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 December, 2004

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eThekwini's CDS Showcased at Cities Alliance Public Policy Forum 

eThekwini's experience in implementing its city wide strategy to improve the living conditions of its residents was the focus of the fifth Cities Alliance Public Policy Forum, held recently from November 1 – to 3, 2004. The event, titled, "Making City Development Strategies Come Alive in South Africa" drew over 300 participants, including city officials and residents from South Africa, local and national governments from Africa and beyond, donor agencies, financing institutions and NGOs to learn and share knowledge on city wide strategies using the first hand experience of eThekwini's model as the case study. The city itself went all out to make the knowledge sharing event a memorable one, holding sessions in specific locations in the city and conducting guided tours to provide a hands-on appreciation of the implementation of the city strategy, and direct contact with the people impacted by it.

 

The Municipality's successes had already been bruited abroad. The Cato Manor Development Project had been recognized as a worldwide best practice in integrated urban renewal; NEPAD – the New Partnership for Africa's Development - which had proclaimed that the "battle for Africa, which is the battle of NEPAD, will be won or lost in the cities," had already selected eThekwini as one its seven case study cities, and during a meeting of the NEPAD Cities Programme earlier in the year in Lagos, Nigeria, African mayors and officials had besieged eThekwini Mayor, Obed Mlaba with questions as to how his municipality has "gone about its new way of doing business that led to his successes. The PPF sessions highlighted three key issues in CDS: CDS and Economic Development, to examine strategies which may be adopted by cities in response to global economic integration, economic transformation and urban poverty were examined; CDS and Slum Upgrading, to examine the shelter strategies which may be adopted by cities in response to urbanisation pressures and urban poverty; and Sustainable Finance Strategies, to examine strategies to fund the implementation of CDS within a partnership context, focusing on the use of own funds, the gearing of external funds and the mobilisation of community/end-user finance.

eThekwini Mayor Obed Mlaba, SACN's Andrew Boraine and South Africa's Minister for Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu at the Opening Ceremonies for the PPF

These were drivers of the municipality's evolution of a 20-year Long-Term Development Framework (LTDF), with inputs from all city stakeholders both internal and external, from conceptualization right up to implementation. Stakeholder participation took the form of day-long "Big Mama" workshops where participants from all sectors of civil society, spheres of government, parastatals, tertiary institutions, unions and traditional leadership sat together and agreed on the need to implement the city's LTDF and transformation programme. Take off of the LTDF was kick started with the first of five sets of five year Integrated Development Plans (IDP), in essence, city development strategies. The importance of national political will to successful CDS was also evident in the fact that IDPs were mandated by the national government's White Paper on Local Government and package of related legislation, enabling local governments to plan, develop and implement their own development programmes.

 

Translating the revised strategy into reality involved the creation of the Area Based Management (ABM) programme, an institutional mechanism intended to enable an integrated implementation process, through which the delivery of services can be focused within key areas of the city. Staff and resources were allocated to particular geographic areas of the city where energy could be focused on planning and working with local citizens and other stakeholders to manage the area effectively. Five ABM areas were identified: Inner eThekwini Regeneration and Urban Management Plan of iTrump (based on the inner city), the South Durban Basin (the largest manufacturing base in the metro), INK (Inanda, Ntuzuma, and KwaMashu) Project, Rural Area (because of the new challenges they bring to the metro in terms of service delivery) and Cato Manor.

Percussion Dancers  welcoming participants to Warwick Junction Community Hall.

PPF sessions were held in venues in three of these ABM areas - Warwick Junction, Cato Manor and Kwamashu. The Kwamashu Council Chambers, venue for the sessions on "CDS and Slum Upgrading" and the "Sustainable Finance Strategies" for example, is located in the Inanda, Ntuzuma Kwamashu (otherwise known as INK) ABM of the city which houses about 20 percent of the municipality's population. INK constitutes one of the largest agglomerations of poor neighbourhoods in the whole of South Africa and is noted for its associations with Mahatma Ghandi who had had legal offices there, and with Madiba Nelson Mandela, who cast his vote in the first democratic election of South Africa there on April 27, 1994. With the ongoing implementation of the strategy under the governments national Urban Renewal Programme INK residents now experience:

• Improved living conditions, examples of which include upgrading of existing informal settlements, new middle income housing developments and improved access to basic services such as free water and electricity

• Enhanced human capacity – resulting from programmes to develop a range of relevant and targeted skills among residents, a Black Enterprise Empowerment programme and other jobs creation activities, a safer cities programme to address violence and crime, and

• Improved access within the area and to eThekwini metropolitan seen in improved roads and access infrastructure. 

