Urban Governance Practices

Introduction

Good urban governance is a prerequisite to sustainable development and urban poverty reduction. Today, cities are faced with a continuously growing population and the associated social needs. Resources available to municipalities are however not growing at a similar pace. In this context, effective decentralization, efficient management of limited resources, popular participation and the development of productive partnerships between the city and the state, civil society, grassroots communities, as well as the private sector, are essential tools in the fight that cities wage against urban poverty. The Habitat Agenda commits UNCHS (Habitat) to working towards the establishment of good urban governance in the world's towns and cities.

The briefs outlined below address the importance of balancing social, economic and environmental needs of both present and future generations through sustainable human development. Most feature a paradigm shift in the provision of services within cities, which are carried out in a decentralized manner, by encouraging the lowest level of authority that can provide the services efficiently to do so, while increasing the potential for the inclusion of the citizenry in running their cities. This is accompanied by availing the corresponding required resources to achieve effective service delivery. Women and men are equally represented and their needs and priorities equally addressed. Inclusive participation seeks to empower all people especially women and the poor, to participate in effective decision-making. The aforesaid cities are financially sound and cost-effective in revenue resources management. In this regard, transparency and accountability are essential in allowing stakeholders to understand local government operations and to assess which sectors of society are benefiting from decisions and actions.

An Integrated Development Project in the Greater Mafikeng Area, South Africa

Mafikeng, situated 300 km to the west of Johannesburg, has a population of over 250,000. Greater Mafikeng is comprised of Mafikeng and the peri-urban tribal area. The southern part of this area had no clean water, electricity, transport, storm water drains or sanitation. The Mafikeng Development Programme was initiated in 1995 with an aim of coordinating a wide spectrum of social, economic and environmental projects in the Greater Mafikeng Area within one comprehensive plan. Tourism was identified as the driving force to improve the river corridor and the city in general, which in turn will improve the living conditions of the people by providing them with basic necessities and employment.

The first step towards empowering those previously oppressed under the apartheid system was the establishment of a broad-based Steering Committee comprised of very different administrative systems: Tribal Authorities, City Council, Government Departments, the informal sector, local businesses and the tourism industry. The programme focuses on training and building local capacity through the integrated development of several programmes: city and river clean up; clean water provision; improved storm water facilities; improved traffic flows; and enterprise and tourism development. Where practical, all public works contracts were divided into smaller components to involve as many new emerging contractors as possible. Where established contractors were required, labour intensive methods were encouraged and favoured. The Steering Committee has emerged not only as the forum of economic development for the area, but its conflict resolution role is helping repair the social fabric of the entire community.

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Somolu is a metropolitan area of Lagos with a population of close to one million. It is characterised by a high density, low-income settlement which is conveniently located near the Central Business District of Lagos. Urban services were in a state of neglect and this condition was further compounded by lack of resources and widespread corruption. The Somolu Local Authority embraced democratic management practices and focus was on delivering basic services and infrastructure in a sustainable way while at the same time winning back Citizens’ confidence after a decade of top-down planning and weak implementation.

Somolu has an active community, with 37 Community Development associations working to improve general living conditions. The community was involved in the decision making process through participation in various consultative meetings involving Urban Management Programme and the local authority.

Water supply, solid waste management, road and drainage rehabilitation were identified as priorities and the Local Authority allocated 40% of its budget to provision of basic infrastructure.

Road rehabilitation is well on course with 21 kms of road being resurfaced. 25kms of drainage facilities have been laid, 14 culverts have been constructed and 12 boreholes drilled. Community development associations manage these boreholes and provide maintenance and security to ensure constant access to safe drinking water. Other benefits accruing from the participatory process include construction of a day care centre, police station and primary health care centre and micro-credit schemes where $10,000 was invested in a revolving fund by the local government to create employment for Somolu youth.

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Integrating the Youth in the City, Kasserine, Tunisia

For the urban youth, who constitute majority of the urban population in Tunisia’s poor neighbourhoods, promises of a better life in the city often ring hollow. Majority lack adequate training and skills to access gainful employment, which denies them opportunities to realise their ambitions. To address this challenge, the UMP and the FNVT (Fédération Nationale des Villes Tunisiennes) organised city-wide consultations in Kasserine, a city facing severe economic problems, aimed at strengthening the capacity of the municipality to develop and implement action plans targeting young urban citizens. The municipality played a leading role in the consultation process through an Enlarged Municipal Team (EME), composed of municipal council members and staff, NGO and government representatives, Urban Management Programme experts and youth from three impoverished neighbourhoods. The process consisted of a series of consultative meetings, complemented by a participatory diagnostic, and a final formal event during which the action plan was adopted.

