Options for municipal interventions in urban poverty alleviation

This paper reviews the wide range of options available to municipalities in the South to alleviate or reduce poverty. This includes options for employment creation and improving low income groups’ access to justice and protection from crime as well as improvements to urban services such as water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, public transport, health care and education. The paper also outlines how municipal action must encourage and support the activities of community based organizations, NGOs and the private sector in contributing to such improvements and describes how changes in the regulatory framework for land management, urban agriculture and housing can also contribute to poverty alleviation.