Community Resource Mobilization:

Poor people investing in themselves for better

communities

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

June 16, 2012

The absence or lack of government support

encouraged communities to mobilize their own

resources

Realizing the need to address issues the people

decided to get together and started to save

Community

savings are for

community needs

such as land and

housing, education,

livelihood

The Asian

Coalition for

Community

Action (ACCA)

Program provided

further support to

community-

managed

initiatives

ACCA became a

tool that encouraged

other stakeholders

such as the

government to

extend their support

to and work with

communities

Community initiatives helped change the mindset of

government about the poor, that they are not just recipients

but active partners in development

It also helped promote

the efficient use of

government funds and

gave communities the

opportunity to influence

policies through

agreements to sustain

their initiatives

The ACCA and UPFI

opened doors for

students and

professionals to

volunteer and work with

communities in

implementing

Upgrading and housing

initiatives

Lack of support from government gave poor communities

the opportunity to rely on each other…but their capacity

attracted cooperation from public and private sector

ACCA and UPFI gave poor people the space to

plan, design, implement and manage their own

big and small upgrading projects

Community

members manage

community-

upgrading finances

through systems

they themselves

create

Community management of

city funds develop capacities

of community members in

accounting, recording,

monitoring of community

project implementation,

project documentation and

financial management, and

collection strategies for loan

repayments

Regular learning exchanges and assessments helped convince

other communities to start saving and treat ACCA support

as loans, not grants

For 3 years now, poor people in 130 cities in 16 countries in Asia

have been leading and managing the upgrading of communities

through ACCA

To reach out to more people and to make bigger change, poor

people implementing ACCA came together to build a regional

platform of poor communities called the Urban Poor Coalition

Asia (UPCA)

The communities also established the UPCA Revolving Fund to

support and strengthen ACCA initiatives, mobilize more

community savings, and serve as leverage for more external

support

The UPCA Revolving Fund encourages the setting-up of more

Community Fund Networks and strengthen City Development

Funds that poor people can access to support their initiatives

Way Forward

“UPCA gives poor people the space to plan projects, administer

funds and implement community initiatives. While they may

commit mistakes in the process, they become responsible for

their own development. Allowing poor people to manage their

own affairs ensures the attainment of genuine change from the

ground as well as speeds up the process of finding solutions to

issues poor people face.”

Thank You!