Cities Alliance Explained

Cities Alliance
Founded:May 1999
Status:Active
Headquarters:Brussels, Belgium
Leader Name:Dr Greg Munro, Director
Type:Global Partnership

Cities Alliance is a global partnership fighting urban poverty and supporting cities to deliver sustainable development. To manage its activities, the Cities Alliance operates a multi-donor fund with UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), as host and trustee. Different members provide direction, financing and advocacy. Cities Alliance aims to deliver solutions to urban poverty.

Overview

Founded in 1999 at the conclusion of the International Mayors Summit,[1] the Cities Alliance's initial members were bilateral aid agencies from the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, and Canada, in addition to four associations of local authorities.[2] From its inception, the Cities Alliance has been clear in its intention to exclusively "fund partnership-efforts of multiple stakeholders", with the intention of engendering cooperation across the government, NGO, international organization, and citizen advocacy divides to support active local governance, citizenship, and economic growth These efforts implicate "regional staff members in Africa, Asia, and Latin America".[3]

The Cities Alliance has additionally "made transparency and access to information an important aspect of its decision-making process" in accordance with principle five of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. This is one of several ways in which the Cities Alliance is in line with current thinking on the subject. Through their country programmes, for instance, they are strengthening "a framework to enhance cooperation between urban stakeholders, and public and private investments in urban communities", echoing the Paris Declaration's themes of harmonisation, alignment, and ownership.[4]

In addition to grant distribution and monitoring efforts, the Cities Alliance also serves as "a medium for information and experience sharing between various local governments", to encourage the development of best practices in urban planning, mapping, and service delivery, with knowledge exchanges taking place in various fora. It was this same coordinating function that prompted the Cities Alliance Secretariat's location, first in Washington DC and then in Brussels, in order "to encourage close coordination between the technical assistance role to be promoted by the Cities Alliance" with the larger "urban project lending" function.[5] This move, from Washington DC to Brussels in 2013, corresponded with the departure of the Cities Alliance from the World Bank, at which point it fell under the auspices of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), following a "partnership-driven selection process" to make it their secretariat and trustee.[6]

Practices

The basic practices of the Cities Alliance were outlined in their 2003 annual report, calling for "an attack on urban poverty by focusing on two areas: city development strategy (CDS), and citywide and nationwide squatter settlement upgrading".[7] This has since expanded to include other modalities but still forms the bedrock of Cities Alliance, which focuses on "the city and its region rather than on sectors", making it relatively unusual.[8]

City Development Strategies

City Development Strategies (CDS) are positioned "as a mechanism to create a shared vision of the city's future among all stakeholders". They are "based on an assessment of each city's economic growth prospects and are aimed at enhancing its competitiveness" and focus on "improved urban governance, fiscal responsibility and the establishment for clear priorities for action and investment". One prominent example of a Cities Alliance CDS programme can be found in the Philippines. In 1999, the "World Bank/Japan, concurrent with UNDP/ UN-HABITAT" supported the development of CDS in three cities.[9] Subsequently, "the Municipal League of the Philippines" expanded the project "to many more cities than initially included", due to the CDS’ capacity to aid leaders in understanding "the economic development of the city" and removing "constraints to its efficient functioning" to raise living standards of its citizens.[10]

Slum upgrading

Slum upgrading, or the delivering of "a package of basic services: clean water supply and adequate sewage disposal to improve the well-being of the community" and "legalizing and ‘regularizing’ the properties in situations of insecure or unclear tenure" was, and continues to be, one of the first focuses of the Cities Alliance.[11] Prominent slum upgrading projects undertaken by the Cities Alliance include:

Country programmes

Country programmes are considered the "fulcrum of its work program to longer-term, programmatic support".[18] They are a framework, including "national and local governments, urban poor communities, Cities Alliance members, investors and other partners" and funding for projects.[19] In their Uganda Country Programme, for instance, projects are targeted "not only where the bulk of urbanization is taking place, but also where capacity constraints, infrastructure backlogs, and affordability challenges are the most extreme".

Catalytic Fund

The Catalytic Fund of the Cities Alliance is a fund for small grants ($50,000 to $200,000), intended to "catalyse urban transformation processes that promote inclusive cities" and advance collective knowledge "through learning distilled from project experiences" and are issued along selected themes.[20] The themes in question vary, but in years past, they have included "Know Your City"[21] and "Youth and the City".[22]

Advocacy

The Cities Alliance has had several high-profile advocates in its history, including:

Accomplishments

The Cities Alliance has been credited with several major developments in the field of urban innovation, dating from its inception. "Developed within the framework of the Cities Alliance", the "Cities Without Slums Action Plan", launched by Nelson Mandela, set an agenda and targets for improving conditions "of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020". This was subsequently "endorsed at the UN Millennium Summit" and is reflected in Goal 7, Target 11 of the Millennium Development Goals.[33] In 2009, based on its track record, the Cities Alliance was further awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to continue its work on slum upgrading in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda through its country programs. It has also created a number of notable programmes, including several urban forums and its Land, Services and Citizenship programmes. The latter "aims to support national and local policy dialogue to promote sustainable urbanisation, ensure the empowerment of local governments and reinforce the importance of active community participation" by aligning "urban development efforts at the national, city and community levels" in Ghana and Vietnam.[34]

