activities of organised
communities in disaster responses and climate change adaptation.

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 14 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

In promoting savings, the affiliates choose to place what is generally the most
scarce, and hence often the most contentious, resource at the centre of their process.
Looked at another way, if a local group is able to agree norms and procedures through
which to manage their collective funds, then they will have built relationships of trust
with one another. Those relations of trust become the basis for strong local groups and
create new possibilities for collective action in responding to a variety of challenges.
On a regular basis, members (the overwhelming majority of whom are women) come
together, discuss their problems, consider their savings and work out how they can
use this resource to find solutions that will work for themselves and others in a similar
situation. When the federation first began using savings methodologies following a
disaster, leaders were surprised at how quickly and positively local people responded.
Over time the federation has come to understand that a savings-based organising
methodology helps people to strengthen their collective identity and capacity, gather
financial resources for an improved future, facilitate negotiations with a range of
agencies and prevent a passive dependency mentality. It assists them to make a collec-
tive response to the immediate situation, and to reduce their vulnerability in the future
through investments in land and shelter (as described below). The experience of the
federation is that immediately following a disaster, local residents very quickly recog-
nise the need for, and value of, such interventions.
Central to the federation process is the ongoing sharing of experiences, supporting
local knowledge development and common wisdom through visits from one group
of members to another to exchange ideas and experiences. All the federations are
catalysed and strengthened through community-to-community exchanges, and these
take place on a daily basis within cities and, less regularly, between cities and groups in
different countries. These exchanges help to ensure that ideas come from the members
themselves and are grounded in their everyday experiences, and that solutions are not
dominated by ‘professional’ theories and top–down approaches (Patel and Mitlin,
2002). Large-scale infrastructure investments – such as the Iloilo Flood Project – are
particularly susceptible to these tendencies. Learning, rooted at this level, consolidates
confidence in the capacities of low-income groups. Moreover, visiting other commu-
nities that have recovered from disasters is reassuring, demonstrating that communi-
ties can create new and better development options if they are organised. The early
visits of the flood victims in Bikol to Manila to see the problems faced by the residents
of Payatas when the trash-slide happened created a powerful and committed leader-
ship able to see how savings could lead to new community-led options within their
locality. Noel Aguila, one of the federation leaders in Bikol, talked about their first
exchange visit:
Before we went to Manila we wrote down lots of questions to make sure that what
they told us was true. [We had] lots of doubts – and then when we were in Manila –
and the leaders started to justify what they had told us here in Bikol, and we went to

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 15

communities implementing projects. We noticed that people who saved money were
just scavengers, and we told ourselves that if they could do it, why couldn’t we – we
don’t need to be scavengers to have money – if they can do it, we can do it. So when
we came back we reported that the savings programme was very good.
Inspired by these experiences, when the community leaders faced criticism from others
in the temporary accommodation in Bikol, they were able to maintain their vision and
momentum and establish local savings schemes despite mockery and criticism.
The creation of savings networks – in which there is a daily interaction between
the organisation and the individual members – has helped to form this sense of
community and overcome the risks of fatalism. Without the creation and involve-
ment of strong local organisations, responses to disasters often confirm a sense of
dependency within communities. Local residents may be overwhelmed by initial
offers of external assistance, but this may be shortlived, and may not include all of
those in need. The relief or ‘dole-out’ mentality prevents consideration of strategic
development ­initiatives for relocation, and leads to communities waiting, fatalistically,
for ‘rescue’, even if this is unlikely to happen. Josephine Torres Cavelos, President of
the savings group in Bascaran, Camalig reported that there are 600–800 families in
her area in need of rehousing (their settlement has been declared to be in the danger
zone), but to date only 200 free houses have been provided with maybe another 150
to come.9 Rather than challenging this option and finding inclusive alternatives,
some residents prefer to wait, praying that they will be among those selected. Savings
scheme members in Bikol have been able to challenge that mentality and demonstrate
that organised communities can create alternative options through the purchase of
land, financed partly by their own monies and partly by externally generated develop-
ment assistance.

