URBAN STRUGGLES AND PARTICIPATORY INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADING PROCESSES: A RETROSPECTIVE ACCOUNT OF LOW-INCOME WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES

Abstract

Community engagement in improving basic services in informal settlements has for a long-time been a strategy to ensure ownership and sustainability. Experience of over 30 years show a move top-down consultative approaches to processes that value meaningful community engagement. On the other hand, co-production is a participatory approach that overcomes the shortfalls of previous approaches whereby residents get the opportunity to be co-designers, co-planners and co-implementers of a service delivery. However deeper understandings of how marginalized residents experience participation is limited but critical, particularly when inclusion and equity are to be achieved. This paper retrospectively explores the participatory experiences of women involved in an infrastructure upgrading project in Dar es Salaam. The project was implemented in the 90s-2000s at a time when participation was largely top-down. The study attempts to highlight how different identities and capacities of women hinder or facilitate meaningful engagement. Borrowing from concepts of co-production and intersectionality; and employing qualitative methodologies, the author follows their struggles. Findings reveal the value of using an intersectionality lens to understand how diverse women navigate social structures and participatory planning processes. The paper concludes that while co-production promises to foster inclusivity, varying intersecting identities and challenges need to be critically considered.

Key Words: Co-production, Gender, Participation, Intersectionality, Informal settlements