UN Human Settlements ProgramWACLAC - 2003 - Partnership for Local Capacity Development. Building Og...

7/30/2019 UN Human Settlements ProgramWACLAC - 2003 - Partnership for Local Capacity Development. Building Og the Ex

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Partnership for LocalCapacity Development

NairobiMay 2003

Building on the Experiencesof City-to-City Cooperation

United Nations Human Settlements Programme

World Association of Cities and LocalAuthorities Coordination (WACLAC)


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The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoeveron the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities,or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries or regarding its economic system or degree of development. The analysis,conclusions and recommendations of the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Human Settlements

Programme (UN-HABITAT), the Governing Council of UN-HABITAT or its Member States.

Excerpts from this publication may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated.

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT),2003

ISBN: 92-1-131680-4

HS/687/03E

United Nations Human Settlements Programme publications can be obtained from UN-HABITAT Regional and Information Offices ordirectly from:P.O.Box 30030Nairobi, KenyaFax: +(254-20) 624060E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.unhabitat.org


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Partnerships for Local Capacity Development

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................2

Chapter 1 Partnership for Local Capacity Development (PLCD)

1.1 Laying the Foundations........................................................................................................................................4

1.2 Partner Needs and Priorities................................................................................................................................6

1.3 Emerging Consensus on the Way Forward ..........................................................................................................6

Chapter 2 Background and Context of City-to- City Cooperation

2.1 The Idea of City-to-City Cooperation (C2C)..........................................................................................................8

2.2 C2C and Development Cooperation ....................................................................................................................9

Chapter 3 The Purpose and Scope of the Initiative

3.1 Advancing Understanding of C2C and Strengthening C2C Practice....................................................................10

3.2 The Approach and Structure of the Report ........................................................................................................10

Chapter 4 City Priorities and Practices in City-to-City Cooperation

4.1 Framework for Comparing City Priorities and Practices ....................................................................................12

4.2 Cities Capacity-Building Priorities ....................................................................................................................12

Improving Aspects of Urban Management......................................................................................................12

Improving Individual Local Government Functions..........................................................................................14

4.3 Defining Features of C2C Practice ....................................................................................................................17

Geographical Scope ......................................................................................................................................17

Cooperation Structures..................................................................................................................................18

Active Participants ........................................................................................................................................20

Chapter 5 Organising Support for City-to- City Cooperation

5.1 Framework for Comparing C2C Support Options................................................................................................22

5.2 Types of External Support..................................................................................................................................22

C2C Support Modalities..................................................................................................................................22

5.3 Organisation of External Support ......................................................................................................................24

Geographical Focus........................................................................................................................................24

Funding and Resources..................................................................................................................................24

Facilitating Institutions ..................................................................................................................................25

Chapter 6 Issues Arising from Experience

6.1 Key Features and Trends in C2C Practice..........................................................................................................28

6.2 Key Features and Trends in C2C Support ..........................................................................................................306.3 Priorities in C2C Practice and Support Policies ..................................................................................................32

Annex 1: Information Sources..........................................................................................................................................36

Annex 2: International Associations and Networks of Cities and Local Authorities ............................................................37

Annex 3: International City-to-City Support Programmes..................................................................................................44

Annex 4: UN-HABITAT and DFID:Sustainable Urbanisation, Foreword, 2002 ....................................................................51

Annex 5: UN-HABITAT and partners:Coalition f or Sustainable Urbanisation,

Introduction and Partnership f or Local Capacity Development, 2002..................................................................52

Annex 6: Contributors ......................................................................................................................................................56

Contents

Photo credits: Topham Picturepoint, Topham/UNEP, Bernd Decker and other UN-HABITAT colleagues.


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Introduction

Purpose

This publication is background documentation for the dialogues with local authorities and

other Habitat Agenda partners during the 19th session of the Governing Council of UN-HABI-

TAT. It is designed to support the dialogue on the Strengthening of Local Authorities, the

second of a two-part dialogue on Effective Decentralisation and the Strengthening of Local

Authoritiesheld in plenary during the afternoon session of Tuesday, 6 May 2003, and the

morning session of Wednesday, 7 May 2003.

During the three-hour dialogue on the Strengthening of Local Authorities, designated repre-

sentatives of local authorities and other Habitat Agenda partners make short substantive

presentations followed by discussions between Government delegations and panellists.

Once adopted, the Chairs conclusions and the recommendations from the dialogue serve

as guidelines for follow-up action by Governments, local authorities, other Habitat Agenda

partners and UN-HABITAT. To be substantive,action-oriented and focused on both the con-ceptual and operational aspects of strengthening local authorities the dialogue is organised

to address from a variety of perspectives specific questions such as the following:

Why strengthening of local authorities is important and what the priorities are.

Whose cooperation is required (e.g. local/national stakeholders in cities, support pro-

grammes and donors) and what roles they should play.

What practical lessons can be learned from the concrete, operational experience of the

dialogue participants.

There are many good examples of concrete international initiatives for developing local capacities. UN-HABITAT alone supports dozens of global

campaigns, programmes and projects with most, if not all, aimed specifically at local capacity development. Among these,thePartnership for Local

Capacity Development (PLCD) has been selected. The reasons behind this choice include: (a) The PLCD is a broad and growing partnership involv-

ing more than 20 multilateral and bilateral support organisations, associations of local authorities, Non-Governmental Organisations, and other

Habitat Agenda partners; (b) The purpose of the PLCD is to review and improve the match between local capacity development needs and availableinternational support; (c) The PLCD is specifically designed to support implementation of the Habitat Agenda and the settlements dimension of other

global agreements such as the Millennium Development Goals and the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development; and (d) the PLCD

is a joint initiative between the United Nations and the Global Associations of Local Authorities.

Origins

When, in 1996, the Governments of the world met in Istanbul at the HABITAT-II City Summit to discuss the enormous challenge posed by global

urbanisation and our rapidly growing cities, they reached a number of historic agreements and enshrined them in the Habitat Agenda. One of these

was forging a new partnership approach involving not only central governments and civil society, but also local authorities in a joint plan for sys-

tematically addressing the future of the worlds cities and other human settlements. The United Nations also recognised, for the first time, the sta-

tus of local governments officially at one of its global meetings. This was significant progress towards recognition of local governments as inter-

locutors with the United Nations, and their participation in the key decisions affecting and requiring cooperation from the cities. Indeed, local author-ities were recognised as the closest partners of national governments for the implementation of the Habitat Agenda.

In early 2001, UN-HABITAT agreed to cooperate with the United Towns Organisation (UTO) - the latter acting on behalf of World Associations of Cities

and Local Authorities Coordination (WACLAC) and the United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) - to support a series of events

concerned with city-to-city cooperation. These events emphasised the benefits of city-to-city learning and mutual support. They also highlighted

the broad range and diversity of city-to-city cooperation practices, showcased the variety of complementary options for supporting cities in their

cooperation,and drew and agreed on forward-looking conclusions regarding opportunities to improve the scope for both city-to-city cooperation and

support. The series of events culminated with an event on city-to-city cooperation during the 25th Special Session of the United Nations General

Assembly (Istanbul+5) in New York in J une 2001.