Collaboration with the state

The significance of the state in the lives of the urban poor encourages SDI affiliates
to seek a development partnership with government, especially local government.
Affiliates recognise that large-scale programmes to secure tenure and provide services
are not possible without government support, in part because many of the homes and
settlements in which federation members live are illegal. In addition to their role in
supporting secure tenure, numerous local state institutions control aspects of shelter
development. Local government agencies control zoning and building regulations,
often placing affordable housing beyond the reach of most citizens. The purpose of
precedent investments such as those taking place in Iloilo and Bikol is both to demon-
strate the kinds of regulatory amendments that are required for inclusive develop-

9 Interview, 11 October 2008.

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 16 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

ment, and to identify the scale of finance and the nature of cost-sharing arrangements
that might be required.
SDI affiliates use community-managed enumerations and maps to create the
information base needed for mobilisation, action and negotiation with the state (see
Appadurai, 2001; Weru, 2004; Patel et al., 2002). Surveys are part of a mobilising
strategy, drawing in residents who want to participate in the locally managed identifi-
cation and verification of their shacks and plot boundaries. Managing these processes
strengthens existing savings groups, and the high-profile local activities related to the
enumeration catalyse new savings groups. These surveys and maps shift SDI’s negoti-
ating advantage as, in many contexts, politicians and officials recognise the federa-
tion’s capacity to provide a fair and accurate information base that is widely accepted
by residents and required for upgrading and housing development. This is informa-
tion that the local authority needs but generally does not have. As shown in the case
of Mandaue City, this information can become invaluable following a disaster.
Lower Tipolo Homeowner’s Association Inc. (LTHAI) conducted pre- and post-
disaster surveys in Mandaue City to organise and mobilise the community towards
obtaining secure tenure and community-led upgrading. Particularly for the 1,200
families in the 9.2-hectare site, the HPFPI surveys provided baseline data with which
to validate actual occupation before the fire. With the Mayor and the Housing and
Urban Development Office implementing an ‘all actual occupants’ policy for entitle-
ment, community surveys will greatly improve the chances of federation members to
be included in the land allocation. In addition to general benefits, surveys after the
events help, as they provide a clear picture of the casualties, damages and the needs
of residents, and hence become a mechanism for planning longer-term assistance.
SDI Urban Poor Funds, established with members’ savings and sometimes
augmented by state and donor funds, help these groups move from collective savings
to negotiating for, and then managing, land development and sometimes housing
projects. Belonging to a federation and having access to an Urban Poor Fund trans-
forms savings schemes from community self-help groups, constrained by their own lack
of incomes, into associations able to support a broader vision of societal transforma-
tion. The funds provide the mechanism through which the knowledge, resources and
capacities of grassroots organisations throughout a city or nation are brought into the
public domain. The financial investments support citywide and nationwide solutions,
both by strengthening the organisations of the urban poor in their relations with
government and international donors, and in their support for affordable solutions.
Urban Poor Funds lead the federations and their NGOs to engage in planning and
managing urban development programmes at scale in ways that offer opportunities
to all members, not just a lucky few. The point is not that Urban Poor Funds provide
finance that is universal and affordable for the lowest-income federation members,
but rather that by publicly stating their ambition to provide such finance, the funds

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 17

provide a space for federation leaders and members to engage each other (and the
state) in striving for this. In Iloilo, Bikol and Mandaue, local savings schemes have
been able to access fund loans to help in land acquisition and development.
The level of support from local governments has been one of the key factors
influencing the level of success that local organisations have been able to achieve in
responding to disasters. Where local governments are supportive – even where they
lack the financial resources to intervene directly – communities have been able to
achieve substantially more than where local authorities are obstructive. Yet this is not
a one-way process. The federation is aware that governments face the problem of
managing the city, including dealing with squatter settlements and coping with the
additional pressure on existing services that accompanies disaster events and climate
change. The challenges that governments face draw them into an engagement with
federations; often they are open to working with the federation if they are persuaded
that savings groups can help them address such challenges. In Iloilo City, for example,
a Flood Control Project has welcomed the participation of the city network in the
board to assist with resettlement and improve local communities. There is recognition
that the network capacity enhances the contribution that professionals can make to
addressing flooding in the city.
Local governments play a vital role in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Failures or limitations in local government can contribute greatly to the vulnerability
of low-income households, and these in turn are linked to the failure of national
governments and international agencies to support urban policies and governance
systems that ensure that infrastructure, services (for example, access to health profes-
sionals) and strategies (for example, watershed management) are in place (Satterth-
waite et al., 2007). Urban authorities have full or partial responsibility for a variety of
key sectors that are essential for effective climate change adaptation. Urban manage-
ment is no longer the sole preserve of municipal authorities, but rather involves a
complex network of stakeholders, and adaptation to climate change requires the
involvement of all of these.
However, these authorities are unlikely to support CBA unless demands are made
on them, and a well-informed and active body of citizens and community organisa-
tions is likely to provide this impetus. At the same time, isolated activities in separate
communities will be unable to meet broader goals without the support of local
officials, and will certainly not be able to upscale to meet the adaptation needs of a
large number of people. Awareness raising in urban authorities is particularly impor-
tant, as ‘municipal officials are unlikely to act if they have little idea of what climate
change means for their city’ (Hounsome and Iyer, 2006), and if there are not electoral
rewards from their action. Active community organisations can play a major role in
supporting both processes.
Longstanding and collaborative relationships with the City of Iloilo, through the