Guided tours to specific projects of the city strategy all showed the sense of ownership of its CDS by the city and its residents, for example to the Cato Manor Development project mentioned above and to the Herb Ridge Market at Warwick junction, the result of an innovative partnership between the city and traditional healing community.

Target outcomes of the strategy are captured in the achievement of an Eight Point Plan of Action for each of the ABMs, derived from a ranking of the communities needs following consultations:

• Economic development and Jobs Creation 

• Fully serviced, well maintained, quality living environments

• A Safe and Secure Environment

• Healthy and Well Developed Citizens

• Enhancing Cultural Diversity

• Sustaining the Natural and Built Environment

• Democratizing Local Government 

• Creating a financially viable and sustainable Local Government.

To monitor the achievement of these eight goals the Municipality has evolved a custom made performance evaluation system, involving sets of Global Measurements – measuring customer satisfaction, responsible and efficient use of resources and employee security and satisfaction; and Operational Measurements focused on the effectiveness of the whole supply chain in delivering the output required by the customer. eThekwini was recently awarded a national Vuna award as South Africa's top performing metro, winning the overall prize of R2million. Accepting the award at a ceremony in iGoli/Johannesburg on December 13th Mayor Mlaba said his "metro had set standards and that he was pleased government acknowledged the local government's hard work in bringing services to the people."  For more information on the Cities Alliance Public Policy Forum at eThekwini, please click here.

Cross section of participants at the PPF meeting.

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Mayors Approve Declaration to Reduce Poverty in cities at Hanoi CDS Conference

Mayors from more than 100 participating cities approved a joint declaration to work to reduce poverty "in our own countries, our own cities" at the close of a highly successful three-day conference on "City Development Strategies: From Vision to Growth and Poverty", in Hanoi from November 24 to 26, 2004. The Hanoi Conference followed on the two earlier conferences on CDS in Tokyo (1999) and in Fukuoka (2000), and was organised by the Vietnamese government in collaboration with Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the World Bank, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development and the Cities Alliance.  More than 400 local and international participants from over 29 countries representing local and national governments, donor agencies, financing institutions and NGOs, and representatives of over 40 municipalities, 61 provinces and several national government agencies from Vietnam participated in the conference. Deliberations centred around such topics as, urban development in Vietnam; strategies for moving CDS to scale, looking at it from the perspective of cities and integration into national planning tools; economic growth and development; CDS Impacts on local poverty reduction strategies; and support of international development agencies to urban development.

Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Tan Dung at opening of Conference

Vietnamese city officials took the opportunity of the Conference to showcase their own CDS experiences. The cities of Hanoi, Nam Dinh, Can Tho, Da Nang, Halong, Hue, Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh shared their experiences of poverty reduction, housing, urban planning and management and preservation of historic sites. There are approximately 700 urban centres in Vietnam. In 1999 the government of Vietnam established the national urban development strategy to increase economic growth, alleviate poverty and improve quality of life. According to the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung in his Opening speech at the conference, "The programme has effected significant inroads to resuscitating Vietnam's cities. Nearly 80 percent of urban areas have access to clean water while residential areas have increased to 10 sq. m from 6 sq. m per capita, and the proportion of the poor urban households has been reduced to about 3 percent from more than 10 percent."

 

But many challenges persist: Funding shortages, weak socio-economic and technical infrastructure, poor roads, rapid population growth, a widening economic gap between rural and urban areas, unemployment and free migration are among the most difficult barriers hampering the urbanisation process. The state issued a national urban development strategy five years ago, yet many of the urban centers are yet to adapt the strategy to their own local environments. Deputy Minister of Construction, Nguyen Tan Van pointed out that it is not enough for city officials to devise master plans – each urban area also needs to have its own specific development programme to solve problems at the grassroots level. 

 

Cities Alliance Senior CDS Adviser, Peter Palesch stressed the importance of choosing solutions and trying to solve the problems of individual cities: "It is the municipal officials themselves, he said, who know their own cities' problems and potential. Experts alone will not be able to draft universal strategies. Nevertheless, national governments need to be the driving force."

Mayors then agreed on eight proposals for governments of all countries and international organisations to help cities develop sustainably, and reduce poverty, namely:

• Continued support to cities and their associations to promote knowledge sharing and replication of good CDS practices. 

• Strengthening of national local government associations as agents of policy change to harness the positive impacts of urban development, promoting economic development and poverty reduction.

• Promotion of local economic development by providing an attractive local investment environment supported by appropriate policies and maximising the potentials of city-regional economies.

• Integration of poverty reduction strategies into citywide programmes to improve the overall living conditions of urban poor communities.

• Consideration of non-traditional financing mechanisms for implementing city projects, and facilitation of improved capital investment planning for more effective use of local resources and sustainable long-term investments.