The report prepared for Istanbul+5 was entitled City-to- City Cooperation: Issues Arising from Experience. It was endorsed as a basis for jointly

launching a more permanent initiative on city-to-city cooperation,designed to maintain an up-to-date inventory of the various forms of city-to-city

cooperation as well as of the modalities of international support. The latest up-date of this report reflects the preparatory process for the 2002 WorldSummit on Sustainable Development including prominently the first Session of the World Urban Forum. During this process Habitat Agenda partners

concluded that local capacity development is an important prerequisite for sustainable urbanisation (see Annex 4). They also recommended a

Partnership for Local Capacity Development (PLCD) , and made the PLCD a key component of the Coalition for Sustainable Urbanisationwhich was

UN-HABITATs main contribution to the Johannesburg Summit (see Annex 5).


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MessageThis joint report of the United Nations and the global associations of local authorities has come a long way since 2001, evolving from a simple descriptive invento-

ry of capacity building approaches to a systematic database with concrete action-oriented recommendations. The change from the old title City-to-City Cooperation

Issues Arising from Experience to the new title Partnership for Local Capacity Developmentreflects this evolution. At the same time the joint message carried by

the report has become sharper and more immediately relevant to recent global agreements such as the Millennium Development Goals, the Declaration on Cities

and other Human Settlements (Istanbul+5) and the conclusions of WSSD. All these emphasise the importance of local capacity development for such fundamental

development objectives as poverty alleviation as well as social, economic and environmental sustainability.

More specifically, the Commission on Human Settlements, in its Resolution 18/11, asked the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT to intensify dialogue among govern-

ments at all levels and Habitat Agenda partners on issues related to effective decentralisation and the strengthening of local authorities. Further, by its Resolution

18/10 on the role of local authorities, the Commission invited the Habitat Agenda partners,with the support of the Secretariat, to strengthen local authorities in their

important role in implementing the Habitat Agenda through, inter-alia, improved training, peer-to-peer learning, city-to-city transfers and international exchanges

based on documented best practices, good policies and action plans. In this report the United Nations and the local authorities respond to this mandate.The mes-

sage of the report can be summarised in the following six points: Local authorities and their associations are key actors in local capacity development and they are ready to assume their important role in close collaboration with

the United Nations and other Habitat Agenda partners.

City-to-city cooperation,peer-to-peer learning and other forms of decentralised cooperation are among the most effective approaches to local capacity develop-

ment. These approaches,practiced by local authorities with the support of their associations for more than half a century, have emerged in the past decade as

a new technical cooperation paradigm of the United Nations, which emphasises the demand-led sharing of operational experience among practitioners rather

than the traditional provision of ready solutions.

Support available for local capacity development differs in many important ways, reflecting the tremendous diversity of interests,purposes, institutions,resources,

and situations among support programmes and the cities with which they cooperate. However, this support is often supply-driven rather than demand led and

there are significant overlaps and gaps in the support provided by international programmes.

There is room for improving the match between local capacity development needs and available international support. International support can be made more

responsive to local priorities. In the interest of cohesion and collective efficiency, gaps in available support can be filled,overlaps reduced and strategic comple-

mentarities can be realised.

A systematic partnership between key interest groups must be organised to improve the match between local capacity development needs and available sup-port. This must involve (a) local authorities and other stakeholders at city and national levels, (b) international support programmes, and (c) donors.

The Partnership for Local Capacity Development (PLCD), described in this report, is one option for improving collaboration among the key interest groups. The

PLCD consists of (a) an information service based on an inventory of city needs and available support; (b) a periodic report on issues arising from experience; and

(c) regular meetings of the interest groups to address arising issues and to chart the way forward. These meetings are to be held as part of the biennial sessions

of the World Urban Forum.

Organisation

The main text of this publication (Chapters 1-6) has been prepared and agreed in close collaboration between UN-HABITAT and the global associations of local author-

ities (represented by WACLAC and UNACLA) in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). For the purpose of this publication the con-

cluding chapter of the original text has been moved to the front and minor editorial corrections have been made to improve presentation without affecting the sub-

stance. Accordingly, Chapter 1 presents the conclusion of the report by outlining the emerging consensus on the way forward,i.e. the Partnership for Local CapacityDevelopment. Chapters 2 and 3summarise the historical background and the conceptual basis of the report, highlighting the need to review separately city capac-

ity development practices and priorities on the one hand,and available international support on the other. Chapters 4 and 5present methodology and initial findings

of a survey of city practices (Chapter 4) and of international support programmes (Chapter 5). Chapter 6provides an overview of issues arising from the operational

experience of both city practitioners and representatives of the international development support community.

The expanding inventory of city practices and available international support is presented inAnnexes 2 and 3. For space reasons,survey returns have not been includ-

ed in their entirety as they have been in earlier versions of this report. Instead,brief descriptions of key programmes and organisations are reproduced as they were

received during the survey and any information that could be presented in tabular form has been processed into Excel tables for further analysis in Chapter 6. Excerpts

from two highly relevant publications prepared for WSSD are reproduced in Annexes 4 and 5 for ease of reference. Annex 6 lists some of the main contributors to

this report.

J ochen Eigen

Chief, Technical Advisory Branch,UN-HABITAT,

May 2003

...recent global agreements... emphasise the importance of local capacity developmentfor such fundamental development objectives as poverty alleviation as well as social,economic and environmental sustainability


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1.1 Laying the Foundations

Several factors are bringing the practice of city-to-city (C2C) cooperation into the limelight as never before:The increasing importance of develop-

ment policies based upon decentralisation and partnership, the recognition of cities as key actors in local and national development, and the deter-

mination of cities to address their responsibilities effectively. As a result, C2C has acquired a new and growing significance,now being recognised

widely as a vital element for the achievement of sustainable development.

Foundations for this were built up through a series of significant eventsduring 2001, notably those which were part of the Istanbul +5 reviewprocess, and which focused international attention upon the need to emphasise implementation of the Habitat Agendaand upon its ambitious com-

mitments for efforts at all levels to support and facilitate decentralisation and partnership.

The first edition of this report, the Interim Report of May 2001, was prepared in support of the Istanbul+5 events and it explored C2C in a system-

atic way, establishing an analytical framework for assessing C2C in terms of city practices and support options. It was based upon a wide-ranging

but incomplete inventory of C2C of activities as then documented; it was aimed at expanding and strengthening debate by informing all of the var-

ious interested parties (city leaders, local authority associations, national governments, international programmes and donors, representatives of UN

partner agencies,NGOs, researchers) about the state of the artof City-to-City Cooperation and about the potential for more effective collaboration.

The findings of the Interim Report were discussed at a workshop session on decentralised cooperation within the framework of the IULA/UTO Unit y

Congress in Rio de Janeiro(May 2001). The representatives of local authorities from both South and North endorsed the report and the broad thrust

of its findings. They welcomed its analytical framework as a means of advancing understanding of the various forms of C2C and of devising ways

of facilitating such cooperation. The need for enhanced dialogue with international institutions about improving the effectiveness of available sup-port was also emphasised.The workshop also highlighted the need to integrate institutional strengthening of local governments (and their associa-

tions) more fully in the various sectoral support programmes of international institutions and agencies; as well as the importance of associating cities

more closely in the formulation and implementation of the evolving urban agendas of these institutions.

Partnership for Local Capacity Development (PLCD)1.


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These concerns were also addressed at the Second World Assembly of

Cities and Local Authorities(WACLA II) convened on the occasion of the

IULA/UTO Unity Congress in Rio de J aneiro to formulate local govern-

ments collective input to Istanbul +5. The WACLA II Declaration reaf-

firmed local authorities wish to intensify their collaboration with UN-

HABITAT as their primary linkage with the United Nations system, and

committed them to promoting direct international cooperation between

cities and their associations. The Declaration called upon national gov-

ernments to recognise and support direct cooperation among cities, and

to develop partnership models to ensure complementarity with bi- and

multilateral cooperation programmes.

