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UN Volunteers Policy Paper ‘Caring Cities’ Volunteering in Urban Development and the role of the United Nations Volunteer Programme PART II – THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMME Thematic view and illustrations PART II – THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMME Thematic view and illustrations Page 50 Page 51 factors, she/he (they) may resort to crime and violence to make a living. In order to be effective, projects which address the problems of urban violence and crime should include preventive measures at the community level. This is where/how social problems may be prevented, through bottom-up changes in people’s attitudes and responses – which is much more effective than top-down repression. This is exactly where UNV’s strength lies (i.e. outreach/grassroots work), and therefore UNV’s intervention in this area may make a considerable impact. UNV’s approach is to work with grassroots organisations to design preventive activities such as support to groups at risk of becoming criminals (children and adolescents in especially difficult circumstances); organisation of neighbourhood watch schemes (non-violent; community-based deterrents to violence); community/social reinsertion of minor offenders (before they escalate the crime-ladder); income-generation alternatives to criminal practices. Again, the ‘mirror volunteer’ approach (excriminals as UN Volunteers) is highly valuable. Text J provides some illustrations of UNV’s activities in Central America. Drug-abuse Cities and towns concentrate the majority of drug-related problems in developing countries, and the connection with urbanisation derives from the following: – Behavioural pre-conditions for drug-taking in sizeable shares of the urban population due to lack of socio-cultural/family bonds and livelihood pressures (noted before); – Large supply of drugs induced by the existence of concentration of people and therefore of large potential markets – broader/easier access to drug supply; – Anonymity and lack of social control – which makes things easier both for the drug dealers and takers. UNV has joint activities with UNDCP (United Nations Drug Control Programme) in different countries and regions (East Africa, Southeast Asia). Text K below illustrates a recently completed project in the Caribbean. Actions which are crucial and at the same time match UNV’s message to the affected adolescents and help them come to grips with the emptiness and despair caused by neglect. K -------------------------------------------- Volunteer support to reduction of drug consumption in the Caribbean ----------------------------------------------- This project was conceptualised in the context of the Barbados Plan of Action, adopted at the Regional Meeting on Drug Control Co-operation and Coordination in the Caribbean, Barbados, 1996. The Plan comprised 87 recommendations in six thematic areas. UNV’s project with UNDCP concentrated on drug demand reduction with national and international partners. This choice of focus was well in keeping with UNV’s mandate, and was in tune with a change in international attitudes towards the drugs issue, as reflected in the resolutions of a special session of the UN General Assembly held 8–10 June 1998, devoted to the fight against illicit drugs. The Session developed a forwardlooking strategy for the 21st Century. It gave high priority to ‘drug demand reduction’, and recognised the significance of the need to address fundamental issues such as poverty, community participation, advocacy. In St. Vincent, for example, the project provided a UN Volunteer counsellor to assist an NGO (Marion House) in its role as the main organisation in the country involved in drug demand reduction and rehabilitation work. This UN Volunteer has provided support to prevention work with children and the youth at Marion House, counselling for the mentally ill at a psychiatric hospital and rehabilitation work with prisoners. The project also included other components in Barbados, Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago. L -------------------------------------------- Volunteer support to sex workers in Madagascar ----------------------------------------------- The government of Madagascar decided to embark on a crusade to improve the living standards of women. The issues were poverty alleviation, HIV-AIDS as well as other sexually transmitted diseases (STD). UNV has comparative advantages include: – Prevention: direct, long-term work with families and communities (awareness raising, strengthening of social and family cohesion, etc) and with individuals at risk. – Rehabilitation of drug users: again, direct long-term work – this time with the drug users themselves – is utterly necessary (e.g. psychologists, councillors, social assistants). It is also worth re-emphasising the significance of the solidarity transmitted via voluntary work to help heal this traumatised group of individuals. The use of mirror volunteers (ex-drug addicts) can also be highly effective. Prostitution Although many of those who face this problem do not come from cities or towns (i.e. they are amongst the rural poor), the setting of prostitution is often urban. Because of the socially disreputable character of this practice, the anonymity and lack of social control prevalent in urban areas is very convenient, for both prostitutes and clients. Cities and towns also have larger potential markets. Preventive actions need to be closely associated with programmes to combat poverty (both in urban and rural areas).
