Addressing urban poverty through strengthening assets

The importance of urban poverty is increasingly recognized. This paper seeks to learn from the experiences of eight urban poverty reduction programmes to understand how effective development programmes can be instituted. The emerging lessons emphasize the use of three strategies to enhance the asset base of the urban poor: strengthening grassroots organizations, transforming relations with the state and developing new alternatives to conventional urban development practices. The experiences offer insights into strategies to secure poverty reduction within the broad framework of sustainable livelihoods.