March 2004 - Vol. 10 No. 1March 2004 Vol.10 No.1

A new era of cooperation with local authorities

A new era of cooperation with local authorities .....4

The mayors speak ........................7, 20

An Alliance of Cities ..............................8

The new global voice for local authorities ............................11

Best practices..17, 19 SPECIAL

ISSUE

UCLG CONGRESS IN

PARIS

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Habitat Debate March 2004

A message from the Executive Director

Managing our towns and citieshas never been an easy matter.And as they grow at

unprecedented rates transforming ourplanet in this new Millennium from alargely rural to an urban world, the role oflocal authorities becomes ever moreimportant. More than ever before, localauthorities need the support of centralgovernments, and more than ever beforethey need to speak with one voice from aunited platform to ensure that their urgentconcerns are heeded.

We at UN-HABITAT thereforewelcome the creation of the United Citiesand Local Governments (UCLG) as a neworganization that will speak on behalf oflocal authorities and articulate localconcerns with one voice on theinternational stage.

The challenge we face confrontsmillions of our fellow citizens living onthe fringes and in the poorerneighbourhoods of towns and citiesacross Africa, the Arab States, Asia, LatinAmerica and the Caribbean. In thedeveloped world and the transitioncountries of Eastern Europe and CentralAsia, the challenge is no less dauntingas city grows into city, large tracts of ruralland get gobbled up and giant industrialcomplexes grind away with outmodedtechnology causing ever more pollution.

In October 2003, UN-HABITAT, theUN Agency for Cities and other HumanSettlements, published the GlobalReport on Human Settlements 2003. Thereport shows that sub-Saharan Africatoday has the world’s largest proportionof urban residents living in slums. Theseslums are home to 72 per cent of urbanAfrica’s citizens. That percentagerepresents a total of 187 million people.World-wide, slums are home to 1 billionpeople. Over the next 30 years, that figurecould rise to 2 billion if no action is taken.

Slums represent the worst of urbanpoverty and inequality. Yet the world hasthe resources, the know-how and thepower to reach the Millennium target ofachieving a significant improvement inthe lives of at least 100 million slumdwellers by the year 2020. UN-HABITATis tasked with coordinating actiontowards meeting this goal.

Today, Africa has the world’s fastestannual rate of urbanisation. The annualaverage urban growth rate is 4 per cent,twice as high as Latin America and Asia.Already, 37 percent of Africans live incities, and by the year 2030 this rate isexpected to rise to 53 per cent. In a processknown as the urbanisation of poverty,more and more people are seeking a betterlife in towns and cities but in Africaurbanisation has occurred in anenvironment of consistent economicdecline over the past 30 years.

So the challenges of sustainableurbanisation in our world are many andvaried: security and safety, environmentaldegradation, growing slums, lack ofhuman and financial resources at themunicipal level, insufficientdecentralisation of powers and resources,and poor urban governance that leads todivided cities. We need to ensure betteraccess to urban services so that everyonehas adequate shelter, clean water andsanitation. Those are basic needs andhuman rights.

It can no longer escape the world’sattention that local authorities must dealwith these problems on the ground.Mayors, councillors, city managers andlocal public servants of all kinds are thefront line in the war against urban poverty.

Without strong capabilities and financialresources at the local level, many of theproblems that are assigned highestpriority at the national and internationallevels, will not be solved.

If well managed by their mayors andcouncillors, cities can be true engines ofgrowth for the social, cultural andeconomic advancement of the world.

This is why I am delighted that localauthorities are steadily gaining more andmore recognition. Local authorities inAfrica, elected Father SmangalisoMkhatshwa, Mayor of the South Africancapital, Tshwane (Pretoria), President of anew umbrella organisation of localgovernments in Africa to lead thecontinent at the UCLG FoundingCongress. Mayors from America, Asia,Europe are also represented by theirregional associations in the UCLG.

Many of UN-HABITAT’s variousprogrammes have during the last decadedeveloped substantive initiatives tosupport local authorities in many parts ofthe world. UN-HABITAT will continue tooffer its cooperation to local authoritiesin the United Nations system and on thebroader world stage right down to streetlevel. The advent of the UCLG is indeedan historic political development. It is whywe take this opportunity to present aspecial issue of Habitat Debate for thiscongress. I wish the UCLG every successas a crucial new organization forpromoting local action to achieve globalgoals — and for coordinating localauthorities internationally to improve thelives of urban residents.

Anna Kajumulo TibaijukaExecutive Director

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Habitat Debate March 2004

EditorRoman Rollnick

Design & LayoutIrene JumaMartha Waiyaki

Editorial BoardDaniel Biau (Chair)Lars ReuterswardLucia KiwalaAnantha KrishnanJay MoorEduardo MorenoJane NyakairuPaul TaylorFarouk Tebbal

Editorial SupportJoseph Igbinedion

Published byUN-HABITATP O Box 30030, GPO,Nairobi 00100 , KenyaTel: (254-020) 621234Fax:(254-020) 624266/7, 623477,624250, 624264Telex: 22996 UNHABKEE-mail: habitat.debate@unhabitat.orgWebsite: http://www.unhabitat.org/

ISSN 1020-3613Opinions expressed in signedarticles are those of the authorsand do not necessarily reflectthe official views and policies ofthe United Nations HumanSettlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). All material in thispublication may be freelyquoted or reprinted, providedthe authors and Habitat Debateare credited.

contentsA new era of cooperation with local authorities...Daniel Biau

Other agencies working at the local level

Towards local empowerment .............................. Joan Clos

An Alliance of cities ................................Mark Hildebrand

Three Cities .................................... Sandra Baffoe-Bonnie

A new advisory group on decentralisation ... Alain Kanyinda

A new global voice for local authorities .. Elisabeth Gateau

The information society ............................ Alain Kanyinda

Supporting sustainable urbanisation. .. Jean-Christophe Adrian

Lake-side cities ........................... Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga

Latin America and the Caribbean ................ Jorge Gavidia

From Africities to Paris ............................ Roman Rollnick

Helping monitor and manage cities ....... Tanzib Chowdhury

Urban Africa’s water delivery challenge .......... Pireh Otieno

China’s mega-cities ...................................... Jianguo Shen

Improving urban governance ............................. Rafael Tuts

The Urban Millennium Partnership ................. Rafael Tuts

Parana, Brazil; Hanam, Korea; Walvis Bay, Namibia; Asia

Dar es Salaam – managing a rising tide of humanityUN-HABITAT works with Dar es Salaam

Horizons métropolitainsBuildings, Culture and EnvironmentRe-Establishing Effective Housing Finance MechanismRental Housing

Join the debate - your views are importantChildren Behind BarsLuxury housing or slum rehabilitation?Customary land management

Recent EventsUN-HABITAT signs four MoUsAfricities mayorsNorway contributes over $1 millionGermany trebles support to UN-HABITATIn AfghanistanWomen-friendly citiesObituaryFuture EventsSecond World Urban ForumWorld Habitat DayCommission on Sustainable Development

A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

GLOBAL OVERVIEW

BEST PRACTICES

FORUM

OPINION

READERS FORUM

PUBLICATIONS

EVENTS

MY CITY

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The UN-HABITAT stand in Yaoundéat Africities 2003.Photo © Vincent Kitio/UN-HABITAT

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A poor neighbourhood in Yaoundé,Cameroon.Photo © Vincent Kitio/UN-HABITAT

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COVER PHOTO:Mayors from around the worldgathered in Lyon, France, inDecember 2003 to discuss the roleof local authorities in theinformation age. Photo ©Ville de Lyon

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Habitat Debate March 2004Global Overview

A new era of cooperation with local authoritiesBy Daniel Biau

During the last ten years, UN-HABITAT has developedextensive relations with local

authorities and their associations.The 1996 City Summit in Istanbul

included the first World Assembly ofCities and Local Authorities. It gave astrong impetus to the collaboration ofUN-HABITAT with local authorities, bothat the normative policy level and at theoperational level. Governmentsrecognised local authorities as theirclosest partners in the implementation ofthe Habitat Agenda and committedthemselves to decentralisingresponsibilities and resources to the locallevel. The role and influence ofinternational associations of localauthorities vis-à-vis the United Nationssystem has increased eversince,particularly with the establishment of theUN Advisory Committee of LocalAuthorities (UNACLA) in 2000, and theIstanbul +5 Special Session of the UNGeneral Assembly in June 2001.

At the same time, several globalprogrammes and initiatives of UN-HABITAT, as well as country projects,have deliberately targeted localauthorities and their needs for capacity-building. Hundreds of local authoritieshave benefited concretely from thiscollaboration on issues such asurban management, environmentalsustainability, city planning,infrastructure management and slumupgrading.

UN-HABITAT has workedintensively with all founding members ofthe new World Organization “UnitedCities and Local Governments” and hassupported every step in their unificationprocess since 1994.

Partnerships at global levelAs the United Nations system’s focal

point for local authorities, UN-HABITAThas been cooperating with localauthorities at the policy and programmelevels for many years.

At the global policy level, theCommission on Human Settlementsdecided in 1999 to create UNACLA whichheld its inaugural meeting in Venice inJanuary 2000. Under the chairmanshipof the Mayor of Barcelona, Mr. JoanClos, UNACLA has provided a numberof substantive inputs to the work-programme of UN-HABITAT and has

that the new World Organization wouldbe even more involved in the definition ofUN policies and programmes and that itcould benefit from UN-HABITAT’scontribution to its own initiatives.

Operational partnershipsat city level

The greater part of UN-HABITAT-managed resources is spent in developingcountries to support operational activitiesin urban areas. These resources aremobilised from a variety of fundingagencies, both multilateral and bilateral,and from the countries themselves. Amajority of UN-HABITAT projects addressthe needs of local authorities, in terms ofcapacity-building, urban policy reform,environmental planning and monitoring,as well as concrete housing and slumupgrading programmes.

Since its creation in 1978, UN-HABITAT has supported hundreds ofcities in improving their livingenvironment. These range from thepoorest towns in Least DevelopedCountries to the wealthy cities of theMiddle East. UN-HABITAT has, forinstance, cooperated for many years withthe small towns in Burkina Faso and withDubai Municipality, bringing about crucialchanges in municipal management andplanning. This work has contributed to acomplete renewal of urban planningapproaches, with a move from top-downspatial planning to multi-stakeholdersaction planning based on cityconsultations and debates.

UN-HABITAT has also played a majorrole in post-conflict urban rehabilitation,including through the re-establishmentand training of local authorities incountries such as Somalia, Kosovo orAfghanistan.

This intimate knowledge of thecapacities and needs of local authoritiesaround the world constitutes a solidreference basis and also a testing groundfor UN-HABITAT’s normative work andpolicy guidelines.

Indeed, this cooperation with localauthorities works both ways as many citiessupport UN-HABITAT activities, eitherthrough city-to-city cooperation orthrough direct contributions. In this lattercategory, mention should be made ofFukuoka and Rio de Janeiro which hostand support financially the regionaloffices of UN-HABITAT for Asia and Latin

been able to advise the Executive Directoron several strategic issues.

Its composition, combining Mayorsof large cities – from Johannesburg andRio de Janeiro to Chengdu and Moscow– and leaders of internationalassociations, guarantees stimulatingexchanges and geographically-balancedinsights.

Recently, UNACLA hascommunicated the views of localauthorities on the relationship betweenthe UN system, civil society and localgovernments to the High-level Panel onCivil Society, established by theSecretary-General under thechairmanship of former BrazilianPresident Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

UNACLA has also played a crucialrole in promoting the internationaldialogue on decentralisation.

A number of global programmes ofUN-HABITAT have involved localauthorities associations in theirgovernance structure. The UrbanManagement Programme, for example, hasworked closely with most regional andsub-regional associations in LatinAmerica. The Cities Alliance hasbenefited from the presence ofrepresentatives of the InternationalUnion of Local Authorities (IULA), theUnited Towns Organisation (UTO) andMetropolis in its Consultative Group.IULA has been active in the SteeringCommittee of the Urban GovernanceCampaign for the last three years. In eachcase, the perspectives and expectationsof local authorities have proven veryuseful to guide UN-HABITAT and itsinternational partners, such as the WorldBank and UNDP, in their programming andevaluation activities at the global andregional levels. UN-HABITAT expects

Uncollected garbage in a poor neighbourhoodof Yaoundé – problem in city slums around theworld. Photo © Vincent Kitio/UN-HABITAT

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Habitat Debate March 2004 Global Overview

America respectively, and of Dubai whichco-finances the Best Practice Programmethrough a biennial competition. SeveralChinese cities have also hosted andfinanced international UN-HABITATconferences in recent years. Theoperational cooperation between localauthorities and UN-HABITAT benefitsfrom the political (and often financial)support from many national governmentswhich are increasingly aware thatdemocratic local authorities are essentialfor the improvement of housingconditions and the sustainabledevelopment of cities and other humansettlements.

From a world charter toguidelines ondecentralisation

In June 1996, at the Partner Committeeof Habitat II, local authorities made thecase for the preparation of a worldwidecharter on local autonomy. TheChairperson’s summary of the hearingsrefers to the matter as follows: “It wassuggested that the experience gained inthe implementation of the EuropeanCharter of Local Self-Government couldbe used as a basis for developing a globalcharter that would set out the keyprinciples underlying a soundconstitutional or legal framework for ademocratic local government system.”

