UCLG INTERMEDIARY CITIES LEARNING EXCHANGE
DRAFT LEARNING NOTE
Durban, South Africa
March 2013
Introduction
The United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), in partnership with The Municipal Institute of Learning (MILE) of eThekwini Municipality, as part of its International Learning Series, hosted a Learning Exchange on Intermediary Cities, together with KwaDukuza Municipality in collaboration with the KwaZulu- Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (KZNCOGTA) and the Newcastle Municipality. Supporting Secondary Cities is also an important focus area for the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and South African Cities Network (SACN) MILE supports UCLG ‘s agenda to develop, well-informed, participative and realistic policy and plans on the management of Cities through improving urban strategic planning and competitiveness in world cities; in this Learning Exchange, the focus was on the concept of Intermediary Cities, currently known as Secondary Cities in South Africa. Within this framework, SACN, noted in recent research (March 2012) the important role Secondary (Intermediary) Cities play as alternative urban centres that are catalysts in their regions acting as markets, administrative and service centres and links to metros. Internationally, there is recognition of their role as drivers of economic growth. This Learning Exchange will apply the lens of the Intermediary Cities paradigm to urban
strategic planning in two municipalities, KwaDukuza and Newcastle, as a way of enabling
such centres to plan towards becoming a viable Intermediary City.
Overview of the Learning Exchange
The goals of the MILE Learning Exchanges is to provide an arena for engagement amongst researchers, policy developers and local government practitioners, to present and discuss
new and on-going practice with a view to forging closer links between involved in city learning. The overall objective of the learning exchange on intermediary cities was to understand the major characteristics and role of Intermediary Cities in general and observe the South African experience, explore the use of urban strategic planning in prioritizing actions for cities in establishing themselves as viable Intermediary Cities. Furthermore it was vital for the learning exchange to recommend concrete suggestions for the host city, KwaDukuza and Newcastle and how they can develop as viable Intermediary Cities; and to establish a learning platform in Southern Africa in collaboration with government, and city and local government organizations, to enhance the growth and special role of Southern African Intermediary Cities and to use them as a base for transferring valuable knowledge to other cities in Africa.
DAY ONE
Monday, 18 March 2013
Session One: Official Opening
Programme Director, Mr Eric Apelgren (Head of eThekwini Municipality’s International
and Governance Relations), welcomed the delegates. He acknowledged the presence of
participants from nine countries around the world. The countries included Angola, Brazil,
Spain, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Setting the Scene
As part of the official opening, representatives from Local and Provincial Governments of
South Africa, The United Cities in Local Government (UCLG) and the South African Local
Governments Association (SALGA) provided input on behalf of their organisations.
Mr Mandla Manzini, the Executive Director of KwaDukuza Municipality, gave a brief
description of the municipality, including its geographical information, statistics and the
vision for the municipality. He then introduced KwaDukuza Municipality’s Mayor, Cllr R M
Mthembu.
Cllr R M Mthembu of KwaDukuza Municipality thanked the UCLG for choosing to host the
learning exchange in KwaDukuza Municipality. He described KwaDukuza Municipality as a
‘fast growing town’ with assets that are utilised by the province at large. Cllr Mthembu
suggested that we use this platform for learning and sharing.
Cllr Nomvuzo Shabalala, Deputy Mayor of eThekwini Municipality, suggested that this
Learning Exchange is an opportunity for municipalities to share experiences and not
compete. As a member of the Urban Strategic Planning Committee of the UCLG, Cllr
Shabalala reflected on the past five years that eThekwini Municipality has worked with the
UCLG. She said that eThekwini has come to appreciate the valuable platform that the UCLG
has offered in connecting cities and facilitate learning. It is clear that city to city learning is a
powerful model and eThekwini will continue to engage in such practice.
Sara Hoeflich, Deputy Chair of the UCLG, said that the Intermediary Cities Learning
Exchange is an excellent example of how UCLG is working with local municipalities around
the world. When speaking about the Intermediary Cities concept, Ms Hoeflich suggested
that we must consider ‘the role’ the city is playing, primarily. She said that we must also
consider the city’s leadership and the characteristics of the leadership. The strategy for
Intermediary Cities is to build on historical local leadership and maintain relationships with
surrounding cities.
