Colombo Municipal Council

FOCUS CITY COMMUNITY BASED ASSESSMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF LIVING ENVIRONMENT IN UNDERSERVED SETTLEMENTS AND THE ENVIRONS; THE CASE OF GOTHAMI COLOMBO

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Colombo municipal council received above mentioned research project under the Urban Poverty and Environment (UPE) Focus City Research Initiatives from International Research Development Centre (IDRC). The project targets to reduce environmental burdens which exacerbate poverty in underserved settlement (USS) and the neighbourhood by strengthening the capacity of people to better access to urban basis services reduce environment pollution and vulnerability to natural disasters.

Objectives of the Project

The project aims to achieve the following objectives.

Using Water and Sanitation as an entry point to develop a model of service provision that addresses how best to deliver different types of urban services
To improve upon knowledge on the link between poverty as expressed through financial, socio-political, resource & human assets and environmental burdens
To assess the land tenure security and access to services in USS contribute to livelihoods and living conditions
To use the integrated model in order to improve on other CMC initiatives and policies related to urban service provision and poverty reduction in USS
To enhance team capability in doing Participatory Research and Communication through in a learning network with other Focus City teams and in the community

Project Partners

The project comprises four main project partners. The Colombo municipal Council plays a leading role in the project while SEVANATHA Urban Resource Centre and Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) being the two local partner institutions to undertake community development component and monitoring & evaluation concepts of the project respectively. The International development Research Centre (IDRC) acts as a donor agency.

Project Area

The project area has been defined covering the Gothamipura Settlement and its neighbourhood at Borrella, Colombo 08. The project area has been demarcated in the GIS Map.

Project Cost

The project is mainly financed through the grant from International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada. The total grant is CAD 1,144,326. The recipient (CMC) is responsible to administrate CAD 1,019,700. In addition to that Colombo Municipal Council‚ administrative contribution and community contribution are also involved in project success.

Project Preiod

The project has been scheduled to be implemented from July 2006 to December 2009.

Benefits

The main benefits of the project are the providing services of Sewerage System and Solid Waste Management Unit for the community in additional to capacity building programmes for the community and the city team as well. The projects will significant impact on access to the above urban services through the participatory approach of the community under Community Development Council (CDC) with the guidance of the project partners.

Donor Agency

International Development Research Centre where the head office situated in Ontario, Canada supports developing country to use science and technology to find practical, long-term solutions to the social, economic, and environmental problems they face and funds on research activities. Under UPE programme IDRC donated the Focus city Project to the Colombo Municipal Council to address environment burdens that that exacerbate poverty in selected underserved settlement by strengthening the capacity of the poor to equitably access environmental services and reducing environmental degradation and vulnerability to natural disasters