Enumerations, mapping and surveys of slums are critical processes for community mobilisation. Through these information-gathering tools, communities assert knowledge about themselves and the conditions in which they live, and leverage this knowledge into tangible outcomes.
Community exchange programmes rest on a very simple concept: the poor learn best from the poor. Community exchanges, in contrast to development processes that rely on experts as “agents of change,” actively involve slum residents in transforming their own lives.
In exchanges, federation members and leaders visit each other's settlements to learn about each other’s conditions, problems and shared experiences. Exchanges take place between poor communities in the same city, across cities and even across countries.
Exchanges are an important first step in breaking the isolation and helplessness that poverty brings: once communities see themselves as part of a larger collective and interdependent process, they can together explore solutions to problems they face.
Community exchanges are exciting experiences for everyone involved. They are opportunities for new members to become acquainted with federation strategies and be inspired by veteran leaders. For older federation members, exchanges energise and revitalise the federation process through the influx of fresh ideas and perspectives.
