The most important conclusion from our work is that in most urban contexts in the global South, poverty can only be reduced significantly when urban poor groups and their organizations can influence what is done by the local and national government agencies that are tasked to support them, and when they have the space to design and implement their own initiatives and then scale-up with government support. It is the learning from their own work and from each other and the demonstration to local government of what they can do that enables creative co-production with the state and larger-scale programs to develop. And for the networks or federations of slum or shack dwellers or homeless people, coproduction enables them to secure legitimacy and to gain more political influence, improved policies and a greater share of state resources.

This policy report looks forward at what international, national and local development agencies and governments can do to support urban poverty reduction. The Rio + 20 (UN Conference on Sustainable Development) in 2012 approved an outcome document entitled ‘The Future We Want’ 1 . We make the case that this has to be a future that urban poor groups want, and are allowed to articulate and develop themselves.