Cities Alliance Consultative Group Meeting

• Agenda

• Participants List

• 1. Cities Alliance Evaluation

• 2. Emerging Lessons

• 3. Proposed 2003 Work Programme

• 4. CLIFF Presentation

• 5. Cities Alliance Finances

• 6. Pledging for 2003

• 7. Financing Facilities

• 8. Dissemination Strategy

• 9. Partnership Matters

• 10. Next Meeting of the Consultative Group

The Consultative Group meeting was chaired by Anna Tibaijuka and subsequently Daniel Biau of UN-Habitat and by John Flora of the World Bank. The Co-Chairs began by warmly welcoming the Asian Development Bank to the Consultative Group. The issues raised in the Co-Chairs' opening remarks are incorporated in the relevant sections of the summary below. A message from Sid-Ali Ketrandji, Chairman of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat, was read by Anna Tibaijuka, expressing his regrets at not being able to attend this year's CG meeting and offering a few observations on the agenda, which are also incorporated in the relevant sections below. The meeting's agenda and the list of participants are attached.

1. Cities Alliance Evaluation
A draft of the Independent Evaluation report of the Cities Alliance prepared by the University of London's Development Planning Unit (DPU), which had been circulated to Consultative Group members in advance of the meeting, was discussed at length following a summary presentation of key elements of the report findings by DPU officials (Professors Nigel Harris and Patrick Wakely). The Evaluation had been commissioned at the December 2001 meeting of the Consultative Group (Kolkata, India), under terms of reference that stipulated that members be given opportunity to provide feedback on the draft evaluation report during the Brussels CG meeting. The final report is scheduled to be issued by DPU and circulated to members before the end of 2002. As requested by the Chairman of UN-Habitat's Governing Council in his above-cited letter, UN-Habitat will also distribute the final report to the Committee of Permanent Representatives in Nairobi.

Noted below are: i) a summary of the DPU presentation to the CG (a copy of the PowerPoint presentation was made available at the meeting, and is available upon request from the Secretariat); ii) feedback to DPU on factual information or conclusions presented in the Evaluation; and iii) comments by CG, PAB and Secretariat members on the issues and recommendations raised in the draft report. Decisions on actions in response to the Evaluation were not made at the meeting, but will be considered after the final report is received.

The draft Evaluation Report was generally found to be thought-provoking and valuable, and its praise for the Alliance's achievements was echoed by almost all members in the discussion that followed.
 

Summary of DPU presentation

• While it was determined to be too early to judge the impact of the Alliance's work, the evaluators sought to assess its relevance, efficacy and efficiency.

• The Alliance was found to have developed very swiftly as a mechanism to change the climate of opinion on urban poverty through slum upgrading and city development strategies, as well as a vehicle for funding innovative proposals in these two fields. Areas that were deemed to need strengthening include the Alliance's role as a 'learning alliance', requiring greater involvement of the CG in evaluation, dissemination and capacity building. Local Government Associations (LGA) should be central to these efforts, given the vast expertise and experience of their members and their direct links to cities – the target audience of the Alliance.

• Fostering in-country Cities Alliances to support local evaluation, dissemination and capacity building, was recommended for scaling up the impact of the Alliance. The evaluators also called for a review of CDSs (not only Alliance-supported) to identify what has been useful and sustainable. Also noted was the need to continue attaching greater importance to the quality and innovativeness of Alliance-funded activities than to the volume of proposals funded.

Comments on facts and conclusions of draft Evaluation Report

• The World Bank clarified a misperception in the draft report regarding the "Exit" of the Cities Alliance from the World Bank's Development Grant Facility (DGF), that appears to imply a World Bank exit from the Cities Alliance. The World Bank Co-Chair clarified that DGF is just an internal funding mechanism of the World Bank, and if this funding is not available after June 2004, other sources of funding would be used for the World Bank membership. The Co-Chair stressed that "the World Bank has never been more committed to the urban agenda and to the Cities Alliance". Likewise, the World Bank clarified its satisfaction with the location of the Secretariat at the World Bank, stating that "World Bank management does not want the Secretariat to move". The World Bank noted, however, that it would not object to relocation of the Secretariat if that was the decision of the Consultative Group. UN-HABITAT indicated that it was not in favour of a relocation.

