Household networks and survival strategies among the urban poor - monetary and non-monetary transfers among selected families in Tondo

;,~~ ~ ~ lRAtiO> ttl r T.E-22 ,REAN LJ.0alaAL YLfT No. tHOUSEHOLD NErORKS AND SURVIVAL STRATEG:IE.S Y D AMONG THE URB&A POOR. MONETARY AND NON-1MOfET.EY TRANSFERS AHONG SELECTED FAMILIES IN TONfJO Prepared by: MILA REFORMA RICCI OBUSAN Research and Analysis Division National Housing Authority The Philippines May 1982 This volume was prepared as part of a cooperative project sponsored by the International Development Research Cent-re (Ottawa) and the World Bank. The views reported here are those of the authors, and they should not be interpreted as reflecting the view.s of the World Bank or its affiliated organizations. Urban and Regional Economics Division Development Economics Department The World Bank Washington, D.C. 20433  i] 0 ' )^ g XT L1i:1I roduc tion. Tlh4! Can ED Stu 1 iii Peir3ta .r . . . . .... Bernard:: . :Ms.russi8on ....... . . . .... Reciprocity andl the tAan& na Lo vt.. Malaaak%.t .... , .............. .  PREFACE This report was prepared as part of an IDEC-IBRD supported evaluation of the Tondo Foreshore Upgrading Project. The evaluation, which began in 1977 in the Philippines, is part of a 4 country study which also includes El Salvador, Zambia and Senegal. An imortant issue emerging from all of these evaluations is the question of project affordability and the ability and willLngness of the target population to meet the costs of participating in the project. In the Tondo evaluation, information on affordability had been obtaLned not only from a longitudinal survey which had been annually applied over a 4-year period to a sample of over 1000 households in the oroject, but also from an income and expenditure panel in which 120 households kept daily records on all income and expenditures over a 3 year period. 1/ Due to delays in project implementation, the initiation of the process of cost recovery has been delayed such that to date there is no direct evidence on the proportion of families who have affordability (or willingness to pay) problems. It was suggested in various of the evaluation reports, however, that as much as 20 per cent of project households might face repayment problems, or that their efforts to keep up the payments could affect their ability to cover other basic expenditures such as food. At the same time, apparently contradictory findings on the process of house consolidation were coming out of studies. It was thus found that many apparently poor 1/ Itesearch and Analysis Division. 'A study of income and expenditure patterns of households in the Tondo Foreshore Area." Report Series on the Monitoring and Evaluation of Urban Development Projects. Urban and Regional Economics Division. Report No. ME-6. The World Bank. August L980.  hiusehol.s -we::i vt 1e t: in I .--):ii ":i.n `ai "->e,- e:pe<:te :1 .ahous - I : :- t !: ' . S h?js s ';:.t .1 househoLir. we-.e recei'vIng 'K ito o tni * Is rel-:'f , 's he f'nance th! imorovemarts. The :'nportance of t1i:L-s "I.Ol L.'. , ' I" c.-irough Ln;m rcueehold s..upport networks' had also s : o:zt-i. u e luation stud.len3 in F1 Salvador and Colombia where 1; s; o u r cic_' families in the louc-st incorme deciles, #.ae transfer incG C could i7 'nit In rome cas;es 1lp -o ,0 p cent of regular household one, Although these trans.fe,s i o r t' iry important, they have proved difficult to study. This is becaurc, tr-t:i-'Itlons for many or the transfers are deeply imbeddel In so ia1 m,_:<al cr unwritten family rodes. many cases, the recipient doei nct iienti!n i '1 tl ; 2 ransf ers when qttesttoned about: sources of income. While t;is ls 30t::Cc. iss because the notives for the transfer are very personal, at other times i1 is because the recipient doeu not look upon these "gifts' as part of hb.s .; he: income. The objective of the present study was to select a ntimber of t'h .>pparently poorest househol;.s in Tondo and to conduct case studies to descrlib, their "survival strategies" and t:he ways in which they interact withl these. "rupport networks". The studies very clearly demonstrate the tremneniou3 -.portarnce of these networkzs as a form of income mainternance, 3S Lelp In tiMeS of emergency, and as a source of capital for investment in housing or snali businesses. The netwot-ks are also shown to be very complex in many cases .ithi & household receiving anco 2/ Dani Kaufmann "On. rhe dynamics of house' uold :.rcome formation and the incidenca on expencditures among the urba n poor in LDC's." Urban and Regional Economics Divtsion. The World Bsnk. June 1981.  --3- gi.v: .g ti ansfer's Wo a 1 rge number of 'cin