1. Institutionalising Voices of
Marginalised Children in Urban
Planning in India
Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia: Harnessing the
Potential of Urban Living for All Children
9-10 June 2014
Pradeep Narayanan
Director, Research, Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices
Session B1: Growth, Governance and Inclusion Presentation: 4

2. Praxis
 Indian not-for-profit organisation
 Established in 1997
 Promoting democratisation of development
processes through active participation of the
poor communities. Focus Area: Equity and
Governance
A large part of this presentation is based on our work
with the Bernard van Leer Foundation and with
support from the Humara Bachpan Campaign

3. The Concerns
Children, among urban
poor, face greater degree of
marginalisation
Urban poor face
resettlement options that do
not take into account their
needs or demands
Urban poor get
marginalised, uprooted and
evicted by the process of
‘development’

4. Participatory Video
by Children

6. No dearth of
Schemes….

7. Water Sewerage
Solid
Waste
managem
ent
Drainage Transport Roads Housing Toilets Baths
Street
lights
Health
Civic
amenities/soci
al
infrastructure
JNNURM
Sub-Mission for
Urban
Infrastructure
and Governance
(including
preservatio
n of water
bodies)
Sub-Mission for
Basic Services
to the Urban
Poor*
(communit
y)
(communit
y)
(community
halls, child care
centres)
IHSDP (communit
y)
(communit
y)
Yes
(Primary
Health
care
centre
buildings)
(community
centres for pre-
school, non-
formal
education)
UIDSSMT
(including
preservatio
n of water
bodies)
Rajiv Awas
Yojana (RAY)*
(including
transit
housing,
dormitory)
(community
halls, child care
centres,
informal
markets,
livelihood
centre)
VAMBAY (communit
y)
Schemes/Policies/Missions
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓
✓
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
✓
✓ ✓ ✓✓
✓✓
✓✓✓✓✓
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
✓
✓ ✓
✓
✓ ✓

8. Water Sewerage
Solid
Waste
manage
ment
Drainage Transport Roads Housing Toilets Baths
Street
lights
Health
Civic
amenities/
social
infrastruct
ure
North
Eastern
Region
Urban
Development
Programme
(NERUDP)
National
Urban
Sanitation
Policy
Integrated
Low Cost
Sanitation
(ILCS)
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
✓ ✓
✓

9. Process with girls
in Hyderabad, Tamil
Nadu, Gujarat and
Maharashtra
Participatory
research

10. Children
in Delhi
Participatory
video process

11. Learnings from the field – Unsafe Spaces
Open spaces for
defecation
Drains
Roads
Wine shop
Seashore
Police station
Girls
Home
Playground/Parks
Makeshift bathing space
Community water points
Garbage dumping ground
Provision store
Toilets in schools
Under-construction sites
Bus and Bus stop
Market
Public toilets/Sulabhs
Movie theatre
Schools at a distance
Boys

12. Government housing:
Absence of railings on
staircases
Broken stairs
Low parapet walls
Lack of ventillation
Poor quality construction
materials used
Low hanging electric wires
Housing
Kuccha houses
Small spaces
Leaking roofs
Poor ventilation
Open live wires
Low hanging electric wires
Fire accidents

13. Toilets and Bathrooms
Open defecation
Defecate mostly behind bushes, near
large drains and sea shore
Fear of being watched
Fear of falling into the drain
Fear of snake bite
Bathing space
Makeshift bathing space
Fear of being watched when bathing
Menstrual hygiene
No option for safe disposal of
menstrual cloth or sanitary pads
Toilets by government
Small toilet spaces and no provision for
bathing space
Community toilets
Unused due to poor maintenance
Pay and use toilets
Locked during nights

14. Housing – An alternate vision by children

15. Housing – A practical alternative from children
 Terrace
 Store
 Two separate rooms
for parents and
children
 Bathroom and toilet
with proper ventilation
 Kitchen
 Water tank
 Ventilation for the
rooms
 Greenery around
 Space outside the
house where the family
can sit and enjoy the
winter sun

16. Drainage
Large open drains posed a danger
for community members especially
children, some of who slipped and
fell into the drains while playing
During rains, the large drains
overflow and the drain water enters
the homes in the slums
There were no drains for the water
to flow into and this led to stagnant
water that bred mosquitoes

17. Absence of, or littered sidewalks
Narrow roads that made it difficult for pedestrians to use roads during heavy
traffic and increased the chances of road accidents
Absence of traffic lights at all crossings
Inadequate zebra crossings and speed breakers
Non-adherence to traffic rules also caused road accidents and increased
difficulty in crossing roads - “Traffic Police need to be stationed at the crossing”
Girls eve-teased on the road
The streets get slushy during the rains
Boys harass girls at bus stops and in the buses
Roads and transportation

18. Roads and Transportation – An alternate
vision from children
 Clean roads
 Footpaths
 Foot over-bridge
 Zebra crossings at
relevant places
 Traffic signals
 Proper buses
 Covered drains
 Covered and well-lit
garbage dumps

19. Boys played in the parks that were not usurped by
elders Girls do not have any space to play
Girls did not play in the park due to what they called
“ganda mahaul” (unsafe environment) - Men and boys
take drugs, gamble and often harass girls
Children from colonies do not allow children from basti
(slum) to play in their parks inside the colonies
Playground/Parks
Parks had been turned into garbage dumping yards
Parks were littered and the swing broken
Children usually ended up playing on the busy roads
and could only play games like kho-kho, catch and
catch

