Module 4: Marginalisation, social exclusion and vulnerability
This is what I have learned from the article marginalisation and exclusion is that there are various forms of marginalisation and exclusion which range from poverty, legal status, insecurity of tenure, migrant or new comer status in the community.
- Urban cities have weaker social networks and social control mechanisms than rural areas for example rural areas strive on safety nets such as clans, neighbours and traditional leaders, these help to protect the children from various forms of abuse such as domestic violence. Such structures do not exist in urban cities leading children vulnerable to all forms of abuse ranging from child labour and emotional abuse, grown up children are end up sleeping in one room with their parents. Urban areas have informal nature of housing and employment. They also face the risk of eviction and failure to access health services, waste removal, insurance, credit, education, or public social protection. This is the reason why urban growth and urbanisation often leads to poverty and marginalisation. There are wide inequalities that exist between the rich and the poor, this if left unchecked can lead to crime and violence in urban areas. Most urban dwellers live far away from the city and often walk long distances due to both unavailability of transport and lack of bus-fare to commute in the morning and in the evenings. Most households lack enough food due to high prices in urban centres.
- Children growing up in the cities are vulnerable to the following:
-Under-fives are likely to be un immunized as urban centres often charge fees at their hospitals.
-Children are likely to suffer from living in squalid conditions and often suffer from acute respiratory infections.
-They are likely to suffer from stunting as dietary requirements are compromised due to high food prices.
-Some children may not go to school as most schools are private and parents may not afford to pay school fees.
-They are more prone to diarrhoea and fever
-Young adolescent girls and boys are likely to engage in sex work and crime in exchange of food and face risk of high HIV infections.
-Boys and girls above 15 years are likely to drop out of school
-Children are likely to be affected by child labour as they jostle to get food every day.
-Children and their parents are likely to be affected by floods.
- Below are the vulnerabilities I recognise from my own city/own work:
-Most families are likely to live in slums and are food insecure and most women living in slums are most likely to be unemployed. Food is often very expensive and most engage in bribery as they are likely to buy their way into remaining in illegal housing premises. For example in Gaza Township where I live there is now water in most of the suburbs, in some places raw sewer and rubbish flow on the roads. Residents dig Blair or Pit latrines in urban centres, this pollutes the underground water. There is no clean drinking water and most residents are forced to draw water from the nearby streams. More than five people at times share a room and there is no mechanisms for waste disposal often resulting in water borne diseases during the rainy season. Most household are food insecure, and young people end up using drugs, and working as sex workers at a nearby Beer Hall.
The government does not provide any form of welfare to the urban communities, in rural areas some elderly or child headed families may receive government handouts and cash transfers, but this does not happen in urban set up.
-With more and more people coming into towns, houses for living are becoming fewer and fewer. The Municipality is not able to provide social amenities as required, therefore resulting in people living under squalid conditions.
-Lack of employment forces most families to do informal trading and most people end up bribing the Municipal Police as they fail to raise the required amounts to operate in stalls. People end up selling their wares on the streets.
-There are no policies to address urban poverty or any legislative framework that looks at the rights of the poor in urban set-ups.
-Lack of land use policy and housing forces most urban people to live in illegal places.
-There are no poverty alleviation strategies in urban areas.