The concepts and ideas of the Interim Report were also introduced by

the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT in her opening address at the

Meeting of Mayors on C2C, which took place within the framework of

the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries

(Brussels, May 2001). That Meeting also underlined the value which

cities place upon partnerships and peer-to-peer exchanges as compo-

nents of sustainable capacity-building and institutional strengthening,

calling in particular for further development of under-utilised potential

of South-South links.

Concluding this first round of activities, WACLAC and UN-HABITAT joint-

ly organised a parallel event on city-to-city cooperation during the

Istanbul +5 UN General Assembly Special Session in New York on 7

J une 2001. This event reviewed the findings of the Interim Report and

invited debate on cities C2C needs and priorities in the light of the par-

ticipants own C2C experience. The meeting looked ahead to the next

stage in the practice of C2C as a factor of growing importance in devel-

opment policy, providing tangible benefits for local authorities and their

citizens through peer-to-peer exchange of operationally relevant infor-

mation and experience.The key stakeholders represented on this occa-sion endorsed the orientation and thrust of efforts to date, confirmed

their interest and commitment to continue exchange and cooperation

on C2C through a more structured process of dialogue among cities and

their associations, international support programmes and donors, and

urged UN-HABITAT to pursue its work in this area in partnership with the

international associations of cities and local authorities. The meeting

identified the need to develop and maintain an authoritative inventory of

the state of the art of C2C,within a structure which will allow continu-

ous updating and refinement and serve as a reference framework for

future policy development.

The final milestone event in 2001 was a round table meetingconvened

during the International Forum on Urban Poverty organised by UN-HABI-TAT in Marrakech on 16-19 October 2001. Participants at the round

table endorsed the value of C2C as a significant contributor to the prac-

tical measures that can be taken to tackle urban poverty,and urged UN-

HABITAT and WACLAC to give priority to developing this area of work.

The results of these discussions on C2C, as well as other issues within

the Istanbul +5 process, were reviewed by WACLACs Committee of

Presidents at a meeting in Barcelona on 24 January 2002. WACLAC

confirmed the strong wish of its members to take forward the process

of developing C2C and asked that the matter be placed on the agenda

of the UN Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) for its

meeting in Dubai on 17-19 February 2002.It also suggested that a spe-

cialist working group be convened to prepare concrete recommenda-

tions to be put to the Advisory Committee. On the basis of these rec-

ommendations,UNACLA confirmed its vision of C2C at the centre of a

new development cooperation paradigm which is decentralised, bot-

tom-up,demand-driven, and rooted in inclusive partnerships. UNACLA

also approved a series of specific next steps comprising:

further collaboration on developing the C2C inventory and the estab-

lishment of an ongoing information system and clearing-house

machinery;

recognition of the need to establish a structured dialogue between

local authorities, support programmes, and donors, with the aim of

reducing duplication, filling gaps, and exploiting synergies; and

commitment to involve all relevant partners (i.e. continued full

involvement of WACLACs member associations, as well as of support

programmes from UN bodies, IGOs, associations of local authorities,

national governments, NGOs, the private sector etc).

UNACLA further urged that this work on C2C be placed within the

process of preparing inputs to the World Summit on Sustainable

Development, linked to UN-HABITATs theme of Sustainable

Urbanisation and with a particular focus upon the building of local

implementation capacities which can link the sometimes disparate

efforts of the various actors involved. It saw theWorld Urban Forum, tobe convened by UN-HABITAT in Nairobi on 29 April to 3 May 2002, as

providing a major opportunity for moving ahead on building the neces-

sary C2C policy partnerships.Accordingly,a thematic session during the

Forum was devoted to C2C. It provided an opportunity for C2C to be

integrated into the development of UN-HABITATs inputs into the WSSD

preparatory process.

UNACLA also welcomed the steps being taken to put C2C at the heart

of a series of regional forums on local capacity-building and training

needs organised jointly by UNITAR and UN-HABITAT, in collaboration

with WACLAC and various UN agencies, during the period December

2001 to J uly 2002.

Finally, there was the announcement that World Habitat Day 2002 in

Brussels would have City-to-City Cooperation as its theme,giving exten-

sive publicity and impetus to the further development of C2C ideas.

UNACLAconfirmed its vision of C2C at the centre of a newdevelopment cooperation paradigm which is decentralised,bottom-up, demand-driven, and rooted in inclusive partnerships


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1.2 Partners Needs and Priorities

Thus, in the period since the publication of the Interim Report there has been a

steady build-up of support for C2C and a broadening of awareness of its sig-

nificance and of the potentially great role it can play in achieving sustainable

urbanisation. Indeed, in terms of the challenges of sustainable urbanisation,

identified by UN-HABITAT as the central focus of human settlements inputs at

the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the relevance of C2C is clear:

(a) The important contributions that cities and other human settlements can

make to social, economic and environmental sustainability are far from being

realized; (b) local actors, especially local authorities and their partners in civil

society often lack the capacity to effectively play their crucial role in sustainable

urbanization; and (c) external support to local capacity-building is often supply-

driven,disjointed and collectively inefficient.

Helping build linkages between local capacity-building needs and available

support is one of the core functions of C2C,and it is a particularly suitable role

for the United Nations to lead efforts to develop mechanisms and processes that

make external support more coherent,effective,and collectively efficient. In so

doing three groups of partners are of particular importance:

Cities

Support Programmes

Donors.

Each of these groups of C2C actors has its own needs and priorities, although

these are clearly inter-related and inter-dependent, as shown by the evidence

of this Report.

The first group comprises cities primarily local authorities together with

their national and international associations (spearheaded by WACLAC as their

collective voice vis--vis the United Nations). This group will increasingly

include local authorities partners in civil society such as the private sector,the

academic and professional communities, NGOs and CBOs, relevant depart-

ments of national and/or regional government,etc.The key needs for this group

are:

to identify and clarify local capacity-building needs and priorities to identify most appropriate support modalities and mechanisms

to identify and effectively link with available support programmes.

The second group of C2C actors comprises those who provide supportto cities

in a variety of ways, primarily (a) international support programmes (of the var-

ious bi-lateral or multi-lateral development cooperation organisations) and (b)

regional and international associations of local authorities (which have long had

a major role in facilitating C2C). For these support agencies, key objectives are:

to better understand and evaluate cities needs

to increase their visibility to both cities and donors

to identify appropriate niches in the overall C2C system

to identify overlaps,gaps, and potential complementarities

to increase the individual as well as collective efficiency of their supportactivities.

The third group comprises those who provide strategic fundingto both the local

authorities and the supporting organisations donors, especially in bilateral and

multilateral funding institutions, foundations, the international private sector,

etc. For these funding providers, their key objectives in relation to C2C are:

to identify strategic investment opportunities

to better fit their own agendas and priorities to those of the cities and sup-

port programmes

to gain greater efficiency in the use of their resources.

The C2C practices outlined and analysed in this Report show how the different

needs of these three groups can fit together to the benefit of all within thegeneral C2C framework described.Thus not only is there strongly demonstrat-

ed international agreement on the importance of pressing ahead with C2C,

there is also a convergence of interest based on the benefits to be gained from

systematic joint action.To capitalise on this emerging consensus,establishment

of a Partnership for Local Capacity Development is proposed.

