This is a report based on a seminar hosted by One World Action in May 2001 which brought together some 50 participants- practitioners from local and international non-governmental organisations working in Angola, and representatives from European government agencies, research institutions and private companies. The central purpose of the seminar was to discuss the challenge of ‘how to strengthen civil society and local democracy in situations of urban poverty where the poor lack access to basic services and the political influence to effect change?’ The experiences presented at the seminar were from the Luanda Urban Poverty Programme (LUPP) in particular.