1. Co-authored by Robert Gailey, Ph.D. and Rebecca Harver
Spanish Translation by Rebecca Harver
Point Loma Nazarene University
San Diego, California, USA

2. Outline of Presentation
 Overview of an “urban slum”
 UN Habitat’s 5 key goals
 A few “Big Picture” considerations
(positive and negative)
 The role of microfinance
 Recommendations for the industry

3. Our Life vs. Urban Slum

4. Definitions
 Different Names
• Informal Urban
Settlements
• Squatter Settlements
• Shanty Towns
 Urban Slum
 Hope/Despair
 Metro core/periphery
“a contiguous settlement where the inhabitants are characterized as
having inadequate housing and basic services”

5. Causes of Urban Slums
 Rapid rural to urban migration –
industrialization and the “promise” of jobs,
often access to better healthcare and
education
 Poor Public Policy (historic and current)
 Tenure insecurity
 Lack of access to basic services

6. UN Habitat’s 5 Key Goals
MDG #7, Target 11 – improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020
 1. Access to Safe Water – sufficient amount, affordable
price, not hard to get
 2. Access to Sanitation – private/public toilet shared with a
reasonable number of people
 3. Secure Tenure – protection against forced evictions
 4. Durability of Housing – safe location, permanent,
protection from elements (culturally defined)
 5. Sufficient Living Area – no more than 2 share a room

7. Big Picture Considerations
 Limited Space
• Language/ethnic differences
• Trust/Social capital
 Crime/Violence
 Population Density: efficiencies of scale
But, improvements speed rural to urban migration!

8. Role of Microfinance - Paper
 Hopeful signs from the microfinance sector
 Challenges that remain for MFI’s to be
involved
 Possibilities/opportunities and
recommendations
 Research/analysis questions to explore

9. Recommendations
 Access to safe water and access to sanitation:
Consider partnering with WaterCredit and/or Slum
Dwellers International
 Secure tenure: Encourage savings, group solidarity,
work with govts. (may require some subsidies)
 Durability of housing and sufficient living area: Very
context-specific, bulk purchases help, may need to
work towards changing laws and regulations, savings
crucial – dignity of art (French artist JR)
Use microfinance to improve rural areas!