1.3 Emerging Consensus on the Way Forward

The findings of this Report,and the results of the international discussions sum-

marised above, show the need - and demand - for an effective framework for

continuing and further developing C2C ideas, practices, and dialogue. This

framework will comprise the three groups of key actors identified above,

brought together into a Partnership for Local Capacity Development(PLCD) and

mobilised initially by UN-HABITAT and WACLAC. The focus of this partnership

will be on the issues arising from experience as high-lighted in this Report.

On this basis, and factoring in key considerations such as the role of the United

Nations and the global consensus emerging from the WSSD process, the appro-

priate activities would include the following three components:

Information Service (interactive web-site with database)

Periodic Analytical Report

Periodic Policy Dialogue

There would also be a secretariat function to support these components.

The proposed Information Service aims to provide a thorough but highly

focused overview of C2C,within an analytical structure which will facilitate con-

tinuous updating and refinement of the information.It would also be a reference

framework for the relevant partners, serving a key clearing-housefunction to

bring them together with each other and with the progressively developed C2C

database; its main component would therefore be a dedicated interactive C2C

website.

The initial information base for this website would be the data gathered about

C2C practices and organisations gathered during the preparation of this Report

and its predecessor, especially the survey-based inventories of international

support programmes and international associations. This would be progressive-

ly supplemented by information contributed by cities and organisations about

existing C2C policies and practices, about city needs and priorities, and about

facilities offered through support programmes. Web linkages would be made to

other relevant databases (such as UN-HABITATs Best Practices site) thus mak-

ing information accessible without duplicating it.The main focus of the website

would be to systematically gather experiences and practices that have replica-tion potential and, by organising them in a systematic framework, make them

readily available to those who can best use them.In this way the website could

build up a valuable clearing-house function focused specifically on bringing

together cities, support programmes and donors within a framework which

helps match demands from cities, for example, with the appropriate expertise

or mechanisms of support.

There would also be Periodic Analytical Reports, the second of which is this

present document and the first of which was the report published in May 2001.

Future reports would analyse progress being made in C2C, with a particular

emphasis on examining important new or arising issues for instance,

analysing strategic bottlenecks which need to be addressed.Additional reports

could be prepared on other topics, depending upon what is identified by theusers as being most critical. These reports would both draw from and add to the

information base which underlies the website.

The progressively developing information system, and particularly the periodic

analytical reports, would provide the basis for a Periodic Policy Dialogue.

...it is a particularly suitable role for theUnited Nations to lead efforts to developmechanisms and processes that makeexternal support more coherent, effective,

and collectively efficient


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Focused on strategic issues arising from C2C experience, for instance the poli-

cy dialogue,events would bring together relevant partners of the PLCD to review

and explore these issues, leading to concrete recommendations which can be

reported back to the membership and, if appropriate, also reported through

other channels, such as the UNACLA.The working procedures of the policy dia-

logues would have to be well designed to ensure a clear focus on outputs, as

well as carefully organised,to ensure balanced participation from cities,support

programmes, and donors.Policy dialogues might be organised to coincide with

larger international events (such as future sessions of the World Urban Forum,

general congresses of associations, etc).

There would need to be a modestSecretariat function to support these activi-

ties - to maintain the web-site, arrange for analytical reports, and organise pol-

icy dialogue.This secretariat could be provided by one of the PLCD members,

or perhaps be set up through a consortium of PLCD sponsors.

Through these various activities, the Partnership could address a variety of dif-

ferent issues and topics, such as:

What are the local authorities n eeds and priorities? Answers could address

the contribution of C2C on improving aspects of urban management, or

improving the quality of individual local government services, as well as

examining the geographical scope of links, the cooperation structures being

employed,and the range of partners actively involved (see Chapter 4).

How can a city use documented lessons of experience to optimise C2Carrangements for its specific needs and circumstances? The aim would be

to help cities design successful combinations of thematic focus, geographic

orientation, linking modality,etc., for example to gain a better understanding

of how to associate the private sector, NGOs,professional associations, and

the research community in developing best practice in C2C and spreading its

benefits.

What type of support is most effective for what type of C2C practice?

Pursuing this question could help cities to make better and more informed

choices from available options for facilitating structures, funding and

resources, and support modalities (see chapter 5).

What type of C2C support is best adapted to which type of urban develop-

ment support agenda? Answers to this question could assist support organ-

isations in better tailoring their C2C support to their specific areas of man-date and thematic specialisation. It could also help national governments in

the preparation of strategies for effectively integrating C2C schemes with

national development programmes.

What complementarities and synergies among the activities of support

organisations can be exploited, what crit ical gaps could be f i l led, what

duplications or even conflicts could be avoided? This is a critical area of

investigation, and results here could do much to improve the coherence,

effectiveness and collective efficiency of international support activities. This

could, for example, result in better coordination of C2C support schemes,

extension of their geographical spread, and improvement of their accessi-

bility to cities and their associations. It also could result in the extension of

existing international urban capacity-building programmes to incorporate

C2C opportunities.

Where would additional funding have the most beneficial impact in relation

to a donors specific support agenda? Answers to this question would help

donors to strategically target their investment, while also promoting trans-

parency and donor confidence,as well as providing a framework for attract-

ing funding to C2C.

How is the potential of working w ith the private sector and civil society part-

ners best realised in given sets of circumstances?There is relatively little

experience or understanding of this issue,and focused examination through

the PLCD could help to substantiate the effectiveness of multi-actor partner-

ships and perhaps develop experience-based guidelines to assist C2C efforts

more broadly.

How should the successes and failures of C2C practices and support be

measured and monitored?This is a difficult topic, but one of central impor-

tance to cities, support organizations, and donors. Accumulation of experi-

ence and development of ideas could lead to the preparation of analytical

tools for monitoring and evaluation of C2C practices and their contribution tothe achievement of local, national and global development goals.

All consultations on C2C over the last 18 months,and all the input to this report

provided by local government associations and international support pro-

grammes, suggest that the time is ripe to create this new Partnership for Local

Capacity Development.The establishment of the PLCD together with the mech-

anisms to support its concrete activities, would significantly raise the visibility

of C2C as an important component of development policy and at the same time

helpmainstreamC2C in the overall sustainable development context. A rela-

tively modest investment in the potential of new information technologies, com-

bined with the creative use of existing international frameworks, could provide

a realistic way of building upon the practical advantages of C2C outlined in this

Report and produce a constructive response to the policy issues identified.Thepublic launch of the Partnership for Local Capacity Development at the World

Summit on Sustainable Development, for example, clearly asserted the deter-

mination of governments and civil society at the local level, and of their institu-

tional partners in the UN system, to combine their local capacity-building efforts

in common with the coalition for sustainable urbanisation.



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Background and Context of City-to-City Cooperation2.

8

2.1 The Idea of City-to- CityCooperation (C2C)

During the last two decades of the twentieth century, cities became

active participants in international relations as never before or at least

since the Middle Ages, when Europes city states had more power than

most of the national governments. Three reasons can be attributed this.

Firstly, urbanisation is a growing trend in all developing countries,

matching in some respects the rapid development of urban areas which

characterised the first industrial revolution in the North. Secondly,glob-

alisation has led to a clearer recognition of the determining position of

cities in a world which is both interdependent and committed to shar-

ing finite quantities of natural resources. And thirdly, city governments

have taken initiatives to assert their place in the world and to develop

international links which will contribute to their future economic and

social well-being.

Cities and local authorities have been developing their international

cooperation for many decades. The first international association of

local authorities was set up in 1913,principally for the purpose of gen-

eral information exchange and mutual support, and a small number of

direct city-to-city links were established. But it was in the aftermath of

the Second World War that direct links between local authorities of two

or more countries really began to spread. Most of the early initiatives

were among the developed countries of the North, but it was not long

before the first links with developing countries began to be formed.

