Building an urban poor people's movement in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

This photo-essay shows how the urban poor and their organizations are worki ng with government agencies, NGOs and international donors in Phnom Penh, C ambodia's capital, to develop homes and neighbourhoods and income generatio n and, where needed, to manage relocation schemes. It also describes how th e city's urban poor developed their own Solidarity and Urban Poor Federatio n, drawing on the advice of similar federations from other countries. The p rocess was much helped by the interchanges between urban poor groups within the city and by the visits by urban poor representatives and city official s to projects managed by urban poor federations in other countries. The Fed eration's work centres on linking and supporting community savings groups t hat develop their own schemes. The Federation also supports community-mappi ng and surveys to document conditions in the city's many low-income settlem ents. The essay emphasizes the strengths and resources that the urban poor can bring to developing housing and jobs if external agencies allow them to do so and support their organizations.