| The Cities Alliance was conceived by its founding partners, UN-HABITAT and the World Bank, as a coalition of cities and their development partners committed to address urban poverty reduction as a global public policy issue. The Alliance’s governance structure is unique in that it brings together representatives of the world’s cities as equal partners in a direct dialogue with bilateral and multilateral development agencies and financial institutions. The Alliance’s strategy, work programme and budget are not only developed with and approved by local authority representatives, but local authorities are at the heart of implementing Alliance-funded activities.
Virtually all population growth is now taking place in developing country cities. Combining the vision and resources to anticipate and provide for the urban growth rates these cities will face over the next 30 years, requires political commitment, a focus on scale and sustainability, and the inclusion of the urban poor as both partners and beneficiaries in the city’s growth. In the words of the City of São Paulo’s Mayor Marta Suplicy: “Phenomena of an extraordinary magnitude such as rapid, uncontrolled urban growth cannot be addressed as common issues. The way we address them should also be extraordinary”.
It is no accident that local authorities are leading the way in this process since they are the level of government most directly accountable to the urban poor. The Alliance’s focus on citywide scales of action has strongly resonated with cites, as well as with their national associations worldwide, many of which are now promoting both city development strategies (CDS) and citywide slum upgrading among their members.
Five years after its inception, the Cities Alliance is working with 145 cities, including 37 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 4 in the Middle East and North Africa region, 72 in Asia, 10 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and 22 in the Latin America and Caribbean region. As illustrated below, these partnerships are producing real results:
São Paulo
In Brazil, for example, municipalities have been moving from sectoral projects towards comprehensive ‘inclusion’ strategies designed to integrate slums into the city fabric. As an integral part of its citywide slum upgrading strategy, São Paulo launched its “Bairro Legal Programme” in 2001, initiating land tenure regularisation, social development initiatives, and community participation schemes. “The main novelty in this process,” says the Mayor Suplicy, “is the integration of social, cultural and income-generating programmes with the process of slum urbanisation”. The City of São Paulo budgeted US$189 million for the long-term development of the programme, and is now seeking Alliance support to develop a sustainable financing strategy for citywide upgrading.
Tetouan
In Morocco, a city development strategy for the metropolitan area of Tetouan has been developed by the local and regional authorities, engaging the community, private sector, non-governmental and community-based organisations in enhancing opportunities for increased pro-poor investments. As the country’s decentralisation process strengthens and increased administrative and financial authorities devolve to city governments, the CDS is serving as a vehicle to foster linkages among municipalities in the metropolitan region to reduce poverty through regional cooperation and economic development. The CDS is also helping Tetouan take maximum advantage of substantial national investments in transportation infrastructure.
Addis Ababa and Johannesburg
City leaders are increasingly networking amongst themselves to share knowledge on CDS and citywide upgrading. With the support of the Cities Alliance, the Mayors of Addis Ababa and Johannesburg have formed a partnership within the framework of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), through which Johannesburg’s rich experience in strategic planning and city management processes will support the City Government of Addis Ababa’s ongoing efforts to develop and build its own strategic planning capacity. This includes direct technical support in areas such as financial and land management as well as a deepening of the city’s leadership and management capacity through high-level interaction between the political and executive echelons of the two cities.
Aden
There is evidence that city development strategies (CDS) are changing and shaping the financing strategies of cities as well as the lending instruments of their international development partners. With the Yemeni port city of Aden, for example, the World Bank has designed an Adaptable Program Loan around the outcomes of the CDS planning process. Aden’s City Development Strategy for Local Economic Development is at the centre of a 12-year US$96 million investment programme designed to strengthen the investment climate, encourage pro-poor growth, and create jobs in the coastal cities of Aden, Hodeidah and Mukalla. Rather than focus only on pre-identified port investments, this loan relies on the integrative CDS approach to identify key investments in Aden. At the same time, the programme is focusing on institutional and policy reforms as well as on enabling a better business environment through coordination among all levels of government, the private sector, and civil society.
Local authority associations
Local authority associations are increasingly at the centre of Alliance-funded activities. During 2003, the Chilean Association of Municipalities obtained Alliance support for Local Development Strategies for Housing Solutions to Overcome Poverty; the National Association of Local Authorities in Ghana is prepared to play a key role in replicating city-based poverty reduction strategies drawing on experience gained in preparing a CDS in the country’s Kumasi region; and the Association of Latvian Cities was awarded funding for CDS in eight cities under its Latvia Cities Program - City Development Strategies for Economic Development.
Cities Alliance Partnerships with Local Government Associations
- Association of Latvian Cities.
- Association of Municipalities of Burkina Faso.
- Association of Cities and Communes of Niger.
- Chilean Association of Municipalities.
- China Association of Mayors.
- City Managers’ Association of Gujarat (India).
- Latin American Chapter of the International Union of Local Authorities.
- League of Cities of the Philippines.
- National Association of Local Authorities in Ghana.
- South African Cities Network.
The creation of the new world organisation United Cities and Local Governments will create exciting new opportunities to further strengthen the leadership role of local authority associations in international development cooperation in this urban century.
Mark Hildebrand is Manager of the Cities Alliance Secretariat.
Bringing City Authorities and Communities together in Durban, Mumbai and Manila
By Sandra Baffoe-Bonnie
As a direct follow up of the Global Campaign for Secure Tenure launch, a pro-poor slum upgrading framework project funded by the Cities Alliance was initiated in Mumbai, Durban and Manila. The programme in each city is supported by slum representatives, NGOs and local authorities. It aims to document, scale up and share their experiences in slum upgrading by helping local residents with social mobilisation, financial models and mechanisms for popular public partnerships promoting shelter, security of tenure, and access to land and basic services. It is called the Three Cities Project.
Mumbai: Collaboration between the UN-HABITAT, Slum Dwellers International and the city of Mumbai has resulted in the positive progress on the relocation of 35,000 families under the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project.
Durban: The Ethekweni Municipality (Durban) and slum associations, through the programme, are now engaged in large scale slum upgrading and housing production activities
Manila: The City of General Santos, in Manila, in the Philippines has been involved in this initiative. General Santos City has committed funds in its annual budget to shelter related activities as well as making 44 hectares available to 1,800 Slum dwellers...
Sandra Baffoe-Bonnie works with the Shelter and Sustainable Human Settlements Development Division, UN-HABITAT.
|