With the marked trends towards democratisation and decentralisation

of the 1980s and 1990s, the scope for concrete cooperation betweenlocal authorities on practical issues of mutual interest expanded con-

siderably. Moreover, cities were increasingly responding to their role in

combating the root causes of poverty and fostering sustainable eco-

nomic and social development, as the political entities closest to the

needs of their communities. These advances at the local level coincid-

ed with the growing recognition in the international community that the

process of urbanisation, particularly with the movement of population

towards the cities of the developing countries, raised major issues of

governance - as well as of economic, social and environmental policy

which called for new approaches to capacity-building at the local level.

Before taking this discussion further, it is important to state that the

terms cities and city-to-city cooperation will be used in this reportwithout any preconceptions about the size or historical importance of

the settlements concerned. Thus, the word city will be used in the

American English sense of an urban settlement or cluster of settlements

of any size, with its own elected or appointed local government body,

which may go under a whole range of administrative entities such asmunicipality, township, town, borough, district, metropolitan

area and so on in all possible language variants. The term cities is

also frequently used loosely in international contexts to refer to other

types of local authorities such as counties, provinces, departments

etc, which exist at an intermediate level between the municipality and

the state and may contain a number of larger or smaller urban settle-

ments within their boundaries.

City-to-City Cooperation - neatly if inelegantly shortened to C2C -

thus becomes an umbrella term to cover all possible forms of relation-

ship between local authorities at any level in two or more countries

which are collaborating on matters of mutual interest, whether with or

without external support. There is also a highly relevant dimension ofcooperation between national associations of cities and local authorities

for capacity-building purposes, which in turn facilitates cooperation

between cities within a single country. Of course, such national-level

cooperation takes many forms beyond that of development-oriented

capacity-building which is the focus of this report. The term city-to-city

cooperation is sometimes used synonymously with the term decen-

tralised cooperation, although the latter concept (first embodied in the

European Unions Lom Convention in 1990) embraces a wider range of

actions for development carried out by non-state actors and locally-

based institutions and voluntary associations of all kinds.Decentralised

cooperation policies are based upon the principle of partnership and

joint working between public authorities, non-governmental organisa-

tions and community-based organisations, cooperatives, the privatesector, and the informal sector, a principle which is increasingly being

incorporated in C2C approaches.

Shifting decision-making power closer to poorcommunities by devolving authority to localgovernment can help promote poverty reduction- as long as the new responsibilities are accom-panied by resources and capacity building. Butthat is only half the story.The other half is help-ing poor communities organize themselves toadvance their interests. A major source ofpoverty is people's powerlessness - not just

their distance from government.() If povertyreduction programmes are to succeed, localgovernment must be strengthened - and heldaccountable both to the central government forthe funds allocated to it and to its constituents

for how it uses them.Central government has tocontinue its involvement, monitoring how localgovernment exercises its new authority and dis-burses funds - and helping prevent the captureof power by local elites. In the long run buildingstronger and more accountable local govern-ment is the only way to make decentralisationpro-poor. But it requires time, resources andcapacity-building. For the poor the lasting ben-

efits will outweigh the immediate costs. Thecurrent fad, however, is to opt for quick-dis-bursing mechanisms, even though they areunlikely to be sustainable.Source: UNDP Human Poverty Report 2000

...cities were increasingly responding totheir role in combating the root causesof poverty and fostering sustainableeconomic and social development, asthe political entities closest to the needsof their communities


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2.2 City-to-City Cooperation andDevelopment Cooperation

The inherent weaknesses of top-down development cooperation pro-

grammes have become increasingly apparent in recent years. There

has been a notable, though still incomplete,shift in development coop-eration on urban issues away from the provision of ready-made solu-

tions and textbook approaches through consultants and through out-

reach from the established western centres of expertise. Decentralised

cooperation,whereby cities (and indeed other institutions) work togeth-

er on defining their problems and devising appropriate solutions on the

basis of shared experience among peer groups is increasingly recog-

nised as a powerful means of advancing collective know-how and

improving governance at the local level. However, there are signs of a

continuing confusion or mismatch between the facilities and services

being provided through the international community,and the needs and

demands of the cities themselves. Thus a further move is indicated

away from a supply-driven approach towards one based upon more

effective understanding of demand and of the potential of the various

agencies and intermediaries to meet such demand.

C2C may take place between cities in neighbouring countries or

between cities at opposite ends of the globe. Town twinning provided

the framework for the earliest examples of C2C, and official municipal

twinning and partnership links are continuing to develop as the base for

a wide range of very productive cooperation activities. But in recent

years the practice and scope of C2C has widened considerably on the

initiative of city leaders, with the encouragement and assistance of the

international associations and networks of local authorities and with

support from a growing number of national and international agencies.

Strengthening the capacity of cities to deal with their own problems, in

close touch with their citizens and all relevant stakeholders, is now an

acknowledged international policy goal. Partnerships between cities

are gaining recognition as a cost-effective and sustainable component

in achieving that goal. Cities are increasingly working together on top-

ics affecting their responsibilities, enabling their personnel to exchange

experience on a peer group basis and transferring and adapting suc-

cessful practices to new contexts. Cities are also becoming increas-

ingly involved as direct participants in international programmes

addressing the problems of urbanisation and sustainable development.

There has thus been a notable convergence between the growth of C2C

practices initiated by cities and the growing focus upon urban issues

among the international institutions.The challenges of urbanisation andthe roles of the various civil society stakeholders as partners in policy

formation at local, national, regional and global levels were strongly

underlined during the series of major United Nations conferences in the

1990s. This process started at the Rio Earth Summit 1992, and the

Istanbul City Summit 1996 went much further in recognising that cities

and local authorities, as the level of governance closest to the people,

are essential partners of national governments and the international

institutions in the processes of translating international agreements on

economic, social and environmental issues into effective action on the

ground. Agenda 21 adopted in Rio, recognised that these global prob-

lems have their roots in local actions and that cities are thus key actors

in the quest for sustainable development. The Habitat Agendaadopted

in Istanbul underlined the role of cities in socio-economic developmentat local and national levels, and set out an extensive Global Plan of

Action, drawn up in an evolving partnership with representatives of local

authorities, for addressing the challenges of achieving sustainable

human settlements development in an urbanising world.

In response to the trends and political developments outlined above,

cities and local authorities have also taken significant initiatives of their

own to define and project their role as partners in the international pol-

icy processes addressing urban issues. With the aim of supplanting the

traditional top-down approaches which had too often left unworkable

solutions behind them, cities and their associations have stated their

wish to participate in drawing up the ground rules for future interna-

tional programmes and to engage in sustained dialogue with the inter-

national community about development priorities and approaches. For

this reason they sought, and were readily admitted to, active involve-

ment throughout the HABITAT II Istanbul City Summit process. Through

joint action by all the major international associations of cities,they con-

vened the first World Assembly of Cities and Local Authorities on the eve

of the Summit to draw up and project their collective policy input to the

global debate.

As a direct follow-up to the City Summit a series of steps was taken to

develop the dialogue between the UN and local government on the

implementation of the Habitat Agenda. Local authorities representa-

tives were enabled to participate in the proceedings of the Commission

on Human Settlements and the Preparatory Committee for the Istanbul

+ 5 Special Session of the General Assembly (New York, J une 2001), in

which they played an active part.In accordance with a Memorandum of

Understanding drawn up between UN-HABITAT and WACLAC in 1997,

joint work was initiated in a number of areas.