UN-HABITAT followed up on thisrequest from local authorities in aMemorandum signed with the WorldAssociations of Cities and LocalAuthorities Coordination in July 1997. Anexpert group meeting was held in April1998 to prepare a first draft of the charter,which was thereafter submitted toconsultations in all regions of the worldin 1999-2000. These consultations, heldin Agadir, Strasbourg, Santiago de Chile,Mumbai, Chonju and Accra, involvedhundreds of local authoritiesrepresentatives as well as ministers andgovernment officials.

The draft charter was then revised andsubmitted to the UN Commission onHuman Settlements in February 2001.However, the Commission could notreach a consensus on the proposedcharter because some governments feltthat it could contradict their constitutionsand that therefore they would prefer aless binding declaration of principles. Asa result, the Commission adopted aresolution (18/11) calling on the ExecutiveDirector “to intensify dialogue amonggovernments at all levels on all issues

related to effective decentralisation andthe strengthening of local authorities,including principles and legal frameworksin support of the implementation of theHabitat Agenda”.

The Special Session of the GeneralAssembly (Istanbul +5) of June 2001welcomed “the efforts made by manydeveloping countries in effectingdecentralisation in the management ofcities”. But the General Assembly did notissue specific guidelines.

product, but the product (guidelines orrecommendations) seems to be withinreach. The new World Organization mayhave to lobby to speed up its finalisation.

The growing voice oflocal authorities

UN-HABITAT has always tried toensure that the voice of local authoritiesis heard loudly and clearly in internationalforums, including in the UN inter-governmental machinery. This was thecase with the Istanbul Partner Committeewhere governments were briefed by LocalAuthorities and other partners in anofficial segment of the Habitat IIConference.

High-level dialogues were thereafterformally included in the proceedings ofUN-HABITAT’s Governing Council fromits 16th session onwards. The formatestablished by UN-HABITAT was lateradopted by other UN bodies because itshowed it could provide important inputsto inter-governmental deliberations.

UN-HABITAT also tried to promotethe direct participation of local authoritiesin the work of its Governing Council. In1997, a proposal was made to includerepresentatives of internationalassociations of local authorities in theCommission, based on the tripartite ILOmodel involving governments, employersand trade unions.

Although this proposal was certainlypremature, it opened a new area ofdiscussion among national governmentswhich agreed to systematically includemayors and other local authority officialsin their national delegations. Thediscussion also demonstrated that localauthorities and their associations couldnot be considered NGOs because localauthorities have governmental functions.Their associations are therefore moreinter-governmental than non-governmental.

Another step in the same discussioncame after the elevation of UN-HABITATto programme status in the UN system,resulting in the need for drafting newrules of procedure for the GoverningCouncil. These rules, adopted by the UNGeneral Assembly in December 2003,include a specific section on theparticipation of non-members to theGoverning Council. Rule 64 reads asfollows:

“Duly accredited representatives oflocal authorities, invited by the ExecutiveDirector, in consultation with theirrespective governments, whererequested, or representing national or

The international dialogue started inearnest on 30 April 2002 during the firstsession of the World Urban Forum whichrecommended the development ofconstructive guidelines on effectivedecentralisation as a tool fordevelopment. UN-HABITAT thencommissioned a set of case studies onthe current legislative frameworks ondecentralisation which formed the basisfor a dialogue session at UN-HABITAT’sGoverning Council of May 2003. Thisresulted in a new resolution (19/12) callingon the Executive Director “to take furthersteps and measures to intensify dialoguewith the aim of developingrecommendations to be presented to thenext session of the Governing Council”in April 2005. The establishment of anAdvisory Group of Experts onDecentralisation to support the dialogueprocess was also endorsed by theGoverning Council. This group met forthe first time in March 2004 in Gatineau,Canada.

Yet eight years after the IstanbulSummit, international guidelines ondecentralisation are not officiallyavailable. This is a cause for concern inmany developing countries. However, areal dialogue has started at the inter-governmental level and one couldconsider that the process has been quiteuseful and stimulating. So far, the processhas been more important than the

Three Cameroonian mayors at the Africitiesmeeting in Yaoundé studying a new UN-HABITAT report on how to achieve the bestresults. Photo © Vincent Kitio/UN-HABITAT.

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Habitat Debate March 2004Global Overviewinternational associations ororganizations recognised by the UnitedNations, may participate, as observers atpublic meetings, in the deliberations ofthe Governing Council and its subsidiaryorgans.”

Two comments can be made on thisrule. Firstly, governments could have a sayon the accreditation of individual localauthorities. Secondly, representatives ofindividual local authorities and of their

national and international associations canparticipate fully in the deliberations of theGoverning Council, without their presenceand statements being subject to approvalby the Council. They cannot vote ordiscuss administrative issues, but they cancontribute to consensus-building in allsubstantive areas.

Provided it is well structured, thevoice of local authorities will be takenvery seriously into account at future

sessions of the Governing Council. Thenew World Organization could andshould play a central role in organisingits members to ensure an optimal inter-action with the UN system, andparticularly with its focal point for localauthorities — UN-HABITAT.

Daniel Biau, Director of the Regional andTechnical Cooperation Division, is the ActingDeputy Executive Director of UN-HABITAT.

Other agencies working at the local levelUN-HABITAT is the focal point for local authorities in the United Nations System. But several other UN agencies alsocooperate with local authorities within their respective mandates and areas of expertise.

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, has launched a global initiative with UNITAR, the UnitedNations Institute for Training and Research, called the CityAids Project. Its aim is to establish a private-public partnershipto fight HIV/AIDS in cities world-wide.

The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD),under DESA, the UN Department of Economic and SocialAffairs, has worked closely with local authorities since the RioSummit. Many of the problems and solutions addressed inAgenda 21 have their roots in local activities, and participationand cooperation of local authorities are thus a determiningfactor in fulfilling sustainable development objectives.

UNDCP, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the institutesof the United Nations Crime Prevention and the Criminal JusticeProgramme network and other relevant United Nations bodieswork with cities on proven and promising practices in urbancrime prevention. Urban crime and the role of local authoritieswill be examined at the Eleventh United Nations Congress onCrime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Bangkok 18-25 April2005.

UNDP, the UN Development Programme, provides financialsupport for a number of country projects aimed at buildingcapacity in municipalities. It is also involved in the UrbanMillennium Partnership (UMP) and the World Alliance of Citiesagainst Poverty (WACAP).

UNEP, the UN Environment Programme, works with citieslargely through partnerships with UN-HABITAT in areas suchas localising the UNEP Global Environment Outlook (GEO),urban environmental planning and management, water-for-cities initiatives, cleaner production, environmentalmanagement tools, and awareness and preparedness foremergencies at local level.

UNESCO’s work with cities covers the three main pillarsof the agency, namely Education, Science and Culture. Itincludes activities such as the Cities for Peace Prize, theManagement of Social Transformations Programme(MOST), the Growing Up in Cities Programme, and the SmallHistoric Coastal Cities Programme. UNESCO also carriesout extensive work in the areas of urban heritageconservation, urban biosphere reserves and urban waterconflicts.

FAO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, helpsmember countries develop national policies and strategies forimproved agricultural productivity and food security. Itsactivities at the local level involve the promotion of agriculturalextension services in rural municipalities.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, has beenworking with IULA, the International Union of Local authorities,to benefit children throughout the world. Every child has theright to grow up in an environment that cares for, protects andguides that child to adulthood, and local governments haveresponsibilities in many areas which affect the life of childrensuch as health, education, housing, environmental protection,sports and recreation.

ILO, the International Labour Organization, emphasizeslabour intensive approaches to infrastructure investment byworking with local authorities and community based groups.ILO assists local authorities through its various programmes,such as the Local Economic Development (LED), EmploymentIntensive Investment Programme (EIIP), Advisory Support,Information Services and Training (ASIST), Small Enterpriseand Entrepreneurship Development (SEED), Public-PrivatePartnership Programme (PPP), and Crisis and Reconstruction(IFP/CRISIS).

UNITAR has recently developed a programme ondecentralised cooperation which supports a number ofcollaborative training centres (CIFAL). These include Bilbao,Curitiba, Kuala Lumpur and Ouagadougou. The programmeinvolves regional associations of local authorities and theprivate sector.

The five UN Regional Commissions have developedresearch and advocacy activities on human settlements whichare often relevant to the work of local authorities.

The World Bank has invested US $6 billion in assistance forurban development over the last 10 years. More than 100 projectshave benefited from the Bank’s loans. These projects haveimproved urban living environments and local governance, witha focus on urban poverty and the strengthening of municipalmanagement. A recent study (July 2003) assesses the challengesof implementing the Bank’s urban strategy paper published in2000. It is entitled, Improving the lives of the poor throughinvestment in cities. An update on the performance of the WorldBank’s urban portfolio (see www.worldbank.org).

WHO, the World Health Organization, works with localauthorities mainly under the auspices of its Healthy CitiesProgramme. This global programme is most active in Europe.Through participatory processes spearheaded by localauthorities, it promotes improved public health. It concentrateson the social determinants of health within the sphere of influenceof local authorities. It also works with local authorities to raisethe awareness of citizens of their ability to influence healthoutcomes, especially in the area of non-communicable diseases.

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Habitat Debate March 2004

Towards local empowermentBy Joan Clos

The role of cities in the internationalarena is increasingly important,not only because the vast majority

of the world population lives in urbanenvironments, but also because the mainchallenges of globalisation are reflectedlocally.

Local authorities enjoy the mostadvantageous and privileged position topropose and implement adequate solutionsto the most pressing problems of our times.Indeed, the city is the physical locationwhere most of these problems occur and,we, the local authorities, are the form ofdemocratic government closest to thepeople. We, local authorities, are ready andwilling to take charge of theseresponsibilities and face this challenge, inclose cooperation with nationalgovernments and the internationalcommunity.

With a view to exploring venues ofcooperation, in the last few years, the worldmovement of local governments launched acampaign to strengthen its presence in theinternational arena and, more particularly, inthose UN Summits that discussed theprimary challenges that cities face. In 1992,local authorities fought to be present at theEarth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. However, atthe time, the role of local authorities was stillconsidered marginal vis-à-vis importantinternational meetings and events. Localgovernments were still considered similar tonon-governmental organisations, even fromthe accreditation and legal points of view.We had to wait until the Habitat II in Istanbulin 1996, when local authorities wereeventually recognised as democraticallyelected local governments and thuslegitimate representatives of our citizens.Some years later, in 2002, one of thefundamental conclusions at the WorldSummit on Sustainable Development inJohannesburg was that the only substantiveprogress reported in the implementation ofthe Agenda 21 took place at the local level.Once again, we, local authorities, proved ourcommitment to the principles and plan ofaction of the UN.

We, local authorities, have travelled along and, very often, difficult road to reachthe position at which we stand today. It hasnot been easy to convince nationalgovernments and internationalorganisations that we are not enemies, butnecessary partners if we are to successfullyconfront some of the challenges facinghumanity. The world movement of local

governments has worked very hard tobecome united and speak with a commonvoice in the international arena. Today,we are proud to announce the culminationof that process, that we have been able toovercome our differences. As a result, anagreement has been reached to establisha new body called the United Cities andLocal Governments (UCLG). The UCLGwill unite the principal organisations ofcities and local governments such as theInternational Union of Local Authorities(IULA), the Fédération Mondiale desCités Unies – United Towns Organisation(FMCU-UTO), and Metropolis. It will beformally established in Paris in May 2004with its headquarters in Barcelona. Wehope that the establishment of the UCLGwill call the attention of the UN systemand help it listen more attentively thevoices of the cities.

the promotion of the presence of localauthorities at UN summit meetings,facilitated dialogue with the internationalcommunity in general, and acknowledgedour role at its most important events andmeetings.

In this regard, I wish to highlight themeeting held with the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, in June 2001, onthe occasion of the UN-HABITAT Istanbul+ 5 meeting, which we consider a milestonefor the acknowledgement of the localauthorities’ role within the UN. The UNSecretary-General recognised then therelevance of local authorities in theimplementation of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals, which became, fromthen on, an integral part of our own agenda.At that meeting it was proposed, moreover,that cities and local governments becomemore directly and deeply involved in theactivities of UN Peacekeeping Operations.This is another important project on whichwe are working.

I also wish to highlight, in theframework of collaboration with UN-HABITAT, the establishment of agroup of experts on decentralisation,as well as the pogrammes on BestPractices and Local Leadership andCity-to-City Cooperation, whichagain reinforces our role in UN-HABITAT’s work programme.

Furthermore, I would like toacknowledge UN-HABITAT’spertinent decision to establish theWorld Urban Forum as a biennialmeeting at which the primarychallenges that cities face nowadaysare discussed by experts. In the WorldUrban Forum, local authorities,together with other Habitat Agenda

partners, play a crucial role.The challenges in front of us are great

and require even harder work for UNACLAto significantly help empower localauthorities around the world. UNACLAhas proven the most dynamic andrespected instrument to promote dialoguebetween local authorities and UN-HABITAT, and, through it, with the UNsystem. In this sense, we all should provideUN-HABITAT with the necessary meansand resources to achieve its goals andobjectives. I am confident that theestablishment of the newly created UCLGwill give us a boost to improve ourcapacities and our ability to influence,always with the firm support of UN-HABITAT.