• It was clarified that the CG does not consider it a conflict of interest if individual PAB members are involved in the identification and/or implementation of Cities Alliance activities. A conflict of interest would only arise if PAB members became in any way involved in the review of proposals and recommendations regarding which proposals should be funded. Since PAB members are not involved in this review process, this issue should not arise.

• It was clarified that the PAB's role in organising and leading the Kolkata Public Policy Forum (PPF) was opportunistic rather than a "spin off" of the responsibility of the PPF from the CG to the PAB.

• The Alliance's direct audience is not cities' poor but mayors, city managers, NGOs, CBOs and slum dwellers associations who, in turn, deal directly with poor citizens.

Comments on issues and recommendations raised in draft Evaluation Report

Consultative Group comments:
There was general agreement with several of the key recommendations and observations of the draft DPU report:

• While it is too early to measure most impacts of the Cities Alliance, as one member observed, "We are on the way, on the right track, with no major accidents so far".

• Strengthen and expand the role of LGAs. A LGA member observed, "We feel we have been listened to. The recommendations are very good. We hope the report is a start, not the end".

• Monitoring and evaluation frameworks and indicators need to be developed. CDS indicators should focus not just on short-term outcomes, but in a manner that measures the long-term impacts of a CDS.

• The role of the Alliance as a "learning alliance" (including a "self reflection emphasis") was accepted as an important dimension of the Cities Alliance.

• Members of the Alliance have the key role in information dissemination, and the Secretariat has the key role for distilling the lessons learned.

• Links between CDS and slum upgrading should be strengthened.

There was divergence with other of the key recommendations and observations of the draft DPU report:

• While capacity building may fall within the scope of a specific Alliance project, several members expressed reservations about "capacity building" becoming a specific objective of the Alliance, as this would duplicate the role of other organisations and their programmes.

• Members expressed disagreement that the Alliance should focus primarily on "the poorest residents of the poorest cities in the poorest countries", but rather continue its approach of working with committed cities engaged in poverty reduction.

• Several members expressed reservations with the proposed emphasis on creating "local" or "in-country" cities alliances, which might inadvertently substitute for existing local mechanisms, and be unsustainable.

• There was agreement there should be an increased focus on quality of proposals funded, but it should be members, not just the Secretariat, that should take responsibility. As one member noted, there could be conflict of interest concerns if the Secretariat were too active in helping prepare proposals which it then reviews.

• Concern was expressed that neither the Secretariat, nor LGAs have the capacity to engage in staff exchanges given their very small secretariats.

Other comments on topics addressed by the draft Evaluation Report included:

• The establishment of the Steering Committee has been useful, but increased information on its work was recommended.

• There is no particular justification and advantage for rotating Chairmanship.

• There should be increased attention to gender issues and local economic development in the design of CDSs.

• CDS design should not become prescriptive, remaining flexible to respond to the local needs and conditions.

• There is a need to continually invest in the "political commitment" of CG member organisations to the Alliance objectives.

• The implications of proposed responses to the Evaluation need to be studied, including the impact on the capacity of the Cities Alliance Secretariat.

• There was extended discussion on the need for increased Core financial commitments so as to maintain balance with Non-Core funding; on the governance of Non-Core facilities, and; on the role of the two founding partners of the Alliance—UN-HABITAT and World Bank. Most Members expressed strong satisfaction with the Alliance's operation to date, were comfortable with the current balance of Core and Non-Core funding, and discouraged any deviation from the Alliance's current efforts.