• Improved cooperation among lending institutions on urban development and provision of loans to cities to develop their city strategies to impact economic growth and poverty reduction. 

They pledged to continue supporting the CDS approach in their countries and cities, recognising as its core objectives the modernisation ad professionalization of core municipal management functions to ensure high quality and efficiency in the delivery of public services.

 

For more on the CDS Hanoi Conference please visit http://www.cdshanoi2004.org/eng/

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Cities Alliance Consultative Group Meeting Reinforces the Positive Role of Local Governments

Approaching the five-year anniversary of the formation of the Cities Alliance, Consultative Group (CG) members convened in eThekwini immediately following the Public Policy Forum to reflect on some of the Alliance's activities and main accomplishments to date. The Consultative Group Meeting was chaired by Kathy Sierra, the new Vice President, Infrastructure Network of the World Bank, and by Daniel Biau, Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat. Members reflected on some of the milestones in the Alliance's activities including: 

• The establishment first global urban development goal, the City Without Slums action plan, adopted as Millennium Development Goal, Target 11; 

• Focused global knowledge sharing on how to scale up impacts for city development strategies, citywide slum upgrading and sub-sovereign financing; 

• New tools and practical approaches are now being mainstreamed by Alliance members and partners; 

• US$40 million in Alliance grant allocations linked to US$4.7 billion investments.

Alliance membership is broadening, with Brazil joining in 2004 and discussions underway with South Africa, Morocco, India, China, Nigeria, Spain and the European Commission. Engagement of members is deepening and strengthening coherence of effort. From the Alliance's perspective the creation of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) as the umbrella organization for local governments earlier this year in Paris provides an historic opportunity to strengthen the role of cities in the Alliance, and a new opportunity to respond to one of the core recommendations of the independent evaluation of Cities Alliance by the Development Planning Unit of University College, London in November 2002: "The Local Government Association (LGA) members of the Consultative Group have unequalled knowledge and experience of cities as well as maintaining direct relationships to them through national LGAs and directly to selected cities. They are vital in any scaling-up process by the Cities Alliance."

 

UCLG President and Mayor of Tshwane, Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, led the local government delegation to the Cities Alliance Consultative Group Meeting. Speaking at the meeting, Mayor Mkhatshwa stressed the importance of strengthening UCLG's relationship with the Cities Alliance: "We the Mayors look towards Cities Alliance, hoping it will help us to further anticipate and prepare for growth, not only through developing financial strategies but also by raising consciousness about the importance to work in the cities, with the cities, to tackle the most important goals we have -- the Millennium Development Goals. By working together, these goals will no longer be the UN Goals but the citizens' goals, and they need local government action in order to become a reality."

 

Alliance's bilateral and multilateral members also discussed their activities for the period and highlighted certain key milestones such as the Second World Urban Forum, held in Barcelona in September this year, and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs' establishment of a fund within ISTED (Institut des Sciences et des Techniques de l'Equipement et de l'Environnement pour le Développement) to support the development of projects on access to basic services (water, sanitation, waste management) whose resources could be used to help local governments develop proposals to the Cities Alliance. The Alliance's Policy Advisory Board also presented its own recommendations to the CG, including: deepening the evaluation processes and disseminating impact assessments widely; giving more serious consideration to how the private sector can be involved in the Alliance; and, incorporating sustainable financing mechanisms into CDS and citywide slum upgrading strategies.

 

A central message of the CG Meeting is that instead of debating the contribution of cities to development, more energy needs to be spent on unblocking it. As argued in the Alliance's 2004 Annual Report, unleashing the potential of cities requires:

• Realising the positive impacts of urbanisation by addressing cities' performance constraints;

• Encouraging cities to be proactive developers of urban infrastructure, putting development priorities on budget and using policy consistency and budgetary commitment to attract stable, long term investment;

• Recognising that migration is one of the most effective coping strategies for the rural poor; and

• Predicating policies on the growth of cities and peri-urban areas to avoid the next generation of slums.

CG members stressed the importance of entrenching the urban agenda within members' own organisations, as well as seeing that urban issues are addressed to a greater extent in national Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). In particular, there was agreement that members needed to work together to ensure that MDG Target 11 (improving the lives of slum dwellers) is adequately addressed during the 5-year review of the MDGs scheduled for 2005.

 

Looking forward to the next five years, the Alliance's priorities will include: 

• Recognising a leadership role for cities and UCLG within the Alliance; 

• Strengthening the working relationship with UCLG and its regional networks; 

• Defining new relationships with local governments in Africa; and 

• Improving portfolio quality by responding to city and national government leadership, increasing the emphasis on financial sustainability and local resources, and consolidating where cities have clear vision. 

The next meeting of the Consultative Group is to be held in Morocco in November 2005, at the invitation of the Government of Morocco.