Joan Clos, the Mayor of Barcelona, isthe Chairman of UNACLA.

Opinion

UN-HABITAT has played a crucialrole in the process to have the presenceof local authorities acknowledged in theinternational arena. In this respect, UN-HABITAT was deeply involved in theestablishment of the UNACLA inVenice in the year 2000. UNACLA,which I have the honor to chair, iscomposed of a selected number ofmayors and serves as a mechanism ofempowerment for strengtheningcommunication and cooperationbetween UN-HABITAT and localauthorities in the framework of theHabitat Agenda and UN-HABITAT’sGlobal Campaigns on Secure Tenure andGood Urban Governance.

UN-HABITAT, under the dynamicleadership of its Executive Director, Mrs.Anna Tibaijuka, has been a great ally tous. This UN agency has contributed to

Joan Clos. Photo © John Hogan/UN-HABITAT

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Habitat Debate March 2004Forum

An Alliance of cities and their development partnersBy Mark Hildebrand

Helíopolis, São Paulo’s largest favela, 2003, is expected to derive direct benefit from the new long-termdevelopment programme. Photo © Folha de São Paulo.

São PauloIn Brazil, for example, municipalities havebeen moving from sectoral projectstowards comprehensive ‘inclusion’strategies designed to integrate slums intothe city fabric. As an integral part of itscitywide slum upgrading strategy, SãoPaulo launched its “Bairro LegalProgramme” in 2001, initiating land tenureregularisation, social developmentinitiatives, and community participationschemes. “The main novelty in thisprocess,” says the Mayor Suplicy, “is theintegration of social, cultural and income-generating programmes with the processof slum urbanisation”. The City of SãoPaulo budgeted US$189 million for thelong-term development of the programme,and is now seeking Alliance support todevelop a sustainable financing strategyfor citywide upgrading.

Addis Ababa and JohannesburgCity leaders are increasingly networking amongst themselvesto share knowledge on CDS and citywide upgrading. With thesupport of the Cities Alliance, the Mayors of Addis Ababa andJohannesburg have formed a partnership within the frameworkof the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD),through which Johannesburg’s rich experience in strategicplanning and city management processes will support the CityGovernment of Addis Ababa’s ongoing efforts to develop andbuild its own strategic planning capacity. This includes directtechnical support in areas such as financial and land managementas well as a deepening of the city’s leadership and managementcapacity through high-level interaction between the politicaland executive echelons of the two cities.

The Cities Alliance was conceived by its founding partners, UN-HABITAT and the World Bank, as a coalition ofcities 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. TheAlliance’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 toanticipate 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’sgrowth. In the words of the City of São Paulo’s Mayor Marta Suplicy: “Phenomena of an extraordinary magnitude such asrapid, uncontrolled urban growth cannot be addressed as common issues. The way we address them should also beextraordinary”.

It is no accident that local authorities are leading the way in this process since they are the level of government most directlyaccountable to the urban poor. The Alliance’s focus on citywide scales of action has strongly resonated with cites, as well as withtheir national associations worldwide, many of which are now promoting both city development strategies (CDS) and citywideslum 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 MiddleEast 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:

TetouanIn Morocco, a city development strategy for the metropolitanarea of Tetouan has been developed by the local and regionalauthorities, engaging the community, private sector, non-governmental and community-based organisations inenhancing opportunities for increased pro-poorinvestments. As the country’s decentralisation processstrengthens and increased administrative and financialauthorities devolve to city governments, the CDS is servingas a vehicle to foster linkages among municipalities in themetropolitan region to reduce poverty through regionalcooperation and economic development. The CDS is alsohelping Tetouan take maximum advantage of substantialnational investments in transportation infrastructure.

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Habitat Debate March 2004 Forum

AdenThere is evidence that city development strategies (CDS) arechanging and shaping the financing strategies of cities as well asthe lending instruments of their international development partners.With the Yemeni port city of Aden, for example, the World Bank hasdesigned an Adaptable Program Loan around the outcomes of theCDS planning process. Aden’s City Development Strategy for LocalEconomic Development is at the centre of a 12-year US$96 millioninvestment programme designed to strengthen the investmentclimate, encourage pro-poor growth, and create jobs in the coastalcities of Aden, Hodeidah and Mukalla. Rather than focus only onpre-identified port investments, this loan relies on the integrativeCDS approach to identify key investments in Aden. At the sametime, the programme is focusing on institutional and policy reformsas well as on enabling a better business environment throughcoordination among all levels of government, the private sector,and civil society.

Local authority associationsLocal authority associations are increasingly at the centreof Alliance-funded activities. During 2003, the ChileanAssociation of Municipalities obtained Alliance support forLocal Development Strategies for Housing Solutions toOvercome Poverty; the National Association of LocalAuthorities in Ghana is prepared to play a key role inreplicating city-based poverty reduction strategies drawingon experience gained in preparing a CDS in the country’sKumasi region; and the Association of Latvian Cities wasawarded funding for CDS in eight cities under its Latvia CitiesProgram - City Development Strategies for EconomicDevelopment.

The creation of the new world organisation United Cities and Local Governments will create exciting new opportunitiesto further strengthen the leadership role of local authority associations in international development cooperation in thisurban century.

Mark Hildebrand is Manager of the Cities Alliance Secretariat.

Cities Alliance Partnerships with LocalGovernment 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 InternationalUnion of Local Authorities.League of Cities of the Philippines.National Association of Local Authorities inGhana.South African Cities Network.

Bringing City Authorities and Communities together inDurban, Mumbai and Manila

By Sandra Baffoe-Bonnie

As a direct follow up of the GlobalCampaign for Secure Tenurelaunch, a pro-poor slum

upgrading framework project funded bythe Cities Alliance was initiated inMumbai, Durban and Manila. Theprogramme in each city is supported byslum representatives, NGOs and localauthorities. It aims to document, scaleup and share their experiences in slumupgrading by helping local residentswith social mobilisation, financial modelsand mechanisms for popular publicpartnerships promoting shelter, securityof tenure, and access to land and basicservices. It is called the Three CitiesProject.

Mumbai: Collaboration between theUN-HABITAT, Slum DwellersInternational and the city of Mumbai hasresulted in the positive progress on therelocation of 35,000 families under theMumbai Urban Infrastructure Project.

The worst — an urban slum in India.Photo © Anthony Pellegrini

Durban:The Ethekweni Municipality(Durban) and slum associations, throughthe programme, are now engaged in largescale slum upgrading and housingproduction activities

Manila: The City of General Santos,in Manila, in the Philippines has beeninvolved in this initiative. GeneralSantos City has committed funds in itsannual budget to shelter related activitiesas well as making 44 hectares availableto 1,800 Slum dwellers...

Sandra Baffoe-Bonnie works with theShelter and Sustainable HumanSettlements Development Division, UN-HABITAT.

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A new advisory group on decentralisationBy Alain Kanyinda

UN-HABITAT’s efforts to supportlocal authorities have focused onpromoting decentralisation in

the implementation of the HabitatAgenda. Pursuant to Resolution 19/12 ofits Governing Council, UN-HABITATrecently established a high-level Groupof Experts on Decentralisation (AGRED).It will guide the international dialogue ondecentralisation andprovide further advice onstrengthening localauthorities. The inauguralAGRED meeting was held9 – 10 March 2004 inGatineau, Canada.

Decentralisation is aprocess which reflects theinter-dependence ofvarious spheres ofgovernance. TheGoverning Council of UN-HABITAT referred to theprinciple of subsidiarity asthe underlying rationale ofthe decentralisationprocess. It noted:“According to thisprinciple, publicresponsibilities shall beexercised by thoseauthorities which are closest to thecitizens”.

The emergence of subsidiarity as amajor polit ical justification andorganising principle fordecentralisation policies in the post-Habitat II period (since the Habitat II‘City Summit’ in Istanbul in 1996) canbe related to constitutional reforms indifferent countries around the world toensure greater flexibility for provincialand local governments in terms ofdemocratic participation, urbanplanning and decision-making.

Experts and observers of thedecentralisation process tend to agreethat the problem lies, not in the processitself, but in the political will to ensurethat it is successfully implemented. Atthe inaugural AGRED meeting, 15experts from around the worlddiscussed the basic principles ofdecentralisation policies. Theyexchanged views on decentralisationlegislation based on their nationalexperiences. It clearly transpired, asProfessor Richard Stren said, that somecriteria have to be met for

decentralisation to succeed: Firstly,there has to be a need fordecentralisation policies, secondly, therelevance of such policies must berecognised, and finally, there has to bepolitical commitment at all levels -local, provincial, national, and globalto engage in such policies for thebenefit of ordinary citizens.

— AGRED’s members have made thisquestion one of their priorities.

AGRED’s work will focus ondeveloping recommendations,documenting best practices andcontributing to the international dialogueon decentralisation. The Group willcontribute to the identification ofinternational principles of decentralisation

through reviewing existingrelevant international legalinstruments, includinganalysing nationallegislation, regulationsand other practices ofdecentralisation.

The discussions at theinaugural meeting ofAGRED reviewed thestatus of decentralisationlegislation in selectedcountries, and the basicprinciples ofdecentralisation policies,including subsidiarity,administrative andfinancial capacities oflocal authorities,governance anddemocracy at the locallevel. AGRED’s experts

from Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Egypt, India,Norway, Russia, Senegal, South Africa,Tanzania, Thailand, the United Kingdom,with a representative of Metropolis andUnited Cities and Local Governments,expressed varied views on those issuesbased on their different nationalexperiences.

Indeed, decentralisation, likedemocracy, has no static model that caneasily be transferred from a country toanother. But the challenge remains toidentify positive components ofdecentralisation policies, from which allcountries could benefit.

The next meeting of AGRED willdiscuss and finalise draft guidelines oneffective decentralisation and thestrengthening of local authorities. Otheritems on the agenda will emerge fromelectronic exchanges between theSecretariat and AGRED’s members, as wellas through debate among AGRED’smembers themselves.

Alain Kanyinda is the executive officerof UN-HABITAT’s Local AuthoritiesCoordination Group.

Senior officials at the inuagural AGRED meeting in Gatineau discuss ways ofpromoting decentralisation. Photo © Alain Kanyinda/UN-HABITAT.

One of the findings of the report on28 case studies commissioned by UN-HABITAT in 2002 entitled,Decentralisation in the globalperspective: a review of twenty-eightcountry experiences, reveals that manycountries, especially developingcountries and countries in transition, arelooking for suitable decentralisationpolicy options. Despite efforts currentlyunderway, more is still to be done toeffectively consolidate this globalprocess and to allow for a significantimprovement in the interaction betweenvarious spheres of governance.Experience suggests that countries whereprovincial and local authorities are the“closest allies” of the central governmentin terms of democratic participation, urbanplanning and decision-making are also themost economically and politicallysuccessful. A decentralisedadministration can act as a catalyst forsustainable development.

What would be the bestrecommendations and guidelines to bepart of an international framework ondecentralisation that is profitable to all?

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A new global voice for local authorities- United Cities and Local GovernmentsBy Elisabeth Gateau

When mayors and local leadersfrom around the world cometogether with leading figures

from the United Nations and the WorldBank in Paris between 2-5 May 2004, theoccasion will mark a new era for localauthorities with the launch of UnitedCities and Local Governments (UCLG),the global organisation representingcities and local governments from aroundthe world.

Delivering on the promises made bymayors in response to the challenges ofglobalisation and urbanisation at the 1996United Nations Habitat II conference,also known as the ‘City Summit’, UCLGprovides its members with both a forumfor identifying and implementingeffective solutions to their commonchallenges, and a platform for engagingin dialogue with governments and

organisations at national andsupranational level.

Present in over 100 countries, UCLG’smembers are elected representatives ofcities and local governments, be theylarge or small, urban or rural. What unitesits members is the core value of respectfor democracy and the commitment toself-government and decentralisation. Itis only through involving mayors andtheir local governments thatinternational targets on issues likesustainable development, povertyalleviation, gender equality and cleanwater will become a reality.

For this reason, UCLG is workingwith international actors like UN-HABITAT, the focal point for localauthorities within the UN system, ondeveloping and implementing action-plans on key issues such as human

rights, social inclusion and representationin local government, conflict resolutionthrough city diplomacy, and innovationin local governance.

To facilitate the flow of informationand heighten awareness of differentactions on these issues, UCLG plans tolaunch, in cooperation with UN-HABITAT, Local Democracy Watch, acomprehensive database containingstudies and further information on theissues affecting cities and localgovernments around the world.

With its commitment to meeting thechallenges of globalisation at grass-rootslevel, the launch of the UCLG marks aturning point for citizens around theworld.

Elisabeth Gateau is Secretary Generalof United Cities and Local Governments.

Local authorities and the information societyBy Alain Kanyinda

At the World Summit on theInformation Society (WSIS) inGeneva in December 2003,

local authorities from around the worldpresented a new declaration to UN-Secretary General, Kofi Annan aimedat bridging the digital divide andenhancing the partnership betweenlocal governments and the UnitedNations. The “Lyon Declaration” onCities and Local Authorities on theInformation Society was the mainpolitical outcome of the Summit ofCities and Local Authorities held inLyon, France, from 4-5 December 2003.It highlights the role of cities indeveloping an effective informationsociety and calls on the Secretary-General of the United Nations tostrengthen the role of United NationsAdvisory Committee on LocalAuthorities (UNACLA) as amechanism for facilitating dialoguebetween local authorities and the UNsystem.