The outcome of the youth programme includes creation of a community resource centre for the youth (through a grant from Japanese Co-operation), which acts as the main node in a network of neighbourhood-based and youth managed centres. Its role is to inform youth about existing opportunities, link them up with the private sector and existing government programmes, train neighbourhood youth mediators and provide space for socio-cultural activities. Mobilisation of national and regional resources for the youth, to support creation of neighbourhood-based youth associations and their projects as well as income or employment generating micro initiatives. The municipal authorities have created a budget line for all youth related participatory projects.

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In 1995, Mazingira Institute convened the Habitat Task Force (HTF) under the National Council of NGOs to advocate for housing and land rights and to oppose forced evictions. Mazingira Institute in collaboration with HTF and the Human and Legal Rights NGOs initiated the 'Operation Firimbi' Campaign.

Individuals, community groups, research institutions, the media, international agencies, NGOs among others have participated in the Campaign by furnishing information, through self-organising, providing financial and technical resources, engaging in civic action and protests, litigation and agitating for protection of rights. The main resources were mobilised from foreign NGOs, with local NGOs, CBOs and other institutions making in kind contributions.

The Campaign made use of fax hotlines for receiving information from the public about cases of land grabbing for prompt action and over 250 cases were reported. A Public Forum was organised, attracting people from all over the world. They participated in the evaluation of the initiative and gave their views on future direction and the way forward, especially regarding community organising and building. The outcome was the Operation Firimbi Action Network of Local Chapters or 'Vocal Points'.

Civic education and public awareness creation countrywide required a communication strategy - entering into partnership with the media.

Although the problem of illegal land allocations on public utility land is still rampant in Kenya, the Campaign has raised awareness among the citizens, and now citizens organise peaceful demonstrations to protest land allocations in their neighbourhoods, people are reporting the matter to the media to highlight the situation. This has resulted into elected municipal government officers such as the mayors and councilors promising to take legal action and the sacking of the Nairobi town clerk, Director of Urban planning in Nairobi and the Commissioner of Lands, among other actions.

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Prior to the initiative, communities showed a low level of awareness of citizen's role in municipal development, lack of sense of civic engagement and citizenship, there lacked adequate organisational structure of civil society to contribute to local government initiatives, and general lack of capacity for needs assessment, planning and management. This was made worse by the shortcomings on the local government's part i.e., the local government seemed unwilling to and/or unknowledgeable on how to involve the citizens in public service provision and other functions such as environmental planning and management.

In 1997, the North-South survey was carried out to establish the level of knowledge on the role of the citizens in local government operations, where it was revealed that 90% had no clue. These results together with further data collection about local infrastructure were incorporated in profiles of each quarter, which were presented at community meetings. The communities elected their representatives, which marked the beginning of the Development Committees of the Quarters (NDBs). Each quarter elaborated a short, medium- and long-term development plan based on the needs collected in the survey and sought for its approval by the population. Profiles and development plans were presented to the City Council. Participatory planning culminated in a three-day planning workshop in July 1999 where the City Council agreed to incorporate the community plans in the municipal development plan.

In March 1998 a new legal framework reflecting the national policy of decentralisation was enacted. 33 municipal governments were established in 1998 after the first Municipal Elections since independence. But despite the municipal government's intention to involve citizens in municipal development, the institutional frame and the concrete mechanisms of involvement have not been provided. Later, the municipal government invited the Development Committees to a planning seminar with the aim of preparing the budgeting of activities of the year 2000. Although, full participatory budgeting was not achieved as the City Council did not disclose its own budget lines, it was a major step forward in the area of citizen involvement in local government planning.

The promotion of dialogue between government and civil society has shown its first results in the change of attitude of government towards community-based initiatives, in the inclusion of its representatives in a consultative process, in the recognition of new community structures. It has led to better co-ordination and consent between the two partners. The composition of the committees reflects the intention of social inclusion: traditional authorities have been nominated automatically as members.. Social inclusion has also guided the conception of the infrastructure programmes of providing basic services at low cost to all.

