Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight program. I’m Marina Santee.
Voice 2
And I’m Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
You may have heard an earlier Spotlight program about growing cities. In that program we discussed how and why poverty is growing in the world’s cities. We also discussed some of the terrible effects of this urban poverty. In today’s Spotlight program we will look again at this problem. However, we will also look at ways governments, organizations and individuals can begin to solve this growing problem.
Voice 2
Today, cities are growing very fast - especially in the developing world. Many people are moving into cities. But often, these cities do not have the money or resources to support them. This kind of city growth is called pre-mature urbanization. And because of pre-mature urbanization, poverty in cities is growing quickly.
Voice 1
One major result of this is growing slums. In slums, many people live close together in bad conditions. Today one thousand million [1,000,000,000] people live in city slums. And the problem of slums is growing.
Voice 2
The organization United Nations Habitat works to provide good living conditions for all people. UN Habitat helps cities grow in good ways - ways that are good for people and the environment. It helps provide ideas and resources. Anna Tibaijuka is the head of UN Habitat. In a report called “Cities without Slums,” she shares some of the problems in slums,
Voice 3
“Studies clearly show that slums are among the world’s most dangerous places to live. Their people are victims of crime and violence. They suffer a greater rate of disease. The rate of child death is much higher. And life is shorter.”
Voice 1
Anna also writes about other problems in slums.
Voice 3
“Slums are places where education fails, where HIV/AIDS is growing fast and where the environment has been completely polluted.”
Voice 2
Anna clearly sees the many horrible problems caused by pre-mature urbanization. However, she still has hope. She believes that one day cities will be without slums. And she is working to make it happen. UN Habitat has made an amazing goal. They hope to improve the lives of one hundred million [100,000,000] people who live in slums by the year 2020. This goal will not solve the problem of slums. But it will help ten percent of the people living in slums today. And it will begin the process of change.
Voice 1
Two things are necessary to create healthy growth in cities. First, the growth of slums needs to stop. And second, the living conditions of existing slums needs to improve. One important way to do both things is to take part in city planning.
Voice 2
City planning requires that governments look at the present condition of the city. It requires that they think about the future needs of the city. And finally they must propose plans for how the city can achieve future goals. These plans contain building, financial, environment and legal programs. But the most important thing is that the plans are sustainable. This means that the plans must be able to continue on into the future.
Voice 1
City planning is an important part of decreasing poverty in cities. It has worked well to decrease slums in many parts of Latin America. However, there is another important way governments can help. They can support rural or country development. By supporting rural development, governments decrease the need for people to move to cities. They create healthy villages, so that people do not have to move to the city. And these villages can help the country as a whole. For best results, it is important for governments to balance rural and city development.
Voice 2
Being responsible for planning a whole city is a big job. It is an even larger job to be responsible for the development of a whole country. Only governments and global organizations can manage these large jobs. However, that does not mean that small organizations can not help. In fact, small organizations and individuals are very important for decreasing poverty in cities.
Voice 1
The Mwanza Rural Housing Program is an amazing example of how a small organization can make a big difference. MRHP is a non-government organization in north Tanzania, Africa. It trains local individuals to make bricks. These hard blocks make strong buildings. MRHP also offers small loans to the people it trains. Then, the members can use these loans to start brick companies. These members have made bricks to build over one hundred thousand [100,000] homes.
Voice 2
By training and providing loans, MRHP helps improve rural development. However, it does even more. People use the bricks to build good village homes. But they also use the bricks in Mwanza, a close by city. In this way, MRHP helps balance both rural and city development in north Tanzania.
Voice 1
MRHP is also concerned about the environment. Brick making can often be bad for the environment. Brick makers use fire to make bricks hard. Usually, they use wood for this fire. However, burning wood makes worse the problem of deforestation. Deforestation is the global problem caused by the cutting down of many trees.
Voice 2
The leaders of MRHP knew the bad effects of deforestation. So, they created a new method. Instead of wood, the brick makers burn waste from local cotton and rice crops. By doing this, they save many trees. MRHP also encourages its members to plant new trees around their brick making businesses.
Voice 1
MRHP is an organization with only eleven workers. Their idea of training people to make bricks is simple. However, they are making a big difference in north Tanzania. They are helping to decrease city poverty. They are helping both city and rural development. And they are using sustainable energy that is better for the environment.
Voice 2
Remember Anna Tibaijuka from earlier in the show? She leads UN Habitat in their work to improve human living conditions. And she also thinks MRHP is doing great work. In 2007, MRHP was presented with the UN Habitat Award of Honour. Anna believes that it will take many people and plans, like MRHP, to end poverty in cities. She told the news group BBC that,
Voice 3
“If we are to improve our human living conditions, we need to do it from many ways and our plans must involve everyone from city planners to teachers.”
Voice 1
Poverty in cities and growing slums are horrible problems today. But there is hope. Every person, every organization and every government can help. Today people like Anna and groups like MRHP are working to make a change. And one day as Anna writes “our children should live in cities without slums.”
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