The Summit of Cities and LocalAuthorities on the Information Societyenabled mayors and other localauthorities from around the world to

reach a consensus that the mainfeatures of the information societyinclude Internet, mobile telephones,and satellite technology which havetransformed society in the developedcountries.

Local authorities have a decisiverole to play in all these areas. World-wide, national governments have thepower to decide on the main politicalagendas, but in most cases, it is thelocal governments who are in chargeof implementation.

Loca l au thor i t i es took theopportunity in Lyon to examine keyissues to be raised at Geneva duringthe first inter-governmental sessionof the Wor ld Summit on theInformation Society. These includedtalks on how to manage and regulateICT, by whom the Internet should begoverned, and how, and preventingits exploitation by drug dealers,o rgan ised c r ime syndica tes ,purveyors of child pornography andterrorists. They also examined hownat iona l l eg i s la t ion cou ld bein t roduced , how to p rosecu teabuses, and assist victims.

Given that technological progresscan ease the t ransmiss ion andmanagement o f knowledge , a l lcitizens ought to be able to have anequal share of the benefits. But thewidening digital divide between therich north and the poor south ispreventing this. The estimated 1billion people living in the world’sslums have little or no access to cleanwater, san i ta t ion , e lec t r ic i ty ortelephones – let alone any access tothe Internet.

The local authorities gathered inLyon thus agreed to focus on the fightagainst the digital divide, to supportthe creation of a solidarity fundsuggested by the New Partnershipfor African Development (NEPAD),and to work and think together, withthe United Nat ions , on ways offinancing the fight to reduce thedigital divide. A meeting will be heldon this issue in Turin, Italy next year.

Alain Kanyinda is the executive officerof UN-HABITAT’s Local AuthoritiesCoordination Group.

© UCLG

Forum

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Supporting sustainable urbanisationBy Jean-Christophe Adrian

Working with Kisumu, Kampala and MusomaBy Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga

Decentralised cooperation,especially city to citycooperation, is today

recognised as an important means toachieving development in the world. Itenables international solidarity to expressitself directly between communities of theNorth and of the South. Nationalgovernments in developed countries areincreasingly encouraging this type ofcooperation by complementing budgetsallocated by local authorities withadditional resources to supportdecentralised cooperation. Decentralisedcooperation is fast becoming one of themost important mechanisms ofinternational cooperation alongsidemultilateral and bilateral cooperation.

Cities in the South often havedifficulty defining their urbandevelopment priorities clearly, while citiesin the North are not necessarily equippedto help strengthen them institutionallythrough city to city cooperation.

The UN’s ECOSOC Division forSustainable Development sees that itsblueprint for sustainable development,Agenda 21, is applied globally, nationallyand locally. UN-HABITAT is using theLocal Agenda 21 system as a common

element between cities in the North andcities in the South to developdecentralised cooperation.

The UN-HABITAT programmes onLocal Agenda 21 (the Sustainable CitiesProgramme and the Localising Agenda 21Programme) promote decentralisedcooperation. The Localising Agenda 21programme operates in Essaouira,Morocco, Nakuru, Kenya and Vinn Cityin Vietnam. For many years already, city-to-city cooperation is taking place amongcities from the South that thoseprogrammes support. To promote thiscooperation mechanism, contacts arebeing undertaken with NationalAssociations of Local Authorities to helpestablish decentralised cooperationbetween the South and the North.

UN-HABITAT is very conscious of thewill of local authorities to establish directcontacts among themselves and to keepfull control of decentralised cooperationarrangements. UN-HABITAT offers topromote decentralised cooperation withcities from the south that it supports in thesustainable urbanisation quest. These citieshave built institutional infrastructureenhancing participation, identified prioritiesand developed strategic directions and

action plans to promote sustainable urbandevelopment. They are usually well able toarticulate their needs and to maximisesupport that can be mobilised through city-to-city cooperation.

When cooperation was establishedbetween Nakuru in Kenya and Leuven inBelgium, both cities were initiating theprocess of preparing their Local Agenda 21programme. Through this process localactors in Nakuru were able to identify anumber of priority issues that Leuvensupported based on its capacities andpossibilities. For example Leuven backedthe introduction of cobblestones as a lowtechnology to pave roads. It also supporteda pilot project for the improvement ofmunicipal housing which is now replicatedin municipal housing estates. On the otherhand, Nakuru’s experience in developingits Strategic Structure Plan inspired Leuvenmunicipality especially in terms ofparticipatory approaches used in Nakuruinvolving the mobilisation and participationof local communities. Through respectiveLocal Agenda 21 institutional mechanisms,a large number of local actors were linked –such as schools, for example, thus givingstudents in Leuven a better understandingof African realities.

Jean-Christophe Adrian is UN-HABITAT’s Local Agenda 21 ProgrammeManager.

The people who derive their subsistence from fishing andsmall-scale agriculture along the shores of Lake Victoria,the world’s second largest fresh water body, face imminentdanger with the continued destruction of the natural

habitat. The livelihood of an estimated 25 million people isendangered.

The urban and peri urban centres surrounding the lake havecontributed significantly to the increased environmentaldegradation of the lake, threatening the verybasis of these local economies.

The relevant municipalities lack thecapacity to implement sustainabledevelopment policies, especially within aregional context of high urbanisation rates andweak national and regional economies. Thelake, shared by Kenya 6 per cent, Tanzania 49per cent, and Uganda 45 per cent, is acollective responsibility of the respective cities andmunicipalities.

With the support of the Swedish International DevelopmentAgency (SIDA), UN-HABITAT initiated the Lake Victoria RegionCity Development Strategies (CDS) programme in early 2002, ina bid to strengthen the capacity of three cities along the shoresof Lake Victoria – Kisumu in Kenya, Kampala, Uganda and theTanzanian city of Musoma.

CDS has been endorsed by the respective local governments,and multi-sectoral coordinating committees set up. In the pastyear, the initiative has focused on building a consensus on keyenvironmental problems and used it as a framework for preparingand implementing the CDS.

Through the participatory process of developing the citydevelopment strategies for the three cities, ongoing urbandevelopment initiatives in the Lake Victoria region have been

documented and key urban developmentissues and problems facing each city identified.Common areas of interest have also beenidentified and a joint regional project forimproved urban environment and povertyreduction has been developed. Consultationswith varied stakeholders including localcommunities, civil society and the privatesector are currently underway.

These consultations have already yielded strategic actionand investment plans to address a range of priorities. Theyinclude sanitation and drainage, waste management, incomegeneration systems, shelter and infrastructure, revenuecollection, HIV/AIDS, and the promotion of inclusive processesand structures of local governance, among others.

Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga is a Human Settlements Officer withUN-HABITAT’s Urban Management Programme.

The Kenyan city of Kisumu. Photo ©Fiona Ramsey, UMP/UN-HABITAT

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Working with cities in Latin America and theCaribbeanBy Jorge Gavidia

Latin American and Caribbean citiesare experiencing a general trendtowards increased

democratisation, decentralisation anddevolution of competencies to the locallevel. But this movement contains a broadrange of processes on the ground in termsof the intensity of the national thrust fordecentralisation and the capacity of localauthorities to effectively assume itsincreasing responsibilities. The region hasa set of leading cities, with a robusteconomy, good governance and trulyinclusive management processes. Yet of15,000 local authorities in the region, manyrely almost entirely on the support ofnational and sub-national levels for theiroperations and local investments.

The trend for local authoritiesbecoming the main protagonists of citydevelopment is well entrenched. Thus, thechallenge faced by cities and nationalgovernments today is to translate moderndevolution policies into daily practice. Butthere are hurdles on the road: a politicalculture of centralisation and control thatis hard to change; weak systems to assistlocal authorities in strengthening theirmanagement capacity; and weakmovements for cooperation and supportamong cities. The potential forassociation for development among citiesand local authorities has not been fullyexploited yet.

UN-HABITAT cooperation activitiesin the region are determined by theseconditions. The agency is following athree-pronged strategy: the innovationand dissemination of knowledge on urbanmanagement processes, the developmentof improved local governance and itsapplication; and direct cooperationactivities with partner cities. UN-HABITAT has an array of globalprogrammes that implement activities ona thematic basis, like the Safer Cities andthe Sustainable Cities Programme, Riskand Disaster Management, and the GlobalUrban Observatory (GUO) to mention afew. Initiatives like the UrbanManagement Programme (UMP) play akey role in implementing cityconsultations and city developmentstrategies, generating and disseminatingknowledge on specific areas of demand,

and building bridges for greaterparticipation of civil society in citydevelopment management.

A survey recently concluded by UN-HABITAT´s Regional Office for LatinAmerica and the Caribbean (ROLAC)found that the main demand expressedby local authorities was managementsupport for priorities like the promotionof economic development and security.These issues did not appear so clearlyin previous assessments of local needsin the region. They indicate a shift inthe perception of the challenges bylocal authorities. However, it is clear thatthere is an enormous repressed demandon traditional management issues stillto be resolved. It shows thatcooperation in the region has to beanchored in local, national and regionalinstitutions if its durability is to beensured.

Recent years have witnessed aconsolidation of UN-HABITATcooperation with local authorities in theregion. Through a network of localauthorities and anchor institutions,UMP has spearheaded thedevelopment and dissemination ofknowledge on issues like participatorybudgeting, urban agriculture andmapping of social conditions as a basisfor the targeting of social programmes.The execution of city consultations andthe formulation of city developmentstrategies has created a regionalnetwork of resource cities andinstitutions on which scaling upactivities can be based.

The implementation of LocalAgenda 21 in Bayamo, Cuba, has leadto a scaled up programme forenvironmental planning andmanagement in Cuba, Peru and Brazil.On a similar approach, the Risk andDisaster Management Programme,UNDP and the International Strategyfor Disaster Reduction (ISDR) arecollaborating with Spanish speakingCaribbean Basin countries onstrengthening local planning andvulnerability reduction. The Safer CitiesProgramme is starting disseminationand design activities in Brazil, Mexicoand Chile; and GUO is establishing

working partnerships with several citiesand countries in the region for thecreation of local and national urbanobservatories.

All these initiatives are convergingon integrated collaboration programmeswith cities and countries in the region.The coordination between ROLAC andthe specialised programmes of UN-HABITAT has been instrumental inincreasing the efficiency of suchactivities. At the same time, thedevelopment by ROLAC of broadercooperation programmes in countries likeColombia, Ecuador, Brazil and Mexico,and with Cities like Rio de Janeiro, SaoPaulo, Bogotá and Guayaquil, isproviding strategic entry points for theactivities of specialised UN-HABITATprogrammes.

But more needs to be done infostering collaboration with regionalnetworks of local authorities. Links withthe Latin American chapter ofInternational Union of Local Authorities(IULA) and the Federation ofMunicipalities of the Central AmericanIsthmus (FEMICA) will be extended.Likewise, further collaboration with theregional representation of the emergingUnited Cities and Local Governments(UCLG) and sub-regional associations ofcities and local authorities like CALGAand MERCO-CIUDADES is necessary.

Collaboration with cities in theregion requires a joint effort ofinternational and regionalorganisations, with the private sectorand civil society. UN-HABITAT’s driveto establish partnerships with otherorganisations active in the region isbearing fruit. On-going collaborativeprogrammes with United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP) on theurban environment and UNDP on urbanmanagement show the way on howinternational cooperation can beeffective in improving livingconditions in urbanised Latin Americaand the Caribbean.

Jorge Gavidia is Director of UN-HABITAT’s, Regional Office for LatinAmerica and the Caribbean (ROLAC)in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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From Africities to Paris – a new voice for African citiesBy Roman Rollnick

More than any other region, Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’slargest proportion of urban

residents living in slums. These slums arehome to 72 per cent of urban Africa’scitizens. That percentage represents atotal of 187 million people. And theirnumbers are increasing on a continentwhere the annual average urban growthrate is 4 per cent - twice as high as LatinAmerica and Asia. Already, 37 per cent ofAfricans live in cities, and by the year2030 this is expected to rise to 53 per cent.

The story behind these figurespublished by UN-HABITAT depicts asituation faced by people in the slums farworse than many can imagine.

As Professor Akin Mabogunje,Chairman of the Nigerian PresidentialTechnical Committee on Housing andUrban Development and one ofAfrica’s leading urban thinkers warnedsome 700 mayors gathered for the ThirdAfricities Summit in Yaoundé,Cameroon on 2 December 2003: “Thevery rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, withinfection rates estimated at four timeshigher in urban areas than rural areasin some African countries has led tosignificant urban mortality rates.” Verypoor environmental conditions thatmany poor urban residents face inAfrica, have exposed them to life-threatening situations andconsiderably undermined the urbanadvantage in mortality on thecontinent. It is in the slums that manypeople, especially women, are forcedto walk long distances to communallatrines, or to fetch water to their shacks.Thus the likelihood of rape is ever-present,while young people with little hope growfrom being street children into criminals.

And as some of the photographs inthis issue of Habitat Debate show,uncollected waste and poor watersupplies spread disease in the city. Poorlocal management forces people to tapillegally into the electricity grid, or useliquid fuel stoves that can cause fires. Anexample: 5,000 people were renderedhomeless overnight on 9 February thisyear when such a fire destroyed theinformal settlement of Imizamo Yethu inCape Town causing a major humanitariancrisis for the city.

