July 19, 2007
By Lucky Sindane
POVERTY, upgrading urban areas and environmental sustainability in Africa are on the table at a three-day CityFuture workshop in Johannesburg that brings together delegates from across Africa.
Representatives at the workshop come from United Cities and Local Governments Africa (UCLGA); the South African Local Government Association (Salga); municipalities in Mozambique, Kenya, Senegal, Namibia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Spain; GTZ, a German development agency; USAid, the US agency for international development; the World Bank; and UN Habitat, the United Nations' human settlements programme.
They will discuss strategies to tackle issues such as the fight against poverty, urban upgrading and environmental sustainability in Africa. The three-day workshop, which is currently under way, will run until Friday, 20 July at Gold Reef City, in the south of Johannesburg.
Welcoming the guests, Salga's chief executive officer, Xolile George said, "In Africa, a significant portion of the continent's population is living in cities and this unprecedented rate of urban growth poses many challenges, thereby placing an obligation on cities to plan ahead with foresight and vision."
He pointed out that there was a need for local governments to ensure that in drawing up city development strategies (CDS), special emphasis was placed on poverty reduction and "the vigorous but compassionate discouragement of the formation of slums and informal settlements, the enhancement of access to public services and shelter, gender equality, environmental protection and the promotion of new technologies".
City development
The workshop aims to unite cities and associations in the pursuit of city development on the continent, and to streamline efforts for localising the Millennium Development Goals in co-operation with Cities Alliance. Cities Alliance is a global alliance of cities and their development partners committed to improve the living conditions of the urban poor through city development strategies and slum upgrading.
The UN's Millennium Development Goals were adopted five years ago by international governments as a blueprint for building a better world in the 21st century. There are eight goals to be achieved by 2015 that respond to the world's main development challenges.
On the first day of the workshop - on 18 July - the delegates wished Nelson Mandela, the former president and political icon a happy 89th birthday.
"Over the next few days we'll be discussing issues such as development, participation, service delivery and poverty reduction, which are issues that are close to the values that Mandela holds dear," said the secretary-general of the UCLGA, Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi.
Objectives
The four objectives of the CityFuture workshop are:
- To define ideas for strategies for urban development based on the Millennium Development Goals;
- To integrate the references and lessons learned from mentor cities;
- To elaborate on recommendations and conclusions from a regional city's perspective so they can be spread and discussed in regional and international events with larger groups of cities and international co-operators; and
- To match the intentions of cities and associations with the existing programmes of Cities Alliance members active in the region to prepare wide support for CDS proposals.
"Our objectives must also be premised by genuine decentralisation initiatives that will surely present a range of opportunities that promote city development strategies," George said.
He added that Salga had committed itself to working with the UCLG, United Cities and Local Governments, based in Spain, on a number of initiatives:
- To draw up a framework of references and information for capacity building and the formulation of city development strategies;
- To ensure the Millennium Development Goals are implemented through strategic planning;
- To contribute to planning becoming a meeting point for development co-operation; and
- To both consolidate and strengthen the exchange of city planning experiences on the African continent as well as other cities through partnerships.
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