South-South Knowledge Sharing for the Inclusion of the Urban Poor: India-South Africa Praxis

Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) is a social movement of the urban poor which began in India, networked initially in Asia and then moved to South Africa, and to the other parts of Africa. SDI created knowledge and strategies to help communities of the poor to transform themselves from beneficiaries and consumers of aid and assistance into actors who demonstrated possible ways for city governments and international agencies committed to development to explore solutions. SDI which facilitated the first exchange of five South African township leaders to India formed the basis of the India-South Africa learning exchange programme. The engagement between the community federations from these countries grew, with many Asian and African slum federations at the centre of the learning process, designing possibilities, managing transnational relationship. The exchanges have not just included civil society actors, but also government officials. In 1996, Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) was formed by the federations from eight countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America. To date, federations from 33 countries are the members of SDI.