@Cities Alliance e-Newsletter

Nigeria has become the first African country to join Cities Alliance. This follows the 2003 decision of Brazil to become the first developing country member of the Cities Alliance. Nigeria's interest in membership of the Alliance increased "following the participation of the Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Mobolaji Osomo, at the Cities Alliance Public Policy Forum held in Durban, South Africa in November 2004, and the important lessons from the Forum", according to a statement from the Ministry.

Nigeria's membership follows upon an existing strong partnership between the Alliance and Nigeria. Major referents for this partnership include:

The Scaling-up Upgrading through a city development strategy (CDS) approach in Karu, whose activities are aimed at strengthening Karu Local Government as a satellite of Abuja Federal Capital Territory by stimulating change in behaviour and processes to ensure that: (i) community participation becomes an integral part of municipal business, (ii) municipal budgets reflect and address the priorities of the poor, and (iii) basic municipal services are delivered to poor communities in a reliable, well-managed, and sustainable way.

The Preparatory Assistance for Lagos Strategy Development activity, designed to assist the Lagos state government in introducing a long term strategy for reform and investment, involving, (i) designing and obtaining support for a comprehensive CDS; (ii) identifying the major obstacles to economic growth and poverty reduction; (iii) identifying other cities and countries with whom to share experience; (iv) involving the World Bank and other Cities Alliance members in providing coordinated and coherent support.

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We Welcome Your Articles

We invite Cities Alliance members and partners to submit articles on their activities with a strong focus on impacts and lessons learned therefrom. For further details on providing such submissions send an e-mail to: Cakporji@worldbank.org

The Cities Alliance Policy Advisory Board counts among its eminent members Professor Akin Mabogunje, one of the continent's foremost urban development experts. Nigeria's membership marks a deepening of the Alliance's engagement in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the fastest urbanizing regions in the world.

During its first four years of operation the Alliance made more than $6.5 million in funding allocations to sub-Saharan African cities, including more than $2.5 million since July 2003. These funds have supported slum upgrading activities and city development strategies (CDS) in 11 countries throughout the region. Recently approved activities include development of a comprehensive urban upgrading programme for Mbabane, Swaziland ($500,000), linked to the preparation of a new investment; support to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a CDS process ($210,000) implemented in partnership with Johannesburg; support to the city of Dar es Salaam through UN-Habitat and the World Bank, to design a citywide strategy to upgrade all slums by 2015 and; city development strategies for poverty reduction for two medium-size cities in Niger ($245,000). Cities Alliance members have also established a special facility, with $3.5 million currently committed, targeting African cities committed to scaling up urban poverty reduction efforts.

Map of Nigeria showing major cities.

Courtesy: FMHUD, Nigeria.

GTZ Spotlight of the year 2005: Designing tomorrow's cities

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH has chosen as its Spotlight for 2005, the theme, "Designing tomorrow's cities". The focus on cities is driven by the imperatives of rapid urbanization in the age of globalization, and the emerging challenges and opportunities for poverty reduction. A press release announcing its focus states, "The world wants cities. Some 180,000 people clamour for cities every day, since this is precisely the number of people by which municipal populations are growing worldwide every 24 hours. In 25 years cities will be home to two billion more people or around two thirds of all humankind. Cities will also be decisive in determining our success in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals and substantially reducing poverty."

With more than 30 years of expertise in the field of urban development, the GTZ will advance the international dialogue on cities in through publications, discussion rounds and through a series of planned international events. In May 2005 political decision-makers from around 400 major and mega cities will come together at the world congress, "Metropolis 2005" in Berlin. Under the motto, "Better city, better life", they will deliberate the process of transformation of cities, and on the 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. In June, around 400 national and international city experts will converge in Eschborn to take part in specialist talks as part of the June 2005 Eschborn Dialogue. Later on in November, GTZ and fellow Cities Alliance member, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will host a major conference in Manila, Philippines on "Investing in Asia's Urban Future". The Conference will provide opportunties to present and share knowledge on how to enhance and operationalise innovative instruments and mechanisms for the sustainable development of selected urban regions in Asia. The follow-on event to the UN Habitat II Conference (Istanbul, 1996) is scheduled to take place in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006. The organisers of the Shanghai-based EXPO 2010 have also put the city theme on the international agenda.

A member of the Cities Alliance, GTZ is an international cooperation enterprise founded in 1975 by the German Federal Government with a corporate objective to improve people's living conditions on a sustainable basis. It is currently implementing some 2,700 development projects and programmes in over 130 countries.

UN Millennium Project Unveils Practical Action Plan to Combat Poverty

Jeffrey Sachs and UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan

The UN Millennium Project, an independent advisory body to the UN Secretary-General comprising 265 of the world's leading development experts recently issued a package of measures that could cut extreme poverty in half, and radically improve the lives of at least one billion people in poor developing countries by 2015.

The recommendations are laid out in a 3,000 page report titled, Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals, presented to UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan in January this year. "Until now, we did not have a concrete plan for achieving the Millennium Development Goals," noted Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs, Special Advisor to Kofi Annan and Director of the three-year UN Millennium Project. "The experts who contributed to this huge undertaking have shown without a doubt that we can still meet the Goals—if we start putting this plan into action right now."

The MDGs can be achieved, the report says, if total annual Overseas Development Aid focused on the MDGs is more than doubled (from 2002 levels) to $135 billion (0.44% of donors' GNI) in 2006, and rises to 0.54% of donors' GNI by 2015. Developing countries must also change the way they use aid, developing and implementing MDG-based poverty reduction strategies by each country.