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UN-Habitat Chief Visits World Bank

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN HABITAT, Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka recently paid a one-day visit to the World Bank, where she met with World Bank President Jim Wolfensohn, and senior World Bank management working on urban development issues, including Infrastructure Vice President Kathy Sierra, South Asia Vice President Praful Patel, the World Bank's Director for Transport and Urban Development Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard, and Mark Hildebrand, Programme Manager, Cities Alliance. UN-HABITAT is one of the founding members of the Cities Alliance, which it launched together with the World Bank in 1999, and jointly chairs the Cities Alliance Consultative Group with the World Bank. The Cities Alliance has since become a platform through which the Bank, UN-HABITAT and other members collaborate to provide policy and funding and technical support to impact urban development worldwide. In Tanzania, through Cities Alliance, both the World Bank and UN-HABITAT are collaborating to help local government authorities in Dar-es-Salaam develop a comprehensive strategy to expand infrastructure improvements across the city. In East Asia, both organizations jointly sponsored city development strategies in the Philippines, and are currently working together to develop the next phase of the strategy, this time with the participation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

L-R: Praful Patel, Jim Wolfensohn; Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard,Mark Hildebrand, Cities Alliance Programme Manager; Christopher Williams, UN Habitat; and Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka

All three—UN-HABITAT, the ADB and the World Bank—are jointly sponsoring a new initiative in slum upgrading to be financed by the Cities Alliance. There has been similar collaboration in Egypt, as well as in Yemen and Latvia. In Yemen, the World Bank and UN-HABITAT have been helping local authorities set up an urban indicators database for the port city of Aden. And for Yemen's two other port cities of Hodeidah and Mukalla, the Cities Alliance is currently reviewing a new city development strategy application.

In discussions with Wolfensohn, Tibaijuka praised the good working relationship between both institutions. Both leaders agreed that despite the progress made in promoting the urban agenda, a lot still remained to be done to "lift the game" and ensure that decision makers give adequate attention to urban management and development issues. They recognized the merging of local government associations across the world into one group—United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) as a significant step towards creating more effective dialogue, and an excellent means for clients to speak with one united voice.

Both organisations also agreed to identify a few pilot countries for a special effort on urban investment priorities ahead of the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) process. Tibaijuka proposed the countries around Lake Victoria and the Mekong river as pilots. These were seen as good choices, given these countries' level of development, rapid urbanisation, and the combined social economic and environmental impact of urbanisation, including the impact on international waterways. The World Bank's Urban anchor is preparing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in which this proposal will be pursued. The objective of this initiative is to ensure that before the third World Urban Forum in Vancouver in 2006, specific outputs are achieved in pilot countries that could demonstrate tangible progress towards reaching Targets 10 and 11 of the Millennium Development Goals. 

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Municipality of São Paulo Honoured with Housing Rights Protector Award

The Municipality of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been selected as the winner COHRE's 2004 Housing Rights Protector Award for its Bairro Legal (Legal Neighbourhood) Programme. The Housing Rights Protector Award is presented annually by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) to a government or other institution demonstrating an exceptional commitment to the protection and fulfilment of housing rights.

"We commend the efforts of the Municipality of São Paulo, which has assisted 45,000 families to obtain legal title to their land, thereby safeguarding them from the threat of forced eviction, and improved the living conditions of more than 210,000 people through infrastructure improvement," said Scott Leckie, COHRE's Executive Director. Leckie added, "The Municipality of São Paulo is a worthy recipient of COHRE's 2004 Housing Rights Protector Award for its Bairro Legal programme, which clearly demonstrates that the human right to adequate housing can indeed be made a reality if the political will exists."

The Bairro Legal Programme grew out of the need to address the plight of approximately 30 percent of São Paulo's 10 million residents who live on land to which they do not possess legal title. Most of these purchased land during the 1970s, under a scheme in which land was parcelled into lots and sold to low-income families, without legal title (known as informal land allotments). Most of these were situated in areas lacking basic services, such as access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities. Residents in many cases were forced to build wells on land contaminated by sewage, because previous local governments in São Paulo ignored their responsibilities to provide basic infrastructure in these areas, due to their "informal" status. 

Through its two main components, the Legal Goods Project and the Legal Lot Project the Bairro Legal Programme worked to provide the following:

• Legal assistance and support for the titling or regularisation of informal land allotments, to protect communities from forced evictions;

• Mediation in land disputes and conflicts; and

• Improving living conditions in informal land allotments through the provision of basic amenities such as clean drinking water, adequate sanitation facilities and other essential services to residents.

