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What in the world is an Advanced Locality Management?

A little-known BMC initiative, explained

By Janey

It has been a while since our last blog post, especially on the topic of waste separation. I admit that this is because it has been very difficult to figure out the best way to move forward from our initial pilot. We learned very quickly that the particular apartment we were working with was uninterested in further sustainable waste management efforts, so we spent a considerable amount of time speaking with multiple partners and stakeholders, trying to figure out what our strategy for the remainder of the year would be. The pilot was extremely eye-opening, but in terms of concrete next steps, the situation was as nebulous as can be. 

After some secondary research, Rhythm had uncovered an interesting phenomenon that we had not heard much about before: Advanced Locality Management, or ALMs. The information on the MCGM website regarding ALMs is not very comprehensive, but essentially, ALMs are a form of local governance that MCGM initiated in 1998 as an effort to have "MCGM at your doorstep", as Rajkumar Sharma, the leader of an ALM in Chembur, puts it. (More on him and his efforts later!) In return for regular meetings with the municipality, as well as attention on a priority basis, ALMs would take responsibility for the cleanliness of their locality, and one of their foremost reasons for being was to ensure source segregation of waste. They could also take initiatives in other areas such as composting, neighborhood beautification, spot fixing, and more, but waste segregation was essential. Any citizen could start an ALM with several buildings or bungalows in his or her neighborhood, and it would be a simple process to get the ALM registered at the ward office as a private trust or association. 

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Above: This plaque indicates the area covered by the Mr. Sharma's ALM in the Diamond Garden area of Chembur

We spoke with Subhash Patil, a special officer on duty for ALMs in order to learn more about this little-publicized MCGM initiative. He mentioned that currently, only 5% of Mumbai is covered by ALMs, which only generally cover an area of about 0.5-1 square kilometer each. According to Mr. Patil, 272 ALMs exist currently throughout numerous wards, but some wards have none. ALMs mostly publicize their activity through posters and there is no standardized 'training' for new ALMs.

The ALM concept has been lauded by international organizations all over, including the World Bank and UNDP. Mr. Sharma showed me a 'visitors' book' where many people had written praises about the work he had been doing in Diamond Garden to beautify his lane. Mr. Sharma insisted that his ALM was not solely for waste separation, but also for community strengthening. Throughout his 10+ years of managing and leading an ALM, he learned that, without including the community and making people feel as if they were truly part of the ALM, nothing could be executed, and logistically, there would be no funds to execute any changes. To this end, he carries out many symbolic activities such as flag hoisting by elder members and fun fairs to get people to interact with each other and understand the importance of clean neighborhoods. 

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Above: Reflections from a visitor from the World Bank in 2001

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Above: Mr. Sharma shows me pictures events he's organized to increase community engagement

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Above: Results of ALM work in beautifying street lanes

In theory, it seems, the ALM concept is an excellent program. It encourages citizen engagement both with the municipality as well as with one's own neighbors. It allows citizens to interact with city authorities on a monthly basis and in return for ALMs' work, they receive priority status from the city. Citizens then feel a sense of ownership that leads to more action - 'shram dan' (or donating one's labor) as Mr. Sharma puts it. 

In practice, however, Mr. Sharma has seen multiple pitfalls. Challenges he mentioned include:

  • Lack of long-lasting institutional support. The ALM concept was a great success when it first began in 1998 because ward commissioners and higher authorities in MCGM were enthusiastic about it. They readily opened their schedules for ALM meetings, followed up with ALM activities, and responded to ALM concerns with haste. However, when enthusiastic individuals are later replaced by less interested ones, the program naturally deteriorates and ALMs no longer receive the attention they need. Further, there is a lack of documentation of ALM work that makes it difficult for new authorities to continue supporting the program.
  • Lack of community interest if an individual is taking initiative. It is difficult for people to feel engaged with ALMs when they see that one individual is "doing all the work." People easily slip back and lose interest, allowing work to fall on one individual. This is demotivating for the individual who carries the burden. Mr. Sharma has dealt with this problem in the past by constantly carrying out community engagement activities.
  • New redevelopments and mobile citizens. Mr. Sharma mentioned that he has not had a community event in a long time due to new developments in his lane. These developments naturally lead to people leaving homes they used to occupy, and the ALMs strength in numbers has decreased over the past several years. 

The challenges, therefore, are on both sides. Improvements must be made institutionally by the MCGM, but also on the citizen side.

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Above: An agenda prepared by Mr. Sharma for a meeting with the ward commissioner (a meeting he said he usually has to fight very hard for). ALMANAC is a federation of ALMs in Chembur that Mr. Sharma leads.

Though we have several more ALM visits to make before charting out a new strategy, we feel that working with ALMs to help 'revive' the program might be an interesting avenue for the team to consider in order to scale waste separation. It may not be feasible to make large structural changes to the program, or convince ward officers to be more interested in their ALMs' work, but I do believe that simple steps including increased publicity of ALM activities and how to get involved may be very helpful. For instance, Mr. Sharma mentioned that he tried creating a website to better document ALM efforts throughout the city, but the project fell through as he lacked time and expertise. As we meet other ALMs, we will definitely keep in mind what efforts have been made by people trying to pump life into this program, and how our team could be a part of those initiatives in order to spread source segregation of waste.