UN Volunteers Policy Paper ‘Caring Cities’ Volunteering in Urban Development and the role of the United Nations Volunteer Programme PART II – THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMME Thematic view and illustrations PART II – THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMME Thematic view and illustrations Page 52 Page 53 They require direct long-term work with families and communities, therefore would benefit from UNV’s specific attributes. Curative actions with prostitutes also need to be face-to-face, labour intensive. Text L shows an example of such curative work in Madagascar. Again, the transmission of solidarity via voluntary work and the use of mirror volunteers (ex-prostitutes) can also add value. Health conditions There are specific health conditions associated with urban areas. Firstly, many infectious diseases, incidence of intoxication and accidents derive directly from physical features of the urban milieu alone or in association with poverty – e.g. overcrowding, particular sources of pollution, heavy traffic, lack of proper drainage systems, housing built in hazardous areas. Further health conditions derive from psycho-social behaviours associated with urban sources of stress. Several mental health conditions constitute examples (e.g. Harpham and Blue, 1995). The health problems of children derived from lack of proper care as a result of lack/loss of socio-cultural bonds constitute another illustration (Werna et al. 1999). Infectious diseases such as HIV-AIDS are also associated with lifestyles/behaviours that are more prevalent in urban areas (e.g. hypodermic use of drugs, prostitution, and multiple sexual partners). The improvement of health conditions associated with the physical features of urban areas requires direct action in such a milieu. This will be presented later on (section on ‘the physical domain’). In their turn, preventive actions for health conditions associated with behaviour require direct, long-term work with individuals, families and communities, therefore benefiting from UNV’s specific attributes noted in previous items. Curative actions also include face-to-face, labour intensive work (e.g. treatment of mental patients). Again, solidarity transmitted via voluntary work adds significant value to the joined in the crusade under the umbrella of ILO and UNFPA. A UN Volunteer nurse has provided training and education for the prevention of HIV- AIDS/STD and pregnancy. Of equal importance, UNV’s involvement also tries to give prostitutes an income-generation alternative, by providing training skills in various areas that would allow them to escape poverty and therefore avoid resorting to prostitution as a means to obtaining an earning. M -------------------------------------------- ‘Mirror volunteers’: people living with HIV-AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean ----------------------------------------------- UNV has lent much-needed support for HIV/AIDS-stricken communities in African and Caribbean countries. Because most of the UN Volunteers come from these regions, and some are themselves infected with the HIV virus, they understand what is needed and can deliver culturally sensitive assistance at the local level. One of the goals is to limit the spread of the disease by dissemination of information. In this respect, awareness campaigns are used to reach out to target groups through peer educators, especially working with young population. Second, UN Volunteers help create networks and support groups that can provide The fight against illiteracy in urban areas requires specific technical solutions. Firstly, the teaching programmes of elemencounselling, food and homebased care for those who are suffering. Third, they help survivors whose resources have been depleted by the loss of a family member. In some places, UN Volunteers have helped establish small chicken and pig farms, procured seeds and tools for vegetable gardens, etc. In other communities, UN Volunteers are teaching carpentry skills to orphans, so that they can begin to earn a living. This project involving UN Volunteers living with AIDS has targeted Malawi, Zambia, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Guyana. Similar initiatives will soon expand to Cambodia, India and French speaking African countries. N -------------------------------------------- ‘Mirror volunteers’: the disabled in Phnom Pen, Cambodia ----------------------------------------------- One in every 250 Cambodians has lost a limb to a landmine; countless others have been disabled by malnutrition and disease. Together they constitute one of the most economically deprived and socially isolated groups in the country. From her wheelchair, one energetic UN Volunteer has been a dynamic force behind the transformation of an abandoned building in Phnom Penh into a place where the disabled can get back to work, in spite of physical treatment of traumatised people (e.g. mental health patients, HIV-AIDS patients.). In addition, the existence of a correlation between social cohesion and health (explained in the first part of this publication), demonstrates further contributions of volunteerism to health – i.e. via its role in supporting the establishment or reinforcement of networks of social cohesion. Text M below depicts one project, which addresses a serious health problem that affects urban areas, i.e. HIV-AIDS. This project includes the use of mirror volunteers. Social Exclusion There are many excluded people living in cities and towns in developing countries, i.e. the poor in general, or specific groups such as the disabled, informal sector workers, street children, HIV-AIDS patients, among others. One way to support the excluded population is through projects which address structural causes of the problem such as illiteracy. Although illiteracy is not specifically urban, it has specific and harmful effects in urban areas. To say the least, the access of the rural poor to basic needs is less dependent on one’s ability to read and write – especially in subsistence societies. However, it is very difficult and sometimes even impossible for illiterate people to live in urban areas, because of the complexity of urban production and consumption patterns.
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