Cities Alliance provided seed funding for the take off of this programme, being entirely consistent with its Cities Without Slums Action Plan. Bairro Legal is about changing urban policy to make it decidedly pro-poor. The sheer size of the city and the commitment of the city and national government placed São Paulo at a unique advantage for moving upgrading to scale. Cities Alliance funding represented only a fraction of the necessary total investment for the implementation of the programme, but it helped facilitate the development and consolidation of alliances with international partners and donors to participate in the programme and ensure its sustainability. These include the governments of France and Italy, the World Bank, in addition to local funding from the State Secretariat of Housing, and the Housing and Development Company of the State of São Paulo, and the federal government, through the Secretariat of Urban Development of the Presidency and the Caixa Econômica Federal.

>> Partnership News

International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) holds 24th General Assembly in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

The AIMF commended the moral and fiscal performance of its board for fiscal 2003/2004 as satisfactory. It also, unanimously decided to re-elect all outgoing members of AIMF, with the only change being the entry of Cotonou to replace Yaoundé. The mayor of Cotonou and former president of the Republic of Benin, Nicephore Soglo joins his 14 other counterparts of African, American, Asian and European cities. "We need his experience and advice in our team," Delanoë explained.

Elisabeth Gateau, UCLG Secretary General, took the opportunity of the General Assembly to meet with the African members of the UCLG Executive Bureau or World Council to discuss the situation of local government in Africa, the consolidation of the African Regional Section of UCLG and African participation in the next UCLG statutory meetings. She also briefed mayors on the meeting between the UCLG Presidents and the United Nations Secretary General following the publication of the Cardoso Report, and on the activities at UCLG's Barcelona headquarters, including the work on the Global Observatory on Decentralization and Local Democracy which will commence before the end of the year.

HABITAT Programme Managers (HPMs) meet in Nairobi

UN-HABITAT recently organized a week-long orientation seminar for its first crop of Programme Managers at its headquarters in Nairobi from November 8 to 12. The Managers represent a strong initiative by HABITAT to locate HPMs in UNDP Country Offices worldwide to serve as focal points for its programmes and strengthen cooperation between UN-HABITAT, its sister UN agencies in addition to other development organizations Welcoming the HPMs, UN-HABITAT Deputy Executive Director, Daniel Biau challenged them to work towards raising the agency's profile in the countries where they are based. "You are expected to be liaison officers for our programmes," Mr. Biau said.

Photo: Courtesy UN-HABITAT

Senior UN-HABITAT managers briefed the HPMs on the agency's structure, functions and its operations. Cities Alliance Programme Manager, Mark Hildebrand also briefed them on the activities of the Alliance and its unique relationship with HABITAT, urging them to help source solid proposals for funding support from their respective countries.

David Satterswaithe of IIED Wins Global Environment Prize

David Satterthwaite, Senior Fellow with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), was on November 11 awarded the prestigious Volvo Environment Prize in Sweden. Satterthwaite was recognized for his "trail-blazing analyses of human settlements in developing countries, for clarifying the complex dynamic interactions of these problems, and for helping to create a solid foundation for effective policy and management responses to these problems", according to the citation for the prize.

 

Dr. Satterthwaite was awarded the prize together with fellow winners, Jaime Lerner (former Mayor of Curitiba in Brazil) and Dr. Luisa and Dr. Mario Molina (for their work on air pollution in Mexico). A common denominator for these four winners is that they work on finding measures to counter the environmental problems resulting from rising urbanisation, particularly in developing countries. The world's population has quadrupled since 1900 and the number of people living in cities has increased fourteen-fold – from 225 million to 3.2 billion. The year 2004 will be the first in history in which the number of people on earth living in cities will exceed the number living rurally. The pace of this development is the fastest in developing countries and this wave of urbanisation is awash with difficult environmental problems. Now in its 15th year, the Volvo Prize is considered to be one of the world's most prestigious environment awards.

Photo: Courtesy Volvo Environment Prize

Dr. Satterthwaite joined the IIED in 1974 as research assistant to IIED's founder, Barbara Ward. From 1978, he worked with the Argentine specialist, Jorge Hardoy in developing IIED's urban research programme. From inception, the Programme has based its work on strong local partnerships with teams in Africa, Asia and Latin America, focused on exploring the large role of low-income groups and their community organisations in building the cities of these regions - efforts often misrepresented or deemed illegal – (See Hardoy and Satterthwaite's 1989 book Squatter Citizen. )

Environmental conditions are often so bad in low-income settlements that one child in four dies before their fifth birthday. IIED's Programme strives to raise awareness of these serious environmental problems in urban areas, addressing issues related to the lack safe and sufficient water, sanitation, and decent housing. This has led to innovative and cost-effective approaches to improving urban environments through fostering partnerships between homeless/urban poor federations and governments and international agencies. 