In response to the growing calls for local authorities to be involved on a

more institutional basis in policy development,the Executive Director of

UN-HABITAT was mandated by the UN Commission on Human

Settlements to set up an Advisory Committee of Local Authorities to

associate the cities and their associations still more closely with the

development of UN-HABITATs policies and programmes. This advisorycommittee met for the first time in January 2000 and was actively

involved in a number of the issues on the agenda of the 18th session of

the Commission on Human Settlements in February 2001. At subse-

quent meetings the working partnership between the local authorities

and the UN-HABITAT has been progressively elaborated across a num-

ber of urban capacity-building areas of mutual interest, including

notably C2C.

Given these developments, both at the city level and at the internation-

al policy level, it seems timely to carry out a review of the current state

of practice of C2C in all its diverse forms, to identify the lessons learned

so far, to define the most effective means of extending and improving

its implementation, and to establish partnership machinery for takingthis forward.This second Interim Report aims to provide a sound foun-

dation of information, experience and lessons learned to assist that

process.The scope and approach of the report are explained more fully

in the next Chapter.

Strengthening the capacity of cities to dealwith their own problems...is now an

acknowledged international policy goal.Partnerships between cities are gainingrecognition as a cost-effective andsustainable component in achieving that goal.


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The purpose and scope of the initiative3.

10

3.1 Advancing Understanding of C2C andStrengthening C2C Practice

The fundamental purpose of this initiative is to provide a coherent

framework for analysing the by now very wide range of forms in which

cities (in the widest sense, as above) cooperate with one another, along

with the support mechanisms which have been called into being to

facilitate and expand this cooperation. This should then provide a basis

for assessing the opportunities and the pitfalls which exist in this field,

the complementary factors and also the gaps in current practices, and

the policy issues that arise in relation to the further development of C2C.

The aim will be to present the cities current practices and the support

options available to them in a meaningful and comparable fashion, as

the basis for a continuing process of collective learning which will be

progressively further developed. It is hoped thereby to achieve an

enhanced common understanding among all interested parties of thecurrent state of C2C concepts and principles, as a basis for informed

policy-making which takes full account of the cities perspective.

The issues which the initiative addresses were at the heart of the agen-

da for the International Union of Local Authorities / United Towns

Organisation Unity Congress held in Rio de Janeiro on 3-6 May 2001

under the theme The Community Agenda, and the practice of C2C was

specifically addressed at a workshop devoted to decentralised cooper-

ation. The demands and concerns formulated by local government

worldwide on the occasion of the second World Assembly of Cities and

Local Authorities as part of the Rio congress programme in turn provid-

ed the basis for the cities collective input to the Istanbul + 5 General

Assembly Special Session in New York on 6-8 J une 2001, at which thefirst published version of this report was provided for reference.

Account is also taken of the results of the Meeting of Mayors on City-

to-City Cooperation convened by UNCTAD in collaboration with UNDP-

WACAP (World Alliance of Cities against Poverty) and UN-HABITAT in

Brussels on 15-16 May 2001 within the framework of the Third United

Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries.

These issues featured prominently in the dialogue between the nation-

al governments and representatives of local authorities held at the

Special Session,and were discussed in detail at a parallel event on this

occasion organised in collaboration with the United Nations Advisory

Committee of Local Authorities. At this Special Session concrete meas-

ures for stepping up the implementation of the Habitat Agenda in allcontinents were mapped out by international agreement in the form of

the Declaration on Cities and other Human Settlements in the New

Millennium. This means that the institutional base for any future devel-

opment of support or coordination measures through the United Nations

system for C2C has taken significant shape during the last year.

It is hoped that the new report and the debate it engenders will serve a

broader purpose for the cities themselves and for the international com-

munity. They should provide a point of reference and comparison,both

for cities which are already engaged in C2C and for others interested in

entering this area of activity for the first time.The intention is to furnish

a framework for such users to assess their needs against the back-

ground of others documented experience, and help them identify and

compare possible support mechanisms to which they could turn. And

finally, for the United Nations Agencies and the other international and

national organisations involved in providing support to C2C pro-

grammes, the report should offer a frame of reference enabling them to

identify complementary factors, overlaps or gaps in provision, and to

focus upon new policy development or organisational needs. This inturn should help donors to target their funding in this area more strate-

gically.

3.2 The Approach and Structure of theReport

As already indicated, there is a very wide range of activities which fall

under the heading of city-to-city cooperation (or decentralised cooper-

ation). All share a commitment to working directly between and

among cities, on the fundamental premise that cities have a great deal

to learn from and teach to each other and that cities are the best judges

of their own needs and priorities. City-to-city activities differ, however,in many important ways, reflecting the tremendous diversity of inter-

ests, purposes, institutions, resources, and situations.

One purpose of this initiative is to provide the basis for a systematic

review of C2C practices and activities, to illustrate the great range and

diversity of different ways in which cities work with one another. But a

simple listing, however extensive, would not significantly extend our

understanding of city-to-city cooperation in its many and various forms.

It is therefore a fundamental purpose of the initiative to take a further

step and establish an analytical framework which will allow the full

range of C2C practices and support systems to be charted in a more

meaningful and comparable way. This framework provides a rationale

for organising and sharing information, in a manner which facilitates aconstructive exchange of experience and enhances mutual learning

among cities, their groupings and associations, and their partners.

The starting point of this analytical framework is a basic distinction

between the practices of C2C, on the one hand, and C2C support activ-

itieson the other. For clarity of understanding,we should look first and

separately at the actual city practices in C2C - the things which cities

do in cooperation with one another. This, after all, is the core of our con-

cern: To comprehend the full richness and diversity of activities which

cities undertake in direct cooperation with other cities. We can then

look separately at the various associations, programmes, and institu-

tions which support cities in undertaking their C2C activities. Having

looked at C2C practices and needs, on the one hand, and at C2C sup-port activities and capabilities, on the other hand,it then becomes pos-

sible to systematically compare the two, thus identifying gaps, unmet

needs,overlaps, mis-matches, complementarities,and potential oppor-

tunities. In other words, a systematic approach makes it possible to

look system-wide at how best to strengthen and facilitate city-to-city

cooperation as a contributor to meeting development needs and how to

make external support more effective.

Looking at City Practices in C2C. Actual city practices in C2C differ in

many ways, and the task of an analytical framework is to establish sen-

sible categories which will help clarify those differences. As shown in

the left-hand column of Table 3.2, five categories (or sets of character-

istics) are proposed:

Two categories related to city capacity-building priorities:

1. Aspects of urban management

2. Performance in individual local government functions


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Partnerships for Local Capacity Development Three categories related to C2C practices:

3. Geographical scope

4. Cooperation structures

5. Active participants

Any particular example of C2C practice can then be looked at in terms

of the descriptions indicated under each main set of characteristics. For

instance, a general city twinning activity might be characterised as

being: North-South (geographical scope), one-on-one (cooperation

structure),between local authorities (active participants),having no par-

ticular focus in terms of urban management functions, but having a spe-cific social/cultural emphasis (functional aspect).Any particular example

of C2C practice may be described in relation to all or only some of the

categories shown, and it could also be associated with one or more of

the detailed descriptions within a particular category. The framework is

thus not designed to be limiting or restrictive, but instead intended to

highlight the variety and detail of each C2C activity by characterising it

in ways which facilitate systematic comparison.

