My City   Dar es Salaam – managing a rising tide of humanity The great port of Dar es Salaam is one of the fastest growing cities in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of the number of people pouring in on a daily basis. For Mayor Kleist Sykes, elected in December 2000 for a five-year term, this is a major problem because most of the new comers are young people who need all the help they can get. He spoke to Habitat Debate at a meeting in City Hall. Some excerpts: What is the main problem area in Dar es Salaam? – To my mind the key challenge for Dar es Salaam is the uncontrolled influx of people into the city. Once they are here, what do we do with them? We get the problems of unplanned settlements within the city, and very rapidly crime and security problems, and the strains on infrastructure. What is your city’s population? – The last census gave us a population figure for the city of 2.48 million. But more and more people are pouring into the city every day. We are appealing to the authorities in other regions to find activities for their youth to stem this influx. Each local authority is supposed to set aside 10 per cent of their funds for youth and women. Do you have faith in twinning and best practices? – I put greater value to linkages and exchanges with mayors within the region and the Continent than twinning links with cities further afield. For example, Dar es Salaam has links with Mansfield, Ohio, established by the then mayors. But if you ask anyone today, even people my age, what is the relationship between Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Mansfield, Ohio, they could not tell you. Amongst us (in Africa) there is a lot that we share in the nature of the problems, and therefore the solutions.We don’t need to make the same mistakes. Are you going to Paris in May for the international local authorities congress? – For me there is greater value in regional bodies and what we can learn from each other. We have had visits from Nairobi and Kampala to Dar es Salaam to look into the question of how we are dealing with waste management and the whole issue of safer cities. We are talking about the East African Community and our three countries are talking about devolution of responsibilities to local authorities. There is little if anything in our regional bodies that acknowledge local authorities. It is not only the local authorities in East Africa that are crying out about this, but local authorities in the whole of Africa. What is the city’s key planning priority? – As I said right from the beginning, youth are the target group in a lot of what we would be involved in terms of planning. Now we want to take it further. The youth are beginning to ask what future we are leaving them if they are not involved right now in what is being planned. We have a Youth Councils scheme for Dar es Salaam. We are in the process of setting up a youth council to meet four times a year like our councils meet. They will be regular members of the development committees. Can you win the fight against crime? – I am a strong believer that no youth is born with criminal genes – that it is a factor of their position in society, of being unable to make ends meet, that leads them to this. In Durban, South Africa, for example, they have systems that we in Dar es Salaam would like to emulate, except that we lack the resources, especially with the metro police systems that they have in place. Our police here are window dressing because of the limited resources that we have. The negative image the police have needs quite a bit of work to go into changing that attitude. But Dar es Salaam has twice won the Africities safety award. – I think we were probably given that award for effort, rather than the achievement. And if I was a judge, I would have said that, and I would have voted for effort rather than achievement. How do you feel about UN-HABITAT’s new Country Programme Manager? – I am very happy about that. During my years in this seat, there is a lot I have learned through UN-HABITAT’s support, in exchanges, and conferences that have been brought in. On the issues, I have gained a lot personally. So, how can UN-HABITAT best help?– By looking at all aspects that involve youth in the city. This is where we can be given guidance and direction. All the other issues are for me secondary. UN-HABITAT works with Dar es Salaam in two major programmes Sustainable Dar es Salaam Programme – Cities Alliance Initiative Dar es Salaam City Council recently applied for a grant under the Cities Alliance Initiative. The Cities Alliance Initiative for Dar es Salaam is supported by UN-HABITAT. The City and its three municipalites are preparing a new blueprint for sustainable development of Dar es Salaam to upgrade the city and improve living conditions of the urban poor. It will build on the experience of the Dar es Salaam Sustainable Cities Programme which focused on building capacity at the local level and enable poor people to participate in the improvement of their environment. The Cities Alliance Initiative programme is developed in line with the Millennium Declaration (Target 11), the new Human Settlement Development Policy, the ongoing review of the Town and Country Planning Act, the National Land Policy and the new Land Act no.4 (1999). The programme includes a Citywide Action Plan for the regularisation and upgrading of unplanned and unserviced settlements in Dar es Salaam and new initiatives to reduce poverty and improve urban safety. It will also design a long-term sustainable financing strategy for settlement upgrading. The Safer Cities Dar es Salaam Programme UN-HABITAT established this programme with technical support of the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC) in 1997 under the aegis of UNDP. Its first phase, funded by The Netherlands, helped promote a culture of encouraging people to abide by the law, reduce unemployment, and sensitise residents on the need to fight crime through community-oriented policing. A second phase, funded by Sweden, is aimed at helping stengthen the capcity of local authorities to reduce crime. Partners include the Dar es Salaam City Council and its three municipalities, the national and auxiliary police, the Commission of Anti-Drugs Programme, and the Prevention of Corruption Bureau. The Safer Cities Programme is planning a national replication phase to involve other municipalities in Tanzania.