Development Committees of the Town Quarters (NDBs) are functioning, representing the community and the City Council, and play an active role in planning and project implementation. A database of information on each of the town quarters has been created while the development capacity of 40 community activists and 90 members of the NDBs has been carried out.

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Naga City Participatory Planning Initiatives, Philippines

Naga is a city of 139,000 people in Central Philippines. Over the past 10 years, it has become one of the recognised models in Philippine local governance. Building on the 1991 Local Government Code mandating the need for greater participation in local governance, Naga City passed its "Empowerment Ordinance" in late 1995. The Naga City People’s Council (NCPC) set the stage for what has been a revolutionary experiment in local governance. In effect, what some call a "shadow government" has been formed, a civil society counterpart to the City Council. Civil society has been empowered to work closely with the local government to design, implement and evaluate the City’s development agenda. A June 1996 meeting identified, inter alia, three priority areas for action under the aegis of the Naga City Participatory Planning Initiatives: the clean up of the Naga River, the management of solid waste and the revitalisation of the Naga City Hospital. Reaching down to the village level through civil society-organised task forces and committees, citizen input is contributing enormously to the effectiveness and sustainability of these initiatives.

The participatory process skills developed in Naga City have been applied to several new initiatives, including: the creation of the Naga City Investment Board (NCIB), a private sector-led initiative with members from the Naga City People’s Council; the adoption of an Integrated Livelihood Masterplan (ILM) rationalizing existing national and local livelihood programmes; the implementation of capacity-building programmes within the city bureaucracy, particularly the Public Service Excellence Program (PSEP); and the ongoing development of a Citizen’s Guidebook of City Government Services designed to improve service delivery, promote citizen empowerment and accountability among city government service providers.

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Comprehensive Revitalisation of Urban Settlements, Chengdu - China

Chengdu, with a metropolitan population of 10 million and located in the poorer western region, was one of the most severely polluted cities in China. Surrounded on four sides by two rivers (Fu and Nan), industrial effluent, raw sewage and the intensive use of freshwater deteriorated the rivers’ waters and silted the rivers causing annual floods during the rainy season and one of the rivers to run dry during the dry season. Slum and squatter settlements proliferated on the banks of both rivers, exacerbating the social, economic and environmental problems of the city. In 1993, further to a petition by school children to the Mayor, Chengdu started the Fu and Nan Rivers comprehensive revitalization plan.

Owing to the quantity of capital investment required and the number of people and communities affected, the Municipal Government of Chengdu adopted a strategy of partnership and participation. Over 30,000 households previously inhabiting the slums on both banks of the two rivers have been re-housed since 1995 in new, fully equipped housing estates. The vacated land has been used to create a continuous green space replete with parks, gardens, recreational and cultural facilities. The two rivers have been de-silted, widened and their ecological flow restored, reducing flood vulnerability to a 200-year risk. A series of concomitant projects dealt with solid waste, sewage collection and treatment, industrial effluent, road infrastructure, transport and communications, and parks and gardens. The lessons learned in participatory planning and partnership are being transferred in a unique setup whereby staff involved in the project has been seconded to surrounding towns and districts.

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Infrastructure conditions in the slums of Ahmedabad were in a poor state. The quality and quantity of water supply was inadequate. Many of the slums were not connected with the sewerage, solid waste disposal was inadequate or limited with no landfill sites, and flooding and epidemics were a frequent phenomenon. Public parks and gardens were the scenes of crime and other anti social behaviours. The Sabarmati River was heavily polluted while traffic management was characterised by unauthorised construction, congested traffic, no parking or pedestrians facilities. Bylaws were violated in every sense of the word. Conditions of municipal hospitals and level of primary education in municipal schools were degrading day-by-day. The municipal council had budgets deficit, costs overrun, unpaid overdrafts and credits, and delayed payments. Consequently, riots and demonstrations against the administration were becoming frequent and especially in the slum areas.

The Innovative Urban Partnerships in Ahmedabad cover a wide range of local government functions - slum improvement, public administration, municipal finance, water and sanitation, urban forestry etc. They involve many groups of partners: government and public sector units; international agencies such as USAID, DFID, and UNDP; Civil Society Organisations; Corporate Sector; CBOs and NGOs; and financial institutions such as SEWA Cooperative Bank. The innovative urban partnerships are based on the concepts of investments, each partner investing a portion of the project.

The Report Card system on municipal services was introduced and is now being developed in an institutional mechanism for mapping the trend of service performance and user satisfaction on on-going basis.