The Project makes 10 key recommendations to realising these Goals:

Developing country governments should adopt by 2006 MDG-based poverty reduction strategies (PRS) bold enough to meet the MDG targets for 2015. Where PRSPs already exist, they should be aligned with the MDGs.
The MDG-based PRS should anchor the scaling up of public investments, capacity building, domestic resource mobilisation and ODA. They should also provide a framework for strengthening governance, promoting human rights, engaging civil society, and promoting the private sector.
Developing country governments should craft and implement the MDG-based PRS in transparent and inclusive processes, working closely with civil society organisations, the domestic private sector, and international partners.
At least 12 MDG Fast-Track low-income countries with good governance records and evident absorptive capacity should be identified, and allocated scaled-up investments in 2005 for the MDGs.
Developed and developing countries should jointly launch, in 2005, a group of Quick Win actions to save and improve millions of lives and promote economic growth. They should also launch a massive effort to build expertise at the community level.
Developing countries should align their strategies with regional initiatives such as NEPAD and the Caribbean Community (and Common Market), and regional groups should receive increased direct donor support for regional projects.
Donor countries should increase ODA from 0.25% of GNI in 2003 to 0.44% in 2006, and 0.54% by 2015, to support the MDGs, especially in low-income countries. Overall ODA should rise to 0.7% of donors' GNI by 2015. ODA should be of improved quality, harmonised, predictable, and largely in the form of grants-based budget support. Debt relief should be more extensive and generous.
High-income countries should open markets to developing-country exports through a completed Doha Round by 2006, and help LDCs raise export competitiveness by investing in critical trade-related infrastructure, including electricity, roads, and ports.
International donors should mobilise support for global scientific research and development to address special needs of the poor in areas of health, agriculture, natural resource and environmental management, energy and climate. The report estimates total needs to rise to about $7 billion a year by 2015.
The UN Secretary-General and the UN Development Group should strengthen coordination of UN agencies, funds, and programmes to support the MDGs, at headquarters and the country level. The UN country teams should be strengthened and should work closely with the IFIs to support the goals.

The report also offers a series of "quick wins", to bring vital gains in well-being to millions of people and start countries on the path to the Goals. These include: providing free meals to schoolchildren, offering free fertiliser to farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, and distributing free insecticide-treated bed-nets to children in malaria-endemic zones.

Thirteen separate volumes of task force reports on subjects ranging from education to malaria to hunger and urban issues support the Project's conclusions. The Task Force report of relevance to the Cities Alliance, titled, A Home in the City. Report of the Task Force on Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers , draws attention to the critical importance that alleviating urban poverty will play in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), captured as Cities Without Slums Target 11 of the MDGs - improve lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020 - initiated by the Cities Alliance.

More than 900 million people currently live in slums around the world. This figure is projected to rise to 1.5 billion by 2020, if no concerted action is taken to mitigate the situation. Most of these increases will occur in developing countries, where access to basics such as a political voice, decent housing, sanitation, water, schools, healthcare, and a safe and dependable way of getting to work is limited. The rise in number of people living in such appalling conditions can be prevented, however, and millions of lives can be improved, if specific steps are taken to better the lives of the urban poor and prevent the creation of future slums. Even though development practitioners tend to focus on rural areas, developing countries face a tremendous challenge—and opportunity—in managing the rapid growth of urban centres.

The task force on slum dwellers projects it would cost US$18 billion a year to improve conditions for 100 million slum residents, and to introduce the infrastructure and services needed to provide alternative housing for another 570 million people who would otherwise become slum dwellers. Recommendations in its blueprint to fight urban poverty include:

Countries need to recognize that the urban poor are active agents and not just beneficiaries of development. Local authorities and national governments should collaborate with the organizations of the urban poor in upgrading slums and providing alternatives to slum formation.
Managing cities requires local solutions. Local authorities need to be empowered with financial and human resources to deliver services and infrastructure to the urban poor. Cities should draw up local long-term strategies for improving the lives of slum dwellers.
Following consultations with both slum dwellers and national authorities, local governing bodies should pass legislation to prevent forced evictions and provide "security of tenure" to residents of slum communities.
Local governments should develop strategies to prevent the formation of new slums. These should include access to affordable land, reasonably priced materials, employment opportunities, and basic infrastructure and social services..

Time is short, with only 10 years to go to meet the 2015 goals. But meeting the goals is not just a matter of global justice and human rights, the Millennium Project authors find, but is essential for global security. "Poor and hungry societies are much more likely than high-income societies to fall into conflict over scarce vital resources," the experts contend, adding that the Millennium Development Goals should be placed centrally in international efforts to end violent conflict, instability, and terrorism.

The report cautions, however, for the need to spend resources effectively, and stresses that particular attention be provided to developing countries that have shown a commitment to good governance practices and transparent budgeting.

For more on the UN Millennium Project click here: www.unmillenniumproject.org

Asian Tsunami: Asian Coalition for Housing Rights promotes a people-driven rehabilitation process

Among the plethora of organisations working to rehabilitate the victims of the Asian Tsunami is the Asian Coalition of Housing Rights (ACHR), a regional network of grassroots community organisations, NGOs and professionals actively involved with urban poor development processes in Asian cities. Founded and headed by ACHR General Secretary and former Cities Alliance Policy Advisory Board member, Somsook Boonyabancha, the coalition has been on top of the Tsunami rehabilitation process from day one, driven by a community-centered approach that projects that if the tsunami rehabilitation process is to be effective, the affected people must be involved in planning the rehabilitation of their own communities and livelihoods.

From ACHR's perspective, if opportunities and appropriate resources can be provided in the rehabilitation process to households and their communities, it will enable them to be active participants in planning and reconstructing their own housing and infrastructure, regenerating their living environments and livelihoods. Through enabling affected communities to work in close collaboration with local authorities and support organisations, the rehabilitation process can really help to revive the lives of those most affected by the disaster, and to restore their shattered communities, their most vital support in this time of post-disaster trauma.

ACHR has undertaken an in-depth identification and evaluation of specific issues faced by the Tsunami victims:

In many cases, the enormous outpouring of relief assistance is not reaching the people on the ground properly, is not meeting their real needs, or is not helping their battered communities to get back on their feet again;
Tsunami survivors are not being involved in the relief and rehabilitation processes;
Where the tsunami-affected areas are under forms of military control (as in Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka) the immediate and long term needs of affected people are not being effectively met because of larger political agendas;
In more economically advanced countries like Thailand, where powerful business interests have enormous influence on political agendas and there is no mechanism through which the poor can have a say, the process of rehabilitation is being made more difficult;
In much of the post-disaster planning that is already underway and in the new environmental regulations that are being invoked, the traditional rights and current needs of indigenous people and fishing communities are not being seen as a primary consideration;
For environmental, military or commercial reasons, many coastal fishing communities affected by the tsunami are now in danger of being evicted from the land they have occupied for decades - or centuries - and of losing their traditional livelihood);
The tsunami disaster has exposed many pre-existing social and political problems such as the extremely poor and vulnerable groups of minority communities and migrant workers.