Policy Advisory Board comments
The PAB viewed the Evaluation Report as a valuable contribution to the Alliance's governing system. PAB members raised a number of issues in a written report to the CG, which was distributed at the meeting, is attached to this report, and is summarised below.

• Clarification was sought on the role of the PAB in Public Policy Forums, and in particular that already being considered for 2003 in Brazil.

• Doubt was cast on the value of staff exchanges between LGAs, donor and Secretariat staff as the best means to strengthen the capacities of LGAs in developing countries.

• The PAB encouraged greater devolution to the regions of proposal identification and preparation, evaluation and capacity building.

• With the review and selection of proposals handled by the Secretariat and ultimately the Steering Committee, the suggestion of a conflict of interest with the PAB was considered misplaced. Members' involvement in activities aimed at building networks of stakeholders active in city management and slum dweller empowerment, and in familiarising these networks with the Alliance's objectives and procedures falls within their mandate and their comparative advantage, and does not represent a conflict of interest.

• The PAB reemphasised the need to establish regional forums linking networks of stakeholders, cities and countries, to serve as a learning space, and a means through which more programmatic rather than project-focused orientations might be encouraged.

In closing, the PAB informed the CG of a meeting held in London just prior to this CG meeting to set up a task force as a proactive international mechanism to develop alternatives to forced evictions. That meeting recommended that UN-Habitat initiate an international task force as part of the Global Campaign for Secure Tenure, to focus on alternative solutions to unlawful evictions. In this connection, the PAB encouraged further consideration of a proposal to set up an early warning system to identify alternatives and support the urban poor and city governments in negotiating resolutions before forced evictions occur.

Secretariat comments
The Secretariat welcomed the observations made by CG and PAB members and the rich and frank discussion around the draft Evaluation Report. It stressed three points in particular which will remain critical to the Alliance's success:

• Focusing on results—the Alliance objectives of scaling up, increasing coherence of effort and linking to investments—are central to achieving results called for in the Cities Without Slums Action Plan;

• This requires maintaining continuity of effort and a long-term view; and

• Focusing on country development outcomes, with cities and countries taking the lead in setting impact targets.

Additional Comments
Members were invited by the Co-Chair to send any additional comments on the draft Evaluation Report to the Secretariat. The Secretariat was requested to forward all relevant comments to the consultants to facilitate preparation of the final report.

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2. Emerging Lessons

Secretariat staff made presentations of emerging lessons from Alliance work on city development strategies (CDS), scaling up slum upgrading and financial services for the urban poor:

City Development Strategies
Peter Palesch highlighted some of the key lessons learned to date from CDS:
 

• the CDS process must focus on results: participants should view the implementation, rather than the development of the CDS, as their primary goal.

• while there is no single approach to a CDS, since each city has its own challenges and opportunities, results from ongoing and completed CDSs suggest there are four key building blocks: assessment (state of the city/region); long term vision; strategy focused on results and accountability; and implementation plan with monitoring mechanisms.

• CDS outcomes include policy and institutional reforms, investment programmes and monitoring mechanisms for poverty reduction, economic growth and local government performance.

In discussing what have emerged as essential elements of a CDS, particular significance was attached to the promotion of a new type of citizenry participation: one where citizens are involved in goal setting, planning and decision making, in the generation of knowledge and new ideas; and where the poor are enabled to help themselves.

Lessons learned were illustrated through three Alliance-funded CDS activities, in Aden, Lima and city-regions in China. An overview of Alliance's CDS portfolio since its inception highlighted the increase in Alliance contributions to CDSs. The Alliance has supported over 70 CDS cities so far, with contributions reaching US$7.1 million in FY03. The presentation concluded with an analysis of the Alliance's response to the challenges set out in 2002 for CDSs and proposed strategic initiatives for 2003, which include: a systematic evaluation of the CDS experience to date; mainstreaming CDSs within the Alliance donor community, and; focusing on the demands of scaling up and on sustainability.