Mr Seana Nkandla from the SALGA provided Message of Support from the association and
also an overview on intermediary cities in SA. He suggested that South Africa has committed
to differentiation in the way that we manage municipalities. SALGA has acknowledged that
South Africa has a wide variety of municipalities. The organisation is in the middle of
developing an integrated urban development framework. Within this context, SALGA is
seeking to establish the role of secondary cities. Mr Nkandla recommended that it would
be beneficial not to use basic statistics for intermediary cities but look at them as unique
cities.
Cllr Welcome Mdabe, Mayor of ILembe and Chairperson of SALGA KZN, expressed his
gratitude to the organisers of the event. He suggested that the crux of this engagement
would be to determine how to balance growth and development, taking into account the
movement of people.
Honourable MPL. Ms. N. Dube MEC - COGTA said that it is very important that we use this
particular platform for learning and sharing experiences amongst practitioners. She
explained that our cities are engines for economic growth. MEC Dube also expressed that
we need to determine how intermediary cities can assist us in achieving our millennium
development goals and sharing our experiences towards one national goal.
Session Two: Building an Understanding of Intermediary Cities: from International to
Southern Africa
Ms. Adele Hosken, from the Cities Alliance, presented on the organisation’s study on
Secondary Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. She gave insight on Cities Alliance’s history of
strengthening and promoting the role of Local Government and sustainable urbanisation;
emphasising that UCLG has been an instrumental member in driving this agenda. Ms Hosken
explained that Cities Alliance recognises the importance of Secondary Cities and that the
mechanisms to respond to the problems Secondary Cities face are not always appropriate.
The study is expected to develop the concept further.
Professor Torne, from CIMES, highlighted his involvement in research projects and studies
on secondary cities around the world. His main argument was that academics have
struggled to concretely define intermediary cities. However, he suggested that one can
determine a city’s ranking by looking at population, dimension, characteristics, culture,
services, diversity, creativity, geographical spectrum, resources and physical transformation.
The world’s rural population represents 49% of the world’s total population. If governments
neglect investment in intermediary cities, it would prevent further development of these
spaces. He argued that Africa has a number of intermediary cities with great development
potential. It would therefore be important to identify Intermediary Cities because we can
begin to undertaken strategic planning in anticipation of rapid urbanisation. Cities
essentially need to understand their characteristics, their shape and their profiles in order to
better plan for development. Prof Torne suggested that the CIMES study, at an international
level, recognises the huge potential of the intermediary cities throughout the world.
Mr Mbanga, from the South African Cities Network (SACN), spoke about the Secondary
Cities study being conducted by organisation. He explained that the SACN undertook the
study in order to determine the difference between ‘metropolitan municipalities and non-
metropolitan municipalities’. Mr Mbanga suggested that the concept of ‘differentiation’ has
gained a lot of traction in South Africa’s policy environment. He explained that SACN is
interested in differentiation for a number of reasons. Firstly because, we need to determine
how to make our society more inclusive; secondly, to find ways of ensuring that ‘towns’ or
‘small cities’ are continuously developing and lastly because our municipalities are not
facing the same challenges. It is therefore imperative that we ‘differentiate’ to sustain and
manage development. Mr Mbanga suggested that there is no clear cut definition for
Secondary Cities. Furthermore he argued that secondary Cities play a major role in relieving
the pressure off primary cities as they play a delivery role in surrounding regions or rural
hinterlands and not all secondary cities face the same challenges therefore may not need
the same response.
Short Responses from Local Government Associations in Africa: Mr. Charles Patsika
(UCLGA), Mr Nate Areseb (CEO ALAN Namibia), Mr. Charles Chunga (MALGA Malawi), Mr
Abel Manique (ANAMM)
This section summarises the big points that were conveyed by the representatives of the
Local Government Associations in Africa. Firstly, following the Afri-Cities Summit held by the
UCLGA in Dakar during December, Intermediary Cities became a key concept for further
research. What was also recognised is that the growth of African cities will not be stimulated
by economic activity but rather by the movement of people into cities. The issue is how
cities should respond to the increase of poor urban areas.
There is a need for reclassification of cities in order to respond to development and growth.