What African towns and cities needsaid Professor Mabogunje, is a properappreciation on the part of their central

governments that it is only through realdecentralisation involving properdevolution of power and resources tolocal governments that citizens can betruly empowered and made to effectivelyplay their part in the development of theircountry. Local governments and mayorshave to realise, for their part, that only bypromoting true democracy at the locallevel can the rights of those within theirjurisdiction be guaranteed.

“The hope then is that in theremaining years of this decade, centraland local governments in Africancountries would decisively move to putin place physical, fiscal and institutionalframeworks for transforming the socialand economic circumstances of all theircitizens through enhancing their accessto basic services,” he said.

urban Africa. It shows that Africa is nowtaking matters into its own hands and Ihave no doubt that the year 2003 will godown as the year of a new beginning forAfrica. The Africities meeting shows thatthe mayors are ready to exercise their fullresponsibilities.”

Topping a list of 32 recommendationson issues ranging from health, water,education, financing, governance, culture,and energy to waste management, was therecommendation that local authorities inAfrica be devolved into financiallyautonomous bodies administered byelected leaders with full powers to run theirown affairs. Transfer of responsibility tolocal authorities had to be accompaniedby equitable transfer of human and fiscalresources. Central governments, theysaid, should retain only supervisory

powers to ensure compliance with thelaw and national policy.

In Africa the local authoritycommunity recognised that UN-HABITAT, the UN agency for cities andother human settlements, was playinga leading role as the UN system’s pointof contact for local governments inpromoting good governance. Theyalso recognised the agency’s twoGlobal Campaigns for Secure Tenureand Urban Governance as importantmechanisms for building capacity forbetter local governance, and thusimproved basic urban services. Plansare underway to engage the GlobalCampaign for Urban Governance inthe African nations - Burkina Faso,

Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal,Tanzania and Uganda.

At the same time, they agreed that UN-HABITAT’s Global Campaign on UrbanGovernance and the agency’s Safer CitiesProgramme, initiatives of the NewPartnership for Africa’s Development(NEPAD), decentralisation policies, thealleviation of slum conditions andinitiatives of other UN agencies helpingyouth at risk could help reduce crime andreduce poverty.

Mr. Duma Nkosi, Mayor of thesprawling industrialised East Randadjoining Johannesburg, South Africasaid: “All of us have slums, and we needto learn best practices from one anotherbecause it is too expensive to startreinventing the wheel here.”

Roman Rollnick is Editor of Habitat Debate.

Empowering local authorities and decentralisation wasa major theme at the Third Africities Summit meeting ofMayors in Yaoundé, Cameroon. This picture showsmayors at the meeting in December 2003. Photo ©Vincent Kitio, UN-HABITAT

It was with such issues on the tablethat mayors and local governmentofficials from across Africa concluded theThird Africities Summit. They electedFather Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Mayor ofthe South African capital, Tshwane(Pretoria), President of a new umbrellaorganisation of local governments inAfrica that has been provisionally calledthe Council of Cities and Regions ofAfrica (CCRA). It will represent Africa inMay at the Paris meeting of localauthorities from around the world whichin turn will see the launch of a new globalorganisation, United Cities and LocalGovernments (UCLG).

Reacting to the latest pan-Africaninitiative, Pierre-Andre Wiltzer, the FrenchMinister Delegate for Cooperation, toldHabitat Debate: “This is a majorbreakthrough, a wonderful new step for

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Habitat Debate March 2004 Forum

Helping monitor and manage cities more effectivelyBy Tanzib Chowdhury

Since 1999, UN-HABITAT’s GlobalUrban Observatory (GUO) hasbeen helping cities in developing

countries set up their own Local UrbanObservatories (LUOs) so that they canget an accurate picture of their needs andkeep track of them.

In close collaboration withmunicipalities, the idea is to try and giveas accurate a picture as possible of a givensituation – be it the number of peopleliving in slums, the numbers withoutclean water and sanitation, the victims ofcrime, those afflicted by health hazards,or even the number of streets in a givenneighbourhood. Many cities lack suchinformation, and the disparity herebetween the wealthier nations and thedeveloping world is staggering.

Local urban observatories bringtogether city officials, citizens andbusinesses to ask the simple question:“How well is my city or local authorityachieving results that matter?”Development assistance and publicexpenditure in cities should beachieving results – more employment,fewer people living in poverty, reducedair pollution, and improved quality oflocal services. LUOs help track progressagainst these important localdevelopment goals by gatheringrelevant data. The observatoriesmonitor a comprehensive range ofissues based on local priorities, includingsocial development (under-five mortality,crime rates, percent of poor households),service delivery performance (access tosafe water and sanitation, amount ofwastewater treated or solid wastegenerated), and economic performance(informal employment, city product). LUOsare encouraged to develop their own keyperformance indicators built around localstrategic plans, policies and importantservice areas.

In Santiago, Chile, for example, theLUO helped the municipality developindicators for monitoring progressagainst the Santiago 2010 Strategic Plan.Baseline data and development targetsfor each of 73 indicators were producedcovering the period between 2000-2010.As a result of the monitoring system, theallocation of municipal resources is moretransparent, while public awareness ofthe impact on the economy and theenvironment has grown.

But LUOs do more than simply collectdata. Feedback on the outcomes ofstrategies and services is crucial inhelping policy-makers to betterunderstand where things are working andwhere they are not, and to make moreinformed decisions.

“The indicators drew to our attentionsome areas that we have never measuredbefore, such as the economy of the city,”said a local official in Harare, Zimbabwe.“This is a good indicator that helps us tofocus resources and priorities.” Hararecouncil is working on integratingindicators into both the physical plan andthe strategic plan for the city.

Journalists are also using theindicators. Petralehka Chatterjee, areporter in India, commented that she usesurban indicators to make a point abouttrends and comparisons among cities. Anexample comes from Bangalore where thehigh crime rate is interesting: although itis not the poorest city, it does have greaterinequalities in the population.

In Rosario, Argentina, socio-economic and overcrowding indicatorshave been used by the water company toidentify areas in the city with “unsatisfiedbasic needs”. An interviewee involved inthe indicators programme in Nakuru,Kenya, commented that the data has beenuseful in preparing shelter programmesand service delivery plans for themunicipality.

The LUOs have helped to catalyzenew partnerships. National statisticsoffices are starting to work better withlocal authorities in order to compiledisaggregated national data for cities.LUOs have brought different localagencies around the same table to discuss

performance data about their services.In cases where a broader range ofstakeholders has been involved,LUOs have strengthened networksbetween citizen groups and the localauthority.

The city of Ahmedabad in Indiarecently set up a Local UrbanObservatory coordinated by the localNGO, Urban Planning Partnerships(UPP). UPP has a track record ingathering data on slums in the cityusing GIS to map theseneighbourhoods. The municipality, akey partner of the LUO, has used theresults for preparing its own slumupgrading programme.The GUO is concentrating on projects

in selected cities. These include Curitiba(Brazil), Cali (Colombia), Guadalajara(Mexico), Riga (Latvia), Vladivostok(Russia), Aden (Yemen), Addis Ababa(Ethiopia), and Ahmedabad and Kolkata(India). It is also exploring potentialinitiatives in Iran, South Africa, Uganda,Bangladesh, China and Indonesia. Mostof these projects are being implementedin partnership with UN-HABITAT’sregional offices and other internationaldevelopment partners such as Metropolis,UNDP and the World Bank.

The challenge is to create localdemand for the monitoring system bydemonstrating that it can have a positiveimpact on urban management –this is theonly sure way to sustain LUOs over thelong term.

Tanzib Chowdhury is a HumanSettlements Officer with UN-HABITAT’sGlobal Urban Observatory.

As part of this monitoring process,LUOs try to gather information that isbroken down by geographical locationwithin a city, for example by district andneighbourhood. The GUO helps citiesconduct household surveys to highlightthe significant gap between slum dwellersand wealthier residents. LUOs usemodern technology such as GeographicInformation Systems (GIS) and high-resolution satellite images for mappingand analysing spatial information. Thiskind of detailed information helpsplanners and policy-makers to betterunderstand where the poor live in the city,their living conditions and basic needs,and the impact of programmes.

Using satellite imagery or aerial photography, UN-HABITAT’s Global Urban Observatory can help a city likePrinstina, the capital of Kosovo, shown here, get a goodbird’s eye view of a neighbourhood with data on the localpopulation and their problems. Photo © UN-HABITAT

16

Habitat Debate March 2004Forum

Urban Africa’s water delivery challengeBy Pireh Otieno

Infrastructure and basic services havea crucial role to play in alleviatingurban poverty, especially in Africa. A

lack of or inadequate access to water,sanitation and energy denies individualrights to dignity and health. It also hasmajor repercussions on education,gender equality, nutrition and income-earning capacity. With 72 per cent – or187 million people – of its urbanpopulation living in slums, infrastructureand basic services are a major challengefor Africa.

This is a daunting taskfor African cities given thatonly 48 per cent of urbanhouseholds in sub-SaharanAfrica have a waterconnection. Thatproportion shrinks to 19 percent in informal settlements.For sewerage systems, therespective figures are 31 percent and 7 per cent, and forelectricity, 54 per cent and20 percent. And while justan overall 15.5 per cent havea telephone, only 3 per centenjoy this luxury in theslums.

As part of its strategyto reduce urban poverty,UN-HABITAT launched itsWater for African Cities programme in1999. The scheme, the first of its kind,currently operates in seven major sub-Saharan municipalities: Abidjan, Accra,Addis Ababa, Dakar, Johannesburg,Lusaka and Nairobi. It helps themunicipalities develop and implementcomprehensive strategies that integratewater and environmental managementwith urban development. The scheme isa direct response to the 1997 Cape TownMinisterial Resolution on the continent’surban water challenge.

In its first phase the Programme hasalready provided excellent value forrelatively modest investments. During apress conference at the 2002 WorldSummit on Sustainable Development inJohannesburg, United States SenatorTimothy E. Wirth noted that of the $400million worth of schemes supported bythe United Nations Foundation, of whichhe is president, none had proved morecost-effective than UN-HABITAT’sWater for African Cities programme.

The scheme exemplifies the ability ofUN-HABITAT programmes to act ascatalysts for financial and otherresources. Modest donor support hasgone a long way indeed. The first phaseof the scheme has leveraged funds withincountries and demonstrated the potentialto change the attitudes of seniordecision-makers. This in turn strengthensmunicipal management capacities and asa result pilot projects have alreadydelivered significant, tangible results.

water utilisers, so much so that thescheme is having a ripple effect beyondthose cities participating. In Zambia, waterregulators said that they will adopt thedemand management strategy developedfor the capital, Lusaka, as a model for anation-wide scheme.

In Ghana, thanks to the agency incharge of restructuring the water sector,demand management is becoming partand parcel of both the regulatoryframework and national water policy.

Indeed, Ghana too has cometo realise the benefits ofwater management. Theseinclude lower consumptionof scarce resources on thedemand side, matched bywelcome increases inearnings on the supply side.The two together enablewater utilities andgovernments to focus onreally useful investmentsthat will benefit the poor.

In the capital, Accra, theLeak Detection Project of theUniversity of Ghana has ledto a reduction in losses of300m3/day. But as more watergoes through the meters,there has been a fivefoldincrease in the charges

collected by the Ghana Water Companysince the project came on stream.

The benefits of water demandmanagement as sponsored by the UN-HABITAT programme are just as tangiblein other African cities. In Johannesburg,the scheme saved so much water thatplans to build an additional reservoir werescrapped. In Addis Ababa, despite agrowing population and drought, curbingleaks and waste has resulted in annualsavings of US$1.6 million for thegovernment.

The other major accomplishment ofthe scheme has been the creation of aunique network of city managers. As theyassess achievements together and shareideas and experiences, they furthermagnify the benefits of the UN-HABITAT’s Water for African Citiesprogramme.

Pireh Otieno is a Project Officer with UN-HABITAT’s Water, Sanitation andInfrastructure Branch

Burst water pipes cause huge wastage in urban slums. Photo ©Vincent Kitio/UN-HABITAT.

The programme is now firmly on thelist of African water priorities. It has alsobeen singled out by the NewPartnership for Africa’s Development(NEPAD) for further support. InDecember 2002, the UN GeneralAssembly called upon UN-HABITAT togive continuing support to theprogramme. Following the launch of thesecond phase at the Pan-AfricanImplementation and PartnershipConference on Water held in AddisAbaba, Ethiopia in December 2003,African Ministers appealed to otherdevelopment partners to support theprogramme.

Five years since its inception, UN-HABITAT’s Water for African Citiesprogramme has had a significant impact.There is now a recognition that waterdemand management represents the mostcost-effective way of increasing supplyof this relatively scarce resource. Curbingleaks and waste now is well acceptedpractice both at the policy level and among

17

Habitat Debate March 2004 Forum

Showcasing best practices – How China’s mega-cities respond to the challengeBy Jianguo Shen

In 2003 the GDP of China was over 1.4 trillion US dollars, withper capita GDP reaching 1,090 US dollars. This is an increaseof 9.1% over 2002 and the highest growth since 1997. The

high and steady economic growth of China’s national economyhas continuously fueled the development of cities. Today, about660 cities accommodate more than 500 million people, which isabout 40 per cent of China’s 1.29 billion population.

