01 September 2004
Out of 2 million urban poor people in Andhra Pradesh, about 900,000 people have received improved access to basic services like drinking water, drains, street lighting and solid waste management, thanks to the Andhra Pradesh Urban Services for the Poor (APUSP) programme.
APUSP is a partnership between the government of Andhra Pradesh and DFID aimed at achieving a sustained reduction in the vulnerability and poverty of the urban poor in Andhra Pradesh.
DFID has committed £94.4m to the project (between 1999 and 2006), which focuses on the provision of services to the schedule castes and tribes residing in slums.
The dwellers of the non-notified slums are mostly migrants and usually the poorest of the poor. They do not have an official status or legal rights, as they are not recognised by the Government as legal citizens of the town.
The non-notified slums policy, developed and advocated by the project, gives a legal status to the dwellers to exercise their basic rights, e.g. voting and to be able to demand services like health care, road, drinking water etc. The policy has now been accepted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and will be implemented across the state.
The programme works with 27,000 self-help groups. It links them to the existing Government schemes to access better services and opportunities, such as employment schemes. It also helps them to develop their skills by providing training in handicrafts, repair of electronics and more.
The project works with local government to be more responsive to the urban poor. With the support of the project, the municipal authorities have made changes in their overall planning to prioritise on the needs of the poor through improving their financial systems. This includes: updating accounts and conducting audits to improve financial accountability, and better targeting of the poverty reduction programmes (such as government employment schemes).
As a result, municipal revenue collection has increased by 108%. This increase means an improvement in service provision. The plans prepared by the municipalities are done in discussion with the poor people, who now have a say in the services they want (such as roads, drains, drinking water pumps) and where they should be located.
Urban Poverty Alleviation Cells, which is the Government body responsible for implementing poverty reduction programmes, have been revitalised not just in programme areas but across the state.
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