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PEGGY DULANY: We’ve been trying to create a balance between discussions of
strategy and activism and how we can create systemic change.
SHEELA PATEL: Poor communities have to negotiate and collaborate
with people who have dismissed them, who feel they shouldn’t be in the cities.
MARY ROBINSON: I mean there is this myth that people in the informal sector
are simply vulnerable victims. And I think more and more, we have to show
that these are actors for change, that they have great organization skills.
PATEL: What is it in the interest framework of those
we sought to collaborate that they couldn’t do by themselves?
Because very often, good collaboration emerges out of producing
a consensus that you can contribute to each other’s interests.
It’s a long journey, but it’s something that starts with
exploring individuals and producing policy
and then looking at how to expand this process.
ROBINSON: So I do think we need to create spaces where
those with power listen to those who know what the situation is on the ground
and listen respectfully and actually then, you know,
help to have more collaborations of this kind.
DULANY: I think a lot of us in this room can play this role
is precisely to create the safe spaces
where this kind of dialogue can go on.
ROBINSON: Your role is to listen and to listen in particular
to those who are on the margins and to listen to young people.
Don’t go to a place thinking that you know what the answer is.
Go and listen and be an amplifier of voices.