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Decentralised cooperation,especially city to city cooperation, is today recognised as an important means to achieving development in the world. It enables international solidarity to express itself directly between communities of the North and of the South. National governments in developed countries are increasingly encouraging this type of cooperation by complementing budgets allocated by local authorities with additional resources to support decentralised cooperation. Decentralised cooperation is fast becoming one of the most important mechanisms of international cooperation alongside multilateral and bilateral cooperation.
Cities in the South often have difficulty defining their urban development priorities clearly, while cities in the North are not necessarily equipped to help strengthen them institutionally through city to city cooperation.
The UN’s ECOSOC Division for Sustainable Development sees that its blueprint for sustainable development, Agenda 21, is applied globally, nationally and locally. UN-HABITAT is using the Local Agenda 21 system as a common element between cities in the North and cities in the South to develop decentralised cooperation.
The UN-HABITAT programmes on Local Agenda 21 (the Sustainable Cities Programme and the Localising Agenda 21 Programme) promote decentralised cooperation. The Localising Agenda 21 programme operates in Essaouira, Morocco, Nakuru, Kenya and Vinn City in Vietnam. For many years already, city-to-city cooperation is taking place among cities from the South that those programmes support. To promote this cooperation mechanism, contacts are being undertaken with National Associations of Local Authorities to help establish decentralised cooperation between the South and the North.
UN-HABITAT is very conscious of the will of local authorities to establish direct contacts among themselves and to keep full control of decentralised cooperation arrangements. UN-HABITAT offers to promote decentralised cooperation with cities from the south that it supports in the sustainable urbanisation quest. These cities have built institutional infrastructure enhancing participation, identified priorities and developed strategic directions and action plans to promote sustainable urban development. They are usually well able to articulate their needs and to maximise support that can be mobilised through city-to-city cooperation.
When cooperation was established between Nakuru in Kenya and Leuven in Belgium, both cities were initiating the process of preparing their Local Agenda 21 programme. Through this process local actors in Nakuru were able to identify a number of priority issues that Leuven supported based on its capacities and possibilities. For example Leuven backed the introduction of cobblestones as a low technology to pave roads. It also supported a pilot project for the improvement of municipal housing which is now replicated in municipal housing estates. On the other hand, Nakuru’s experience in developing its Strategic Structure Plan inspired Leuven municipality especially in terms of participatory approaches used in Nakuru involving the mobilisation and participation of local communities. Through respective Local Agenda 21 institutional mechanisms, a large number of local actors were linked – such as schools, for example, thus giving students in Leuven a better understanding of African realities.
Jean-Christophe Adrian is UN-HABITAT’s Local Agenda 21 Programme Manager.
Working with Kisumu, Kampala and Musoma
By Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga
The people who derive their subsistence from fishing and small-scale agriculture along the shores of Lake Victoria, the world’s second largest fresh water body, face imminent danger with the continued destruction of the natural habitat. The livelihood of an estimated 25 million people is endangered.
The urban and peri urban centres surrounding the lake have contributed significantly to the increased environmental degradation of the lake, threatening the very basis of these local economies.
The relevant municipalities lack the capacity to implement sustainable development policies, especially within a regional context of high urbanisation rates and weak national and regional economies. The lake, shared by Kenya 6 per cent, Tanzania 49 per cent, and Uganda 45 per cent, is a collective responsibility of the respective cities and municipalities.
With the support of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), UN-HABITAT initiated the Lake Victoria Region City Development Strategies (CDS) programme in early 2002, in a bid to strengthen the capacity of three cities along the shores of Lake Victoria – Kisumu in Kenya, Kampala, Uganda and the Tanzanian city of Musoma.
CDS has been endorsed by the respective local governments, and multi-sectoral coordinating committees set up. In the past year, the initiative has focused on building a consensus on key environmental problems and used it as a framework for preparing and implementing the CDS.
Through the participatory process of developing the city development strategies for the three cities, ongoing urban development initiatives in the Lake Victoria region have been documented and key urban development issues and problems facing each city identified. Common areas of interest have also been identified and a joint regional project for improved urban environment and poverty reduction has been developed. Consultations with varied stakeholders including local communities, civil society and the private sector are currently underway.
These consultations have already yielded strategic action and investment plans to address a range of priorities. They include sanitation and drainage, waste management, income generation systems, shelter and infrastructure, revenue collection, HIV/AIDS, and the promotion of inclusive processes and structures of local governance, among others.
Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga is a Human Settlements Officer with UN-HABITAT’s Urban Management Programme.
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