ABSTRACT

In many developing countries, but especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, the growth of population in the urban areas is outstripping the capacity of governments to provide for basic needs such as shelter, water supply and sanitation, drainage, access and other environmental services. In most cases the urban population growth rates have been higher than the corresponding economic growth rates. Self-reliance and local governance by the poor in their own neighbourhood associations has emerged as a notable phenomenon in many cities of developing countries; left to their own means, the poor have organised to fill in gaps in services left by central and local governments. Among other things, community groups mobilise and organise fund-raising or mutual self-help to provide security, drainage and solid waste management within their immediate area. Tanzania, among the poorest Third World countries, is urbanising fast. Between 1948 and 1988 the country had an average urban population growth of 8-10 per cent per annum.