>> Upcoming Events

All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) to host second World Mayors' Conference in Cochin, Kerala, January 21 - 23, 2005

The All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG), in partnership with key Indian and global partners will host the second World Mayors' Conference in Cochin, India from January 21 to 23, 2005. The theme for the Conference is the "Millennium Development Goals and the Role of Cities". The Conference shall bring together Mayors of the world to share lessons learnt, best local practices in relation to MDGs, exchange ideas and strategize on future cooperation and local implementation of MDGs.

While the MDG targets are nation-centric, in a rapidly urbanizing world, fuelled in the main by the universal urbanization of poverty, cities acquire centrality in the achievement of these development goals and in poverty reduction. Urban local governments and Mayors across the world have vital responsibilities in delivering the targets listed in the MDGs - universal primary education, primary health, potable water and particularly Target 11 which aims to improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. The pro-active participation of cities and Mayors in accomplishing MDG targets, in broad basing development and in reducing unevenness in the range of development is therefore critical. 

The Conference will provide a platform for mayors to strategize on approaches to translating the MDGs into local goals to suit city-specific realities, and to bolster partnerships for development through city-to-city cooperation. These would necessarily require facilitation by States through effective decentralization, through greater administrative and financial autonomy and support, and through promoting international municipal cooperation.

Brasillia to host Third Urban Research Symposium on "Land Development, Urban Policy and Poverty Reduction." April 4 - 6, 2005

The Third Urban Research Symposium to be held in Brasilia, Brazil April 4 - 6, 2005, will address some of the key challenges on land development and public policies, both to gain further insights into the issues as well as to learn about implementation. Organised jointly by the World Bank and Brazil's Institute of Applied Economic Research, this third Symposium will focus on "Land Development, Poverty Reduction and Urban Policy" to:

• Explore and promote applied urban research on land development and poverty reduction in developing and transition economies;

• Contribute to a focused urban research agenda to guide collaborative efforts in this area;

• Discuss experiences of design and implementation of public policies as well as developmental results of public programs; and

• Foster partnerships among researchers working in these topics.

The overriding goal is to advance the knowledge frontier in the areas of poverty and inequality reduction, land markets and land policy (planning, regulation, taxation, public programs). The main question of the Symposium is: what can be done to promote affordable land development and housing production, especially for the poor? Land development is defined as the improvement of land for any purposes regardless of the number of occupants or tenure, coupled with the division or allocation of land or space for the purpose of urbanization. Housing issues related to poverty alleviation and to land development are included in the large theme.

For more on the Third Urban Research Symposium please click here.

UCLG ASPAC Asia-Pacific Regional Section Congress 2005, Daegu, Korea, April 26 - 29, 2005

The UCLG ASPAC Congress will be held in Daegu, Korea from April 26 to 29, 2005 focusing on the theme, "Glocalization for the Future." UCLG ASPAC - United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific Regional Section - is one of the seven regional sections of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the umbrella organisation for local authorities created with the amalgamation of IULA, FMCU and METROPOLIS at the Congress in Paris in May this year. 

Over one hundred local governments are expected to gather together and exchange knowledge and best practices on how cities can cope in this era of glocalization. Cities are necessarily caught in the pull towards a greater balance between the global and local development in a world that is affected by numerous serious problems such as war, poverty, social inequalities and conflicts among different cultures. The Congress will examine the role of local governments in this dynamic, with special focus on the following issues:

• Local Globalization;

• E-Governance;

• Decentralization / Local Autonomy;

• Cooperation among Asia-Pacific Local Governance;

• Urban Development Strategy.

For more on UCLG ASPAC 2005 click here.

Metropolis Congress, Berlin, May 11 – 15, 2005

The 8th World Congress of Metropolis will be held in Berlin, Germany from May 11 to 15, 2005. The theme of the Congress is "Tradition and Transformation - The Future of the City." 

Cities have for long been important economic, political, and cultural centers of activity, and magnets for rural migrants in search of employment and better living conditions. Projections are that by 2015, more than 600 million people will live in cities with a population of more than 5 million, two-thirds of which will be located in developing countries. Despite all the risks and conflicts this development will entail, cities are far from being just gigantic trouble spots. Instead, they are also increasingly becoming global centres of communication, innovation, and growth for business and the scientific community. At the same time, they set the pace for social developments and trends in culture and fashion. 

Twenty years of co-operation within the framework of the METROPOLIS city network, which represents more than 80 cities worldwide with populations of more than a million, have shown that metropolises in both economically developed countries and developing countries are undergoing a process of fundamental change, for which sustainable solutions have to be found. The Congress will focus on this process of transformation and its referents, and on means to turning cities around the world into livable, democratic metropolises ready to meet the challenges of the future, while taking due account of the different traditions of cities and their residents. Specific issues include:

• Maintaining the city's mobility, necessary for its daily functioning;

• Urban waste management;

• Urban water management;

• Urban poverty and pollution;

• Collection and analysis of data and indicators for improved city management and an efficient administration;

• Metropolitan governance.

