Dichter often notes how transient and temporary the development industry and development workers can be, but that conscious efforts have been made to see more participatory development. The ideal is that the poor themselves not only have a stake, but are the experts in what change is possible for them.275 Ownership and participation from the ‗bottom up‘—from primary stakeholders—is now understood as essential if development is to work.276 Partnership with secondary stake-holders is crucial too, but if development workers do not have a personal stake in the success of development they are at a disadvantage as workers compared with local residents. This is often the case in the interaction of slum and squatter neighbourhoods like Klong Toey with outside organizations. Barriers for external workers can include: barriers of access and not really knowing who the key players are and what is really happening; barriers of
274 Marc Askew, Bangkok: Place, practice and representation (London: Routledge, 2002), 149-150. 275
Dichter, Despite Good Intentions, 66.
276 See, James Blackburn, Robert Chambers and John Gaventa, ‗Mainstreaming Participation in Development—
OED Working Paper Series‘, World Bank, no. 10: 9,
http://lnweb90.worldbank.org/oed/oeddoclib.nsf/DocUNIDViewForJavaSearch/1D8EC8BB36C8C76E852569770 07257C1/$file/Mnstream.pdf (accessed June 29, 2011).
affluence and not being trusted because the project is only a sideline, as well as issues of jealousy and resentment; barriers of credibility and not being respected by residents because they don‘t really know what is going on or what it takes to see change happen; barriers of health and sustainable lifestyle and not being able to spend the required time needed in slum neighbourhoods because their immune system is not able to cope.
The barriers to poverty alleviation discussed above are experienced regularly by most residents in places like Klong Toey, especially if they try to bring about change. The unfavourable conditions for poverty alleviation are also a significant obstacle to outsiders who attempt to see transformation. Similar discussions around indigenization and dependencies can be seen in classic church growth theory as well. Take the barrier of health, for example. Because of the poor living conditions of slum residents, local church participants and workers can fall seriously ill with all kinds of diseases. This is not only an issue from the perspective of each person‘s wellbeing; it can also seriously affect income generation, causing families to spiral into debt. Ill health can also be a serious barrier to stability and momentum for churches and development projects. In the case of Klong Toey, the Ta Rua church has many people in its congregation who are extremely sick; in fact several members die because of preventable diseases each year. Health concerns are just one of many very real barriers to the role that an ‗outsider‘ can play in bringing about long-term change, especially if they have no stake in its outcome.
The issues for outsiders listed above, such as jealousies, resentments, lack of knowledge and power, are also normal experiences of residents, especially those seeking change. What is perhaps unusual is that someone would choose to be in such a situation and to stay if they didn‘t have to. That said, even the choice to go or stay is perhaps no longer as unusual in urban slum areas because moving away to start again or to return to a village home is now not uncommon.
Perhaps even the status of ‗outsider‘ in an urban slum can change over time in ways not possible in stable, rural villages. This is especially the case if a development worker‘s home is in the neighbourhood and if they can find ways for their family to have a stake in the success of projects. As we have seen, the mobility of urban residents can mean they come from all kinds of places and they may not stay long in one urban place. A person who lives in an urban slum neighbourhood for more than five years can often be considered a long-term resident. Length of residency compared with neighbours does not necessarily guarantee that ‗outsider‘ barriers will
be overcome for people born in another country, but urban slum and squatter neighbourhoods are not closed, dormant communities, and they therefore offer the opportunity for outsiders to become at least more like insiders over time.
Askew‘s work explored the complexity of Klong Toey residents participating together and the role of various NGOs and the ethos kansuanruam (togetherness/cooperation). These are complex relationships, marked by the collision of competing interests and values. For example, the self-interest of individuals took such priority that no help was given when a nearby neighbourhood faced demolition.277
The alleviation of poverty, like the growth of churches, requires the presence of certain conditions that are often outside the control of those seeking transformation. Even with government and non-government cooperation, the attempt to see Bangkok become a ‗city without slums‘ has so far failed. For example, soon after the Taksin government came to power in 2002, the new Prime Minister made a short visit to Russia. Impressed by the affordable public housing he saw there, Taksin announced a bold new public approach to slums. By World Habitat Day—October 5th, 2005—a buoyant Prime Minister Taksin vowed ‗to wipe out city slums by 2008‘.278
Just before Taksin was deposed in a military-led coup on September 4, 2006, the Housing Authority of Thailand admitted that the task was ‗tough‘279 and it was never fulfilled. By 2010 Codi reported that over the five year period it had ‗benefited 88,000 families in 1,457 communities in 76 provinces in Thailand‘, that few of these were actually new homes, and that few of the developments were in Bangkok itself.280 With the figure of Bangkok slum residents currently around 1.5 million, Taksin‘s dream fell a long way short in terms of any significant impact.
To be fair to successive Thai and Bangkok governments, finding the right policies for slum transformation is difficult. At least real attempts have been made to address slums, even if ambitious goals instigated by Taksin were not achieved. A UN taskforce on slums states that overall:
277 Askew, Bangkok, 148. 278
Bangkok Post, ‗Taksin Promises End to Slums in Three Years‘, Bangkok Post, October 5, 2005,
http://www.orientexpat.com/forum/4107-thaksin-promises-end-to-slums-in-three-years/ (accessed June 29, 2011).
279 Anan Paengnoy, ‗Task of Building 100,000 Units a Year ―Tough for NHA‖‘, The Nation,
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/09/04/national/national_30012712.php (accessed January 15, 2007).
280 Bangkok Post, ‗Ban Mankong: From slum upgrade to social uplift‘, Bangkok Post, February 2, 2010,
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/32500/ban-mankong-from-slum-upgrading-to-social-upliftment (accessed March 10, 2010).
Official attention to the slum dwellers of the world has been largely a matter of inaction, inappropriate action, or insufficient action. The most common government policies over the past 40 years have been to ignore slums or, when they are on valuable land, to bulldoze them.281
Slums can, at the same time, be fragile, combustible and contagious ecosystems. It is a complex and sensitive task, therefore, to find appropriate urban development strategies and policies for slums that do not cause harm. Even seemingly good strategies and projects that are well funded can too easily become more about donor, business or electorate satisfaction than long-term transformation in slums themselves. This theme is taken up by Steve Corbet and Brian Fikkurt in When Helping Hurts. A parable told by their African Christian friend Miriam Adeney underlines the point. An elephant went to a party with his friend a mouse. The elephant had the time of his life, drinking and dancing until at last he turned to his mouse friend who to his horror was squashed to death. ‗Sometimes, that is what it is like to do mission with you Americans,‘ the African storyteller commented. ‗It is like dancing with an Elephant‘.282
The elephant did not intend to harm, but he did not understand the effects he had on the mouse. To alleviate poverty and share Christian faith in fragile urban slums can become a great dance for large and powerful governments, NGOs, Christian agencies and churches. Residents, too, can get ‗squashed‘ in the ‗dance‘. While there may well be good intentions, the long-term wellbeing of slum neighbourhoods can easily be undermined.