Membership

The Cities Alliance has a broad range of members including local authorities, national governments, non-governmental organisations, multi-lateral organisations, private sectors, foundation and knowledge institutions. Current and past members include:

Professor Thuli Madonsela of South Africa was appointed as Chair of the Board in 2022.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Slum upgrading and women's empowerment: The experience in Titagarh, West Bengal. Das. Aparna. December 2006. Social Change. 36. 4. 67–83. 10.1177/004908570603600404. 147388402. 19 February 2015.
  2. Mukhija. Vinit. February 2006. Challenges for international development planning: Preliminary lessons from the case of the Cities Alliance. Cities. 23. 1. 56–62. 10.1016/j.cities.2005.10.002.
  3. Web site: Supporting Learning Cities: A Case of the Cities Alliance. August 2012. 18 February 2015. uO Research. University of Ottawa. 20 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150220174819/http://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/22844/3/Wanjiru_Claire_2012_researchpaper.pdf. dead.
  4. Book: Li, Jun. Foreign aid, urbanization and green cities. EconStor. 2013. 978-92-9230-628-1. Leibniz. 7.
  5. The City is Missing in the Millennium Development Goals. Cohen. Michael. 10 June 2014. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. 15. 2–3. 261–274. 10.1080/19452829.2014.899564. 153734189.
  6. Web site: UNOPS to support urban development partnership. 17 March 2013. 18 February 2015. UNOPS. United Nations.
  7. Amartya Sen, the World Bank, and the Redress of Urban Poverty: A Brazilian Case Study. Frediani. Alexandre Apsan. March 2007. Journal of Human Development. 8. 133–152. 10.1080/14649880601101473. 18 February 2015. 10.1.1.564.3918. 14934410.
  8. Book: Multiple, United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The Challenge of Slums - Global Report on Human Settlements 2003. Earthscan/James & James. 2003. 978-1-84407-037-4. New York. 140–145.
  9. Web site: UPSCALING POVERTY-FOCUSED CITY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES IN THE PHILIPPINES. 24 February 2015. UN-Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. UN-Habitat. 24 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150224123629/http://www.fukuoka.unhabitat.org/projects/philippines/detail01_en.html. dead.
  10. Book: Gilbert, Roy. Improving the Lives of the Poor by Investing in Cities: An Update on the Performance of the World Bank's Urban Portfolio. The World Bank. 2004. 978-0-8213-5540-4. Washington, DC. 26.
  11. Web site: What is urban upgrading?. 2001. 22 February 2015. Urban Upgrading. MIT.
  12. Towards a pro-poor framework for slum upgrading in Mumbai, India. Burra. Sundar. April 2005. Slum Upgrading. 17. 1 . 67–88. 10.1177/095624780501700106. 2005EnUrb..17...67B . 150366235.
  13. Financing her home, one wall at a time. Malhotra. Mohini. October 2003. Environment and Urbanization. 15. 2. 217–228. 10.1177/095624780301500211. 153328300 . 2003EnUrb..15..217M .
  14. News: WB, Philippines Launch Formulation of a National Slum Upgrading Strategy. 19 December 2011. World Bank News. 19 February 2015.
  15. Book: Baker, Judy L.. Climate Change, Disaster Risk, and the Urban Poor: Cities Building Resilience for a Changing World. The World Bank. 2012. 978-0-8213-8845-7. Washington, DC. 166.
  16. News: CiudadFuturo. 27 April 2007. UCLG. 23 February 2015.
  17. News: Creating a Better Life For All Through Informal Settlement Upgrading. Tissington. Kate and Lauren Royston. Afesis-corplan. 22 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150223180804/http://www.afesis.org.za/sustainable-settlements/sustainable-articles/486-creating-a-better-life-for-all-through-informal-settlement-upgrading.html. 23 February 2015. dead.
  18. Book: Multiple, World Bank. Global Monitoring Report: Rural-Urban Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. 2013. 978-0-8213-9806-7. New York, USA. 115, 173.
  19. Web site: COUNTRY PROGRAMMES. 2011-08-09. 19 February 2015. Cities Alliance. 2015-02-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20150209064129/http://www.citiesalliance.org/country-programmes. dead.
  20. Advancing Inclusive and Sustainable Urban Development: Correcting Planning Failures and Connecting Communities to Capital. https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170710222018/http://jchs.unix.fas.harvard.edu/sites/jchs.harvard.edu/files/jchs_isud_2013.pdf. dead. July 10, 2017. Belsky. Eric S.. November 2013. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. 18 February 2015. etal.
  21. News: Know your city: Information for transformation. Cities Alliance now accepting applications for Catalytic Fund (CATF). Admin. 8 May 2014. UrbanAfrica.net. 24 February 2015.