For more on the Berlin Congress go to http://www.metropolis2005.org/

>> Publications Announcement

Making City Strategy Come Alive: Experiences from eThekwini Municipality, Durban, South Africa, Published by eThekwini Municipality, 2004

The launch of Making City Development Strategies Come Alive in South Africa: Experiences from eThekwini Municipality, Durban, South Africa was one of the highlights of the Cities Alliance PPF, held recent in the city (See story one). The book was developed in response to requests to share lessons from eThekwini's CDS experience from local and international city officials, researchers, planning practitioners, all wanting to deepen their understanding of the history of the strategy process; and to support the efforts of the South African Cities Network, of which eThekwini is an active member and contributor, and which has vigorously promoted the concept of CDS in South Africa. 

The book is written in a refreshing narrative style, complemented with photos of the personalities and projects involved, and graphics illustrating the various processes undertaken as part of the strategy development and implementation process. This enhances its appeal and accessibility of its knowledge to broad audience groups, particularly to city stakeholders who constitute its biggest target audience. The story of the strategy process is told in two phases: Book One details the process of the development of the strategy, beginning with a workshop in the Drakensberg mountains in KwaZulu Natal province, where the seeds for the Long Term Development Framework (LTDF) were sown, up until 2004 when this strategy was implemented, evaluated and reported on. Book Two presents key lessons that have been learned during the process of strategy development. 

The workshop in the Drakenberg mountains involving 200 councillors and 50 senior officials was essentially a stock taking and visioning one. The workshop evolved a vision statement to guide its deliberations: "By 2020, the eThekwini Municipality will enjoy the reputation of being Africa's most caring and livable city, where all citizens live in harmony. This vision will be achieved by growing its economy and meeting people's needs so that all citizens enjoy a high quality of life with equal opportunities, in a city that they are truly proud of."

The first step to achieving this vision was to design an Long Term Development Framework. This required the fundamental participation of all internal and external stakeholders from conceptualization right up to implementation. The city ran a six-month stakeholder mobilization campaign to kick start a series of 'Big Mama' workshops, the biggest coalition of differing interest groups united in a common vision for their city. Participants were introduced to the draft LTDF, asked to share their comments, concerns and fears around its implementation, and decide on a timetable for action and on mechanisms to ensure that what was agreed upon would be implemented. 

Following major initial consultations, two key processes had to be initiated: first, work on the city's five-year Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which was in effect the vehicle that would operationalize the LTDF; and second, a clear transformation plan which spelt out exactly what would happen and when. Community consultations in the form of Needs Assessment workshops continued, at municipal and ward levels. Evaluation of hundreds of needs assessments for the consultations led to a ranking of community priorities as follows:

1. Housing and household services
2. Safety and Security 
3. Community Infrastructure
4. Jobs/Economic development
5. Health Services
6. Governance Issues
7. Transport
8. Education
9. Social Issues

These formed the basis for an eight-point plan of action to drive the transformation process. 

Simultaneous with the development of the strategy was the restructuring of the municipal administration to make it more responsive to the needs of the LTDF – IDP. The city adopted a private sector management model in the day-to-day running of the city also; it appointed Mike Sutcliffe, an urban planner and former professor as Chief Executive Officer to work hand-in-hand with the Mayor Obed Mlaba. The entire municipality organization was restructured to mirror the structure and content of the IDP. Another round of extensive 'Big Mama' workshops led to revisions of the city's concept of sustainable development, and to a People's Budget based on greater transparency in the city's capital and operating budget expenditure in response to residents request.

The last section of Book One focuses on the implementation of the eight point plan of action in five Area-Based Management areas of the city: Inner eThekwini Regeneration and Urban Management Plan of iTrump (based on the inner city), the South Durban Basin (the largest manufacturing base in the metro), INK (Inanda, Ntuzuma, and KwaMashu) Project, Rural Area (because of the new challenges they bring to the metro in terms of service delivery) and Cato Manor.

Milestones include: 

• The KwaMashu Town Center development, an initiative aimed at attracting investment and creating a secure business environment

• Creating linkages between black economic empowerment and the export sector; 

• Partnership with the Development Bank of South Africa and the European Union to develop the construction of the Ushaka Marine Theme Park, the fifth largest in the world; 

• Every household in the municipality that is connected to the municipal water supply system receives the first 6KL free each month. The result is that 82% of the population has access to safe basic water services; 

• Implementing the self targeted free basic electricity service leading to energy rates 26% below inflation levels;

• It instituted an Affirmative Procurement Policy to involve greater numbers of small enterprise suppliers, service providers, contractors and consultants, especially black in the tendering for city contracts;

• In addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it has expanded its services by recruiting, training and networking with volunteers who educate and provide counseling to communities in the municipality. It has also established an AIDS Council;

• Democratized local government through active use of communications processes, regional centers initiative and ongoing community consultation.