The partnerships have made their impact felt. There are four new, safe, and green city parks. The main road is ready with new layout, traffic system and advertisement rights. Last but not least the river front development plan is approved.

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Urban Governance in Environment and Public Health: Surat's Experience, India

Prior to May 1995, the city of Surat was not only faced with financial, administrative, socio-political and legal problems but was also one of the filthiest cities in India. In September of 1994, the city was traumatised by a plague outbreak. This outbreak coupled with poor working conditions and non-attendance to grievances further demoralised the staff of the Surat Municipal Corporation. Basic municipal services such as street cleaning, collection of solid waste, water supply and sewerage services, drains, street lights, parks and gardens, roads and schools were only covered about 45% of the city residents. Morbidity rate due to water-borne and water-related public health diseases was high. To make matters worse, both the elected representatives (councilors) and the media had no interest in the SMC’s functioning. Capital expenditure on long term assets stood at Rs. 300 million with expenditure on salaries and allowances accounting for about 47 per cent per Revenue Budget.

In May 1995, a new Mayor was posted to the city as the CEO. He undertook a one-week extensive tour of the city and held consultative meetings with all levels of municipal employees. He decentralised all his administrative and financial powers to ten commissioners (six zonal chiefs together with four functional heads of water supply, sewerage; town planning and finance divisions). A consultative decision-making process among all the eleven commissioners was introduced. The resulting decentralisation and empowerment of work units broke the departmental barriers and lifted the morale of the staff. A micro-planning exercise based on extensive field input was carried out to lay down equitable norms for effective and efficient provision of services to the citizens with best use of the available resources.

The council entered into partnerships with the private sector, who provided street litterbins in exchange of advertising rights. Instant penalties on littering were also introduced and this increased the amount of revenue collected. CBOs, mainly women groups in the slum areas, were used to raise awareness on the need to widen the roads so as to make provision of other services easier. The media realised the positive role it played in spreading public awareness and has taken up the role of social auditing of SMC's operation.

The citizens were involved in the decision making process through a grievance redressal system and feedback mechanism. A sense of citizenship and pride was developed, as the citizens were aware of their civil rights to quality services.

Inculcating public awareness and civic participation among the citizens brought about transparency among council officers and workers. Also, a transparent system for routine works such as maintenance was worked out for contractors. During the whole process, the media was used to highlight the situation and to create public awareness. Morale of the staff at the lower echelons is being sustained by an innovative system of public rewards.

Within a period of 18 months Surat had turned from the filthiest city to the second cleanest city of India. The internal revenue collection increased due to efficient tax recovery, transparency in tax assessments and plugging of loopholes in tax administration. A sense of pride among the sanitation workers was restored, through provision of proper equipment and their grievances taken into consideration. Provision of basic services increased to over 95% of the residents, while capital expenditure also increased by about 450%.

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Urban financing within the Colombo Municipal Council had collapsed and the central government was unable to assist. Consequently, there was severe problem in the maintenance of infrastructure and services. Rigid, hierarchical and bureaucratic public administration and practice within the council aggravated the situation.

To overcome this problem, the council invited stakeholders to develop a vision and a mission through the elaboration of a Corporate Plan, which was released to the public. The municipal council then sought to establish effective partnerships between the administrators (local and central governments), the residents, private sector, and NGOs. Further external help was sought from International agencies such as UNCHS, the World Bank, GTZ, DFID, and Asian Development Bank as well as from Foreign Central governments of Netherlands, Norway, Great Britain, Australia, and Germany to address the issue of Water and Sanitation and Solid Waste Management. The NGOs and Private sector played leadership role.

The council started measuring performance not only in terms of input but also in terms of output. The importance of good leadership and team spirit was recognized within the local authority and during elections, the diverse interests was represented including both professionals and grassroots leaders.

To build openness, several innovative measures were initiated including the 100-Day Programme, which aimed at creating an impact in the public service delivery within 100 days, and the City Development Strategy, which addresses the urban economy, environment, poverty and social development in the city. The local authority also set aside a weekly Public-Day when high ranked council officials meet with citizens to hear views and grievances.

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Bali, a densely populated island of 3 million inhabitants, was not able to meet the local urban infrastructure needs of its population or with the rapid growth of the tourism sector. Building on the existing partnership between the Government of Indonesia and the World Bank, the provision of local urban infrastructure has been gradually decentralized to local authorities. Greater responsibility has been given to Balinese local governments for medium-term planning, programming, budgeting, and implementation of urban infrastructure.

