Child Rights for Urban Poor Children in Child-Friendly Philippine Cities: Views from the Community

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments 15(2), 2005 Child Rights for Urban Poor Children in ChildFriendly Philippine Cities: Views from the Community Mary Racelis Angela Desiree M. Aguirre Institute of Philippine Culture Ateneo de Manila University Citation: Racelis, Mary and Angela Desiree M. Aguirre. (2005). “Child Rights for Urban Poor Children in Child-Friendly Philippine Cities: Views from the Community.” Children, Youth and Environments 15(2): 117-137. . Abstract This paper is an appraisal of the government and civil society actions that form child-friendly city programs in 27 neighborhoods of five cities in the Philippines (Manila City, Quezon City, Cebu, Davao and Pasay City), along with case studies of four informal settlements (two with child-friendly city programs, two without). These programs developed out of earlier urban basic services programs, but with the basic services focus greatly expanded to include child protection and participation within a child rights agenda. The paper describes the concepts underlying these programs and the sociopolitical context in which they emerged. Each city program is assessed, based on 24 child rights indicators. The paper also includes a summary of children’s views with regard to priorities for basic services, problems of crime and violence, and the possibilities for children’s participation. It ends with recommendations on how to make the child-friendly city programs more effective. Keywords: Child-friendly programs© 2005 Children, Youth and Environments Child Rights for Urban Poor Children in Child-Friendly Philippine Cities… 118 Introduction It has long been a staple of the poverty literature in developing countries that most poor people live in rural areas. Yet, in the Philippines, 55 percent of the population now live in cities and towns. Some 1.4 million poor households inhabit informal slum settlements. One half of them, or 3.5 million, are found in Metro Manila, making up a third of its population (Webster et al. 2002). The other half are concentrated in Metro Cebu and Metro Davao, joined by other large and medium-sized cities with growing numbers of urban poor. The Genesis of Urban Basic Services While several decades ago the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) focused programs on rural children, as early as the 1970s insightful program officers in major metropolitan areas already saw another reality emerging. Immediately around them were fast-growing, densely-packed slums and shanty towns. Children and their families spilled into narrow, muddy pathways snaking through perpetually-flooded marshlands or alongside fetid canals. Others clung to precarious hillside perches or clustered at the desert fringes of cities. Wherever they settled, their degraded environments and poverty-stricken lives exuded levels of collective misery rarely seen in even the poorest rural villages. Yet, their energy and drive to establish a toehold in the city in the hope of a better future were a source of wonder and admiration. Because children under threat merited attention wherever they were, this handful of development workers, along with risk-taking government and NGO national counterparts, began extending basic services to slums and informal urban settlements. They soon learned that the programming environment differed significantly from that in rural communities. Already marginalized in a city featuring extremes of wealth and squalor, poor urban children and women in informal settlements faced the added threat of eviction and relocation far from family work sites. Poor sanitation and drainage, limited supplies of clean water, residential crowding, the threat of fire and disease, lack of access to schools and health centers, victimization by corrupt politicians and criminal syndicates, and reliance on the informal economy along with the good will of helpful neighbors and relatives—all this called for a different way of reaching children. Thus, the urban basic services (UBS) approach was born, initiated by a distinguished UNICEF New Delhi program officer, Dr. William B. Cousins. The key characteristic of UBS was community participation—the principle that urban poor residents should organize themselves to identify problems and take action best suited to their needs. The leadership and determination of poor urban women quickly came to the fore. Enlightened government officials proved most helpful if their agency services converged in the community for greater efficiency and easier management by development workers and community residents alike. It became clear that the...