Action learning is important for learning cities and cities need to learn, reflect, and draw
lessons from each other’s experiences. The definition that is helpful in the African context is
the functionality of the Intermediary City. Functionality and role of the city is more
important than the population.
The key challenge is in understanding how cities should respond to the growth of poor
urban communities. Are cities able to learn the kind of challenges and experiences of each
other? A lot of training and education must be provided. We need to come up with a system
that allows cities to exchange ideas.
Learning Exchange Expectations and Table Discussions
During the table discussions, the groups were required to share their expectations of the
learning exchange. The facilitation team then grouped together the top six expectations:
o Defining and Understanding Intermediary Cities
o Strategic Planning and Land Management
o Increasing Rates and Revenue Collection
o Service Delivery
o Building Networks
o Improving Public Participation and Building Inclusive Cities
Session 3 - Deepening an Understanding of Intermediary Cities in KwaZulu Natal: Perspectives from Provincial Government and selected municipalities. Programme Director: Mr Thulani Bhengu, KZN COGTA An Overview on Planning and Intermediary Cities in KZN: Some Key Challenges and
Opportunities
Mr Frikkie Brooks, Commissioner KZN Planning Commission, began his presentation by
providing a broad overview on the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) for
KZN. Mr Brooks argued that it is difficult to define Intermediary Cities because they are
integrated with rural areas in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. Secondary cities in KZN are
areas that are characterised by spatial concentrations. There is a clear hierarchy of priority
intervention areas and they are important filters of the urbanisation process. These areas,
he said, form key linkages, promote spatial equity and facilitate the flow of goods and
services. The KZN Planning Commission is looking at establishing a Cities and Larger Towns
Network, recognising the importance of the hierarchy of cities.
Mr. Mava Ntanta, Director of Development Planning, KwaDukuza Municipality, provided
an overview of the city and the challenges in achieving Intermediary City Status.
He described the challenges and opportunities in the city, stating that the city has much to
offer; specifically in tourism. Its close proximity to the sea makes it a prime property
investment location; Its location also lends itself to investment as it is close to Dube Trade
Port and it is part of the planned ‘Aerotropolis’. The development challenges however,
include massive in-migration, lack of bulk infrastructure, and limited maintenance of existing
infrastructure, inadequate policy to guide development, service backlogs, an
underdeveloped public transport system and institutional issues. KwaDukuza Municipality
has delivered a substantial amount of housing, tourism is at its prime, and governance and
financial management has been fairly stable. The solutions will be flagged in the proposed
city development strategy and long term development plan.
Mr. Ketone Masange, Municipal Manager of Newcastle Municipality, provided an overview
of the City and the challenges facing the achievement of Intermediary City status. The City
of Newcastle, he argued, ‘commands a strategic location’ in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. It is
the main growth node and economic hub of the Amajuba District Municipality. The city acts
as a major inter-provincial transport corridor as its road and rail linkages connect
Johannesburg and Durban. It also services northern KZN and parts of Mpumalanga and The
Free State. Mr Masange highlighted that although Newcastle is abundant in resources such
as coal, commercial services and farmland, the city faces numerous challenges which
hamper its growth. The critical issues include an inadequate water supply, ageing
infrastructure, lack of funding, undiversified economic base, high difficulty in attracting
skilled personnel, lack of public participation and the inertia of past political instability.
There is a major difference between secondary cities and metros. Mr Masange suggested
that we are underestimating what is required. Newcastle’s strategic location and
considerable distance from both Durban and Johannesburg, gives way for further
development in and around the city.
Questions for Case Study Presenters
The participants were given the opportunity to pose questions on the case studies. Some of
the questions and comments included the following:
1. Do the Intermediary Cities have to focus more on innovation and being creative in
solving problems compared to large cities with bigger budgets? Does provincial
government encourage this?
2. Why don’t the municipalities consider the ‘twinning’ process?
3. What contribution does the private sector make to development?
4. Have any Land Reform issues been resolved?
5. What are Intermediary City views on how local government associations such as
UCLG can assist their respective municipalities?
Responses
1. KwaDukuza Municipality does consult with other municipality for technical support
2. Issues of twinning includes a range of stakeholders (including the private sector) and
the issues are diverse (culture, education and economic development). The twinning
arrangement only works if it is properly managed. Local Government associations
are very helpful when trying to make a twinning arrangement work. If it is not well
managed, it could have a negative impact.