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 18 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

city’s Urban Poor Office and the wider urban poor network, have been important in
seeking to address at least some of the problems faced by local citizens. However, it
may be difficult to coordinate the various and at times adversarial parties to imple-
ment site development and housing construction at the resettlement sites. In Bikol,
local leadership had to overcome considerable scepticism and sometimes hostility
from local officials when they first started to save and work towards land acquisition.
Relations with different levels of the state can assist in creating a more favourable
local context. Obtaining endorsement from the Office of the Vice President and good
working relations with the Register of Deeds of the Province helped to fast-track the
processing of housing-related permits and clearances.
A significant reason for the development of SDI as an international network is the
need for affiliates to strengthen the quality of their local work through the collabora-
tion, and resultant knowledge and solidarity, offered by community-to-community
exchanges (Patel and Mitlin, 2002). International exchanges have included the partici-
pation of city officials and politicians from Iloilo to help demonstrate the potential
benefits from collaboration between state and civil society. While the Philippines
is a leader on community-led responses to disasters within SDI, HPFPI recognises
the importance of the support it has received from SDI groups in developing core
approaches and building capacities for community organisation. On occasion, SDI
affiliates publicly oppose state plans (see, for example, recent struggles against devel-
opment plans in Dharavi, India), but generally federations find it strategic to identify
and build on commonalities, seeking a momentum that enables them to address anti-
poor politics when it blocks their struggle for improved community-led development
options. In Iloilo, for example, the community network has had to lobby the council
(sometimes with mass demonstrations) on numerous occasions to ensure that key
officials and politicians are responsive to requests from the federations. Despite such
opposition, it has been determined to build a dialogue around core concerns.

The centrality of land and shelter

As a result of organising among some of the lowest-income women living in informal
settlements, a strong emphasis on shelter-related activities has emerged across the
SDI network. Throughout the countries in which SDI affiliates are active, women
take on most domestic and child-rearing responsibilities, often completing the associ-
ated tasks alongside home-based income-generation activities, all of which require
adequate shelter. Groups have developed a number of strategies to improve their
shelter. Through a set of specific activities related to planning and the installation of
services, and sometimes the construction of dwellings, members of savings schemes
illustrate how they can improve their neighbourhoods. Some of the recognised risks
associated with climate change are those related to flooding, as land that was ‘safe’