To mitigate these issues ACHR has proposed a set of recommendations for effective Tsunami relief based upon the direct inputs of the victims:

Link support groups to create a more unified support and relief operation with a common direction;
Information gathering is an important initial intervention and an important tool for informing all subsequent activities. Information gathering has to be done quickly so the affected people, support groups and government agencies can develop a common understanding about the scale of the problem and the needs of the affected communities;
It is essential to set up relief camps with temporary housing immediately, to bring the survivors from each affected community back together and they can get shelter and access to emergency relief. At the same time, these camps can function as places where the longer-term rehabilitation of their lives and livelihoods can be discussed, planned and supported in a more organised way;
Once they are back together in temporary camps, the affected communities can start a process of interaction and organisation in which they work together to set a system in which they can represent each other, as members of an organization. The temporary camps can help facilitate this;
It is important that people-driven pilot rehabilitation projects be started urgently, to get the ball rolling and to lead the rehabilitation process by demonstrating concrete examples on how effectively community-based reconstruction can work;
Dealing with post-crisis trauma: One of the best therapies is helping affected people to get busy and to focus on their future through activities which have to do with managing their immediate needs and rebuilding their lives. It must be a participatory process with sensitive planners working with the direct involvement of the community and local organisations;
It is important to link the affected communities together, to share ideas, learn from each other's experiences, to support each other, to address problems they have in common, and to negotiate collectively with government agencies for what they need;
Collaboration with government: The work that people are doing around issues of their own community revival and reconstruction should not be done in isolation, but every attempt should be made to link this work with what the government is trying to do. It is important to bridge these two streams of post-tsunami rehabilitation efforts;
Bring the community-government dialogue to the ground as much as possible, to create a platform for negotiation about what people actually need;
The rehabilitation process should include all the affected people and communities, as much as possible, regardless of their status before the tsunami;
The only way to address the huge scale reconstruction is by tapping the huge scale and active involvement of the affected people themselves, with support from local and civic groups.

The Coalition has also established a Tsunami index on its website, to help track progress on the rehabilitation efforts from the affected countries. For more on this visit http://www.achr.net/000ACHRTsunami/index.htm

Cities are now the frontline of Poverty (Reproduced with the kind permission of The Guardian, UK)

This is the century in which Africa will shift from a predominantly rural continent to an urban one. Within 25 years, the UN calculates, roughly 400 million more, mainly poor, people will live in African cities. The UN predicts that African urban slum populations will double on average every 15 years - reaching 332 million people within 10 years.

But the aid agencies, bankers and donors mostly concentrate on rural poverty. It is left to the urban communities themselves to survive as best they can. Slowly, however, it is dawning that urban poverty is often as serious as anything found in the countryside. Unless it is addressed quickly, any hope that Africa will ever develop and be able to pull itself out of deepening poverty will be dashed.

In theory, it should be easier and cheaper to address urban problems. Health clinics can be built closer to people, fresh water and sanitation can be brought to large population concentrations, and there are more jobs. But the reality is that many burgeoning African cities are catastrophically under-provided-for. Infant mortality rates can be as bad as or worse than in rural areas; water-related and communicable diseases are even more rife; schools are just as ill-equipped, unemployment can be 60% or more and life expectancy just as short.

Slum in Nigeria.

To be really poor in Lagos, Maputo, Dakar or any African city usually means paying far more for the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter and clean water. It almost certainly means living in illegal settlements, paying high rents to slum landlords and sharing rooms with up to 10 people. It may mean uncontaminated water is only available once or twice a week and that defecating in plastic bags is the only option.
In many ways, the lot of the African urban poor is worsening. Ten years ago, many cities would give land to people to build their own homes. Today, in a more money-based society, that is rare. The ambitious industrial plans of the 1970s which promised jobs have mostly evaporated. The staff of many city authorities have been cut to the bone to fulfil structural adjustment programmes imposed by the IMF.

Urbanisation is a global phenomenon, and the world is expected to make the historic shift from a predominantly rural to urban population in the next few years. The cities of Africa are on the front line of the war against poverty, and represent one the greatest of all the world's immense challenges. – John Vidal – Environment Editor

World Bank Evaluation Report gives high marks to Cities Alliance

The World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department (OED) has just published a report of its assessment of the Bank's approach to global programmes. Addressing the Challenges of Globalization: An Independent Evaluation of the World Bank's Approach to Global Programs completes the second phase of OED's evaluation of the World Bank's involvement with global programmes, based on case studies of 26 global programmes, including the Cities Alliance. The OED is an independent evaluation unit that reports directly to the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors.

The evaluation had four specific objectives:

To assess how well these case study programmess measure up to the selectivity and oversight criteria and priorities for global programmes established by the Development Committee and the World Bank, particularly the World Bank's Development Grant Facility (DGF);
To derive cross-cutting lessons for the World Bank on programme selectivity, design, implementation, governance, management, financing, and evaluation;
To assess progress in implementing the recommendations of OED's 1998 process review, Phase 1 Report, and meta-evaluation of the CGIAR, with respect to the World Bank's strategic and programmatic management and to the choice, design, and implementation of individual programmes; and
To identify areas where further World Bank action is needed with regard to its global-level strategy and programming to improve global programmes effectiveness.

The report's main recommendations stress two points: first, the need for an overall World Bank strategy for high-priority, well-funded, global public goods programmes, based on a consultative process involving key partners; and, second, the importance of improved management of a more selective portfolio, with strong results orientation and linkage to country operations.

Overall the Cities Alliance had among the highest ratings of the 26 global programmess which were evaluated. The summary tables below focus on the specific findings related to the Cities Alliance. The overall findings and recommendations can be found in the full report, downloadable from: http://www.worldbank.org/oed/gppp/.

Assessment of Governance and Management

	High	Substantial	Modest	Negligible
Transparency	X
Clarity of roles and responsibility	X
Fairness to immediate clients	X
Accountability to donors	X
Accountability to developing countries		X
Accountability to scientists/ professionals		X

Source: Annex Table 15, pg. 145.

Assessment of Consistency with Development Committee Criteria for Bank's Engagement in Global Programs

	High	Substantial	Modest	Negligible
An international consensus currently exists that global collective action is required	X
The program is currently known to be adding value to achieving the Bank's development objectives of poverty alleviation and sustainable development		X
The Bank's presence is currently catalyzing other non-Bank resources for the program	X
The Bank is currently playing up to its comparative advantages at the global level	X
The Bank is currently playing up to its comparative advantages at the country level	X

Source: Annex Table 17, pg. 154. Hard copies are available from the World Bank InfoShop, price US$20.