Given the magnitude of the urban population and importantrole Chinese cities are playing in domestic and internationalarenas, UN-HABITAT has intensified its cooperation withChinese cities in a range of areas since the Habitat II conferencein Istanbul in 1996.

Sharing best practices between UN-HABITAT and Chinesecities is a two-way street. While Chinese cities have accesses totechnical information about human settlements developmentthrough UN-HABITAT publications and meetings, UN-HABITAT has disseminated best practices and good policiesmade by Chinese cities through its Habitat Scroll of Honour andBest Practice programmes. It has presented Habitat Scroll ofHonour and Best Practice Award to 10 cities for their greatprogress in human settlements improvement and developmentas shown in the tables below.

Habitat Scroll of Honour to Chinese CitiesYear City Achievements1990 Tangshan Post-earthquake redevelopment1992 Shenzhen Innovative provision of housing

for low-income families1995 Shanghai Redevelopment of slum areas1998 Chengdu Comprehensive revitalization of

Fu and Nan rivers2001 Hangzhou Great improvement in housing

and infrastructure2002 Baotou Improvements in shelter and

urban environment2003 Weihai Improvements in shelter and

urban environment

Dubai International Award to Chinese CitiesYear City Achievements1998 Zhuhai Comprehensive improvement of

the urban environment2000 Chengdu Comprehensive revitalization of

urban settlements2002 Guangzhou Action plan for sustainable

development

Weihai, China. Photo © Weihai Municipal Government

UN-HABITAT has implemented a number of projects andprogrammes in cooperation with major cities in China. It hasalso extended its Water for Asian Cities Programme to China.This includes: the Urban Management Programme in Leshan,the sustainable Cities Programme in Shenyang and Wuhan,a semi-aerobic landfill system in Weifang, an urban IndicatorsProject in Guiyang and Shenyang, and a water for AsianCities Programme in Nanjing.

These programmes and projects have been organized toprovide technical assistance to local authorities for improvingtheir capacity and promoting efficient and effective citymanagement. They have also offered alternative and cost-effective ways to deal with water and infrastructure managementfor the sustainable development of cities.

Apart from holding the World Habitat Day Observation inDalin in 1999, UN-HABITAT has recently cooperated with theMinistry of Construction of China and local authorities inorganizing four international conferences in different cities ofChina. The international City Construction and the Environmentfor the 21st Century conference was held in Chengdu in October2000. The Regional High-Level Meeting in Preparation forIstanbul +5 for Asia and the Pacific was convened in Hangzhouin October 2000. The International conference on financing SocialHousing was held in Baotou in August 2002. The InternationalConference on Sustainable Urbanization Strategies wasorganized in Weihai in November 2003.

These conferences, with financial contributions from thelocal municipal governments and the participation of a largenumber of Chinese cities, have strengthened the collaborationbetween UN-HABITAT and Chinese cities, and promoted city-to-city cooperation among the Chinese cities and with foreignpartners. UN-HABITAT has purposely chosen these venues toshow-case good examples available in Chinese cities in the fieldsof urban planning, housing development, environmentalprotection and infrastructure improvement.

The UN-HABITAT Liaison and Information Office in Beijing,set up in 1992, has continued to work with the Ministry ofConstruction of China to facilitate the information exchange anddissemination between UN-HABITAT and cities in China. Thisoffice translates main UN-HABITAT publications into Chineseand publishes them in a quarterly magazine “HumanSettlements”. It disseminates UN-HABITAT news andprogrammes through its Chinese website. It also transmits newsand information regularly to UN-HABITAT to be disseminatedto other cities around the world.

For example, the office distributed copies of “An UrbanizingWorld – Global Report on Human Settlements 1996” in Chineseat World Habitat Day observation in Dalin in 1999.

Jianguo Shen is Inter-Regional Adviser, Technical AdvisoryBranch, UN-HABITAT.

18

Habitat Debate March 2004

Improving urban governanceBy Rafael Tuts

“Good governance is perhaps thesingle most important factor ineradicating poverty and promotingdevelopment.” — United Nations Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan

One of UN-HABITAT’s strategicareas of work is to support citiesin the adoption of socially

integrated, inclusive, accessible,transparent, participatory andaccountable urban governance andmanagement, with a view to ensuringsustainable urban development. As theUN focal point for local authorities, UN-HABITAT encourages cities to applygood urban governance practices,through two complementary mechanisms- the Global Campaign on UrbanGovernance and the Urban ManagementProgramme. How can these initiativesassist cities in achieving bettergovernance?

The Global Campaign on UrbanGovernance (www.unhabitat.org/campaigns/governance) promotesincreased acceptance and use ofprinciples of urban governance. Throughadvocacy and outreach activities,collaborating and engaging with partnersand constituencies, as well as thelaunching of national campaigns, normsof urban governance have received a wideacceptance, application and adaptation.

During the campaign launch in Abuja,Nigeria in April 2001, President OlusegunObasanjo, reiterated his government’scommitment to broadening and deepeningthe democratic process by encouraginggreater transparency and fightingcorruption. He called on “the three tiersof government, Federal, State and Localto implement the Good Urban GovernanceCampaign in our cities and towns. It isone of the best ways for us to ensure thatordinary Nigerians can fully benefit fromthe democracy dividend.”

Addressing mayors and otherdelegates at an urban governanceconference in February 2002, PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo of thePhilippines said: “Good governanceshould result in the improvement of thelives of the poorest of the poor, andeffectively close the gap between the richand poor.” She added: “Your initiative to

localise the principles … deservescommendation because these norms willbe meaningless unless we are able tocontextualise, concretise and translatethem into action.”

To further translate urbangovernance principles into practicalmeasures, the campaign has developedtools to support participatory decision-making; transparency in localgovernance; inter-regional exchanges onparticipatory budgeting; and local-to-local dialogues between grassrootswomen groups and city authorities.These tools are now being adapted,translated and integrated in urbandevelopment programmes in countriessuch as Cameroon, Chile, Egypt,Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

With the support of its Global SteeringGroup, comprising United Nationsagencies, local government associationsand international NGOs, the campaignhas succeeded, four years after its launch,in initiating concrete activities aimed atspurring policy change and enhancingorganisational capacities in more than 30countries.

The Urban Management Programme(UMP) represents a major effort by UN-HABITAT and UNDP, together withexternal support agencies, to strengthenthe contribution that cities and towns indeveloping countries make towardseconomic growth, social developmentand poverty alleviation. It complementsthe efforts of the campaign workingthrough 19 anchor institutions and over40 local and national institutions, whichhave been involved in developing thecapacity of local partners and citygovernments for participatorygovernance, reaching 140 cities in 58countries. Over the past 18 years, UMPhas been able to provide a platform forpartners to engage in work related toemerging urban management themes suchas youth participatory budgeting, urbanagriculture and HIV/AIDS.

As one of its key activities, the UMPengages in city consultations as a corestrategy in meeting the objective ofimproved urban governance. The cityconsultation is a process designed tobring all stakeholders concerned withurban management and developmentissues together and agree on possibilitiesfor action to address urban issues.

A city consultation on implementingpro-poor participatory governance inChhim, Lebanon, has succeeded inestablishing a Union of Municipalities inthe region which comprises 13municipalities. The city consultation inColombo, Sri Lanka led to the preparationof a poverty profile, while CommunityDevelopment Councils undertook furthercapacity building. The city is nowundertaking participatory budgetinginitiatives and national replication isunderway. A city consultation on youthinvolvement in local government inMalindi, Kenya, led to ward-levelelections for a Youth Consultative Counciland action plans to involve the youth ingovernance issues. The city consultationprocess and the resulting micro-creditsystem in Maracaibo, Venezuela wasexpanded to four communities and led tothe establishment of a Fund for SocialInclusion, open to households headed bywomen, indigenous groups and displacedpeople and refugees.

In response to the critical urbanmanagement implications of HIV/AIDS,leadership training and consultationshave been held in Port of Spain (Trinidad& Tobago), Blantyre (Malawi), andMumbai (India). It is being initiated in fiveother cities. A handbook on localgovernment response to HIV/AIDS, incollaboration with the World Bank, waspublished in Africa.

There is a growing consensus aboutthe strong correlation between goodurban governance and positive humandevelopment outcomes. However,improved urban governance does notautomatically lead to enhanced quality oflife because of other factors. UN-HABITAT is now exploring these linkagesin more detail, through the developmentof an Urban Governance Index, which willhelp cities measure progress in the qualityof their governance relationships.

Rafael Tuts is a Human SettlementsOfficer with the Urban GovernanceSection of UN-HABITAT.

UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director, Mrs. AnnaTibaijuka with local community leaders in thePhilippines. Photo © UN-HABITAT

Forum

19

Habitat Debate March 2004

Doing it the Parana way in Brazil

The urbanisation rate in the southern Brazilian state ofParana has been intense. The state’s urban populationsoared from 36 per cent, in 1970 to 78 per cent in 1996.

At the same time the number of municipalities grew 39 per cent.As the municipalities grew, bureaucracy increased

slowing down public sector services.The Parana State Secretariat for Urban Development

adopted a strategy of political and administrativedecentralisation with emphasis on local institutionaldevelopment. Financial management was transferred to thecontrol of PARANACIDADE, a non-profit autonomous socialservice entity.

This strategy has resulted in 100 municipalities, with apopulation of about 1 million people, adopting the programme.

Hanam – a Korean experience

In 1971 most of the land around the city of Hanam in thesoutheastern part of Kyonggi province, Korea, wasdesignated a green-belt area. But as the city grew over

the years, its residents complained about the restrictions.Nearly 30 years later in 1999, during an internationalenvironment exhibition UNDP and UN-HABITAT held asymposium at which it was agreed to turn Hanam into amodel eco-city. The complaints virtually stopped.

Today, the Hanam experience shows that even a smalllocal city of 130,000 can be re-born as a modern city plannedin partnership with the local government, the nationalauthorities and international organisations.

CITY-NET in the Asia-Pacific region

Fast economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region inrecent decades has created huge metropolitan centresconfronting national and local authorities with finding

new ways of providing services for their rapidly growingurban populations. CITY-NET was created through aninitiative by UN Economic and Social Commission for Asiaand the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).

With 47 full members and 47 associate cities, its secretariatis based in Yokohama, Japan. It is a partner in the UNDP-funded Urban Management Programme for Asia and thePacific (UMPAP) together with ESCAP, Urban ManagementProgramme/ASIA(UMP-Asia), UN-HABITAT, AP2000, andthe World Bank.

New homes in Walvis Bay, Namibia

Walvis Bay is Namibia’s only port. Its well-developed fishing industry has attracted jobseekers from all over the country. Its poorest

suburb of Kuisebmond has a large influx of migrants. Thishas resulted in an acute housing shortage.

In March 2000 the Municipality designed a new settlementarea. The creation of Tutaleni Village has greatly contributedtowards solving some of the problems related to backyardsquatting. More than 800 families have been relocatedsuccessfully and now enjoy electricity, water, sanitation andrefuse amenities that a little more than a year ago seemedunattainable.

TheUrban Millennium Partnership- local actions for global goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)reflect the agreements and resolutions made atworld conferences organised by the United

Nations over the past decade. They have becomecommonly accepted as a unique opportunity to getbetter development results and as a framework formeasuring development progress.

However, the national focus on achieving the MDGtargets and the current framework of monitoring andimplementation, do not sufficiently take into accountthe urban and the local dimension. There is, thus, aninherent danger that even if the targets are achieved,the inequalities within a nation across people andplaces would still persist. Therefore, implementationof the MDGs should also involve the local governmentsphere. In most countries, local governments arerequired to provide basic services, primary education,primary health care – a spectrum that covers most ofthe MDGs.

In response to this need, UN-HABITAT, UNDP andbilateral donors are now designing a proposal for anUrban Millennium Partnership (UMP) on “localisingMDGs”, to complement ongoing efforts of various UNagencies and their partners. Recognising that inclusiveurban governance is one of the most important factorsin reaching the potential of cities in meeting the targetsse t by the Mi l lenn ium Decla ra t ion , the UrbanManagement Programme’s large network of anchorinstitutions and local authority associations is wellplaced to take on the challenge to support cities in theimplementation of MDGs.

The Partnership will work with networks of localauthorities at the global, national and local levels, toraise awareness about MDGs, mobilise stakeholders,and es tab l i sh moni tor ing and implementa t ionframeworks. In each region, UMP anchor institutionnetworks will conduct city consultations leading tolocal MDG action plans. They will also coordinate coreactivities related to knowledge management, policy andinst i tu t ional analysis , bui lding par tnership andnetworking. The MDG Partnership framework providesa broader platform for building partnerships andmobilising resources at the local and regional levels. Itis expected that in 2005, at least five countries will beselected in each region to begin the process oflocalising the MDGs.

— Rafael Tuts

Forum/Best practices

BEST PRACTICES

URL: www.sustainabledevelopment.org/blpDatabase: www.bestpractices.org

20

Habitat Debate March 2004

Dar es Salaam – managing a rising tide of humanityMy City

What is the main problem area in Dar esSalaam? – To my mind the key challenge for Dar esSalaam is the uncontrolled influx of people into thecity. Once they are here, what do we do with them?We get the problems of unplanned settlements withinthe city, and very rapidly crime and securityproblems, and the strains on infrastructure.