20. School
Absence of toilet facility
Absence of water facility in the toilets - “We feel embarrassed when we have to go and
fetch water from outside to go to the toilet”
Absence of safe drinking water
Broken steps
Absence of, or broken swings in the schools playground
Absence of a library
Absence of walls
Girls were teased and harassed by boys who stood near/around the school, making it
difficult for girls to go to school

21. Other Spaces
Water
Children, mostly girls, had to spend hours to stand in the queue to fill water
There were also cases of physical fights over water
Sometimes children had to get up very early in the morning to fetch water
Health Centre
Primary Health Centres did not have doctors and medicines were also not available
For urgent medical needs the people had to travel as far as 25 km
Neighbourhood
Absence of community hall – “Community hall has been converted into police station”
Absence of parking space
Absence of space for children to play
Absence of garbage bins
Children were scared of drunken men during the evenings
Girls are harassed by boys - “Difficult to go to the market as many a times we are teased by men and boys
on the way to the market. We are whistled at and sometimes called names. Stones and vegetables are
thrown at us to catch our attention.”
Police Station
Children were scared of being caught by police and taken away while working at construction sites as
substitutes for their ailing parents

22. Parks and schools –
An alternate vision
from children
 Separate parks for
boys and girls
 See-saws, swings in
good condition so that
little children did not
get hurt
 Schools should have
facility for water in
toilets
 There should be dust
bins so that
cleanliness is
maintained
 There should be
classrooms so that
children don’t roam
outside
 Classrooms should
have fans and lights

23. Shrinking Spaces
compared to five
years ago!

24. Community Toilets
Past
 Very few community toilets and they were far from most houses
 Most people defecated in the open especially children
 Girls and women got up early in the morning
 During the day girls and women used neighbours’ toilet or were
accompanied
by a female to defecate in the open
Present
 More community toilets and most use them
 Unclean facilities
 Lack of or inadequate water facility
 Inadequate number of toilet seats
 Damaged doors
 Cost for using the facility
 Absence of special provisions for the disabled and
old
 Spaces of abuse
Ideal
 Community toilets with adequate number of toilet seats
 Maintenance of toilets and no user charges
 Toilets to be clean with sufficient water facility
 Brightly lit toilets and good quality doors
 Streetlights on the way to the toilet
 Special provisions for disabled and old such as western style
toilets
 Separate entrances for males and females
 Provision of soap for hand wash

25. Past
 An open space existed but was filthy
 Children preferred playing outside their houses – in the lane
 The open space had no wall and vehicles passed through it
 Waste was dumped in this space and there was slush during rains
Parks/Playground
Present
 Poorly lit spaces or no lighting
 Presence of a boundary wall but drugs were
openly transacted and used in the park
 Improper surfaces – no grass
 State of ill-repair – broken benches and swings
 Eve-teasing
 Garbage littered around
Ideal
 There should be separate spaces to play and provision to sit
 Lots of grass (so no one would get hurt if they fell down)
 Dustbins around the park
 There should be provision of benches for sitting arrangements
 Provision of drinking water inside the park
 Lights inside and on the side of parks
 Safe road leading to the space
 The thought of collective responsibility should emerge to take
care of park

26. Inaam Nahin, Naam Chahiye! (We
do not want Favours, We want an
Identity!)

27. Ground-Level Panel

28. Key Messages from Children
Who are we?: We are not just children, but are made aware from early
childhood that we are also Dalit, Poor, Minorities, Migrants or Tribal
Society: Do not use “labeling” to discriminate against us. We fear
because we have no right to articulate what we feel (no voice). We are
further targeted by superstition driven misconceptions
Corporate: Many of our habitations are today your property. You hire us
for very menial jobs and we leave both family and school to do these jobs.
Once we are adults, we are considered “unskilled”. The environment gets
polluted and diseases tend to spread and affect the population (especially
us) living in the surrounding region.
State: Instead of providing opportunities to “include” us, there is exclusion,
less information and we are unable to access policies meant for us. You
do not know us- you even do not know how many of us are “labourers”.
We want to Participate in governance. Its our right.

29. Next Phase of the programme
In the first phase, there was a demonstration by children
that they can articulate what they need. They are not
seeking “more” investment, what they want is
“appropriate” investment.
In the next phase, we are documenting some of the
efforts by civil society actors like the Humara Bachpan
campaign and others, who have created spaces for
children to engage with local administration.
Mainstreaming participatory research and participatory
video with children into urban planning process. We are
collaborating with urban planning and schools and
institutions of architecture

30. Thank You

31. www.praxisindia.org
info@praxisindia.org
www.praxis-uk.org
info@praxis-uk.org

32. Countries Assessments:
poverty,
institutional,
governance,
gender, child
rights...
Evaluations:
micro projects,
macro projects,
processes,
fellowships...
Bilaterals:
DFID, SIDA, SDC
Micro level
planning:
sub district and
district level
Capacity building:
national and
international
Other Projects:
Participatory Video
with marginalised
communities….
Multi laterals:
WB, ADB, UNDP,
UNICEF,
Engaged
in:
Partners
INGOs:
PLAN, CARE,
ActionAid, SCF,
TLM, Brooke, AIF
Foundations:
BMGF, AKF
Governments:
India (central, state
and panchayat),
Nepal, China
NGOs:
CRY, AAK, AAA...
CBOs:
Various SHGs, MFIs,
Sex worker
collectives...
Academic
Institutions:
IDS, Univ. of Bristol,
Indian Universities
Networks:
RCPLA, SEW, Ekta
Parishad, QIC & IC,
Voice of the Nile,
CRN, CONGOMO
Monitoring:
systems (micro
and macro),
baselines, long
term
Corporates:
Lafarge, NTPC,
TSRDS