Citywide Upgrading
William Cobbett presented an analysis of emerging activities in support of the Cities Without Slums MDG target, many of which have been initiated by the Cities Alliance and its partners. The increasing number of independent actions were also commended as a real signal of success as the target becomes more widely accepted and adopted.

Following a review of the Alliance's slum upgrading portfolio in terms of policy as well as operational support, the presentation focused on the lessons learned and their implications for local and national government, as well as for international development agencies. The challenge of scaling up upgrading implies moving beyond projects, treating slum upgrading as core business of cities, and reflecting this in city budgets. National governments' major contribution is the provision of a sound and consistent policy framework. International development agencies can assist greatly through focusing on providing support to those cities engaged in partnerships with slum dwellers through longer-term programme support. The presentation concluded with the identification of knowledge and policy gaps, the most significant of which related to anticipating and providing for rapid urban growth without new slum formation, as well as improving the Alliance's capacity to learn from the cities which have been most successful in meeting their goals.

Financial Services
Mohini Malhotra outlined the Alliance's strategy to date on integrating private sector finance into its agenda for slum upgrading and CDS. The Alliance's focus has been on financial services for the urban poor: responding to both client demand, as access to housing finance is a key constraint to sustainable slum upgrading, and to the growing capacity of private sector financial institutions with experience in serving the urban poor who are now looking to expand their services to include incremental housing loans, tailored to the progressive way that poor people build.

The learning initiative on housing finance for the poor, launched by the Alliance in partnership with interested networks of private financial institutions, has aimed to better understand emerging practice and how financial institutions, governments and donors might best support it. Experiences in this area are being analysed with a view to scale and financial sustainability.

Emerging policy recommendations for governments and donors to assist financial sector institutions to scale up such efforts were discussed. These included, among others, making land available and providing some security of tenure, and supporting those financial institutions with a demonstrated track record to access medium term sources of capital, often not currently available in the local capital markets, so that they can make longer term loans for incremental housing. The early results of this research have already fostered additional investments by private financial institutions. These results will be disseminated by the Alliance through the CIVIS series and other mediums, and are expected to lay the background for the next Public Policy Forum.

Outcomes of Discussion:
The Secretariat was commended for the depth and strength of its analyses, and encouraged to follow up on its offer to package the presentations for broader dissemination, such as for members' annual meetings involving their field staff.

Responding to the interest in the linkages of Alliance activities to investments, the Secretariat shared the results of an initial analysis which point to a total of US$3.8 billion in investments directly linked to Cities Alliance activities—US$2.3 billion in World Bank investments, and US$1.5 billion in investments made by other partners. Moving forward, it was agreed that monitoring these investment linkages, as well as the impacts of Alliance activities on Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) would continue to be of great importance.

Considerable interest and discussion emerged around several specific issues and knowledge gaps, including: tenure security, strategies to prevent the growth of new slums, municipal finance and the development of local capital markets, and urban environmental issues. The ADB invited suggestions from CG members of knowledge gaps that might be filled through ADB assistance. The World Bank announced that it is hosting an urban research symposium in December 2002 that aims to identify an agenda for future analytical work to fill knowledge gaps.

The Secretariat presentations are available on the Members Page of the Cities Alliance website.

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3. Proposed 2003 Work Programme

The Secretariat presented the proposed FY03 Work Programme, as well as summary tables illustrating Alliance-funded activities by region and by type of activity. One-page summaries of each proposal were reviewed with the CG. Two positive trends were highlighted: (i) more proposals being co-sponsored by multiple Alliance partners; and (ii) a clear emphasis on quality over quantity. The Secretariat also pointed out that a number of proposals had just been submitted in the days before the meeting and that these would now be reviewed and then processed for approvals electronically.

