1. Rural-urban Migrant Poverty (RUMP)
Opportunities for using Infrastructure
Development as a poverty alleviation strategy

2. PURPOSE OF THE PRESENTATION
• To examine dynamics of rural-urban migrant
poverty (RUMP).
• Identify implications of RUMP and gaps in
development policy and practice.
• Identify further focus areas - for
research, debate and policy consideration.
• Challenge development practitioners to
reconsider/formulate poverty alleviation
strategies that address RUMP.

3. INTRODUCTION
• Its been observed that, in extreme conditions, the poor “vote with
their feet” – they migrate from rural to urban areas and vice-versa.
• The link between poverty and rural-urban migration (RUM) is not
always clearly articulated or embedded into development strategies.
• Rural-urban dichotomy disguises the realities of rural-urban migrant
poverty = development strategies continue to treat the rural & urban
as distinct spaces & ignore the continuum of poverty.
• SA’s internal rural-urban migration (RUM) takes place within a
context of intensifying rural development efforts, shrinking urban-
based employment opportunities and poor (urban) service delivery.

4. INTRODUCTION (Cont…)
• The effect of rural-urban migration on total urban poverty needs
thorough examination. Poverty, measured in terms of current
income, may not capture current living conditions and the long term
poverty of rural migrant households.
• Issues of rural-urban migration have not been properly treated
by/through current development strategies, e.g. urban housing
challenges are hardly linked to rural development. On the other
hand, lack of a holistic rural development approach continues = rural
development biased towards agriculture.
• Knowledge of rural-urban interface and the extent to which migrant
workers currently live under poverty is vital for development and
poverty alleviation targeting.

5. URBAN AND RURAL LINKAGES AND INTERDEPENDENCIES
Urban Urban & Rural Linkages & Interdependencies Rural
Agric. Trade Agric.
Transport centre Production
Agric. Support Services Agriculture Intensification
•Production inputs •Rural infrastructure
•Repair services •Production incentives
•Information on production •Education and capacity to
•Methods (innovation) •adopt
•And adapt innovation
Non-Agric. Consumer Markets
Rural income and demand
•Processed agric. Products
For non-agriculture goods
•Private services
And services
•Public services (health, educ & admin)
Cash crop production
Agro-based industry And agricultural
diversification
Non- agro-based
Employment All of the Above

6. POSITIVE RURAL-URBAN INTERFACE
Rural Side
• Access to farming assets (including land)
• Market for rural produced goods and services
• Diversification of rural livelihoods (to non-farm
activities, e.g. sand abstraction, rural tourism, etc)
Interlinked fortunes
• Remittances
Urban side
• Increase in labour pool and non-farm employment
opportunities
• Expanded markets
• Economies of scale in production and provision of goods
and services

7. NEGATIVE RURAL-URBAN INTERFACE
Rural Side
• Export-oriented farming activities
• Limited opportunities for non-farm livelihood diversification
• Decline in small-farm production
• Environmental externalities (e.g. uncontrolled land abstraction)
Urban side
• Increased influx of migrants from poor rural areas
• Increase in “free riders” = overstretching of services
• Social and economic vices e.g. crime leading to low investment
• Exclusion/marginalisation of poor rural-urban migrants

8. RUMP IMPLICATIONS
Income poverty = result of 3G jobs
(disgraceful, dirty, and dangerous).
Social & Asset poverty
The mobile = Poor housing,
Economic
marginalisation Poor Infrastructure &
More risk If young, services
&/or exclusion single & female
Social capital
dependency

9. EMERGING CHALLENGES FROM
CURRENT DEVELOPMENT PRAXIS
1. Strategies meant to better rural areas usually have the opposite
effects, e.g. better education leads to rural out-migration in search of better
economic/job opportunities.
2. The effectiveness of current rural and urban development strategies (e.g.
ISRDP and URP) in addressing RUMP is doubtful and needs to be
addressed.
- The provision of social infrastructure is only a partial solution
- Sub-prime LED interventions, e.g. gardening projects, scratch the
surface of economic aspirations of the rural poor
3. Rural areas lose the strong, “brightest and most promising” who are
relegated to informality in urban areas.
4. The poorest ruralites are the least likely to migrate = resource constraints.
5. The rural-urban continuum of poverty is poorly addressed by policy and in
development practice.

10. INTE NATIONA L ECONOM Y
R
A Favorable i nternat ional commodity pri ce s/
VIRTUOUS CYCLE OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RURAL-URBAN LINKAGES
Locali zat ion and di versif icati on of f ore gn inv
i estment
NATIONAL G OVERNMENT
B Adequat e provision of inf rast urct ure and basi c servi c es/
Support of l ocal economi c ini ti at ives and organi zati on
D INVES TM ENT IN
RU RAL
RURAL GROWTH
C
BASIC /LEADING
REG IO N SECTORS
1 2 Proc e ssing/ 3 De ma nd for
Prima ry and
Non-prima ry Ma nuf a cturing I nputs
Employ me nt
4 I nc r ea sed
House hold Inc ome s
E TOWN S/CITIES
URBAN GROWTH
5 Gr owth of 6 Gr owing S le s
a
Ce nter s for Consume r of Inputs/Produc e r
Shopping Ser vic e s
8
7 Rising De ma nd for Expa nding
He a lth, We lf a re a nd Ma r k ting of Re giona l
e
Le isur e Ser vic e s 'Expor ts'
F G H
Re ne wa l of Ec onomic Broa d-ba se d
Re sourc e Ba se / Dive rsif ic a tion/ I nc r ea ses in
Environme nt/ I nc r ea sing I nc ome a nd
Ec ology Productivity We lfa re

11. RURAL REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESS: STRUCTURES, FLOWS AND POLICY INTERVENTIONS
RURAL-URBAN
LIN KAGES/FLOWS
PEOPLE 1
RURAL URBAN
• labor commuting/migration FUNCTIO NS/
STRUCTU RE/
• other m igration (e.g., education) ROLES
STRUCTU RAL
• shopping/visiting/selling
CHANGE
• Non-agricultural
• Socio-econom ic PRODUCTION 2 em ploym ent
Structure/ • upstream linkages (inputs)
Relations • downstream linkages • Urban services
(processing, m anufacturing)
• Rural Econom y • Production supplies
(Sectors) COMMODITIES 3
• inputs • Non-durable and
• Rural Production • consum er non-durables/durables durable goods
Regim es • rural products
• Markets for selling
• Natural CAPITAL/IN COME rural products
4
Environm ent • value added
& Resources • savings/credit • Processing/
• migrant rem ittances manufacturing
• Infrastructure
Built • Information on
Environm ent INFORMATION 5 em ploym ent,
• production/sales/prices production, prices,
• welfare/social/political welfare services
• employ ment
• Agrarian reform POLICY INTERVENTION S • market centers
• Agriculture intensification/ • com mercial outlets
diversification • Roads/transportation • urban services
• Cooperatives • Electricity • banking/credit
• Enviromental program s • Communications • urban infrastructure
• Irrigation, storage facilities and • Seaports/airports • com munications
Other rural infrastructure services

12. FURTHER AREAS FOR
CONSIDERATION
A number of key issues need further examination, viz:
1. Implications of rural-urban migration and counter-
urbanisation on land and agrarian reform.
2. The Gender dimensions of RUMP.
3. Provision of robust social infrastructure to meet rural-
urban migration and demographic changes.
4. Social and economic capital value and costs of rural-
urban migration.
5. The implications/impact of globalisation on RUM
6. Where is Best/Good Practice in addressing RUMP – Can
SA follow and adapt the development path of the North?