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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
there from. For further details on providing such
submissions send an e-mail to:
info@citiesalliance.org
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UCLG
Congress in Jeju, Korea, 28-31 October 2007
The city of Jeju, Korea will host the United City and Local
Government’s (UCLG’s) Second World Congress from 28 to 31
October 2007. The theme of the Congress, Changing Cities
are Driving Our World, captures both the dynamism and
the crucial role played by local authorities of all sizes.
The Cities Alliance will host a programme entitled
“Cities Without Slums – Strategic Responses in Fast Growing
Cities.” The session will focus on the experiences of local
governments in using city development strategy and slum
upgrading tools in cities where Cities Alliance members have
financed interventions, and will promote cities as partners
of international cooperation. The session is scheduled for
Wednesday, 31 October 2007 from 11:00 to 12:30 in Halla-A
Hall of the International Convention Center.
More
information:
• UCLG Second World Congress:
http://www.cities-localgovernments.org/uclg/index.asp
•
Cities Alliance Session at World Congress
(1
page, 76 KB PDF)
Cities
Alliance PPF and CG Meetings to be held in Manila,
Philippines, 5 - 9 November 2007
See
lead story or click here.
UN-HABITAT Announces Launch of 2007 Award: Gender
and Rights-Responsive Sustainable Cities in Asia and
the Pacific
UN-HABITAT’s Regional
Office for Asia and the Pacific launched a
regionwide award process on 4 September 2007 on
“Gender and Rights-Responsive Sustainable Cities in
Asia and the Pacific.” Habitat is welcoming
applications from cities, civil society, and
individuals who have demonstrated either innovation
or excellence in the mainstreaming of gender issues
in the post-disaster, post-conflict reconstruction,
or disaster preparedness context.
The deadline for entries is 30
November 2007. Awards will be announced in March 2008. See
UN-HABITAT’s Web link for guidelines and application
instructions:
http://www.fukuoka.unhabitat.org/topics/gender/gender_e/awards_e.html.
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PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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Cities Alliance 2007 Annual Report
The Cities Alliance has
released its 2007 Annual Report in time for the
Alliance’s annual meetings to be held in Manila, Philippines
(see lead story). The Annual Report reviews Cities
Alliance activities in support of slum upgrading, preparing
city development strategies, and financing urban
development. Notable in fiscal year 2007 (1 July to 30 June)
was a focus on smaller grants that assist cities in
undertaking the preliminary groundwork and research required
to prepare proposals for larger slum upgrading and city
development strategy projects. The Annual Report also
includes a special section featuring summaries of the
diverse range of urban development activities of Cities
Alliance members.
View full report at:
http://www.citiesalliance.org/publications/annual-report/2007-annual-report.html.
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UN-HABITAT Enhancing Urban Safety
and Security: Global Report on Human Settlements 2007
 Enhancing Urban Safety and
Security: Global Report on Human Settlements 2007
addresses three major threats to the safety and security of
cities: urban crime and violence, insecurity of tenure and
forced evictions, and natural and human-made disasters. It
analyses worldwide conditions and trends with respect to
these threats and pays particular attention to their
underlying causes and impacts, as well as to the good
policies and best practices that have been adopted at the
city, national, and international levels. The report adopts
a human security perspective, the concern of which is with
the safety and security of people, rather than states, and
highlights concerns that can be addressed through
appropriate urban policy, planning, design and governance.
(From the introduction to the report, by Anna Tibaijuka,
Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN-HABITAT.)