Feedback from the CG on the proposed FY03 work programme raised a number of issues:

• While in most cases local authorities originate proposals to the Alliance, there are cases in which national governments do so because of the nature of the policy issues being addressed, such as in the case of Cambodia's proposal for Improving Tenure Security and New Housing Options for the Urban Poor.

• With respect to the proposal for Overcoming Obstacles to Scaleability of Housing Microfinance for the Poor, SIDA noted it is sponsoring microfinance for housing programmes in Central America. With respect to the South Africa Cities Network proposal, SIDA encouraged linkages with development programmes it is supporting in two of South Africa's largest cities. SIDA underscored the value of continuing to exchange this type of information so as to improve coherence of effort.

• FMCU-UTO stressed that local authority organisations should be requested to identify local authority representatives in activities such as the meeting on evictions which was held in London on 4-5 October, 2002.

• Members welcomed and made several suggestions for improving the one-page proposal summaries distributed in advance of the meeting. Members were also encouraged to visit the Alliance website for full details on each proposal.

Decisions:
The FY03 Work Programme was approved. The CG also endorsed the Steering Committee's recommendation to approve the South Africa Cities Support and Learning Network (SACN) proposal subject to two conditions: (1) that the Alliance's contribution should be used primarily to finance programme outputs and not SACN salaries (these and other SACN operating costs should not exceed 10 to 20 percent of Alliance funding); and (2) that the proposed activities should lead to clear deliverables in the form of key elements of CDS and/or citywide upgrading strategies for the cities participating in the SACN. It was stressed that Alliance support needed to result in programme outputs and impacts related to CDS and citywide slum upgrading. The proposal's submitters would accordingly be asked to submit revised documentation and a new budget reflecting this emphasis on deliverable outputs which would be incorporated into the partnership agreement.

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4. CLIFF Presentation

Due to CG Members' interest in the Community-Led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF), the Chair requested a brief presentation on CLIFF. Ruth McCleod of Homeless International (the lead implementing partner for CLIFF) updated the CG on the mechanisms being developed for the Facility and on the databases and knowledge of local settlements that are being gathered in the process. Through strategic support for housing and infrastructure projects that have the potential for scaling-up, CLIFF will help to catalyse slum upgrading. An estimated 6.8 million people are expected to benefit from improved sanitation and housing made possible through CLIFF. The CLIFF project has been designed with a mobilisation period and three implementation phases, to enable key stakeholders and funding sources to review progress and to scale up funding as the project proceeds. The presentation (on CD-ROM) is to be made available to the Secretariat, to be posted on the Alliance website and made available upon request.

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5. Cities Alliance Finances

The Secretariat presented the Cities Alliance financial reporting for FY02, which had been distributed to members in advance of the meeting, and noted that the financial information is also summarised in the 2002 Annual Report of the Cities Alliance. The Co-Chair of the Steering Committee also briefed members on its review of the Secretariat budget proposed for FY03, and noted that the Steering Committee recommended approval of a US$1,748,000 budget for FY03. This included a commitment of US$1,100,000 from Core funds, which was US$100,000 less than had been originally proposed, as the Steering Committee recommended that US$100,000 budgeted for "Knowledge Generation & Learning" be approved as a separate Core allocation rather than as part of the Secretariat budget, so as to be more visible as a programme component.

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6. Pledging for 2003

Approximately US$11.5 million in pledges by Alliance members were announced during the meeting. In announcing their commitments for 2003, Alliance members voiced their strong satisfaction with the value and direction of the Cities Alliance, as well as with the work of the Secretariat.

Canada reaffirmed its continued support for the Alliance, while noting that its contribution could not be confirmed until the end of the calendar year.

France announced that in addition to its ongoing Core fund contributions, it intended to make a Non-Core contribution, pending budgetary confirmation at the end of the calendar year.

Germany, while awaiting the final outcome of its country's budgetary process, announced its intention to renew its original four-year commitment (2000-2003) at an equal if not higher amount to Core funds than committed to date. It also indicated a willingness to discuss continuation of its existing in-kind contribution—the secondment of a CDS Advisor to the World Bank, earmarked for the Alliance. Germany encouraged the CG to consider how parallel contributions of members can be made more visible.