Lessons learned from the strategy development process as detailed in Book Two include;

• The strategy planning process needs to be local and needs based; 

• Stakeholder participation is key and approaches to involving stakeholders need to be tailored to the municipality's needs. For eThekwini this was based on organizing workshops at various levels during critical points of the strategic planning process; 

• A Needs based participatory Municipal budget needs to be integrated into the IDP or city strategy as part of the holistic development management;

• Measuring Performance needs to be integrated into the strategic planning budgeting and implementation machinery. 

Copies of the book can be purchased from the Communications department of the Municipality by calling 27 31 311 276, or contacting lead author, Sogen Moodley directly at 27 31 311 3440.

UN-HABITAT'S State of the World Cities Report 2004/2005

Launched during the World Urban Forum in Barcelona, UN-HABITAT's The State of the World's Cities Report 2004/2005 examines the impact of globalization on cities and argues that multiculturalism is an urban phenomenon that should not feared, as it enhances the fabric of societies and brings colour and vibrancy to every city it touches. 

The migrant phenomenon is fuelling a new multiculturalism that has the potential to broaden the cultural and ethnic dimensions of cities. There are currently approximately 175 million documented international migrants worldwide. The more developed economies of the West attract most of the international migrants (77 million), followed by the transition economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics (33 million), Asia and the Pacific (23 million) and the Middle East and North Africa (21 million). 

Migrants have not only added new pressures on cities and municipalities in terms of the provision of basic services but have also led to increasing xenophobia against asylum seekers and ethnic tensions. In many cities, lack of affordable housing and discriminatory practices force the newcomers to live spatially segregated lives in ghettos where they suffer labour exploitation, social exclusion and violence. This is unfortunate, says the report, because immigrants make important economic contributions, not only to the urban economies of the host countries, but also to the countries that they leave behind. Remittances back home are second only to oil in terms of international monetary flows, providing an important and reliable source of foreign exchange finance for developing countries. In 2003, for example, the Indian Diaspora sent back US$ 15 billion, exceeding the revenues generated by the country's software industry, the report says. The report calls on local governments to help create harmonious and inclusive multicultural cities by combating xenophobic ideologies and anti-immigration policies.

In his foreword, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that policy-makers need to plan for "cities of difference" that are open to all and exclude none, and which are able to capitalize on the benefits of a multicultural existence. This requires the engagement of all non-governmental and community stakeholders, on the basis of legislation that guarantees citizens' right to the city, and judicial systems that enforce those rights. 

This theme of the potential positive impacts of the migrant community to an economy is also echoed in the Cities Alliance Annual Report for 2004, which discusses the benefits of migration including the reduction of rural poverty: "Studies of internal migration show that 'it pays to take risks and migrate when looking for work' and that migration has proven to be one of the most effective coping strategies for the rural poor. It is therefore critical, especially for those populations living in rural areas and on fragile land in Africa, that domestic migration remain unrestricted so that individuals can make their own location decisions."

The last two decades have witnessed a transformation of the global economy, which has led to vast economic, social and political realignments in many countries and cities. The trend towards open markets has enriched some countries and cities tremendously, while others have suffered greatly, says the report. World trade in this period has grown from about US$ 580 billion in 1980 to a projected US$6.3 trillion in 2004, an eleven-fold increase. Flows of capital, labour, technology and information have also increased tremendously, and have transformed the role of cities in a globalizing world. 

Challenges for the planners of 21st century cities
To plan for pluralistic cities, acknowledging and supporting the full urban rights of all population groups, The State of the World's Cities, 2004/05, calls on urban planners to develop a new kind of multicultural literacy. An essential part of this is familiarity with the many and varied histories of urban communities, especially since those histories intersect with struggles over space and place. It is not, according to the report, about comprehensive action or hierarchical coordination of master plans, but entails interdependent transparent processes concerned with the many dimensions of liveable cities –environmental sustainability, social justice and equity, community and aesthetics.

Finally, The State of the World's Cities, 2004/05 stresses that this new planning culture must bring into sharper relief, the themes of urban culture, metropolization, international migration and integration. The dispensation of public space, now hotly contested in cities, must be managed with an eye toward inclusivity in the face of increasing diversity. The report calls for an understanding and appreciation of the value of planning for cities of difference.

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