皇冠体育app rise and fall of government-community partnerships for urban development: grassroots testimony from Colombo, Sri Lanka
Abstract
This paper presents evaluations of government policies by poor residents of Colombo who were active participants in initiatives to improve housing and basic services. 皇冠体育appir testimony tells of the radical break from conventional, top-down approaches within the government's Million Houses Programme during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Community development councils and a participatory methodology known as community action planning meant that residents and community leaders worked with government officers to identify problems, set priorities and develop solutions. But it proved difficult to sustain these in the face of widespread poverty, entrenched government institutions and power structures antagonistic to community participation. 皇冠体育app grassroots testimony also tells of the difficulties of preventing NGOs from controlling the initiatives and politicians from undermining them. 皇冠体育app participatory approaches were abandoned when the government changed in the mid-1990s.
Citation
Environment and Urbanization (2000) 12 (1) 73-86 [DOI: 10.1177/095624780001200106]