3. Private sector developers assist in providing services
4. Land Reform issues are ongoing
5. KwaDukuza believes that continuous learning is essential in order to remain relevant
as a municipality.
Session 4 – Deepening an Understanding of Intermediary Cities: Identifying common
challenges and crafting creative responses
Table Discussions Responding to challenges in each of the Case Studies
The participants were requested to share the challenges that were experienced in each case
study area. The big challenges that were captured included the following:
o Revenue
o Spatial Planning
o Strategic partnerships
o Infrastructure
o Capacity building
o Citizen participation
o Governance
o Economic Development
o Environmental management
Summary and Closure UCLG Facilitator
A major finding from Day one was that the concept of ‘Intermediary Cities’ does not have a
standard definition. Presenters made the following suggestions with regard to the
definition:
o When determining whether a city is ‘intermediary’, one must primarily consider ‘the
role’ the city is playing.
o One can also determine a city’s ranking by looking at population, dimension,
characteristics, culture, services, diversity, creativity, geographical spectrum, resources
and physical transformation.
o Secondary Cities play a major role in relieving the pressure off primary cities; they play a
delivery role in surrounding regions or rural hinterlands and not all secondary cities face
the same challenges therefore may not need the same response.
o Secondary cities in KZN are areas that are characterised by spatial concentrations.
In the closing session, Ms Sara Hoeflich made suggestions for the Case Study Areas based on
the presentations and the question and answer session:
o The KwaDukuza city centre is not at all emphasised. It is imperative that the city centre
be upgraded and the linkage between KwaDukuza and Ballito be improved.
o The Municipalities need to have improved negotiation with the private sector and also
learn to bargain with the private sector.
o It is evident that disaster management is not in the best hands.
o The biggest challenge that was noted was that the municipalities need to address the
dysfunction in competencies with service delivery.
Day Two
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Session 5 – Applying the Urban Strategic Planning Lens to Intermediary Cities: An Overview
Ms. Sara Hoeflich, UCLG, Barcelona, the UCLG Programme Manager advised participants
that the emphasis of the intermediary cities concept should be based on the principles of
inclusivity, culture and economic development. Most African cities are characterised by a
legacy of colonialism. For instance, in Mozambique cities informality is located on the outer
edge of the inner city. In South Africa, as well, apartheid is well defined in all the cities.
Spatial integration is still a challenge for most African cities. Intermediary cities, therefore,
need to be conscious about these factors in their aspirations of being cities.
Session 5.1 – Strategic Planning, Partnerships and Inclusive Cities
Strategic Planning, Partnerships and Inclusive Cities Councillor Silvio Barros, the ex-Mayor of Maringa, Brazil, mentioned that people move to
cities to access goods and services. Intermediary cities need to provide an environment for
those services to thrive. Municipalities need comprehensive strategic planning for future
development in order to thrive. A strategic plan helps to build and enhance partnerships,
whilst improving transparency and confidence in local government. Maringa developed a
strategic plan and committed to promoting sustainable social and economic development
through articulated interaction between organized society and the public sector. It is
important to plan because cities are affected by external factors such recession, the global
market, strong Chinese investments and so on.
Intermediary cities need to be created in such a way that people are happy, enjoy economic
growth, and is safe, innovative, has a good fiscal management, lowest rate payment default,
and reduced unemployment.
Mr. Costly Chanza, an Urban Planner from the City of Blantyre, Malawi, shared with the
participants a brief background of Blantyre and Malawi at large. Malawi has strong linkages
with the neighbouring countries (particularly Mozambique) and this has positive spinoffs for
the future economic development of the region.
At least four cities in Malawi have benefitted from mentorship programmes with South
African metropolitan municipalities. Cities in Malawi are defined in terms of a six tier
hierarchy of centres. The strategic planning process in Blantyre is a product of strong
partnership arrangements with a number of stakeholders. The city has been faced by a
number of challenges common in most African cities. However, the development of a
strategic plan is assisting and as a result the city has a number of planned development
related activities. Cities must continuously learn from each other and review their strategic
plans based on new experiences.
