Rapid urbanisation across the developing world is creating huge opportunities – but also leaving increasing numbers of people living in urban poverty, with hundreds of millions of people living in slum conditions.

Massive government and aid agency initiatives have too often failed to improve the lives and built environments of the urban poor, creating deepening tensions in rapidly expanding cities.

In this talk, Ruth McLeod will explore how a movement of practical radicals is creating an alternative approach to improving some of the world’s most deprived urban areas, using financial and technical skills to reshape communities as powerful actors in the effort to secure and improve their own livelihoods and urban environments.

As founder of the innovative INGO Homeless International (now named Reall), a pioneer of womens’ construction cooperatives in Jamaica, and more recently as a UN adviser on slum upgrading, Ruth has worked in and around informal settlements for most of her career.

Join the Young Fabian Finance and International Networls for an insightful and entertaining account of her work, and of the movement which is changing the face of urban development and international assistance.