Most recently, the Bali Urban Infrastructure Programme (BUIP) built on continued decentralisation, greater and more focused efforts at private sector participation, increased focus on environmental sustainability, on-going community participation, support for capacity building in urban management and greater financial responsibility at the local government level. The BUIP initiatives have increased the Government of Indonesia’s commitment to decentralisation. Since the 1997/98 budget year, for example, all urban infrastructure grants are channelled directly to local governments. As a result of the Bali initiatives, therefore, the role of central government is being gradually transformed from implementer to provider of overall guidance and technical assistance to the lower level governments.

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The island Province of Guimaras, Philippines is located approximately 500 kilometres south of Manila, nestled between the larger islands of Panay and Negros in the Western Visayas. The island has a total area of 60,465 hectares (about the same size as Singapore) and a population of 133,000. Located just 3 kilometres across the straight from the medium-sized city of Iloilo (population 300,000 and capital of Iloilo Province), Guimaras can be considered to be a peri-urban region that is coming increasing under the urban growth shadow. In 1994, the Provincial Government of Guimaras in partnership with the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) embarked on a community-based and multi-stakeholder development planning process involving all the three levels of local governments (engaging a total of 102 local government units).

The program, undertaken with funding support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), has been focused on developing the capacities of local government units to promote sustainable development practices and community involvement in planning and decision-making. It supports the Philippine Government's thrust towards decentralisation of power to local authorities and empowerment of local communities, which is required under the country's Local Government Code - LGC Code (decentralisation legislation) enacted in 1991. This partnership project is a case study in approaches to "operationalising" the LGC.

The project has been able to engage more than 5000 stakeholders from national government agencies, local authorities, private sector and civil society in a community-based planning and decision making process. This process resulted in the completion of strategic plans in all three levels of local government: provincial, 5 municipalities and 96 barangays (which are the officially recognised village-based level of government in the Philippines). The strategic plans initiated in 1996 are providing directions for the local governments in mobilising human and financial resources for the various priority economic, environmental and social development thrusts in the island province.

Integral to the strategic planning process has been action learning, or "learning-by-doing." Based on the priorities determined in the strategic planning process and using a participatory community-based process, the project has been implementing three pilot projects. The purpose of these projects is to have some tangible community focus for realising concrete benefits from the project (in addition to the planning and capacity-building elements). As a result of the outcomes and impacts of the Guimaras experience, the CUI and the Province of Guimaras were asked to share their experiences in three different places: Boracay Island, the Province of Aklan, and the Municipality of Malay (Aklan Province).

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Slum Improvement Project in Dhaka Metropolitan City - Bangladesh

Dhaka is one of the fastest growing mega-cities in the world. Slums pose one of the biggest problems of the city. Around 12 per cent of the total population of the Dhaka city live in slum areas, which are very densely populated with a population density of 750 people per hectare. These areas have few or no basic utility services, including portable water, sanitation, drainage, etc. Slum Improvement Project (SIP) under the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) was established in 1985 in five municipalities to address the social and environmental problems affecting slum dwellers.

Through the Slum Improvement Project (SIP) participatory approach, the Local Authority in partnership with urban communities, public and private institutions has made a breakthrough in providing an integrated package of basic physical, social and economic infrastructure services to the urban poor. Of all SIP components, the micro-credit program has been found to be particularly successful and most attractive. Many poor households have increased their income using this facility. The SIP has significantly raised levels of awareness particularly in health and sanitation among slum dwellers, resulting in significant reductions in the incidence of numerous diseases. The SIP has empowered poor women through community involvement, particularly through the savings and credit program, thereby realising the overall status of women in families and communities.

