Washington, D.C., 27th June 2008

United Nations

UN-Habitat – United Nations Program for Human Settlements

ROLAC: Regional Office for Latin America and Caribbean

Mandate:

•To improve the conditions of those living in poor settlements

•Stabilize actual slums

•Avoid the proliferation of new slums

United Nations

Erradicate of extreme poverty and hunger

Achieve universal primary education

Promote gender equakity and empower women

Reduce child mortality

Improve maternal health

Combat HIV/Aids, malária and other diseses

Ensure environmental sustainability

Develop a global partnership for Development

Goal10: Reduce by half, by 2015 the proportion of population without permanent and sustainable access to good quality of water

Goal 11: By 2020, improve significantly the lives of at least 100 million inhabitants that kive in slums.

Disadvantages: poverty and inequality

City fragmentation

Social and economic inequalities

URBAN SEGRAGATION

Population in Slums

Latin America and Caribbean:

127 millions of people living in poor human settlements or slums in 2001

It is estimated we will have 143 millions by 2015

City Challenges

Improve basic infrastrucutre and communications

Improve or create specialized services

Technological innovations

Sustainable environment (built and natural)

Transparent institutions and regulations

Improve the quality of regulations

Fight security at all levels (home, neighborhood, city)

Promote social cohesion

Safer Cities Programme

Traditional Response• Focus on the criminal

justice system

• Specializes on major crime

• Targets effects instead of causes

• Reactive instead of preventive

• Often short term and non sustainable results

New Responses recognize • Safety as a “common

good” and key to good governance

• A role for everybody in building local safety, respecting mandates

• Need to target causes to reach lasting results

• Prevention is better than cure

Urban Design•Supporting street layout

•Improving lighting•Designing streets, buildings, parks

to reduce opportunities for crime•Reorganize markets or terminals

Safer Cities Prevention

Three pillars of crime prevention

Law Enforcement and CJS Reform

•Targeted visible police patrols•Conflict resolution

•Neighbourhood watch•By-law enforcement

•Improve relationships •and accessibility

Social PreventionYouth and women

•Youth empowerment•Victim support

•Recreational facilities to occupy youth

•Developing victim support

Safer Cities Process

Key Elements for Effective Implementation

A security diagnosis•Challenges•Risk factors

•Community resources

A Coalition•leadership

•Assembling all key partners•Engaging citizens

•Communication strategy•Age and gender sensitive

Evaluation & feedback•Process evaluation•Impact evaluation

•Tools development

Implementation•training

•Co-ordination of partners•actions

A strategy and action plan•Establish priorities

•Identify model for practices•Target actions and risk factors

•Balance short & long term actions

Regional and(inter) national networks for

exchange and replication

Safer Cities Programme

OBJECTIVE

Strenghten local authorities and key actors to be better

prepare to provide safety and security to vulnerable

groups in countries promoting social cohesion

RATIONALE FOR LOCAL INTERVENTION

Why a local policy on urban security?

• Closest to local reality

• Accountable to residents

• Reinforcing the State at local level

Safer Cites Programme

SPECIFIC GOALS

Promote and validate an integral approch to safety and security in the areas of governance, urban renewal and improvement of slums.

Develope guides and tools for safety, documentation and practice.

Promote aliances among partners and key actors thropugh a strategic communication.

Key actions and some examples

1) Coalitions with leadership including neighborhood associations. (Kenya e Tanzania)

2) A local safety analysis:

Local genesis and localizing insecure actions (Bogota,Colombia)

Insecure and Unsafe perception

Identification of positive and negative responses

Key actions and some examples

3) Local Strategies (Bogota e Medellin):

Define activities and priorities

Define members of the coalition responible for actions

Calendar of events

Improve the economic background (New York)

Design Forms of evaluation

Strategy of Crime prevention in cities (Bogota)

Key actions and some examples

4) Form a cooalition with a local technical coordinator that will: (african cities):

Coordinate local diagnosis

Prepare a strategy, present it and have it approved for practice

Support, impulse and supervise the coalition actions

Works in close relationship with local authoritiesSecurity in Open Public Spaces (Mexico)

Promote a safety ciy and citizen conscience as part of the urban development interventions

Cidades mais Seguras

5. Other key lements

Measures directed to youth in risk situation (Monterrey, Bogota, Santiago).

Descentrallized measures on conflict resolution

Police and communities working together (Santiago, Chile)

Measures directed to safety perception

Measures directed to victims of violence (Maipu, Tucuman, Mexico, Colombia)