Italy announced a Core contribution of at least US$250,000 for 2003, pending completion of its internal budget process, and noted that it was able to increase its actual contribution for 2002 from US$250,000 to €420,000. Italy also indicated its hopes to finalise a possible Non-Core contribution for urban poverty reduction in India (estimated at US$10 million).

Japan announced its intention to contribute US$1 million equivalent for 2003, which would include a US$750,000 Non-Core contribution to support: city-to-city knowledge sharing activities; city-specific CDS activities in Asia linked with Japanese development cooperation; and; development of CDS impact indicators and guidelines for future Asian CDSs.

Netherlands indicated its intent to pledge US$250,000 in Core funds for 2003, and anticipated that its change in government could signal a focus on Africa, such that it might consider supporting proposals that may emerge from the Cities Without Slums Africa Facility. The Netherlands also announced that plans are underway for one of the PAB members to brief the Dutch government on the Cities Alliance.

Norway pledged to contribute US$1.3-1.4 million for 2003, a similar amount to its 2002 commitment which included a Non-Core contribution of US$675,000 equivalent to launch the Cities Without Slums Africa Facility. Subsequent to the meeting, Norway announced that it would complete its 2002 contribution with a US$250,000 Non-Core contribution to close the financing gap for the South Africa Cities Network proposal (for which Core funding of US$500,000 was approved during the meeting), and an additional amount of approximately US$230,000 for increased Core funding, bringing its 2002 Core total to approximately US$480,000.

Sweden indicated that it had completed its commitment of US$250,000 for 2002 and is planning to process a new three-year commitment starting in 2003 at SEK 3 million per year (approx. US$320,000) in Core funds. SIDA also indicated it is considering a US$2 million Non-Core contribution in support of CLIFF, and expressed its interest in supporting the Norwegian facility for upgrading in Africa, as well as exploring possibilities for broader collaboration in SIDA's own guarantee facility. SIDA's budget is maintained primarily at the country level, so would require Non-Core commitments to scale up its funding for the Alliance. In view of the number of Non-Core activities under development, Sweden offered to consider providing in-kind support (JPO) to the Secretariat to handle a growing volume of activities.

United Kingdom renewed its strong commitment to Core funds by pledging US$1 million per year for an additional three-year period (2003-05).

United States announced its intention to renew its existing contribution to the Alliance's Core funds, as it awaits final budgetary allocations from Congress to formalise its commitment. The U.S. also committed US$2 million to launch a Community Water and Sanitation Facility, which it wished to be considered a Cities Alliance facility. In addition, the U.S. pledged US$100,000 in support of the Cities Without Slums Africa Facility launched by Norway, and reaffirmed its continuing support for CLIFF.

Asian Development Bank, which joined the Alliance with a US$250,000 commitment to Core funds for 2002, in addition to US$420,000 for parallel activities, indicated that it would be submitting a request to ADB senior management for a renewal of its membership for 2003. It would look to the Secretariat to assist in this regard.

World Bank announced it would continue to provide Core funds of at least US$1.7 million per year, and hoped to increase this amount. It also referred to existing parallel contributions that are not reflected in the budget, including its increasing activities in the area of city poverty strategies—in effect, city CDSs—which the World Bank is funding.

UN-HABITAT confirmed that it would contribute approximately US$300,000 this year towards the Secretariat costs.

UNEP confirmed its intention to join and contribute to the Cities Alliance, noting that the new urban environmental strategy currently being developed within UNEP calls for its involvement in the Cities Alliance.

