Beyond Boundaries: Extending Services to the Urban Poor

Abstract

Lifting close to 1 billion people out of poverty is a major challenge for Asian countries. Many of the 240 million–260 million poor living in cities and towns suffer from inadequate service and other forms of deprivation. That the numbers of the poor have changed little over the years demonstrates how the medium-to-high rates of economic growth registered by many Asian countries have failed to improve living conditions. Years of experimentation with approaches that go beyond economic growth and often even direct provisioning of education and health have not had a noticeable impact on the lives of the poor. Public policies and public sector initiatives via programs such as sites and services, slum improvement and upgrading, income-earning opportunities for women, urban basic services, and microfinance have also not reached the poor.