Looking at Support for C2C. Similarly, support for C2C includes a wide

range of different activities, approaches, programmes, and organisa-

tions, and the analytical framework can help these to be seen more

clearly. Four main categories (or sets of characteristics) for comparing

support options for C2C are proposed, as seen in the right-hand columnin Table 3.2:

One category for the type of external support:

1. C2C support modalities

Three categories related to the organisation of the external support:

2. Geographical focus

3. Funding and resources

4. Facilitating institutions

Each particular example of support for C2C can then be described in

respect to the various characteristics listed under each main category

heading. For illustration, the Urban Environment Forum (UEF) supported

by UN-HABITAT might be described as follows: Under modality of sup-

port, the UEF focuses on networking support and exchange of informa-

tion and technical knowledge; in relation to geographical focus, the UEFis global,not restricted to any particular region or countries; in terms of

funding and resources, the UEF relies primarily on the participating

cities own budgets and the use of development programme or project

budgets; and finally,in terms of facilitating institutions, the UEF involves

both individual city authorities and bilateral and multilateral aid organi-

sations.

When C2C practices and support to C2C are analysed in this way, in

terms of well-defined sets of characteristics, there are several important

benefits. First, it becomes possible to see more clearly the defining

characteristics of individual practices (or support activities) - information

which is typically lost when only generalised (and non-systematic)

descriptions are given. Second, being based on a common set of

descriptive categories, the information generated is more readily com-

parable across otherwise highly divergent cases. Third, and following

from the first two, this approach demonstrates the richness and wide

range of different C2C practices which might otherwise appear quite

similar.

Fourth, and perhaps most important, providing this carefully-structured

disaggregation of information helps identify the complementary, over-

laps and gaps which exist between C2C practices and support for C2C -

information which is important both for cities and for support organisa-

tions. Cities benefit from knowing more about the range of different C2C

activities and approaches utilised in other cities; and they also benefit

from seeing what kinds of support are potentially available. Support

programmes benefit from knowing more clearly what cities actually

need and want to have in the way of C2C activities and support, and

from seeing as well what other organisations or programmes are doing

in relation to C2C support. Development agencies and donors benefit

from being able to see more clearly how the needs of cities can best fit

with their own capabilities and mandate, and to discern what are the

best opportunities for partnership - the scope for complementary action

and for reinforcing other development-related interventions.

By following this approach, the report will be able to display the vast

range of city-to-city cooperation options while also illustrating the vari-

ety of complementary international support available from the UN,asso-

ciations of cities and local authorities, NGOs, bilateral and multilateral

aid agencies, and others. Moreover, doing this in a systematic way willprovide the basis for identifying important patterns of practice and sup-

port - and for drawing useful insights and lessons of experience.

The analytical framework used here is not the only one possible, nor is

it definitive. It is instead a work in progress which shows the advan-

tages of a systematic approach but which can, and should, be further

modified and refined as its use progresses. For instance,different main

categories might be proposed,and more or different descriptions might

be listed under each main category. These,however, will essentially be

secondary adjustments to the basic approach of using a systematic ana-

lytical framework, an approach which remains fundamental to the joint

UN-HABITAT/WACLAC effort to maximise the potential of C2C. In

Chapter 4, City Practices in C2C are presented and described in accor-

dance with the categories and characteristics of the analytical frame-

work (Table 3.2). In Chapter 4, Support for C2C is presented and

described in a similar way.

1. City Priorities & Practices in C2C

1.1 City Capacity-Building Priorities:

1.1.1 Aspects of Urban Management: information & technical expertise policy development & decision-

making

policy implementation institutional strengthening managing change & using external

support

1.1.2 Local Government Functions: municipal finance environment urban infrastructure & services housing / shelter gender / poverty employment / economic

development security / disaster management health / education social / cultural

1.2 City C2C Practices:1.2.1 Geographical Scope: North-South South-South North-North West-East Global

1.2.2 Cooperation Structures: One-on-One Groups

1.2.3 Active Participants: local authorities NGOs and CBOs private sector academic / research

national associations of localauthorities

2. External Support for C2C

2.1 Type of External Support

2.1.1 Principal Modality of Support direct C2C / other decentralised

cooperation network support

demonstration-replication & guidelines documentation & dissemination of

best practices provision & exchanges of specialised

expertise training and human resource

development strategic capital investment

2.2 Organisation of External Support

2.2.1 Geographical Focus: multi-regional / Global Africa Asia Latin America & Caribbean Middle East & North Africa

Central & Eastern Europe / formerUSSR

2.2.2 Funding and Resources: programmes own budget local partner budgets development project / programme

funds other grants and loans self-funding activities foundations, trust funds

2.2.3 Facilitating Institutions: individual local/regional authorities associations of local authorities national governments bilateral/multilateral aid organisations professional associations

national/international NGOs private sector organisations

Table 3.2: C2C Analytical Framework


14/5912

4.2 Cities Capacity-Building Priorities

Improving Aspects of Urban ManagementMany C2C activities, especially those which have evolved with a devel-

opment initiative, are focused on particular aspects of the urban man-

agement process. This is a logical response to the difficulties faced by

cities, particularly but not only in lower income countries, in addressing

the increasingly severe urban development problems they face. There

has also been a growing awareness that limited management capabil-

ities, not lack of technology or capital, is generally the key constraint to

achieving sustainable urban development, and that therefore changes

in approach, policy and governance are required. This has focused

attention on the process of managing urban development and growth.

In this context, cities have become much more interested in learning

from one another, in other cities have overcome these constraints and

have worked out better structures and methodologies for urban man-agement.

The art and science of urban management comprise a complex web of

interacting components. Among these, the following five core areas

have been identified by a number of global city networks concerned

with sharing information and experience in upgrading their urban devel-

opment planning and management processes:

information and technical expertise

policy development and decision-making

policy implementation

institutional strengthening

managing change and using external support.

Access to and effective utilisation of information and technical expert-

ise, applied to a wide range of thematic tasks, is a key aspect of mod-

ern urban management. This is an area of activity, moreover, for which

direct city-to-city cooperation is well suited.The provision of technical

expertise to a partner city by temporarily seconding specialist staff has

been a feature of many North-South C2C projects, for example. There

is also a growing trend toward direct exchange of staff among cities, as

a device for mutual learning by sharing information and experience

between the professional staff of both partner cities (peer-to-peer);

this is seen also in some South-South C2C activities.

City Priorities and Practices in City-to-City Cooperation4.

C2C Context: Under the Municipal PartnershipProgram supported by the Federation of CanadianMunicipalities and following a successful pilot phase,San Fernando and Langley have agreed upon a two-year programme of capacity-building in the areas ofland use planning and disaster management.Economic and population growth have placed severestrains upon the city's medium-term strategic devel-opment plan, creating urgent needs to deal withunregulated development and urban sprawl and toenforce the observance of planning regulations.Results/Outcomes: While many of the plannedsteps in the programme have still to be completed,

the partners are confident that at the end of the twoyears San Fernando will have a Comprehensive LocalUrban Plan which can be effectively implemented incollaboration with both the local barangays and theprovincial government.San Fernando has allocated aproportion of its own budget funds to cover its

involvement in the programme.The work will includeextensive staff training, restructuring and develop-ment, the production of tools and systems to improveplanning processes, and the introduction of bench-marking for future monitoring of performance.Issues Arising: Care will need to be taken to ensurecompliance with the national legislation governingplanning and to secure central government approvalof the Comprehensive Local Urban Plan. Enforcementof land use regulations will be a continuing chal-lenge,in which win-win solutions for all parties willneed to be demonstrated. The Emergency ResponsePlan and Operations Manual to be developed as the

second element of the partnership programme willneed to be dovetailed with the Plan and the neces-sary central government approvals obtained on thisbasis.Source: San Fernando / Langley PartnershipAgreement, 2002

4.2.1 San Fernando, Philippines, strengthens its capacity to manage land use development and em ergency preparedness throughpartnership with Langley, Canada

4.1 Framework for Comparing City Prioritiesand Practices

The last chapter has outlined the developments leading to the present

wide range of activities involved in C2C practices, but has said little of

the content of the activities involved.That is the purpose of the present

chapter. No report on this subject can aspire to present a fully compre-

hensive picture of what is going on, because there is no central data-

base, let alone coordination, of activities. The purpose of the analytical

framework outlined above is, however, to enable C2C priorities and

practices of action to be classified within the broad categories listed in

the left-hand column above. The following sections outline the range of

priorities and practices within each category and provide some illustra-

tive examples of the wide scope of initiatives underway.