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 19

or ‘acceptably unsafe’ becomes ‘unacceptably unsafe’. Further risks are those associ-
ated with access to water and adequate sanitation, as river systems may be affected by
changes in precipitation, and aquifers may experience salination. Climate change is
therefore likely to affect many of the assets that SDI members seek to secure.
The forms of shelter that are constructed on this land are also important in building
resilience to climate change. The likely increased frequency and intensity of extreme
events means that solidly constructed housing is important to protect residents from
the elements. However, the effects of proposed changes to building standard regula-
tions need to be analysed carefully. Meeting these is already out of the reach of many
low income urban residents, forcing them to remain in ‘illegal’ structures (Yahya et
al., 2001). Recognition of the low incomes of these communities and an acceptance
of the need for incremental construction should have equal weight in informing the
development of standards that provide for adequate access to shelter, as well as the
adequacy of this shelter in the face of climatic threats.
Each of the federation groups in the three locations highlighted the critical impor-
tance of tenure security on safe land. In Mandaue the unclear title over the land is an
ongoing concern to local residents. The community is coping with sea-water intru-
sion with landfill, but the investment makes little sense if they are at risk of reloca-
tion. In Bikol, federation members recognise that the relatively affordable land price
in the province has enabled them to acquire safer sites. They have used a variety of
negotiating strategies to reduce prices, and they recognise that their new challenge is
to find affordable strategies for accessing basic services. In Iloilo, the contribution of
the city in purchasing lands to facilitate the relocation of all vulnerable communities,
including those affected by floods, has been of major significance. The residents still
have to wait and see what the charges will be, but they are confident that they will be
able to negotiate with the state and find an affordable compromise.
The very present threats that remain for many of the individuals in the Philip-
pines mean that the development of new livelihood strategies always has resilience to
these as a major concern. Ensuring that new livelihood activities are ‘climate-proof ’
in the long term also requires a major focus on likely future climate scenarios. For
example, even if shifting cultivation to a new crop is effective with current changes in
climate, this may not be sustainable if future changes result in a new climatic regime
in which even these cannot be grown profitably. Of course, this applies equally to
any development and/or livelihood activities, but the work of the HPFPI shows how
a consciousness of broader ecological threats can permanently be kept in mind.
The responses of individuals, households and community organisations in Bikol,
Mandaue and Iloilo show how an awareness of climate-friendly lifestyles and liveli-
hoods can simultaneously be incorporated into the disaster recovery process. Local
organisations have encouraged the planting of fruit trees, and there is a widespread

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 20 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

awareness – even within temporary emergency shelters – of the need for climate
change mitigation.

Conclusion: towards more effective CBA

In practice
One of the most enduring debates among climate change researchers and practitio-
ners surrounds the relationship between ‘development’ and ‘adaptation’. In many
settings, including the legal framework of the United Nations Framework Conven-
tion on Climate Change (UNFCCC), adaptation is treated in a narrow sense as
a response to proven anthropogenic climate change (as distinct from responses to
climate variability and changes in exposure to risks). In this regard, adaptation inter-
ventions are seen as being stand-alone and additional to baseline development needs.
However, this can lead to absurd outcomes, such as the willingness to use adaptation
funds only to fund the ‘additional costs’ of adaptation, even in situations where ‘basic’
needs are not met. An example of this is Tuvalu, where financing is available to adapt
coastal infrastructure, but only where that infrastructure already exists (Ayers and
Huq, 2008a). This suggests that adaptation responses need to have a deeper engage-
ment with development interventions.
There are myriad factors that influence the vulnerability of individuals, house-
holds and communities to climate change. The risks that individuals face are inher-
ently linked with the specific and contextual reasons affecting their vulnerability in
the first place (Wisner et al., 2004; Smit and Wandel, 2006; Hardoy and Pandiella,
2009), a situation that is also clearly illustrated by examples from the Philippines.
The uneven effects of disasters, and the specific contexts that translate ‘hazards’ into
‘disasters’, will be every bit as relevant in the case of climate change (Tearfund, 2008).
Many of these processes are mediated through the assets, rights and entitlements
available to individuals and households, and technical interventions that fail to take
this into account will not produce the desired outcomes. Vulnerability can also be
reduced through ensuring that supporting ecosystems are maintained. Long term
sustainability is only possible if the human system does not exceed the capacities
of the natural system in which it is located, and the natural system is not unduly
threatened by human activities (Dodman et al., 2009). Ecosystem services (sometimes
referred to as ‘green infrastructure’) play a vital role in meeting many of the needs of
dense urban areas, including buffering coasts from high winds and waves, moderating
temperatures, reducing flood risks and reducing soil erosion. These issues are clearly
accepted by the groups studied: in Bikol, tree-planting was seen as a vital component
of developing new areas for housing; in Iloilo, community groups stated an explicit
desire to address the causes of climate change as well as dealing with its effects.