>> Partnership News

UCLG acting as focal point for information exchange between local governments on the Tsunami

Mr. Delanoe addressing participants at the meeting. Photo courtesy UCLG.

As part of the ongoing response to the Tsunami disaster, UCLG – the world's largest local government organisation - is now the focal point for information exchange between local governments. This development is in response to a request to the organisation from mayors and local government representatives to help facilitate implementation of an action plan to meet the specific needs of the stricken communities.

This request came in the wake of an extraordinary meeting in Paris on 15 January 2005 of the mayors of Athens, Barcelona, Budapest, Dublin, Hanover, Istanbul, Ljubljana, Nicosia, Rome and Toronto, as well as the Deputy Mayors of Lisbon and London, and representatives from the cities of Amsterdam, Berlin, Kazan, Madrid and Stockholm to discuss the coordination of reconstruction assistance in areas affected by the tsunami.

The mayors expressed their wish to prioritise assistance to children and the reconstruction of infrastructure, with particular attention to the provision of clean drinking water and sanitation. "It is entirely natural for the world's local authorities to express their solidarity with the victims of the tsunamis", declared UCLG President Bertrand Delanoë, convenor of the meeting. "We salute the overwhelming sense of solidarity among our citizens which has seen communities around the world launch innumerable initiatives aimed at alleviating the suffering of those affected by the disaster. In order to optimise our efforts, we will harness both the solidarity and technical expertise of our members via the extensive network of local governments which make up our organisation."

In her own comments, Elisabeth Gateau, Secretary General of UCLG added, "Solidarity is a touchstone of UCLG's values, and we wish to respond to the needs of our members and the communities affected by this disaster. Our response is a natural progression from our mission to help the UN achieve the Millennium Development Goals to alleviate poverty around the world."

New ADB President Vows to Meet the Challenge of Fighting Poverty in Asia

The new President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, has called on the institution to re-invigorate itself to meet the challenges of operating in the world's most dynamic region. "The Asia and Pacific Region has tremendous potential to rapidly attain sustainable economic development and poverty reduction in the coming years. That is because the region's people have great potential", said Mr. Kuroda.

Speaking to a gathering of the institution's more than 2000 staff, Mr. Kuroda outlined the vision of a bank that works in close consultation with the nations of Asia to provide effective development assistance: "As the Asia and Pacific Region is experiencing dynamic and rapid change, ADB - as the "Family Doctor" - should respond to the region's needs in a flexible and timely manner," he said.

Unanimously elected by its Board of Governors in November 2004, ADB President Kuroda acknowledged that he was coming into office at a critical time when several countries in the region are struggling with the effects of the recent tsunami, and assured that "ADB will do everything it can for our affected developing member countries".

For the region as a whole, the new President singled out poverty as the primary challenge. Though poverty in developing Asia has declined from 34% in 1990 to 22% in 2002, most of this reduction has been limited to a few countries. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) continue to be the major guideposts of progress in poverty reduction. But they should be fulfilled with sensitivity to local circumstances and priorities. He also noted that the most vulnerable people in society should never be forgotten in the race to greater economic growth: "Sustainable poverty reduction requires that long-standing gender issues and the special needs of children receive the attention and support they deserve," he said.

Mr. Kuroda noted that foreign direct investment (FDI) is vital to economic growth and poverty reduction, and said that ADB is committed to helping build healthy business environments in the region. Building physical infrastructure is also critical for economic growth, and institutions such as ADB play a vital role in the process by ensuring that environmental and social safeguards are maintained.

Another important aspect of economic growth in Asia will be the promotion of alliances among its countries. He called regional integration initiatives "a special and unique mission of a regional development bank." As for the institution itself, Mr. Kuroda said ADB will continue to pursue the aggressive Reform Agenda that it has undertaken to make it a more effective development organisation.

For more on Mr. Kuroda's statement please visit: adb.org/media

First African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development calls for common action on meeting the challenges of urbanization.

AFRICAN housing and development ministers met in Durban from January 31 to February 4, 2005 to discuss the challenges of urbanisation, and to develop a concerted framework of action to guide and reinforce individual national initiatives to manage, direct and harness the developmental attributes of towns and cities.

Attending the first African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD), convened by the African Union and UN-HABITAT and hosted by South Africa's Ministry of Housing, were cabinet ministers and senior officials from more than 40 African countries. Africa is the world's fastest urbanising continent. Projections are that by the year 2030 half of Africa's population will be living and working in towns and cities. Africa has the world's largest proportion of urban residents living in slums, with 72 per cent of Africans or 187 million people living in slum housing. Statistics show that slum dwellers of African towns and cities have little access to basic services such as water and sanitation, electricity, or telephones. Only 19 per cent of the urban population in Africa has access to running water, and only 7.5 per cent are connected to the sewerage system. Two out of five slum-dwellers in Africa live in "circumstances deemed to be life-threatening", according to Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. Yet these challenges present opportunities which can be harnessed to help cities realise their economic potentials. The conference recognised that, for example, the informal sector provides the means of livelihood for 78 per cent of the urban labour force, and that policies should support rather than oppose this growth.

In a final declaration of the meeting, called the Durban Declaration on AMCHUD, the ministers noted that "political will, decentralization, good governance and empowerment of national and local authorities as well as the adoption of inclusive processes of decision making are fundamental to addressing the urbanization challenge in Africa." AMCHUD is to be reconstituted to serve as the consultative mechanism on the promotion of sustainable urban development, promoting development of appropriate housing and low-cost construction technology for rural and urban housing; facilitating South-South and international exchange of expertise, research, experience and best practices; and supporting and strengthening the NEPAD Cities Initiative.

To ensure implementation of AMCHUD decisions, Ministers agreed to establish a secretariat and a bureau to be elected by the biennial conference of Ministers. The bureau elected at this meeting comprise Southern Africa, represented by South Africa as inaugural chair; West Africa, represented by Senegal as first vice-chair; North Africa, represented by Algeria as second vice-chair; Central Africa, represented by Chad as third vice-chair; and Eastern Africa, represented by Kenya as Rapporteur. For its part, South Africa pledged to deploy its experience and its commitment to the improvement of Africans in its chairing of the AMCHUD bureau.