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Municipal Actions for Urban Poverty Reduction - Lebanon

Ghobeiri Municipality in Lebanon has a population of 200,000 and held its first elections after 35 years in 1998 resulting in the emergence of a crop of qualified municipal council members with strong private sector and voluntary work background. The new council was confronted by uncontrolled urbanisation trends affecting all Lebanese cities; the destructive consequences of the civil war and waves of internal displacement and emigration. Managing the city's problems and enhancing sustainable development relied on building partnership with all actors, namely, citizen groups, NGOs, the private sector, the central and international agencies. Ghobeiri municipal council co-ordinates directly with 16 social NGOs and CBOs and indirectly with 10. Ghobeiri Municipality receives support from UNDP's LIFE (Local Initiative Facility for Urban Environment) Programme, UNICEF and is involved actively in UNCHS (Habitat)'s activities. Using a participatory, bottom-up approach in identifying needs and priorities with the involvement of all stakeholders, the Municipality has in two years provided basic infrastructure to lower income groups with connection of 18,000 households to the sewage system, equipping all streets with lights and signs. Green parks and areas through planting over 4000 trees have also been developed. The municipality has been involved in vocational training of over 100 children and offers social assistance to vulnerable groups through NGOs working with over 30,000 orphans, widows and the disabled. Women (over 100) are targeted in a programme aimed to empower them through literacy training, vocational/skills training and economic support.

The women training literacy program has been replicated in two major Lebanese municipalities in Southern Lebanon, mainly: Nabatiyeh and Sarafand. The UNICEF child labour program was also replicated successfully on in four different municipalities: Tripoli, Saida, Tyre, and Bourj Hammoud and has also been adopted by an NGO. The project has demonstrated that approaching development projects from a participatory approach through involving all community groups and other stakeholders and the integration of marginalised groups within the Municipality’s framework are key aspect of the success of initiatives.

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The city of Rafaela, Argentina has been working since October 1996 in the development and implementation of a Strategic Plan. The Plan is anchored on broad-based participation and consensus of all citizens and social actors. The Strategic Plan seeks to transform Rafaela into a place to live and invest. Rafaela has 80,000 inhabitants with 450 old industrial firms dealing with dairy processing, refrigeration, tanning and metallurgy. The urban environment was highly polluted and social conditions appalling. The negotiations amongst social actors ended with the approval of 110 projects to be implemented by the different institutions and organisations of the city. A Forum with 135 institutions was established, providing for broad-based participation and partnerships, chief ingredients for sustainability.

As a result, there was increased commitment from local authorities to address social and environmental problems and an Environmental Education Program and an Action Plan for urban drainage was developed. Another achievement includes the development of a strategic land-use plan to provide opportunities for real-estate development as well as the provision of green public spaces. The initiative illustrates that it is not possible to raise a long term, transforming policy only from the political government without the support and consensus of the city. 32 other cities in Argentina have adopted the approach used by Rafaela to improve their living environment.

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Villa El Salvador is home to people of diverse cultures who come from all over the country with 340,000 of its inhabitants living below the poverty line. The Participatory Urban Action Project of Villa El Salvador was initiated in 1994 in consultation with the residents of Villa El Salvador. One of the priorities identified was to ensure that the inhabitants of Villa had secure tenure on the land they had been allocated by the government.

The project’s emphasis was on partnership development with the beneficiaries, the residents and community of Villa El Salvador, being directly involved in decisions affecting their livelihoods. Youth, women and other community members’ views were incorporated in the development of the poverty eradication strategy. The partnership involved the participation of the public and private sector with the inclusion of specialised institutions addressing issues such as democracy, the economy, the environment, education and culture, public safety, governance and citizen participation. The involvement of various actors culminated in the formulation of "Vision 2010: Villa El Salvador, the Society and Its Development" and demonstrates the importance of establishing partnerships, promoting the involvement of stakeholders, civic awareness and creating a culture of sharing information and lessons learned from experience. Through participatory planning and implementation process adopted from Porto Alegre Participatory Budget, the community not only became more self reliant but the settlement at large became safer, healthier, more inclusive and integrated with the formal city. Women's living conditions and their contributions to economic, social and human settlement development have also increased considerably. The case highlights the need for specific measures to promote sustainability, and the critical contribution of an enabling legislative framework.

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Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre is the capital of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, with 1,290,000 inhabitants. For nearly a decade, the city of Porto Alegre has been involved in an innovative experiment in the budgetary process. Its "Participative Budget" initiated in 1989 has institutionalised the participation of civil society through a combination of regional, sub-regional and thematic meetings that reach down to the very grassroots of the city. Through these meetings, the citizens scrutinise the past year’s expenditures, agree upon current priorities and allocate funds for new projects. After priorities are clarified, counsellors are elected to represent these priorities in discussions with city officials. An Investment Plan is developed and forwarded to the City’s executive council. While the executive body retains the right to modify and amend the Investment Plan, the participatory process prevents them from making fundamental changes.