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 21

Effective development and disaster risk-reduction will therefore contribute to

climate change adaptation. Yet, in themselves, they are not sufficient responses to
climate change, as they do not explicitly take long-term climatic changes into account.
Indeed, the development and disaster risk-reduction communities simultaneously
need to engage with the climate change adaptation community to ensure that the
interventions they are proposing are both climate-friendly and climate-proof, and are
not likely to have maladaptive consequences in the medium-to-long-term (Ayers and
Huq, 2008b). The experiences of the HPFPI in responding to disasters provide several
key lessons that ought to be applied to the process and practice of CBA. These include
the importance of the ‘community’ in CBA (as well as the importance of local saving);
the need to engage with local governments; and the centrality of secure tenure and
shelter (including the need for climate-proof and climate-friendly solutions).
Low-income urban communities face multiple challenges in meeting their develop-
ment needs. Climate change has added to these challenges. SDI’s model is an example
of how an empowered process can help to ensure pro-poor outcomes to climate change
adaptation, integrating protection from adverse climate change with other commu-
nity development needs (we should not assume that adapting to climate change is
the priority in every case) and introducing climate change mitigation measures. Only
organised communities can reflect and act on members’ priorities, learn from these
experiences and build more effective and targeted interventions. In this context, CBA
can be an effective mechanism for reducing vulnerability among low-income and
marginalised groups. The processes of community savings and community land acqui-
sition generate both tangible and intangible benefits in building resilience to disas-
ters, and would have similar effects on building adaptive capacity to climate change.
Savings provide an initial buffer in the event of shocks and stresses, which are likely to
become more frequently felt as a result of climate change. Access to safe and accessible
land both reduces disaster risk and facilitates climate change adaptation; hundreds of
millions of low-income urban residents around the world live on vulnerable sites in
the absence of suitable land. Yet the intangible benefits are perhaps even stronger. The
presence of community savings offers legitimacy to these groups when negotiating with
local authorities or external donors, and proves a capacity for financial management.
And the existence of a critical mass of motivated people in close spatial proximity can
help to foster the development of social, economic and political interactions that can
generate even more effective responses in the future. Such an organised mass can help
to address a further challenge: action that is appropriate to the scale and diversity of
need. Local and national governments have an essential contribution to make, and
organised communities able to negotiate at the level of the city have a critical role to
play in ensuring that their response is adequate and appropriate.

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 22 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

In theory
The discussion highlights the importance of changing social relations for effective
disaster responses and adaptation to climate change. How can we understand the
methodology of SDI and its contribution to such changes? There are several academic
conceptualisations of the network, and Appadurai’s work in particular may be useful
in helping to explain the importance of SDI’s methodology in addressing development
and climate change adaptation needs. Appadurai (2001) captures the contribution of
the federation in India in a discussion of Foucauldian governmentality. Governmen-
tality makes reference to the ways through which state rules, institutions and practices
structure and constrain citizen agency and hence enable the exercise of state power
over its subjects; Dean (1999) elaborates the concept and in so doing emphasises that
the forms and structures of the modern state control populations not only through
the explicit exercise of authority, but also through much more fundamental and subtle
ways related to complex forms of state interventions that involve both security and
care. Analysing the work of the federation on enumerations, Appadurai suggests that
federations take on the functions of the state in order to challenge control over the
processes of urban development. In this way, the federation establishes its credibility
as a partner of the state, able to undertake essential tasks that are beyond the present
capacity of the state. This allows it to build social relations with state agencies that
enable it to influence a range of state policies and practices. Khan and Pieterse (2006),
in a study of the affiliates in South Africa, suggest that, in the context of their own
study, the strategy may not be effective and that the federation risks being co-opted
through its participation in state processes. However, Swilling (2008) – also writing
on the experience in South Africa – contests this interpretation, arguing that the
Federation of the Urban Poor has been able to secure substantive gains in its negotia-
tions with the state. Mitlin (2008) links SDI’s work with frameworks of co-production
in which citizen and state relations are amended (in both North and South) to take
account of the potential for communities to self-organise some tasks that have been
notionally allocated to the state, despite their lack of capacity.
In terms of this study of the Philippines, the state has only recently shown
interest in engaging with savings schemes in Bikol and Mandaue. However, there is
evidence to show that the federation in Bikol, with its demonstrated ability to enable
self-managed resettlement (while other families remain in state-managed evacuation
centres), is an example of the ability of organised communities to take the initia-
tive from the state, in this case in a welfare-related activity, and thereby establish a
more equal relationship with positive gains for communities. It is the ability to change
the balance of power in this relationship through the establishment of proven inter-
dependency in addressing a common problem that opens the door to negotiating
state support for a community-led response. In Iloilo, there is an already established
collaboration, and the response to the disaster event demonstrates the importance