What is your city’s population? – The lastcensus gave us a population figure for the city of2.48 million. But more and more people are pouringinto the city every day. We are appealing to the authorities in otherregions to find activities for their youth to stem this influx. Eachlocal authority is supposed to set aside 10 per cent of their fundsfor youth and women.

Do you have faith in twinning and best practices? – I putgreater value to linkages and exchanges with mayors within theregion and the Continent than twinning links with cities furtherafield. For example, Dar es Salaam has links with Mansfield, Ohio,established by the then mayors. But if you ask anyone today, evenpeople my age, what is the relationship between Dar es Salaam,Tanzania and Mansfield, Ohio, they could not tell you. Amongstus (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 samemistakes.

Are you going to Paris in May for the international localauthorities congress? – For me there is greater value in regionalbodies and what we can learn from each other. We have had visitsfrom Nairobi and Kampala to Dar es Salaam to look into thequestion of how we are dealing with waste management and thewhole issue of safer cities. We are talking about the East AfricanCommunity and our three countries are talking about devolutionof responsibilities to local authorities. There is little if anything inour regional bodies that acknowledge local authorities. It is notonly the local authorities in East Africa that are crying out aboutthis, but local authorities in the whole of Africa.

What is the city’s key planning priority? – AsI said right from the beginning, youth are the targetgroup in a lot of what we would be involved in termsof planning. Now we want to take it further. The youthare beginning to ask what future we are leaving themif they are not involved right now in what is beingplanned. We have a Youth Councils scheme for Dares Salaam. We are in the process of setting up ayouth council to meet four times a year like ourcouncils 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 theirposition in society, of being unable to make ends meet, that leadsthem to this. In Durban, South Africa, for example, they havesystems that we in Dar es Salaam would like to emulate, exceptthat we lack the resources, especially with the metro police systemsthat they have in place. Our police here are window dressingbecause of the limited resources that we have. The negative imagethe police have needs quite a bit of work to go into changing thatattitude.

But Dar es Salaam has twice won the Africities safety award.– I think we were probably given that award for effort, rather thanthe achievement. And if I was a judge, I would have said that, andI would have voted for effort rather than achievement.

How do you feel about UN-HABITAT’s new CountryProgramme Manager? – I am very happy about that. During myyears in this seat, there is a lot I have learned through UN-HABITAT’s support, in exchanges, and conferences that havebeen brought in. On the issues, I have gained a lot personally.

So, how can UN-HABITAT best help?– By looking at allaspects that involve youth in the city. This is where we can begiven guidance and direction. All the other issues are for mesecondary.

UN-HABITAT works with Dar es Salaam in two major programmesSustainable 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 Dares Salaam is supported by UN-HABITAT. The City and its three municipalites are preparing a new blueprint for sustainabledevelopment of Dar es Salaam to upgrade the city and improve living conditions of the urban poor. It will build on the experienceof the Dar es Salaam Sustainable Cities Programme which focused on building capacity at the local level and enable poor peopleto participate in the improvement of their environment. The Cities Alliance Initiative programme is developed in line with theMillennium Declaration (Target 11), the new Human Settlement Development Policy, the ongoing review of the Town and CountryPlanning Act, the National Land Policy and the new Land Act no.4 (1999). The programme includes a Citywide Action Plan for theregularisation and upgrading of unplanned and unserviced settlements in Dar es Salaam and new initiatives to reduce poverty andimprove urban safety. It will also design a long-term sustainable financing strategy for settlement upgrading.

The Safer Cities Dar es Salaam ProgrammeUN-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 toabide 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 includethe Dar es Salaam City Council and its three municipalities, the national and auxiliary police, the Commission of Anti-DrugsProgramme, and the Prevention of Corruption Bureau. The Safer Cities Programme is planning a national replication phase toinvolve other municipalities in Tanzania.

The great port of Dar es Salaam is one of the fastest growing cities in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of the number of peoplepouring in on a daily basis. For Mayor Kleist Sykes, elected in December 2000 for a five-year term, this is a major problembecause 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:

His Worship Kleist Sykes, Mayorof Dar es Salaam, at his desk inCityHall. Photo © RomanRollnick/UN-HABITAT

21

Habitat Debate March 2004 New Publications

Buildings, Culture and Environment:Informing Local and Global PracticesISBN: 1-4051-0004-4Edited by: Raymond J Cole and Richard LorchLanguage: EnglishPublisher: Blackwel l ,Oxford, 2003, 404 pages

One significant aspectof globalisation is thatdesigners, clients,

funders and researchers of thebuilt environment arebombarded with huge amounts of information, products, codesand standards. These promise technological solutions to urgentproblems but fail to account for the social or cultural context.Many design strategies and technologies currently fail to beimplemented because of the inability of their designers tounderstand the needs and expectations of end users.

An alternative approach is offered by this book. The designand maintenance of the built environment must be embedded inlocal and regional culture if it is to be successful in social,technological and economic terms. Using the urgency ofenvironmentally sound design as case studies, this multi-disciplinary book provides a new understanding of why we haveconsistently failed. It offers a thought-provoking approach to anumber of complex habitation and built environment issues fromvarious perspectives.

This book suggests a positive path forward to form aframework and critically engage with local culture and socialexpectations into solutions for the built environment.

Horizons métropolitains - Politiques etprojets urbains en EuropeISBN: 2-88074-561-6Edited by: Bernard Jouve and Christian Lefèvre (eds.)Language: FrenchPublisher: Laussane: PressesPolytechniques et UniversitairesRomandes/Ecole PolytechniqueFédérale de Lausanne (PPUR-EPLF),2004, 288p,

How does a city turn into ametropolis? The conventional

answer combines various dosesof sociology, economics and urbanplanning. Today with the benefit ofhindsight, scholars are in a position to add an extra dimension asthey can review the evolution of urban governance over stringsof electoral cycles. This is the purpose of a book, ‘Horizonsmétropolitains’, edited by Bernard Jouve (Quebec University,Montreal) and Christian Lefèvre (Institut Français d’Urbanisme,Paris). As is so often the case in urban studies, their inquiry is acomparative one and all the better for it. The book spans thepast four decades and takes in the Geneva-Lausanne conurbation,host to more international institutions than any other in theworld, together with Zurich, Marseilles and Lyon, Stuttgart andNaples, Italy’s most populated city. The authors look to identifythe dynamics, shifts and more permanent factors in urbangovernance as a city turns into a metropolis, including therelationships city fathers maintain with central government andthe population as well as urban policies.

Re-Establishing an Effective HousingFinance Mechanism in Tanzania:The Potentials and the BottlenecksISBN: 92-1-131686-3Edited by: UN-HABITATLanguage: EnglishPublisher: The Govern-ment of Tanzania and UN-HABITAT, 2003, 145 pages

This publication, examinesthe issue of housingfinance in Tanzania in all

its ramifications. It notes thatthe lackof institutional housingfinance had been a matter ofconcern for both theGovernment of Tanzania, andUN-HABITAT.

It was as a result of this concern that the governmentapproved a National Human Settlements Development Policyin 2000, which is currently studying a proposed NationalHousing Programme. Consequently, in 2002, a team of threeexperts was appointed to review the situation of housingfinance in the country and suggest possible ways of re-establishing housing finance mechanism in the country. Thisreport is the result of that effort.

As rightly emphasized in the foreword: “The issues raisedin this report and the recommendations made deserveattention and implementation actions by governments andsupport and cooperation by other stakeholders, if shelterand human settlements conditions are to be improved asenvisaged in the HABITAT Agenda and in the MillenniumDevelopment Goals.”

Rental housing: An essential option forthe urban poor in developing countriesISBN: 92-1-131687-1Edited by: UN-HABITATLanguage: EnglishPublisher: UN-HABITAT

This 250-page study notesthat despite the fact that alarge proportion of residents

in cities and towns of developedand developing countries aretenants, the number ofgovernments actually trying tosupport rental housingdevelopment is rather small. In fact, the important role playedby the rental sector is barely, if at all, acknowledged in manynational housing policies. A major reason for this bias againstrental housing is the general ideology that home ownership isessential for housing development and that owners are bettercitizens than renters.

The study demonstrates that most of the arguments leadingto this bias against rental housing are highly flawed. It is truethat owner-occupation offers families a great deal, but theadvantages are often exaggerated. Criticisms of rental housingare equally exaggerated – ignoring both the advantages thatrentals offer tenants and landlords alike, and perpetuating falsemyths about landlords.

EDITED BY

Raymond J.Cole and Richard Lorch

Buildings, Culture & EnvironmentINFORMING LOCAL &GLOBAL PRACTICES

Buildings, Culture &Environm

entCole and Lorch

Buildings, Culture & Environment: informing local & global practicesEdited by Raymond J. Cole & Richard Lorch

With accelerating change towards globalisation, the efficacy of design solutions not embedded withinregional culture has been prone to failure—technically, socially and economically. Environmentalproblems and questions surrounding how to achieve a sustainable built environment are now posingurgent challenges to built environment practitioners and researchers. However, internationalcooperation in setting targets and standards as well as an increasing exchange of environmentalinformation and practices present designers, clients and occupants with new problems thatcompromise local needs and the built environment.

This book addresses the role regional culture plays in the successful (or otherwise) process ofexchanging and adapting environmental practices and standards in the built environment. Using thespecific case of the design of environmentally sound buildings, the book identifies a number of issuesfrom different perspectives:

� The conflict between regionally appropriate environmental building practices within a globaltechnical and economic context.

� How human, social and cultural expectations limit technological advances and performanceimprovements.

� To what extent information on environmentally progressive buildings can be transferred acrosscultures without compromising regional and local practices.

� Which ideas travel successfully between regions - generic principles, specific ideas or specificsolutions?

� How the idea of regional identity is being redefined as the process of globalisation both widens andaccelerates.

The EditorsRaymond J. Cole is Professor of Architecture at the University of British Columbia, Canada.Richard Lorch is an architect and editor of the international journal, Building Research and Information.

Other titles of interestSustainable Development Building EcologyMark Mawhinney Peter Graham0 632 06459 5 0 632 06413 7

Cover design by Simon Witter

Blackwell Publishing Home Pagewww.blackwellpublishing.com

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En l’espace d’une quarantaine d’années, les conditions de l’urbanisation ont très net-tement changé, aussi bien dans les pays développés que dans les pays en dévelop-pement. Le poids démographique des villes, leur morphologie, leur fonctionnalité,

leur poids économique, les problèmes sociétaux qui sont générés au sein de ces systè-mes territoriaux particuliers constituent autant de dynamiques qui ont conduit à fairedes métropoles des territoires de première importance.

Cet ouvrage aborde cette problématique sous un angle davantage politique en se focali-sant sur les transformations que connaissent plusieurs métropoles européennes du pointde vue de leur modes de gouvernance. A travers la comparaison entre Genève-Lausanne,Lyon, Marseille, Naples, Stuttgart et Zurich, il entend analyser les changements et les fac-teurs de stabilité qui accompagnent la métropolisation, d’une part dans les relations inter-gouvernementales, d’autre part dans les relations entre les élus politiques et la société civileet, enfin, dans le type de politique pratiquée.

Public :

Cet ouvrage s’adresse aux étudiants, professeurs et chercheurs en sciences sociales,sociologie urbaine, aménagement, urbanisme, génie civil, architecture, aux responsablespolitiques de l’aménagement et de planification, et aux élus locaux.

Contenu :

Les nouveaux enjeux de la métropolisation : Introduction – Les enjeux de la métropolisation – La métropolisation : unprocessus univoque ? – Conclusion. La métropolisation du bassin lémanique en questions : Introduction – Deux pro-jets d’envergure métropolitaine dans le bassin lémanique – Les origines et le pilotage des deux projets métropolitains– Quelles retombées escomptées de l’internationalisation ? – Le débat public engendré par les deux projets et leurconsécration politique – Métropolisation et recomposition du système de représentation des intérêts économiques –Conclusion : La métropolisation politique de l’espace lémanique : mythe ou réalité ? La production de «catalyseursmétropolitains» : l’exemple de la transformation des politiques urbaines à Stuttgart : Introduction – Le système deproduction de la région de Stuttgart – Permanence et changements du contexte institutionnel – Les transformationsdes politiques urbaines – Conclusion. Naples, entre développement économique et modernisation politique de laville : Introduction – La modernisation de la ville entre amélioration du cadre de vie et compétition urbaine – Du pro-jet étatique de développement du Mezzogiorno au grand projet international du maire de Naples – Conclusion : entrecontinuité procédurale et discontinuité substantielle. Aire Métropolitaine Marseillaise : la quête de l’émancipationdans les politiques publiques : Introduction – La «colonisation» de Fos et des rives de l’étang de Berre –Euroméditerranée ou les chemins de l’indépendance ? – Conclusion. Métropolisation à la zurichoise : tertiarisation,fragmentation et démocratie directe : Introduction – La «métropolisation à la zurichoise» : étalement urbain, tertiarisa-tion et immobilisme des structures de représentation politico-économiques – Métropolisation, style de politiquepublique et reconfiguration des niveaux de gouvernement – Conclusion. De l’urbanisme à la maïeutique : perma-nence et recomposition des politiques urbaines à Lyon : Introduction – De l’aménagement physique à la maïeutique– L’évolution des modes de médiation – Conclusion. Existe-t-il une élite politique métropolitaine ? Une comparaisonquantitative franco-suisse : Introduction – Les élus de l’agglomération lyonnaise face aux transformations ducontexte métropolitain – Analyse de l’effet de la métropolisation sur les profils de l’élite partisane locale et des éluscommunaux en Suisse – Conclusion : à la recherche d’un effet «métropole» dans la sélection du personnel politiquelocal – Annexe méthodologique.