Cities Alliance Welcomes new Policy Advisory Board members

The Cities Alliance's Policy Advisory Board recently welcomed two new eminent members to its ranks - Ms. Juanita Amatong, former Secretary of Finance, the Philippines, and Paulo Teixeira, Councillor, Municipality of São Paulo, Brazil – to replace outgoing members, Somsook Boonyabancha and Richard Webb, who have completed their terms. Comprising eminent urban experts from each region, the Cities Alliance Policy Advisory Board provides guidance to the Alliance's Consultative Group on key strategic, policy, and regional issues and support the implementation of Alliance activities. The board meets twice a year and is composed of eight members.

The two new members each bring considerable expertise and authority on urban issues to the deliberations of the Board.

Ms. Amatong was, until recently, the Secretary of Finance in the Department of Finance of the Philippines, where she had held successive positions since 2001 as well as between 1971-1983 and 1986-1995. Earlier public sector experience in the Philippines includes a position as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister. From 1996-1998, Ms. Amatong served as Executive Director at the World Bank Group, as well as Alternate Executive Director for the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. With an educational background in business, economics and public administration, she has worked with international consultancies, in academia, and as a tax economist at the International Monetary Fund.

Mr. Teixeira has been at the forefront of the struggle against forced evictions and for security of tenure in informal settlements since graduating from University of São Paulo Law School in the early 1980s. His work with organised housing movements in São Paulo's poor areas led to his election to the State Assembly in 1994, and to his selection for top posts in the housing field in the 2001-2004 municipal administration, such as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development of the Municipality of São Paulo, President and CEO of the São Paulo Metropolitan Housing Company, President of the Municipal Housing Council and Vice-President of the Municipal Council of Urban Policy. In October 2004, he won a seat in the São Paulo City Council. As Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, he led the Cities Alliance-supported Bairro Legal programme based on social inclusion and the integration of informal settlements into the city fabric, marked by innovation and community participation. Beyond scaling up slum upgrading and tenure regularisation, he led efforts to revitalise São Paulo's downtown area, to support self-help housing and to modernise the Housing and Urban Development Department. Mr. Teixiera is a member of the UN Millennium Task Force Eight, Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers.

Other members of the Board are:

Yousef Hiasat is Chief Executive Officer of Beit Al-Mal Saving and Investment for Housing, a leading investment and financial firm in Amman, Jordan; former Director General of Jordan's Housing and Urban Development Corporation, the public institution responsible for housing and urban development policies and housing schemes directed at middle- and low-income households; and former Principal Adviser to the prime minister of Jordan on housing and urban development issues.

Mary Houghton is President and Director of Shorebank Corporation in Chicago, a commercial bank holding company with US$1.5 billion in assets organised to implement community development strategies in targeted urban neighbourhoods and rural areas, and an adviser to private banks and microcredit lending institutions in developing and transition countries.

Akin L. Mabogunje is Chair of the Presidential Technical Committee on Urban Development and Housing in Nigeria; Chair of the Board of Trustees, Ijebu-Ode Development Board for Poverty Reduction; former Executive Chair of the Development Policy Centre, Ibadan; and an internationally renowned African development scholar who has published and lectured widely on urban management, rural development, and spatial perspectives in the development process.

Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi is Coordinator of the Municipal Development Partnership or Africa, based in Cotonou, Benin; Special Adviser to the Council of Cities and Regions of Africa; and an experienced practitioner in urban management and slum upgrading.

Sheela Patel is founding Director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) in Mumbai, India, working in alliance with the National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan in the federation of community-based organisations of the urban poor, facilitating their direct participation in addressing the problems of cities and their relationship with informal settlements; and Chair of Shack Dwellers International, a global alliance of grassroots community federations of the urban poor.

Ana Vasilache is founding Director of the Partners Romania Foundation for Local Development, a Bucharest-based NGO that supports democratic processes of governance and decentralisation, and works to strengthen the managerial capacities of local governments; former Head of the Settlements Management Office in the Ministry of Public Works and Regional Planning in Bucharest; and has extensive experience with planning legislation.

>> Upcoming Events

Third Urban Research Symposium on "Land Development, Urban Policy and Poverty Reduction", Brasilia, Brazil, April 4 - 6, 2005

The Third Urban Research Symposium 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, (IPEA) this third Symposium will:

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 programmess). 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 urbanisation. Housing issues related to poverty alleviation and to land development are included in the large theme.

The symposium is organized along four main topics:

Urban Growth: trends and impact on land development
Land Policy: public sector interventions and policies
Land Market: the role and response of the private sector and markets
From Theory to Practice: lessons from policy interventions.

Within each topic, themes to be addressed include:

Urban Form: how the topic has impacted urban space, the shape and system of cities;

Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion: how are these affected by land use and land policy, and what reforms does this suggest are needed;

Fiscal and Financial Aspects: potential for resource mobilization, financing needs for land and infrastructure development; cost recovery and willingness to pay, financing alternatives;
Externalities: the impact/relation between land and other sectors such as transport, environment, disaster management.

To reflect the international nature of the Symposium, the papers and discussion sessions will be distributed as follows: 25% on Brazil; 25% on the rest of the Latin America; and 50% for the rest of the world.

For more information on the Third Urban Research Symposium: http://www.worldbank.org/urban/symposium2005/

20th session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, (UN-HABITAT), Nairobi, Kenya, April 4 - 8, 2005

The 20th session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, (UN-HABITAT) is scheduled to take place from 4 to 8 April 2005. The meeting will take place at UN-HABITAT headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. A founding member of the Cities Alliance, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

UN-HABITAT's Governing Council, provides overall policy guidance, direction and supervision to the organisation. It is a high-level forum of governments at the ministerial level during which policy guidelines and the organisation's budget are established for the next two-year period. Comprising 58 member states the Governing Council reports to the General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which coordinates the work of the subsidiary bodies of the General Assembly.

Key issues to be discussed at the upcoming 20th session of the Governing Council are:

Work Programme of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, for the biennium 2006 - 2007 and budget of the United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation for the biennium 2006-2007.
Activities of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT: progress report of the Executive Director
Two special themes, on:
a. Involvement of civil society in improving local governance; and
b. Post-conflict, natural and man-made disasters assessment and reconstruction.
Implementing and monitoring the goal of the United Nations Millennium Declaration on improving the lives of slum dwellers.
Recommendations on decentralisation and the strengthening of local authorities.
Strengthening the United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation.