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 Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities 23

of continuing community solidarity and negotiations with the state if pro-poor

responses are to be in place. This experience also shows the central role of knowl-
edge and information if savings schemes are to be able to negotiate climate change
responses from a position of strength. In the case of climate change, political strength
arising from mass organisation is not enough. The processes of government and its
dependence on professional knowledge and information require the federations to
have their own knowledge sources if they are to be able to negotiate options that are
in the best interests of their members.
Hence, in the Philippines, the methodologies are demonstrating some success in
drawing the state closer to the work of the federations, with improving relations and
a willingness for dialogue. However, significant resources (related not only to finance,
but also to knowledge and technical capacity) have not yet been provided to the
communities in need, suggesting that much work needs to be done. Despite the fact
that it is relatively early in terms of negotiations with the state, what is evident is how
the methodologies used by the HPFPI are building a mass base at the community level
which has notable depth as well as breadth. Local residents are committing significant
resources (both time and money) to collective endeavours to address both community
and individual needs. Such a mass base appears essential if significant resource trans-
fers are likely to be secured. At the same time, there is considerable evidence to show
that state officials and politicians are beginning to recognise the benefits of working
with the federation.
Appadurai’s (2004) second conceptualisation of SDI is related to the ‘capacity to
aspire’, in which he uses his observations of the Indian federations to augment Sen’s
model with aspirational capacity. By articulating a ‘capacity to aspire’, Appadurai
draws attention to what he believes is an important factor explaining why higher-
income groups are able to achieve more. He argues that they have the ability both
to visualise a more ambitious future and to understand what it takes to achieve their
ambitions. He argues that, based on his observations in India, the kinds of organisa-
tional practices followed by HPFPI help to compensate for the lack of such a capacity,
in part through enhancing voice. The cases from the Philippines suggest that this is
an authentic representation of at least part of the process, and that participation
in savings groups results in both aspirations and achievements. However, we should
recognise that aspiration also preceded the experience of federating when the Philip-
pine micro-finance organisations identified SDI as a network that could help them
achieve their shelter improvements. As local members realise that they are able to
identify strategies and prioritise their activities, they gain in both capacities and confi-
dence; with this comes an ability to realise and increase their ambitions. The ability
to both conceive and realise new alternatives is central to the success of federation
groups in responding to disasters. Hence we may conclude that such a ‘capacity to
aspire’ appears to be a helpful insight explaining the gains that HPFPI has been able

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 24 David Dodman, Diana Mitlin and Jason Rayos Co

to achieve, and that multiple forms of reflective collective experiences appear to lead
to such a capacity.
The histories described above also show that there are local government ambitions
that are important to the constraints and opportunities open to low-income residents.
City governments (and indeed national governments) often have elaborate and
far-reaching visions for the role of their cities, in terms of economic growth and/or
climate change mitigation. Many of these are associated with creating ‘world class’ or
‘global’ cities, and are influenced by the leading role played by cities such as New York,
London and Singapore in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. An added incentive is
provided by the potential for revenue generation through the Clean Development
Mechanism for activities such as landfill gas capture. These remind us that the context
is not static and that an additional challenge is to ensure that these ‘urban’ aspira-
tions are not pursued at the expense of meeting adaptation needs for low-income
urban residents. Pro-poor counter-visioning is likely to be critical to successful climate
change responses. If climate change risks are to be managed in ways that minimise the
burdens on the lowest-income groups, and that identify and realise complementarities
with more broadly based development goals, then community leaders will need their
aspirations to be placed clearly on the table and forcefully negotiated. The struggles of
communities in the Philippines remind us that successful adaptation requires a redis-
tribution of power, enabling local communities to identify, assess and realise options
that address their multiple development needs.

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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the participants at the First Rajendrapur Conversation on Urban
Poverty and Climate Change, held in Bangladesh in January 2009, and the anonymous referees
for their insightful comments.

IDPR32_1_01_Dodman.indd 26 19/01/2010 14:28

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