In the debates on making urban management and local governance more effective in the developing world, a major hallmark is the realignment between government, the private sector and civil society. Governments should concentrate on creating the institutional framework that enables private sector actors, both commercial and non-profit actors, to directly provide housing and urban services.

Within these debates, much attention is paid to the process of enablement, encompassing market enablement, political enablement and community enablement. In the literature, market enablement has probably received most attention (c.f. neo-liberal reforms, privatisation and public-private partnerships), while discussions on political enablement are also extensive (c.f. decentralisation, good governance). Community enablement has been least discussed, although there is an increasing literature on community participation in urban management and participatory planning (Helmsing, 2000; Stoker, 2000). 

It refers to a strategy adopted by central and local government to co-ordinate and facilitate the efforts of community based organisations to initiate, plan and implement their own projects according to principles of selfdetermination, self-organisation and selfmanagement (Burgess et al, 1997: 57). However, national governments show a variable commitment to implementing policies that promote the idea of community enablement, such as increased popular participation and decentralisation towards local level substructures. A major reason is the re-alignment it brings about in local community empowerment, and reducing the power of political leaders and government officials.