For more information on the 20th session of the Governing Council click here: http://www.unhabitat.org/gc/gc20/default.asp

Eighth World Congress of Metropolis on "Tradition and Transformation - The Future of the City", Berlin, Germany, May 11 – 15, 2005

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.

Metropolis' six Standing Commissions will present their experiences and results. Events complementing the conference, such as workshops, field trips, a Women's Congress, a Youth Congress, and a continuing education seminar on "Rail Transport in the City" will offer experts from the political, the administrative, scientific, and business spheres an excellent forum for establishing contacts and exchanging experiences at an international level.

In collaboration with BMZ/GTZ Cities Alliance is organising a high level event titled "Cities and their Role for the Millennium Development Goals", to focus attention on the role of cities in the global efforts to combat poverty and attain the MDGs. The event will:

Define the needs of the urban agenda, in relation to the UN-General Assembly Meeting in September to assess progress on the MDGs
Highlight the messages of the Millennium Task Force report on Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers
Update participants and key stakeholders on the key milestones achieved by Cities Alliance, which was founded in Berlin five years ago.

Expected speakers at the session include: Federal Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul of the BMZ, Klaus Töpfer of the United Nations Environment Programme, Anna Tibaijuka, UN-Under Seceratry-General and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT and Shigeo Katsu, Regional Vice President, Europe and Central Asia, the World Bank. There will also be an interactive panel with mayors from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Germany to compare notes and share experiences.

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

Founding Congress of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA) on "Towards a unified voice for sustainable local government development in Africa", Tshwane, South Africa, May 15 – 18, 2005

The Founding Congress of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA) formerly known as the Council of Cities and Regions of Africa (CCRA) will be held in the city of Tshawane, South Africa from May 15 – 18, 2005. UCLGA is the African Chapter of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the world body of local governments which held its unification Congress in Paris, France May last year and of which Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Mayor of Tshwane is President, along with Mayor Bertrand Delanoë of Paris. Father Mkhatshwa will be hosting the founding congress of UCLGA in Tshwane in his capacity as Interim President.

Over 10,000 participants including mayors and their officials, associations of local government, government politicians and officials, international organisations, partners in development, non-governmental organisations, the civic society, the private sector, universities and research institutions, as well as all other key stakeholders in local government are expected to participate at this Founding Congress.

For more details on the UCLGA contact ccracongress@tshwane.gov.za.

UCLG – Asia-Pacific (ASPAC) Regional Section Congress 2005 on "Glocalization for the Future", Daegu, Korea, April 26 - 29, 2005

UCLG-ASPAC 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 - UTO and WACLAC at the Congress in Paris in May 2004.

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 glocalisation. 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: http://www.uclg-aspac2005.org/m3/m3_01.asp.

>> Publications Announcement

Integrating the Poor: Urban Upgrading and Land Tenure Regularisation in the City of São Paulo. Sao Paulo: Cities Alliance, 2004. (Published in English and Portuguese)

The book follows the Cities Alliance's decision to record the process and outcome of its collaboration with the City of São Paulo from 2001 to 2004, in the context of its activities as a learning alliance. During this period, the São Paulo Municipal Administration initiated the Bairro Legal Programme towards scaling up slum upgrading and land tenure regularisation, as part of a socially inclusive and pro-poor housing and urban development policy.

São Paulo is the capital city of the state with the same name and the heart of a sprawling
metropolitan area. It is one of South America's biggest economic and technological hubs, accounting for more than 18% of Brazil's GDP (Cities Alliance Annual Report, 2002). The São Paulo metropolitan region is the third largest urban area in the world; the city of São Paulo is home to 10.4 million people, and spans 1,509 square kilometers. The city is characterised by high levels of social and economic inequality, and approximately 30% of its population does not have security of land tenure.

Statistics from the Brazilian Statistics and Geography Institute (IBGE) and other specific studies indicate that, about three million people in São Paulo live in some form of illegal settlement, without secure land tenure, in poor urban and environmental conditions and subject to violence, crime and frequent eviction. Housing policies adopted over recent decades, particularly in the 1990s, have only served to exacerbate the situation.

In 2001, the Housing and Urban Development Department (SEHAB) of the then newly-elected São Paulo Municipal Administration headed by Marta Suplicy launched the Bairro Legal ("Nice Neighbourhood") Programme with the aim of turning slum areas into neighbourhoods, through a combination of physical upgrading, land tenure regularisation and social inclusion. The Cities Alliance provided technical and financial support for the design and consolidation of the Bairro Legal Programme in the context of a comprehensive policy involving land tenure regularisation and the systematic integration of precarious settlements into the city.

One line of action refers to land tenure security for families living in precarious settlements, which involved a threefold approach. The first was the establishment of a negotiations process to avoid eviction of families living in illegal settlements. The conflict mediation strategy adopted by the Administration successfully prevented the eviction of approximately 13,000 such families. Second was the introduction of legislation to enable land tenure regularisation of some 160 slums occupying public land, benefitting some 45,000 families. Third was the regularisation of the illegal land subdivisions in existence prior to April 2000 by the new legislation.

Cities Alliance assistance to the Bairro Legal Programme was also designed to produce integrated local development plans in three districts of the city populated largely by low-income people who face physical, social and economic exclusion. Through the Bairro Legal Technical Assistance Project, which was financed by the Cities Alliance and executed in partnership with the World Bank, SEHAB developed a methodology to prepare local development strategies, known as Housing and Urban Action Plans. The effort included development of the plans plus of the methodology and institutional capacity for their implementation.

To support its land regularisation and housing production programmes, SEHAB underwent an organisational restructuring process, adopting a new organisational model ranging from new information technology systems to technical capacity building in an attempt to offer more efficient and transparent services.

The first chapter of the book describes the city's visionary commitment to establishing a new urban development model for the city. It provides a brief overview of the city's current pattern of development, characterised by "peripheral growth", a phenomenon wherein the greater a district's distance from the city centre, the higher its levels of poverty and social exclusion; a review of housing policies implemented in the 1990s, which, due to their fragmentation and lack of continuity, failed to reverse the city's pattern of peripheral growth, and ; describes SEHAB's organisation, instruments, funding sources and main policies, discussing the organisation's restructuring in the context of its support for these policies.