2003, 288 pages, 16 x 24 cm, broché, ISBN 2-88074-561-6

orizonsmétropolitainsHBernard jouve & Christian lefèvre, éd.

R E C H E R C H E S U R B A I N E S

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Habitat Debate March 2004Readers’ Forum

Join the debate - your views are importantWe welcome readers’ letters to stimulate the debate. These will be published under this Readers’ Forum, at the discretion of the Editor, whomay shorten or edit material to meet space and style requirements. Write to habitat.debate@unhabitat.org, or to the Information ServicesSection (Habitat Debate), P.O. Box 30030, GPO, 00100 Nairobi, KENYA, or fax number 254-020-623477.

We would also like to know what you think of the new design and contents of Habitat Debate. Please take a few minutes to completethe form below and send it to the above address. The form is also available on www.unhabitat.org/hd/form.asp.Name: .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Topics of InterestEnvironmentHousing Rights/Security of TenureRisk & Disaster ManagementRural LinkagesSafer CitiesSlum UpgradingStatisticsTraining/Capacity BuildingUrban PovertyUrban DevelopmentUrban FinanceUrban GovernanceWater and Sanitation

Other − please specify

Who you areBusiness IndustryCentral GovernmentCommunity-Based OrganizationGovernment AgencyInter-Governmental OrganizationLibrary/Documentation CentreLocal AuthorityJournalist/MediaNon-Governmental OrganizationResearcherStudentTrust/FoundationUnited Nations System

Other − please specify

Children Behind Bars

I would first like to use this medium to subscribe for yourpublications especially Habitat Debate and also make acomment on the above topic.I differ with Liz Cowan particularly on the concluding paragraph

of her article “Children behind bars: inside a Cape Town prison”(Habitat Debate, June 2003). To reduce or even eradicate the menaceof juvenile delinquency we need to fight the initiation of newmembers to street gangs; and perhaps, most importantly, to bringout those already deep in the trade. If we fear that they are alreadytoo deep to be rescued, they will be undoing the good works ofpeople like Liz Cowan because of the need for them to “sustain”their lifestyle. As teenagers, there are better avenues to channeltheir youthful energies with better prospects than living them insuch a sorry state. Waiting to hear from you.

– Aliyu Kawu, Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning,Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria 81026, Nigeria.“Truth is the Greatest Weapon” (Sir Ahmadu Bello, 1966)

Luxury housing or slum rehabilitation?

While thanking Sundar Burra for his informative articleon slum rehabilitation efforts in Mumbai, I would liketo raise the big threat posed by upcoming deluxe-

residential complexes for “discerning” upper-class residents inMumbai. The newspapers have announced a new luxury housingschemes in peri-urban areas of the city, with space for privateparks, supermarkets and even schools. I wonder if this style ofliving is sustainable in a city where more than 6 million peoplelive in slums!

What is the local government doing to limit this wasteful useof precious living space? Since expansion of slums in the innercity is impossible, one would think that it would be better tolocate permanent slum resettlement schemes in the as yetundeveloped peri-urban areas, which have more space.

– Anamika Amani, Information Officer - Urban Harvest,The CGIAR System-wide Initiative on Urban and Peri-urbanAgriculture, Website: http://www.cipotato.org/urbanharvest/

Customary land management

Unless heavily subsidised, the formal private sector isnot interested in providing housing land for low incomegroups. As for the public sector, its policies on slums

and informal settlements have ranged, during the last threedecades, from repression to selective tenure regularisationprojects, combined with physical upgrading and the provisionof basic urban services. Although there have been somesuccessful innovative projects, scaling them up remains a majorproblem. Thus nearly two thirds of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa have no choice but to live in informal settlements,without proper access to basic urban services and insufficientsecurity of tenure.

Many poor people house themselves through transactionsthat borrow features from traditional rural customs of landmanagement so that their claims to use land can be identified,legitimised and defended. In a phenomenon specific to Africancities, although these informal transactions are rarely legalised,they are accepted and supported by their societies.

Customary land “ownership” refers to the communalpossession of rights to use and allocate land by a group sharingthe same cultural identity. In urban areas, customary land deliveryin the strict sense of the term does not operate according to thismodel: land for housing is provided by informal processes thatcombine customary practices with other informal and formalpractices. These neo-customary land delivery systems workthrough individuals who usually sell to others, as marketcommodities, more rights than they have obtained through acustomary system. These systems are based on trust, permitcheap and fast access to land and often provide a better securityof tenure than other informal land delivery systems.

A joint French-British research project on this topic isunderway.

– Alain Durand-Lasserve, Research Director, Centrenational de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Paris and

– Michael Mattingly, Development Planning Unit,University College London

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Habitat Debate March 2004

Future Events12th session of Commission on SustainableDevelopment New York, U.S.A.19-30 April 2004For more information:http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd12/csd12.htm

Second World Urban ForumBarcelona, Spain13-17 September 2004Theme: Cities : crossroads of culture, inclusiveness andintegration? E-mail: Joseph.Mungai@unhabitat.org

XXXII IAHS World Congress on HousingUniversity of Trento, Trento, Italy21-25 September 2004Theme: Sustainability of the Housing ProjectsFor more information:Email: antonio.frattari@ing.unitn.itor email: ural@itu.edu.tr

World Habitat Day 2004Nairobi, Kenya4 October 2004Theme: Rural-urban linkages

UN-HABITAT signs four MoUs

At an official signing ceremony on 17 December 2003held in the Geneva Headquarters of the UnitedNations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR),

the High Commissioner, Mr. Ruud Lubbers, and the ExecutiveDirector of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme(UN-HABITAT), Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Under Secretary-General, signed an operational Memorandum ofUnderstanding opening the opportunity for operationallinkages between the mandates of both organisations.

UN-HABITAT and the United Nations Institute forTraining and Research (UNITAR) signed a memorandum ofunderstanding on 4 February 2004 to provide a cooperationframework in support of partnership commitments made atthe World Summit on Sustainable Development inJohannesburg in 2002.

UN HABITAT and UNESCAP have joined forcesto improve living conditions of urban poor in Asia. OnThursday, 26 February 2004, in Bangkok, UN-HABITATand UNESCAP signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) in a bid to ensure that the two organizations workmore effectively towards reducing urban poverty in Asia.

A Memorandum of Understanding between UN-HABITAT and UNOPS was signed on 12 February 2004 bythe Executive Heads of both organizations, Mrs. Tibaijukaand Mr. Nigel Fisher. The detailed MoU establishes the termsand conditions for joint shelter and human settlementsprojects at country level. It should help increase the volumeof operational activities implemented by both parties, throughcommon fund-raising efforts.

Africities mayors pledge better urban services

Mayors and local government officials from acrossAfrica, in the first week of December 2003, concludedthe Third Africities Summit in Yaoundé, Cameroon,

with a pledge to work harder and cooperate more closely toprovide better urban services to millions of citizens living inslums and informal settlements. They elected Father SmangalisoMkhatshwa, Mayor of the South African capital, Tshwane(Pretoria), President of a new African organisation of localgovernments.

Norway contributes over $1 million

The Norwegian government, on 5 December 2003 in Nairobi,signed an agreement with UN-HABITAT committing 10.24million Norwegian Kroner (US $ 1.3. million) for the Water

and Sanitation Trust Fund.

Germany trebles support to UN-HABITAT

On 21 January 2004, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroederpledged to increase his country’s support for UN-HABITAT threefold to 500,000 euros for core funding

to the agency over and above German support for specificprogrammes.

In Afghanistan

A new National Solidarity Programme aimed atstrengthening a network of some 30,000 self-governinglocal community institutions in Afghanistan has been

established by the government with the support of UN-HABITAT. The programme, started in December 2003 and set toexpand rapidly in coming months, represents an importantmilestone in the Afghan Government’s reconstruction efforts tohelp rebuild trust among themselves and with the government.

Mr.Tara Chana

Events

Remembering Tara Chana

Our colleague, Mr. Tara Chana(right) who recently passedaway, will be sorely missed by all of

his colleagues at UN-HABITAT. He was 56.Tara, as we knew him, was regarded as a

friend by those who worked for him, respectedby his superiors and loved by people in many countries whodirectly benefited from his unstinting efforts to help bringimprovements to their quality of life.

“We valued him as a thoughtful, considerate and kindperson. We remember Tara as someone who always went outof his way to help the poorest of the poor, often in the most direcircumstances. Indeed, we remember him as someone who wasnot only extremely diligent in his work, but as a man whoselflessly dedicated himself to the cause of UN-HABITAT,”said UN-HABITAT Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka.

“It is through his efforts, you can be sure, that there arepeople today in northern Iraq, Uganda, Zimbabwe – to namesome of the most difficult and challenging places where heworked – who have benefited in no small way from his self-sacrifice, his personal courage and his professionalachievements,” she said.

Women-friendly cities, Fukuoka,11 March 2004 -

Three Asian cities have been named as winners of UN-HABITAT awards for their women-friendly policies. Thecities are Cebu and Naga in the Philippines, and

Visakhapatnam in India. The award ceremony markingInternational Women’s Day 8 March 2004 was held with themayors of the three cities.

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Habitat Debate March 2004

UN-HABITAT OFFICESHEADQUARTERS

UN-HABITATP.O. Box 30030, GPO,Nairobi, 00100, KenyaTel: (254-020) 621234Fax: (254-020) 624266/624267/624264/623477/624060E-mail: infohabitat@unhabitat.orgWebsite:http://www.unhabitat.org/

REGIONAL OFFICESAfrica and the Arab States

UN-HABITAT Regional Office forAfrica and the Arab StatesP.O. Box 30030, GPO,Nairobi, 00100, KenyaTel: (254-020) 621234/623221Fax: (254-020) 623904/623328(Regional Office)624266/7 (Central Office)E-mail: roaas@unhabitat.orgWebsite:http://www.unhabitat.org/roaas/

Asia and the PacificUN-HABITAT Regional Office forAsia and the PacificACROS Fukuoka Building, 8th Floor1-1-1 Tenjin, Chuo-kuFukuoka 810-0001, JapanTel: (81-92) 724-7121Fax: (81-92) 724-7124E-mail: habitat.fukuoka@unhabitat.orgWebsite: http://www.fukuoka.unhabitat.org

Latin America and theCaribbean

UN-HABITAT Regional Office forLatin America and the Caribbean(ROLAC)/Oficina Regional paraAmerica Latina y el Caribe (ROLAC)Av. Presidente Vargas, 3131/130420210-030 - Rio de Janeiro RJ,BrazilTel: (55-21) 2515-1700Fax: (55-21) 2515-1701E-mail: rolac@habitat-lac.orgWebsite: http://www.habitat-lac.org

LIAISON OFFICESNew York Office

UN-HABITAT New York OfficeTwo United Nations PlazaRoom DC2-0943New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A.Tel: (1-212) 963-8725/963-4200Fax: (1-212) 963-8721E-mail: habitatny@un.org

Geneva OfficeUN-HABITAT Geneva OfficeONU-HABITAT Bureau de GenèveInternational Environment HouseMaison Internationale del’Environnement (C-511)11-13 chemin des AnémonesCH-1219 ChâtelainePostal address: Palais des NationsAv. de la Paix 8-14CH 1211 Genève 10, SwitzerlandTel: (41-0) 22 917-86 46/7/8Fax: (41-0) 22 917-8046E-mail: habitatgva@unog.chWebsite: http://www.unhabitat.org

European Union OfficeUN-HABITAT Liaison Officewith the European Union andBelgium14 rue MontoyerB-1000 Brussels, BelgiumTel: (32-2) 503-35-72 (32-2) 503-1004Fax: (32-2) 503-46-24E-mail: unhabitat@skynet.be orunhabitat.admin@skynet.beWebsite: www.unhabitat.org

INFORMATION OFFICES

Central EuropeUN-HABITAT Information Office forCentral EuropeH-1124 BudapestNémetvölgyi út 41. 2. ep. 1.1.,HungaryTel/Fax: (36-1) 202-2490E-mail:horcher@unhabitat.datanet.hu

IndiaUN-HABITAT Information Office5th Floor (East Wing)Thalamuthu Natarajan Building(CMDA Building)Egmore, Chennai 600 008, IndiaTel: (91-44) 2853-0802/ 2855-5834Fax: (91-44) 2857-2673E-mail: unchssp@md2.vsnl.net.in

ChinaUN-HABITAT Beijing InformationOfficeNo. 9 Sanlihe RoadBeijing 100835People’s Republic of ChinaTel: (86-10) 6839-4750, 68350647Fax: (86-10) 6839-4749E-mail: unchspek@public.bta.net.cnWebsite:http://www.cin.gov.cn/habitat

Russian FederationUN-HABITAT Executive Bureau inMoscow8, Stroiteley Street, Building 2,Office 809Moscow, 119991Russian FederationTel: (7-095) 930-6264Fax: (7-095) 930-0379E-mail: unhabitat@gosstroy.gov.ruURL: www.unhabitatmoscow.ru