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7. Financing Facilities

A Cities Without Slums Facility for Africa and a Community Water and Sanitation Facility were announced by Norway and the United States, respectively, details of which had been shared with members prior to the meeting. Both facilities aim to support the achievement of Millennium Development Goals, particularly Target 10 on safe drinking water and sanitation, and Target 11—to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

The Cities Without Slums Facility for Africa is designed to address the need identified at the CG's 2001 meeting to expand and strengthen Alliance activities in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It aims to address the underlying conditions for scaling up the attack on urban poverty in the region by supporting the efforts of SSA partners (national and local authorities, civil society) to design and implement programmes of action, in accordance with the Cities Without Slums action plan. The Facility would support the efforts of organisations of urban poor and local authorities to build their capacities to be full partners in this development process.

The Cities Without Slums Facility will provide Alliance members with a vehicle for earmarking assistance to SSA within the framework of the Alliance's existing strategic approach, work programming, governance and reporting protocols. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched the Facility with a NOK5 million commitment for the first year (est. US$675,000). An initial funding target of US$4 million has been proposed for the Facility for the first two years, to help form the foundations for scaling up. Norway announced that the facility will be administered through the normal Cities Alliance governance mechanisms, as for Core funding proposals.

The Community Water and Sanitation Facility (CWSF) within the Cities Alliance, launched by the United States, is designed to support community-initiated construction of improved water and sanitation services in slum communities, encourage risk sharing and innovative financing, and advance collective know-how. Through outreach to private sector businesses, foundations, NGOs, CBOs, bilateral donors, and multi-lateral development banks, the CWSF expects to mobilise significant resources to support the efforts of slum dwellers and municipal governments to scale-up improvements in water access and sanitation. USAID support for the facility is a result of the United States commitment towards safe and accessible water for all people that was announced at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Launched with a US$2 million contribution from USAID for its first year, CWSF has a funding target of US$4-10 million over five years. Additional funding is being sought from other Alliance members, private businesses and foundations. CWSF will focus on communities and cities committed to citywide upgrading and that are prepared to set specific local impact targets in support of the Millennium Development Goal, improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. CWSF will provide Cities Alliance members with a vehicle for channeling their assistance to water and sanitation within the framework of the Alliance's existing strategic approach to slum upgrading.

Discussion:
Both of these facilities, which will be administered as Non-Core contributions to the Cities Alliance Multi-Donor Trust Fund, were broadly endorsed by Alliance members.

In advance of the meeting, the Secretariat had circulated a short note that described the guidelines it was using in accordance with the Charter to guide its discussions with Members on facilities.

In his above-cited letter the Chairman of the Governing Council of UN-HABITAT wondered whether a proliferation of such type of facilities was the best way to support investments at community level and expressed his concern regarding the possible duplication of efforts, e.g. between the Cities without Slums Facility for Africa and the global Slum Upgrading Facility under preparation in response to GA resolution 56/206.

During the discussion on this topic, the UN-HABITAT Co-Chair proposed three parameters for "financing facilities":

1. that they do not create independent or parallel governance structures which would undermine the integrity of the Cities Alliance;

2. that resources should be pooled together as much as possible in order to avoid the proliferation of such facilities; and

3. that these facilities do not put undue pressure on the Secretariat in terms of additional reporting and administration.

The World Bank Co-Chair suggested that:

1. 1. the integrity of the original arrangements as expressed in the Charter have served the Alliance well and should be maintained;

2. 2. there should not be additional restrictions regarding the need for additional management mechanisms for new facilities; and

3. 3. the World Bank welcomed new facilities which bring additional resources towards meeting common objectives.

Bilateral comments on this issue included:

• Facilities proposed so far are welcome and should help the Alliance in supporting action on the ground.

• Facilities need to be viewed from a needs perspective. There is room enough for Non Core initiatives. The challenge is to see how they can complement each other.

• There is a need to recognise that Members' ability to access funding for the Alliance is limited since many funds have a regional focus or other restrictions established by parliaments. Facilities should not be viewed as weakening but rather aim at strengthening the Alliance..