The Participatory Budget substantiates that a participatory and transparent management of resources is an effective way to avoid corruption and mismanagement of public resources. In opposition to some technocratic views, popular participation has favoured an efficient management of public resources and expenditures, resulting in very important works and actions for the population. Since its implementation, the projects approved by the Participatory Budget have represented investments of more than US$ 700 million, used primarily to improve urban infrastructure and quality of life. The Participatory Budget has also proved that the creation of practical participation tools and the commitment of the government in implementing the decisions made by the population are critical to the removal of bureaucratic barriers and to strengthening citizenship and civic engagement.

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The North Bank of the Biobio River area was initially considered to be outside the city. Most of the families of the sector arrived in this area after losing their homes in the 1939 earthquake. The Program for the Urban Recovery of the North Bank of the Biobio River began in 1993. A working commission that operated between 1993 and 1994 established the following priorities: examine property deeds to the land; evaluate the possibility of zoning the area; formulate a project to provide families with permanent dwellings; identify other possible actions. The objectives of the project were: (i) to rehabilitate and revitalise an area comprising of 3,000 families characterised by social and physical problems, isolation, flooding and delinquency; (ii) increase the city's urban area and to remodel the city; (iii) mobilise public, private and civil society actors to participate in and jointly manage the urban renewal.

Out of a total of 1580 families who have lived in marginal conditions, 283 dwellings are completed and another 693 dwellings scheduled for completion in the second phase. Other notable achievements include: the recovery of urban land in close proximity to the city centre, the design of 13 hectares of parks and gardens; improved pedestrian and vehicular connections between the area and the city, and the eradication of abandoned factories and illegal dump sites that deteriorated the urban environment.

The initiative's success has much to do with decentralised leadership and participatory decision-making. A committee was established to mobilise and work with neighbourhood associations in each stage of decision-making. Communication and participation was facilitated via different media including television programs, the publication and distribution of brochures and informational magazines, radio messages, conveniently located on-site offices and public meetings. A directorate of Urban Projects was established within the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development with the necessary tools and authority to ensure transparent and accountable bidding for contracts and procurement and to ensure quality control.

Financial resources were mobilised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development through an agreement with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The initial public investment will be recovered through the commercialisation of land and real estate investment. Funds lent by the Ministry to residents for the purchase of their homes are recovered through a mortgage payment system.

With the regeneration and revitalisation of their urban space, the North Bank dwellers are no longer socially and physically excluded from the city and the rest of the community. Likewise, the development of new public use areas such as parks, walkways, scenic lookouts, avenues, the Fine Arts Theatre, and public service buildings have enabled conception to fulfil its long-cherished wish to recover this natural space.

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Promoting Good Urban Governance in Nakuru, Kenya

Nakuru town is the administrative headquarters of Rift Valley province and has a population of 480,000 people. Covering a total area of 290 km², the town is a rapidly growing centre with a diverse economic base, including amongst others agricultural processing industry, regional service centre and tourism. Known for its flamingos and once dubbed "the cleanest town in East-Africa", Nakuru, Kenya has lost a lot of its past glory. Particular environmental concerns are caused by the inter-relation between human settlements and the Lake Nakuru National Park, and the expansion of the town into geologically fragile areas and rich agricultural land. This situation is aggravated by the falling standards of urban services, calling for a new approach towards urban planning and management.

To promote good urban governance, the programme strategy emphasises the need for a shared vision for the future development of the city. Its parallel urgent problems are addressed through action planning and environmental conflict resolution. This process is underpinned by a continuous broad-based consultation process.

Capacity-building efforts focus on setting priorities for action, targeted human resources development, institutional strengthening, development and adaptation of tools, encouraging partnerships, mobilisation of resources and promoting exchange between cities facing similar problems.

A Strategic Structure Plan (SSP) for Nakuru has been prepared and a Town Planning Unit is being established to reinforce the Council’s planning capability and to co-ordinate the implementation of the SSP. Action plans are being implemented concerning the revitalisation of the Council’s rental housing stock, the resolution of space-use conflicts around the bus station, improvement of water boreholes in peri-urban areas, community-assisted solid waste collection and greening projects in various parts of the city. To sustain these actions, Council revenues and pricing of services are being rationalised, the relationship between Council and CBOs are strengthened through Zonal Development Committees and Councillors are being trained as environmental guardians. The partnership between Nakuru and the Municipality of Leuven has resulted in joint actions impacting on the sustainable development of both cities.

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