As poverty becomes increasingly concentrated in urban areas of the developing world, the need to access new sources of finance for slum upgrading, resettlement, and infrastructure provision becomes correspondingly acute. This is particularly so for organizations of the urban poor as they enter into collaborative arrangements with the state, and with the private sector, in order to scale up settlement solutions that work for the poor as well as for urban centres as a whole. It is now widely recognized that the mobilization of local resources provides the only sustainable long-term option for the kinds of development that are needed. However the means of achieving this are considerably less clear, particularly given the complexity of economic, financial, social, and political relationships involved. Starting from conventional small-scale grant giving to nascent NGOs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Homeless International has broadened its methodology to include collaborative design of new financial products including an international guarantee fund and the Community Led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF). CLIFF provides loan capital for bridge financing large-scale developments which are prioritised, designed, and managed by organizations of the urban poor. Whilst the developments that have taken place have largely evolved organically and in response to the growing capacity of Homeless International's long-term partners, the road has proved challenging and complex, incorporating an increasing number of actors and spanning a local to global continuum of institutional arrangements and resource bases. One of the major aims of the book is to share experiences with other agencies that may be interested in building on the lessons learnt in order to create a wider collaborative capacity to bridge the financing gaps identified.