| Abstract | This study is based on an investigation of IS participants living in Bangkok slums for
knowing if they have adequate access to the needed services or not. Specifically, the study seeks
to investigate if access to the services is hampered or obstructed by any policies, management
measures, official procedures, of government agencies or public private institutions or even
because of the beneficiaries themselves. Also included in the objective of the study is to find an
effective channel to provide the needed services. In view of the resource constraint, the field
research study was limited to three slums communities of Bangkok to study. Also, the study
focussed on two major types of services: the so-called welfare and non-welfare service needs of
the poor. The focus on the welfare services (WS) and non-welfare services (NWS) was
rationalized on their respective role to improve quality of life and productive capacity of the poor.
This focus is also justified by the fact that basic urban services such as water and electricity are
now accessible to the most slum communities in Bangkok. The survey was conducted by
interviewing 210 household heads, selected through multi-stage sampling and systematic random
sampling (SRS) techniques.
The findings suggest that most of slum dwellers are engaged in IS activities (79.05 %)
and are of poor socio-economic conditions: low education, precarious employment and low
income. Comparative data on socio-economic conditions show that IS participants' conditions
are much poorer than their counterparts in the formal sector even though both groups live in
similar congested areas and slum conditions. Field observation as well as survey data confirm
interlocking of poverty, slum and informal sector. This interlocking existence of poverty, slum
living, and reliance on informal livelihoods calls for public policy and actions targeting on three
facets to relieve human deprivations in the urban environment. Welfare and non-welfare services
are taken up for in-depth investigation in the study because of their widely agreed role in
alleviating this interlocking existence of human deprivations.
The central research issue for the study has been the problems of access to the welfare
services (health, education and moral and spiritual development) and non-welfare services
(training, credits and labour/product market information) because of the fact that the relevant
literature and initial field research suggest that the urban poor working in the IS can hardly gain
access to any of these services. Indeed differentiation of access exists in favour of those who
have FS employment.
The investigation reveals that mere making services and facilities available, making them
visible with building signs, etc. within walking distance or connected by suitable mode of
transportation (e.g., bus) are not enough in ensuring poor's access to the studied services.
The findings suggest that the problem of access occur mainly due to some constraints
operating both on the demand and supply sides of services. The demand constraints (factors
related with the intended beneficiaries' characteristics in this instance these are poor IS
participants) arise from intended beneficiaries' (a) lack of knowledge and awareness on the
needs, (b) unfamiliarity with the methods of obtaining the services, ( c) submissive attitudes (e.g.,
fear of authorities), (d) low degree of self-confidence in expecting and asking for the needed
services, (e) lack of communication skills, and (f) low level of income and affordability. On the
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supply side (the service providers/institutions/operations - problem arises from (a) rigidity in
procedures, (b) lack of coordination among service rendering agencies, (c) lack of information
dissemination, (d) lack of bureaucratic accountability, and (e) inefficiency in service delivery.
The investigation shows problems both on the supply side (service providing agencies)
and demand side (service recipients, i.e., IS participants). On the supply side, there is the need to
improve official publicity and dissemination of the available services, to induce people to
participate in the service delivery, to provide flexibility in service delivery and responding to
people's real need, better identification of those who need the service (i.e., would be beneficiaries
or target groups), simplification of government procedures for service utilization, better
coordination among government agencies concerned and the provision of integrated or packaged
services.
On the beneficiaries' side, the study's findings include the need to raise consciousness of
the service recipients so that they would see the value of different services in improving their
lives. Training, guidance, counseling and any other proddings to clearly see the benefits of the
services will make a lot of difference. The beneficiaries' participation in service demand
generation as well as in supply of the services is also necessary. Community or group
participation mechanism may be employed to deliver the needed services. This is particularly
important to ease the access problem. Greater access can also be ensured if community gets
involved in the service need survey.
Overall, the results of this study' s findings and policy recommendations (i.e., easing
access problems through intervention on the demand and supply sides of welfare and non-welfare
services, especially for IS participants living in slums) are good ingredients for poverty reduction
and good governance for improvement of the quality of life of the urban poor, especially those
who work in the informal sector and live in slum areas.
This study departs from most IS studies in several respects. Firstly, it is an IS studies
conducted at household level. Most IS studies are done at enterprise level. Secondly, it takes slum
community as study area instead of taking a segmented approach (IS/FS) at the outset. Thirdly,
services explored in this study are not basic services commonly studied but welfare and nonwelfare services. Inclusion of the service for moral and spiritual development is of great
significance for Thailand in general and slum communities in particular because of rise of drug
problem and other social vices. Fourthly, the findings of the survey for this study have shown that
the sampled respondents from the slum areas in Bangkok, are mostly engaged in precarious or
marginal IS activities (petty trade, variety of services and casual labour) and have poor socioeconomic conditions. The survey results therefore, confirm that urban poor, slums and IS are
linked through the poor's work and living environment. Thus, the policy or programmes to
minimize (if not entirely solve) one problem may have good effect upon the others. Solving
problems of access to welfare and non-welfare services and, thus, raising living and working
conditions of the poor in slum areas can be another policy option to alleviate urban poverty. |