Australia, Spain Join Cities Alliance

The Cities Alliance is delighted to welcome two new bilateral members, Spain and Australia to its Consultative Group (CG).

Spain: Spain actually joined the Cities Alliance in late 2007. Spain became the 24th member of Cities Alliance with a contribution of 1.5 million Euros over two years. The Government of Spain considers the activities and objectives of Cities Alliance to be fully in line with some of the priority sectors laid out in Spain’s Development Cooperation Master Plan 2005-2008. In particular they fall under basic social needs, among which basic housing for the poor and access to water and sanitation for urban populations are key objectives. Moreover, Spain has indicated that it values Cities Alliance ability to strengthen local government to provide services for the poor, also a priority highlighted in Spain’s Cooperation Master Plan. The Government of Spain has signalled that it plans to be an active member of Cities Alliance. The country has a long history of working with local entities in many countries, particularly in Latin America and the Maghreb region, which it hopes to harness to advance Cities Alliance work.

The Commonwealth of Australia will be represented on the CG by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid), a federally-funded programme that aims to reduce poverty in developing countries, and achieve sustainable development, in line with Australia's national interest. In a statement to mark the event, Ryan Medrana of AusAid noted that Australia recognises the considerable development challenges faced by developing countries in Asia and the Pacific, and is committed to working with partner governments and international organisations to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development. Cities offer many economic and social benefits but can also strain infrastructure and social services, create pockets of extreme poverty, intensify environmental impacts and exacerbate social tensions. Australia recognises the need for consistent and coherent approaches to strengthen development programmes and reduce urban poverty, and looks forward to working with the Cities Alliance and its members.

Barcelona to host next Cities Alliance PPF/CG meetings

Dates for the next Cities Alliance Public Policy Forum and Consultative Group Meetings have been confirmed for 21 to 23 January, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. To be hosted by United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) and the Ajuntament de Barcelona, the event will feature a Public Policy Forum, followed by the closed CG meetings. Details of the meetings will follow in due course, and will be circulated to all CG members and posted on the Cities Alliance website.

Cities Alliance at CDS Workshop Dakar

Cities Alliance and UN-HABITAT recently co-sponsored a three-day workshop on city development strategies in Dakar, Senegal. The meeting which brought together key national and local government officials,  and representatives of civil society and the private sector from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Senegal and Togo provided a platform for sharing lessons and ideas on how to implement CDSs in the region. Participants also deliberated on the best ways to deliver on projects to be funded by the Cities Alliance in future. Welcoming participants, the mayor of Dakar, Mr. Pape Diop called on leaders of African cities to invest more in infrastructure and public services to boost the municipal economies.

UCLG/Cities Alliance City Future Programme Hosts a CDS Workshop in Namibia
Over 30 representatives of local authorities, national government and international Institutions gathered in Windhoek from June 11 to 12 to support the Association of Local Authorities Namibia (ALAN) in the definition of a programme to promote the development of nationwide city development strategies with a focus on local employment.

Namibia is mainly a rural country with a population of 2 million people inhabiting a vast area. Small and medium sized cities are therefore the main agents of development. Namibian cities face the challenge of migration from rural areas to larger cities in search of better employment opportunities. Namibian local governments, have expressed the need to maintain regional population balances, concerns they shared with their counterparts from other UCLG members from the African region, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the South African Local Government Association.

They all affirmed their support and commitment to addressing the needs of ALAN. In the spirit of peer-to-peer cooperation, the city of Durban has partnered with six Namibian municipalities in a city-to-city mentoring process to advance strategic planning capacities. As a result, Namibian local authorities and the association received valuable hands on experience of the recent development tools an practices CDS in South Africa.

Winners of Youth Essay Competition Announced

Congratulations to Pal Saptarshi from India, Mengting Wang from China and Maria Angelica Rodriguez from Colombia, the first second and third prize winners respectively of the youth essay competition, organised by the World Bank in collaboration with the Cities Alliance and the Government of Norway. A Grand Jury of sponsors and NGOs met in Cape Town from 9 to 11 June during the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics to evaluate the oral presentations of eight finalists, selected from a total of 3,287 entries. They were judged on such criteria as substance, presentation skills, as well as on the viability and creativity of solutions proffered. The top three winners were awarded prizes of USD4, 000; $3,000 AND $1,000 respectively plus the opportunity to participate in a number of follow up activities designed to showcase and scale up their project activities. All essays are downloadable from this link: http://www.essaycompetition.org/blog/?p=30

(Left to right) The Youth Essay Competition winners: Pal Saptarshi, Mengting Wang and Maria Angelica Rodriguez

Cities Alliance Advertises Vacancy for a Sr. Slum Upgrading Specialist

The Cities Alliance is looking for a Sr. Slum Upgrading Specialist to be based in the Secretariat in Washington DC. Reporting to the Programme Manager, the Sr. Urban Specialist will lead the Cities Alliance’s slum upgrading work programme, and coordinate and monitor the portfolio. S/he will inter alia; work with Cities Alliance members and prospective city and country partners to shape strategic upgrading programmes to support systemic change, and delivery at scale. S/he must be a recognised expert in the field of urban development / slum upgrading with a minimum of 8 years of practical experience working in, or with, local authorities, national governments, international development organisations, community based organizations or the private sector in the field of local government, and urban development.

Requirements include an advanced university degree in urban planning, urban development or other related disciplines, fluency in English and some knowledge of French and or Spanish and or Arabic plus experience with working in a developing country context. To download the full posting please click here:

http://extjobs.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64273552&piPK=64273556&theSitePK=1058433&JobNo=081381&order=descending&sortBy=job-req-num&location=ALL&menuPK=64262364.

Marseille to host fifth Urban Research Symposium, 28-30 June 2009

The topic for the 5th Urban Research Symposium, organised by the World Bank in collaboration with a number of partners, including Cities Alliance, Agence Française de développement (AFD), UCLG, GTZ and Dexia is “Cities and Climate Change: Responding to the Urgent Agenda”. At a time when climate change is a major priority for the international community, the Symposium aims to push forward the research agenda on climate change from a city’s perspective. Specifically, questions will be structured around the impacts of city and urban growth on climate change; measuring and anticipating the consequences of climate change on urban quality of life, city assets, and local and national economies; and assessing alternatives to increase the resilience of cities and related costs and incentives required for successful implementation.

A Call for Papers has already been posted on the Symposium website. The Symposium is looking for papers based on identified research clusters with the following overall objectives:

• Examining the current applied urban research and practices on cities and climate change, in developing and transition economies as well as developed countries;

• Identifying knowledge gaps in current research; and,

• Contributing to a focused urban research agenda to guide collaborative efforts in this area.

For more information please click here: http://www.urs2009.net/index.html.

UCLG Calls on the African Development Bank (AfDB) to Meet the Urban Challenge

Local governments from all across Africa and Europe gathered in Maputo at a workshop of the UCLG Committee on Local Finance held on the occasion of the African Development Bank's annual meetings on 12-13 May. Local government representatives discussed access to finance for infrastructure and the Urban Strategy for the Development Banks, in particular the AfDB. The Mayor of Maputo, Eneas Comiche presented the inputs of local authorities to the meeting's participants. As cities already generate two-thirds of Africa's economic growth, rapid urbanisation of the African continent offers great opportunities in the fight against poverty. African cities however, suffer from insufficient investment in urban infrastructure, which in turn harms national economic growth. Massive investments in cities and radical changes in local government financing are needed in Africa and beyond. Local Governments called on the African Development Bank to establish a joint working group with UCLG to design and implement an urban strategy for Africa.