Poverty alleviation or poverty reduction: The contribution of civil society

The formal and informal associations of the urban poor, and those that support them such as NGOs, are important parties influencing the role of the urban poor in urban development and governance processes. A focus on such organizations (loosely grouped together under the term civil society) is therefore relevant for a research study considering the effectiveness of such processes in reducing poverty. There are a great variety of civil society organizations and the institutional scope of this study was wide-ranging: it included grassroots organizations (GROs): self-help groups of the urban poor, including neighbourhood groups and trade associations. A further group is the NGOs working with the urban poor: professional, non-profit, non-membership intermediary organizations that are independent of the state. Trade unions were also important in many of the cities studied. Drawing on the wider literature in addition to the nine city case studies, this paper will first discuss the prevalence and characteristics of GROs and their relationships with state agencies. Secondly, it will review the roles and activities of NGOs and their relations with state agencies on the one hand and poor residents on the other.