Chapter two describes the Bairro Legal Programme's experience with implementation of measures to prevent eviction and guarantee the security of land tenure to low-income families living in illegally occupied land settlements.

Chapter three discusses the Bairro Legal Technical Assistance Project, implemented with the technical and financial support of the Cities Alliance. It examines the comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach adopted by the Bairro Legal Programme, which encompasses several aspects of urban upgrading, land tenure regularisation and social inclusion; the programme's inter-institutional nature, its engagement of several municipal departments, state and federal agencies, stakeholders in the private sector, and civil society in the debate over the upgrading and regularising of precarious settlements which is a marked departure from the traditionally fragmented approach to urban upgrading programmes, not only in São Paulo but also in several urban centres of the developing world.

The fourth and final chapter of this document addresses the challenges to be overcome by the Bairro Legal Programme and SEHAB in order to expand urbanisation and land tenure regularisation interventions in informal settlements to a citywide scale. In spite of the challenges it still faces, the experience gained by the Bairro Legal Programme is already significant enough to warrant its dissemination to Brazilian and international institutions and practitioners involved with slum upgrading and land tenure regularisation who are tackling the physical, social and cultural isolation faced by a significant portion of city dwellers in developing countries.

For its innovative Bairro Legal Programme, providing security of tenure and improved living conditions for informal settlement residents, the city of São Paulo was awarded the 2004 Housing Rights Protector Award by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). The award is presented annually to a government or other institution demonstrating an exceptional commitment to the protection and fulfilment of housing rights.

To download a copy of Integrating the Poor: Urban Upgrading and Land Tenure Regularisation in the City of Sao Paulo, please click here: http://www.citiesalliance.org/publications/pubs/integrating-the-poor-sao-paulo.html .

>> Cities Alliance Grant Approvals Update

City Upgrading Strategy for Urban Dili, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

This grant will support the development of a city upgrading strategy (CUS), locally known as the Knua Improvement Program (KIP) for Dili, Timor-Leste, through the participatory development of a city-wide upgrading policy framework integrated with specific neighborhood (knua) improvement plans, and associated implementation strategies focusing on the poorest neighborhoods in Dili. Requested by Vice Minister, Architect Cesar Vital Moreira, Ministry of Transport, Communications and Public Works of Timor Leste, the grant will support a city upgrading strategy for the future development of Dili that meets the needs and aspirations of Dili's residents, businesses and community through the development of a shared vision; and, provide a model for replication throughout East Timor enabling a model to be developed that can be replicated in other urban centers and rural areas in East Timor. The Upgrading Strategy will also be an input into the National Housing Policy – currently under development. Cities Alliance members co-sponsoring the activity are the World Bank, ADB, UN-HABITAT, UNDP, WHO.

Philippines Cities Without Slums Initiative

Requested by the Philippine Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council to support local governments in institutionalising an asset-based approach to poverty reduction, to help the Philippines Government meet MDG targets. The project is expected to result in improved income generation for local communities; in improved housing conditions, social services, including children's access to education; and improved professional competence of affected local governments. The ADB, UN-Habitat, World Bank are co-sponsoring this activity, which is being implemented by UN-HABITAT.

Capacity Enhancement for Direct Sub-sovereign Lending: Knowledge Dissemination

The grant will support activities to bridge the capacity and information gaps that create barriers to direct financial market access by assisting four public infrastructure entities (PIEs) to design a financing plan and obtain local foreign currency ratings, thereby making fiscal resources available for governments to pursue their socio-economic growth and poverty alleviation programmes. PIEs will be enabled to make sustained financial contributions within public investment components of PPP structures, leading to the long-term viability of such partnerships in infrastructure development and finance. Lessons learnt for the activity will be compiled and disseminated. The grant proposal was requested by and will be implemented by the Infrastructure Economics and Finance Department (IEF) of the World Bank with bulk of funding coming from the Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF).

Municipal Finance Task Force

The grant is to support the establishment of a municipal finance task force (MFTF), essentially a knowledge network developing best practices to assist cities and national governments in identifying actions that facilitate the flows of long-term domestic private capital for investments in slum upgrading and implementation of city development strategies. Task force members will work to add to existing knowledge by: preparing discussion/guidance papers by drawing on the expertise of members; case studies of developing cities, countries or transactions where long-term private capital has been successfully mobilised in support of a city's development; and, a Municipal Finance Tool kit, based on the ideas developed in the guidance papers and case studies. Cities Alliance members of the Task Force so far include USAID, DFID, AFD, Brazil, UN-Habitat, World Bank, UCLG, and the ADB.

Brazil National Urban Development Policy

Although Brazil has over 20 years of experience in urban upgrading programmes for precarious settlements developed by municipalities, states and the Federal Government itself, it is not yet ready to respond with the necessary actions on land tenure regularisation and risk prevention. This activity will support the development and promotion of a planning methodology and instruments to encourage action at the municipal level for land tenure regularisation and risk mitigation as part of the National Programme of Upgrading, Regularisation and Integration of Informal Settlements. Submitted by the National Secretary for Urban Programs, Ministry of Cities, projected outcomes of the activity include the creation of a National Network of Land Tenure Regularisation and Risk Prevention in Precarious Settlements, to review and revise federal legislation on land planning and regularisation; the establishment of a set of regional institutions for training local stakeholders on land tenure regularisation and risk assessment and prevention; and, the design of municipal risk mitigation plans, to be piloted in five municipalities. The World Bank, UN-Habitat, and the Italian government are co-sponsoring this activity which will be implemented by the World Bank.

Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI) Regional CDS Facility

Requested by the Institute in response to the growing demand by cities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to implement city development strategies. Through the activity AUDI will: serve as a regional centre for CDS-related knowledge management, serving MENA cities, professionals, and research institutions; assist MENA cities to prepare CDSs financed either entirely from national/local resources, or partially through external grants and/or loans, which AUDI would seek to mobilise as co-financing through regional donors and local governments; assist in identifying and recruiting regional or international consultants; enhance knowledge sharing and connectivity among policy makers and practitioners; and, document the lessons learned from each CDS and share them within the region. The World Bank and UN-HABITAT are the sponsors of the activity.