Report can be ordered at:
http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/getPage.asp?page=bookView&book=2432
 Financial Management for Local
Governments (4 volumes)
The Financial Management for
Local Governments series is designed to cover all aspects of
sound financial management for local governments in
developed and developing countries and economies in
transition. Concepts of good governance, transparency and
accountability are woven into the text of every chapter, and
the needs and potential obstacles to greater
decentralisation and democracy are highlighted. Each volume
is self-contained with its own Trainer’s Guide, exercises
and Web resources. Chapters are divided into basic and
advanced concepts and the detailed relationship of each
topic to the others covered in the series is explained.
http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/getPage.asp?page=bookView&book=2351
CLIFF Annual Review 07
 The Community-Led
Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) has released its
Annual Review 07. The report highlights CLIFF’s work in
India and Kenya to provide financing to communities seeking
to upgrade housing and sanitation facilities. The report
also announces that from April 2007, CLIFF began operations
in a third country—the Philippines. CLIFF is funded by the
UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
through the Cities Alliance, supported by loan guarantees
from the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), and from Homeless International, the lead
implementing agency for CLIFF.
http://www.homeless-international.org/client_files/doc_docs/CLIFFAR07_FINAL2.pdf
 IMF, Finance and Development, September
2007
The International Monetary
Fund’s September 2007 issue of Finance and Development
spotlights urbanisation and megacities with a cover story
and several feature articles. Topics highlighted include
rapid urbanisation, urban poverty, megacity issues, and the
management of large cities.
View issue at:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2007/09/index.htm
UNEP, Global Environment Outlook, October
2007
The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) will launch Global Environmental Outlook
4: Environment for Development in London and 40
countries on 25 October 2007. GEO-4 is the culmination of
five years' intensive consultation with stakeholders
worldwide. It links findings on the state of the environment
with policy analyses, incorporating historical, current, and
future perspectives; and combining global perspectives with
sub-global views. GEO-4 also highlights emerging
environmental issues that require policy attention. The
GEO-4 assessment used the 1987 World Commission on
Environment and Development report Our Common Future
as the baseline for retrospective analysis of environmental
trends and development over the past 20 years. The report
highlights both environment and development issues, focusing
on human well-being, and the role of environment in
development.
http://www.unep.org/GEO/ |
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CITIES ALLIANCE SECRETARIAT UPDATE |
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Strengthening the Cities Alliance Partnership
with Nigeria
To further strengthen
the growing relationship between the Cities Alliance
and Nigeria—an Alliance member and grant
recipient—Kevin Milroy, Cities Alliance Senior
Operations Office, travelled to Nigeria for a series
of meetings and site visits in Abuja and Lagos with
Nigerian officials. In Abuja, he met with Mrs. C. F.
Sibeudu, Director, Urban and Regional Development,
in the Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing and
Urban Development; members of her staff; and
Professor Falade, Programme Manager Nigeria,
UN-HABITAT. During the meetings, the Cities Alliance
and the ministry identified a possible joint work
programme and ways to strengthen the Cities Alliance
profile in Nigeria. Specific possibilities discussed
include a State of Nigerian Cities Report (SoCR);
the development of a national strategy on slum
upgrading; as well as national summits on urban/city
issues, and on municipal financing. Mr Milroy also
travelled to Lagos, where he met with members of the
Lagos State Government, as well as the chairman of
the Steering Committee for the World Bank-funded
Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance
Project, Mr Yemi Cardoso, now heading a policy unit.
Discussions focused on the development of a
longer-term programme of support to Lagos.
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Panelists
and participants at World Habitat Day Celebrations in Abuja,
Nigeria, 8 October 2007
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Welcome
The Cities Alliance
Secretariat would like to welcome Thierry Paulais,
Senior Urban Finance Specialist, from Agence
Française de Développement (AFD) where he was Head
of the Urban Department. Thierry will be working
with the Alliance’s municipal finance team.
Whilst seconded to the Cities Alliance, Thierry will
manage a programme on the
Financing of African Cities.
Co-financed by the Cities Alliance and AFD, this
programme has three objectives: (i) to conduct an
inventory of all existing urban financing systems
and establish a typology; (ii) to conduct a
contextual analysis of the current situation in
Africa and examine best ways to introduce modern
financing systems that can mobilize local resources
and reinforce local government autonomy; and (iii)
to compile technical and practical information for
use by African decision makers and technical
experts. The outcomes of this programme will be
published in English, French and Portuguese. |
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