  22. News: Youth and the City Forms Focus of Cities Alliance Call for Proposals to the Catalytic Fund. 13 March 2012. Zunia Knowledge Exchange. 24 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150224170754/http://zunia.org/post/youth-and-the-city-forms-focus-of-cities-alliance-call-for-proposals-to-the-catalytic-fund. 24 February 2015. dead.
  23. Web site: GOVERNANCE -- OLD. 2011-08-09. 23 February 2015. Cities Alliance. https://web.archive.org/web/20150223172354/http://www.citiesalliance.org/node/5214. 23 February 2015. dead.
  24. News: Cities Alliance Annual Report. Multiple. 2007. Cities Alliance. 22 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232601/https://www.citiesalliance.org/sites/citiesalliance.org/files/Anual_Reports/ca-org.pdf. 3 March 2016. dead.
  25. Web site: ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE: PAB FORMER MEMBERS. 2011-08-09. 24 February 2015. Cities Alliance.
  26. Web site: Jean-Pierre ELONG M'BASSI est le Secrétaire Général le CGLUA. 23 February 2015. Global Local Forum. 24 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150224123408/http://www.global-local-forum.com/pages.asp?ref_page=6832. dead.
  27. The Cities Alliance. 28 June 2007. Independent Evaluation Group. 23 February 2015. 24 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150224123735/https://ieg.worldbankgroup.org/Data/reports/gpr_ca.pdf. dead.
  28. Web site: HOJA DE VIDA. 2004. 24 February 2015. Cuanto.org. Duarte. Richard Webb.
  29. News: For Amatong, liberating work overseas. Remo. Michelle. 7 January 2005. Philippine Daily Inquirer. 24 February 2015.
  30. Web site: Slum upgrading tops the agenda at Brasilia meeting, September 20 and 21, 2007. 2007. 23 February 2015. Zunia Knowledge Exchange. 24 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150224120913/http://zunia.org/post/slum-upgrading-tops-the-agenda-at-brasilia-meeting-september-20-and-21-2007. dead.
  31. Web site: Cities Alliance Annual Report. 2007. 24 February 2015. Cities Alliance. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232601/https://www.citiesalliance.org/sites/citiesalliance.org/files/Anual_Reports/ca-org.pdf. 3 March 2016. dead.
  32. Web site: Cities Alliance Annual Report. 2006. 24 February 2015. Cities Alliance. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203247/http://www.citiesalliance.org/sites/citiesalliance.org/files/Anual_Reports/org.pdf. 3 March 2016. dead.
  33. Employment creation through participatory urban planning and slum upgrading: The case of Kitale, Kenya.. Majale. Michael. 2008. Habitat International. 32. 2. 270–282. 10.1016/j.habitatint.2007.08.005.
  34. Web site: Prioritise spatial planning in national dev't. 10 June 2014. 19 February 2015. Ghana Web. Public Agenda.
  35. Web site: BRAZIL. 2011-08-09. 19 February 2015. Our Members. Cities Alliance. 2015-02-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20150209064055/http://www.citiesalliance.org/brazil. dead.
  36. Web site: DFID support to the World Bank/Habitat Cities Alliance. 18 February 2015. DFID Project Record. DFID. https://web.archive.org/web/20150220171022/http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/Project/2317/Default.aspx. 20 February 2015. dead.
  37. Web site: ETHIOPIA. 2011-08-09. 18 February 2015. Our Members. Cities Alliance. 2015-02-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20150209070405/http://www.citiesalliance.org/ethiopia. dead.
  38. Web site: Ghana. 18 February 2015. GIZ, GbBH.
  39. Web site: Advocating for effective housing policies on a global level. 19 February 2015. Habitat World. Habitat for Humanity International.
  40. French Alliance for Cities and Territorial Development. 2014. French Alliance for Cities and Territorial Development. 19 February 2015.
  41. News: Nigeria: Cities Alliance Approves Nigerian Report. Suleiman. Mustapha. 26 October 2009. 21 February 2015.
  42. Web site: Partners. 2014. 19 February 2015. SDINet. Slumdwellers International.
  43. News: Challenges of Urban Housing Provision in Lagos and Johannesburg. Ngomba. Teke. 2010. Africa Files. 23 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052151/http://www.africafiles.org/article.asp?ID=24844. 4 March 2016. dead.
  44. News: Cities Alliance Executive Committee. 7 April 2014. UCLG Africa. 18 February 2015.
  45. Web site: Urban Strategic Planning. 2014. 18 February 2015. Sustainable Urban Development. UCLG. 7 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150207024653/http://www.uclg.org/en/issues/urban-strategic-planning. dead.
  46. News: UNEP, Cities Alliance Outline Tools for Integrating Environment into Urban Planning. 8 April 2014. International Institute for Sustainable Development. 23 February 2015.
  47. Web site: United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). 23 February 2015. UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service. United Nations.

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