It may be that, as this analysis of the state of the art of C2C is furtherdeveloped,some additional categories may need to be incorporated in

the reporting structure to do justice to the whole spread of C2C prac-

tices. However, the authors hope is that this framework will provide a

workable structure for analysing and comparing the key features of C2C

practices. As more and more evidence of the benefits, but also the pit-

falls, of C2C is assembled,those actively involved in C2C initiatives are

warmly invited to provide further inputs of material and illustrative

cases that will find their appropriate places within the overall structure

that we have traced.

The purpose of the illustrative boxes contained in this part of the report

is to provide a representative array of concrete examples of the types of

practice being described in the main text,referenced to the specific cat-egory of practice under discussion and indicating the lessons learned

and any policy issues arising. Space permitting, many other equally

representative examples could have been included. Chapter 5 similar-

ly illustrates the characteristics of the various forms of external support

provided to C2C initiatives. Chapters 6 and 1 then draw some tentative

conclusions, and in particular discuss how the international community

can help provide the most favourable environment for developing C2C

and how the policy issues arising for local authorities and their associ-

ations, for support agencies, and for national and international donors,

should be taken forward.


15/5913


4.2.3 Peer- to-peer exchanges give Poznan, Poland, new capacity

C2C Context: Rapid development of open land com-bined with its low elevation result in Bangkok suffer-ing from frequent flooding. Officials of the BangkokMetropolitan Administration learned that innovativeflood control methods had been developed by Yoko-hama in the face of similar problems and soughttheir advice.Results/Outcomes: Experts from the Sewage WorksBureau of Yokohama visited Bangkok to work with localofficials on implementation of the concept of retentionponds for rainwater as now widely used in J apan.Fol-lowing further joint work, the Bangkok engineers are

now so confident of the validity of the approach thatthey are developing an application handbook and com-puter program with Chulalongkorn University to assistin countrywide application of the technique.Issues Arising: A relatively simple technique alreadywidely used in J apan but unknown in Thailand wastransferred effectively through direct peer-to-peerexchanges. Widespread replication of the techniqueacquired through a C2C initiative is now being facili-tated.Source: Citynet Guidelines for Transferring EffectivePractices, 1998

4.2.2 Bangkok, Thailand, transfers techniques from Yokohama, Japansflood control system

In addition, there are numerous international programmes

which have sought to increase the flow of technical information

to cities; some of these (such as the UK Know-How Funds Local

Authority Technical Links Scheme for Central and Eastern

Europe) aim to deliver technical expertise specifically on a city-

to-city basis. Most, however, function primarily on the basis of

assistance from the programme to the city, drawing in theprocess upon the programmes experience with other cities fac-

ing similar issues (indirect C2C). In a few cases this has stim-

ulated the formation of C2C networks, through which technical

information is spread directly from city to city.

The process of policy development and decision-making - iden-

tifying and assessing options,analysing benefits and costs, bal-

ancing resource requirements - is an aspect of modern urban

management which is quite different from traditional forms of

city administration. It involves not only technical processes of

analysis and assessment, but also participatory activities to

ensure the support of, and information from,a full range of local

stakeholders.

Within the framework of a wide variety of international pro-

grammes (such as the Sustainable Cities Programme, the Urban

Management Programme, Localising Agenda 21, the Cities

Alliance, etc.) new approaches are being worked out through

direct action in a variety of cities. So far, most of these activi-

ties have been implemented through programme-to-city rela-

tionships, but there is considerable scope for direct city-to-city

forms of cooperation; indeed, this has already begun to devel-

op on an ad hoc basis, as in the cooperation on sustainable

urban development between Nakuru and Leuven.

Policy implementation is perhaps the most challenging aspectof managing cities today, and to be successful it requires a

wider range of more complex activities than has traditionally

been designed into local government systems. This involves

use of the full range of instruments including regulatory

approaches, strategic investments, economic incentive mecha-

nisms, public information strategies etc. It also involves the

development of action plans, the synthesis of different imple-

mentation techniques and capabilities, the mobilisation of

resources, and the strengthening of operational management.

There has been relatively little work specifically focused on this

aspect of the urban management function, other than through

the international programmes which deal with the process

overall (such as the Sustainable Cities Programme). However,

some C2C partnerships which focus on particular sectors have

often had strong elements of focus on implementation and

related operational aspects.

C2C Context: Having developed new links with part-ners in the West in the context of the democratisationprocess, Polish cities were keen to learn the tech-niques necessary to upgrade their services to meetrising public expectations. The UK GovernmentsKnow-How Fund Local Authority Technical LinksScheme offered a mechanism to facilitate suchtransfers.Results/Outcomes: As existing twinning partners,Nottinghamshire County Council and the City ofPoznan were among the first applicants to thisexperimental scheme of support for short-termexchange projects. The introduction of new wastemanagement methods and recycling techniques, therestructuring of the citys transport service, thedevelopment of the airport for tourist traffic, the

training of dairy and meat specialists, and the devel-

opment of a business school were among the proj-ects undertaken.Issues Arising: The Technical Links Scheme waslaunched in 1992 and ended in 2001. After an initialperiod it was operated by the Local GovernmentInternational Bureau on a delegated basis. 153 proj-ects were carried out, all submitted jointly by a UKlocal authority and a partner city in one of the targetcountries. Assessments of the effectiveness of theprojects were mostly favourable, but it was notthought appropriate to make a scheme of this kindpermanent as it cuts across established develop-ment cooperation approaches. Where the partnercities did not have an enduring link the sustainabili-ty of the projects was less readily assured.Source: Local Government International Bureau,

Nottinghamshire County Council, 2001

4.2.4 Direct city-to-city partnership in formulating sustainability strategydevelops out of t he international Localising Agenda 21 initiative (Nakuru,Kenya and Leuven, Belgium)

C2C Context:Through the Localising Agenda 21 pro-gramme of UN-HABITAT technical expertise fromLeuven participated in the early stages of work inNakuru. From this start, there developed a longer-termpactbetween the two cities, to formalise theircooperation in formulating sustainable developmentstrategies for Nakuru.Results/Outcomes:The direct C2C links betweenthe two cities have developed steadily, not only in

relation to sustainable development strategies buteven leading to wider forms of city-to-city coopera-tion, such as education, exchange of information,and cultural understanding. Creation of the directC2C linkage was not an intended consequence of theoriginal LA21 initiative but instead grew out of it, in a

natural way.Issues Arising:The stimulus of an international ini-tiative can boost the idea of C2C, but it requires asignificant commitment by the two intending part-ners, particularly in the North city which needs toallocate financial and other resources. Also, in thisparticular case the introductio

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