Medium to Long Term City Development Strategy For Local Economic Development For Port Cities of Hodeidah And Mukalla Cities

The activity is to support the efforts of Yemen's strategic port cities, Hodeidah and Mukalla to become regional centres of economic growth by creating environments conducive to private sector investment and development. Requested by the Governors of Hodeidah and Mukalla, the activity will lead to the development of a medium to long-term strategy for local economic development to reduce poverty and improve the quality of life in both cities, sustained through stakeholders' participation. Both governors were motivated by the positive results of the current CDS in Aden to join efforts to transform their traditional master plan-oriented urban planning approaches. The activity will be implemented by AUDI and the World Bank.

Morocco's Cities Without Slums Programme

The Framework Agreement for this activity sets the foundations for a Cities Alliance partnership with Morocco's Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for the support and monitoring of the Government's national Cities Without Slums Programme, (Villes Sans Bidonvilles), which aims to gradually upgrade slums (200,000 households by 2010), taking the city as the programming unit, and within a contractual framework between the State and local authorities. Terms of reference for the Agreement include the drawing up of a comprehensive technical assistance and training plan; creation of a Slum Observatory; and the establishment of a Technical Monitoring Committee to ensure coordination and follow-up of Cities Without Slums Prorgamme's implementation. Requested by the Minister for Housing and Urban Development in the Office of Prime Minister, the ambitious activity is supported by USAID, UN-Habitat, AFD, and the World Bank, and is to be implemented by the Near East and North African (NENA)/Urban Forum and Holding Al Omrane.

Slum Upgrading Facility (SUF)

The Slum Upgrading Facility is a dedicated, simple to access, support mechanism for cities seeking to access finacing for citywide slum upgrading programmes. It will directly support the efforts of national governments and local authorities that take decisive action to improve the conditions of their poorest residents, and which treat slum upgrading as part of their ongoing, core business. Submitted by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and managed by UN-HABITAT under its core sub-programme on human settlements financing, the SUF operates as a programme under the umbrella of the Cities Alliance similar to arrangements for the Community-Led Infrastructure Financing Facility. Other Cities Alliance members involved include SIDA and the World Bank. The activities of the SUF will lead to the development of sustainable financing mechanisms, budgetary, policy and regulatory reform; deepen local capital markets that are so necessary for slum upgrading; and provide downstream opportunities for new forms of output-based aid approaches.

Hyderabad Citywide Slum Upgrading Action Plan, Hyderabad, India

This will support the development of an action plan for citywide upgrading of the Hyderabad's under-serviced settlements, to enable it to become a "city without slums". Requested by the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, the activity will undertake a city-wide survey of slums and informal settlements and prepare a strategy and action plan for their upgrading; undertake stakeholder consultations to ensure a needs-based prioritisation of slum upgrading, including using approaches that have been developed by the DFID-supported Andhra Pradesh Urban Services for the Poor programme; prepare a draft analytical report on citywide options for slum upgrading, including cost implications and options for cost sharing or innovative financing mechanisms to encourage difficult decisions to be taken by the city and State authorities enabling a consensus Action Plan for citywide upgrading and slum regularisation to be adopted. The World Bank, JICA, Urban Management Programme (UN-Habitat), the Netherlands, USAID, and DFID are co-sponsoring this activity which will be implemented by the Administrative Staff College of India.

Transformation of Mumbai into a World Class City

This activity will support the process of transformation of Mumbai into a world-class city with the objective of improving economic growth, reducing poverty and enhancing quality of life, especially for slum dwellers. Set targets include: the promotion of a change in mind set from incremental improvement to more long-term impacts; restructuring the institutional framework to promote accountability, with efficient and responsive service delivery; increase economic growth from current 2.4% to 8-10% per annum; improve and expand mass and private transport infrastructure; increase low-income housing and affordability; relocate and rehabilitate slums and pavement dwellers; create dedicated "Mumbai Infrastructure Fund"; and, generate momentum through "quick wins" for visible impacts on the ground. Co-sponsored by the World Bank, USAID, WSP, UMP (UNDP/UN-Habitat) the activity will be implemented by the Government of Maharashtra.

Action Plan to Upgrade all Informal Settlements in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania by 2015

Dar es Salaam City Council and the three municipalities of Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke are taking comprehensive steps to address the challenges of unplanned and unserviced settlements on a citywide basis, working with the urban poor and the private sector with a goal of achieving a Dar es Salaam without slums. The grant activity will support the review of upgrading policies and design a Citywide Action Plan for the regularisation and upgrading of unplanned and unserviced settlements in Dar es Salaam; enable local government to adopt and implement reforms necessary to effect a city-wide approach and strengthen existing community capacity to organise and undertake broad-based initiatives to enhance poverty reduction and urban safety; design a long-term sustainable financing strategy for settlement upgrading, to maximise Dar es Salaam's leveraging potential through a judicious mix of budgetary support, domestic investment, new revenue streams and international assistance; undertake targeted capacity building for the City and three Municipalities; ensure linkages between Citywide Action Plan and World Bank-financed Community Infrastructure Upgrading Programme; and, develop a sustainable financing strategy with relevant institutions and stakeholders. Grant funding was requested by the Dar Es Salaam City Council and will be implemented by UN-HABITAT, World Bank, Dar Es Salaam City Council, and the three municipalities.

African Union Housing Upgrading Financing Initiative

This will facilitate the development of appropriate housing finance products to support upgrading activities in four African countries, leading to improved lending to low-income households in select countries, through identifying the essential features of a supportive policy environment; improved understanding between lenders and borrowers, including respective rights and responsibilities; identification of specific mechanisms for improving access to savings and credit; and of non-mortgage based vehicles for reaching the urban poor. It was requested by the African Union for Housing Finance and co-sponsored by the World Bank, USAID, and AfD. The grant will be implemented by the World Bank.

Towards a CDS system in Punjab, Pakistan

This will support the Government of Punjab, through the Pakistan Municipal Development Finance Company (PMDFC), to set up guidelines for preparing CDSs for its Tehsil Municipal Authorities (TMAs), and to develop indicators that will be used in provincial performance based grant and monitoring systems. This expectedly will result in increased responsiveness of investment planning to city wide and citizen priorities, and the development of a workable model for planning, monitoring and evaluation of service provision that can be expanded to other TMAs in Punjab, which can be used in the development of the Punjab performance- based monitoring system. It was requested by the Pakistan Municipal Development Corporation which will work with the World Bank to implement the activity.


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