• Non-Core funding has already allowed in one case an expansion into "major scaling-up activities that would not have been possible through Core". Knowledge has been gained through this successful experience, which has in turn impacted on bilateral programmes. The "promise set out in the Charter" is being delivered. "We should stick with the path we have been on, which should lead to even more significant results in the future."

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8. Dissemination Strategy

The Issues Paper outlining the Alliance's Communications and Dissemination Strategy which was circulated in advance of the meeting, formed the basis of the discussion. The following are among the points raised by CG members:

• The outline is a good basis to go forward.

• The idea of using Alliance members' dissemination magazines and newsletters was welcome.

• Support was expressed for partnering with the L'Institut des Sciences et des Techniques de L'Équipment et de L' Environnement Pour le Développement (ISTED) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), making use of their well developed capacities to reach urban development practitioners worldwide. However the financial implications would have to be reviewed.

• Making Alliance information easily accessible in multiple languages was endorsed, but it was requested that this be costed with options and priorities established accordingly.

• The impact and effectiveness of the Alliance in spreading knowledge should be assessed, by monitoring how Alliance experiences are incorporated in PRSPs and the extent to which they lead to investment follow-up.

• Deeper engagement with the media was supported, and a call made for a high-profile, media-oriented event, perhaps to be timed with the fifth anniversary of the Cities Alliance. The Africities Summit scheduled for December 2003 in Yaounde was proposed as an opportune forum for Alliance engagement..

• There was some concern that relying on the monitoring and evaluation capacities of member organisations might not be practical.

On behalf of the associations of local authorities, IULA expressed its desire to become more pro-active and involved in dissemination. It would follow up with the Secretariat on ways forward. Similarly, ISTED confirmed its interest in contributing to the identification, adaptation and translation of materials for dissemination, offering its Villes en Développement newsletter as one venue for outreach, particularly to help reach Sub-Saharan Africa. UN-Habitat also confirmed its willingness to publish and disseminate Alliance material through Habitat Debate.

Decisions:
It was agreed that, as is proposed in the issues paper, the Secretariat should focus on content and engage the dissemination and communications capacities of Alliance members.

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9. Partnership Matters

(i) Selection of 2003 Steering Committee members
With the expiration of the U.K.'s seat on the Steering Committee, Members caucused to determine which bilateral representative might replace the U.K. on the Committee.

Decision:
It was decided that the U.S. would take over the U.K.'s seat on the Steering Committee, a two-year appointment to become effective from this meeting until the conclusion of the CG meeting in 2004. The next meeting of the Steering Committee could take place in the spring of 2003.

(ii) PAB Membership
As agreed at the 2001 CG Meeting (Rome) and discussed again in 2002 (Kolkata), two additional PAB members from the Arab States and Eastern Europe were to be nominated. The credentials of the potential candidates that had been identified by various Alliance members were discussed by the CG. Consideration was given to maintaining a gender balance within the PAB.

Decision:
The CG recommended that the Co-Chairs invite Mr. Yousef Hiasat of Jordan and Ms. Ana Vasilache of Romania as the two new PAB members. It was agreed that the current PAB members should have the option of stepping down after their two-year commitment, but that only two members would rotate at once. It was suggested that this rotation could begin after the CG's next meeting in 2003.

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10. Next Meeting of the Consultative Group

The CG confirmed that its next meeting will be held in October 2003, in São Paulo, Brazil. Discussion focused on the dates and structure of this meeting including the proposed Public Policy Forum (PPF) to be held at this time. Strong support was voiced for the recommendation that emerged from the CG meeting in Kolkata that this next PPF focus on the range of issues related to financing urban services and providing financial services for the urban poor. Taking into account the need to devote at least a half day to São Paulo's experience with citywide upgrading, it was agreed that the PPF would span two days just prior to the CG meeting for a total of four days. The Secretariat was asked to confirm the dates for these meetings with the Municipality of São Paulo.

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