During the plenary session, questions were raised and deliberations ensued. It was noted
that economic development can only be realised through linkages with other economic
centres and nodes. The national economic framework and fiscal management has an impact
on the development of intermediary cities. Governments need to develop policies that
ensure that intermediary cities take advantage of their potential to grow. Carefully crafted
policies and incentives assist in improving economic conditions and create room for
prosperous development. Any strategic plan should be driven by the need for innovation
and ICT.
Plenary Questions and Discussion
The participants were given the opportunity to pose some questions to presenters. Some of
the comments and questions included the following:
1. Before these plans were introduced you had major problems in the city. Did you
attract economic development which led to an inclusive government, or was it an
inclusive government that lead to economic development?
2. What is the essence of the eco strategy?
3. What national influence exists from higher level of governments?
Response:
The city of Maringa vaccinated strategic projects from political discontinuity. Also the
national domestic market provides the necessary environment to stimulate economic
growth. There is an impact of national government but to large extent intermediary cities
run themselves.
Session 5.2 – Setting priorities and making choices: balancing the priorities of servicing backlogs versus economic growth Setting priorities and making Choices: Balancing the priorities of Servicing Backlogs versus
Economic Growth
Dr Ajiv Maharaj, Deputy Head: Economic development from eThekwini Municipality,
South Africa shared his belief in that intermediary cities should be about balancing assets,
economic development, social backlogs and financial management as well as governance.
There are four important aspects in financial management, namely, planning, expenditure,
revenue, capacity, budgeting and control systems, policies and political will. Most South
African intermediary cities are facing some serious financial management challenges. In
terms of asset maintenance and social backlogs, they are experiencing consequences of
poor maintenance, social spending is escalating and there is no clear understanding of
backlogs and plan to address the backlogs.
Intermediary cities need tools and models that will assist to align City investment with
strategic agenda and understand the implications thereof. These models will help
intermediary cities maximize grant funding, economic spend and realize their vision.
Mr. Richard Hara, CEO City of Lilongwe, Malawi also shared his belief that municipalities
need to review their vision statements so that they can give meaning and direction. It is
important for intermediary cities to manage backlogs whilst ensuring economic
development. In order to ensure that intermediary cities become successful, they need to
form partnerships and have an integrated plan with other cities.
Mr. Sipho Ndlovu, a Senior Programme Manager at ILO, gave us an ILO perspective to the
subject matter. South African cities are faced by service delivery protests and challenges.
ILO was particularly encouraged by the participant’s quest to improve community
participation, and particularly the workers. ILO facilitates the promotion of decent work and
productive employment.
Economic growth is essential but needs to be inclusive whilst on the other hand social
dialogue is critical in governance. Intermediary Cities are part of the bigger picture and
therefore their plans should be aligned to the National Development Plan. The NDP has
clear targets and sectors that need to be promoted. Each intermediary city needs to
contribute to the NDP focusing on employment creation and this will build the local
economy and address the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
Mr Arnoldo Monteiro, form the Maputo City, Mozambique Council referred to local
informal markets as the cornerstone to building a local economy. Intermediary cities need
to create space for the informal economy to grow and contribute to the macro economy.
Cities should be prepared to learn from each other. Mozambique for instance is
experiencing rapid growth as a result of the mining industry. More and more opportunities
are being identified by the informal economy.
African cities, like Maputo, come from a history of colonialism and hence need capacity
building of the highest level to be able to compare favourably with other cities and
countries.
Table Discussions and World Café How can strategic planning be inclusive?
1) How can our strategic planning process help build stronger partnerships for stronger
intermediary cities?
Response:
o Mutual owned sustainability
o Focuses the city (make choices but choices are hard)
o Makes good sense: good planning principle
o Need for single vision at the national, provincial and local government level
o Building relationships is vital
o Shared power in decision making
o Community consultation to inform planning
o Balance economic growth and service delivery
o Courage to share power will enable us to invite others
o Need to get the private sector involved for public private partnerships to influence/ benefit
local government delivery
o If partnership owns plans, plans are likely to survive change of government.
o Partnership needs to have an agreed common agenda
2) Setting priorities and making choices balancing the priorities of service backlogs vs economic
growth
Response:
o Transparency in relation to procurement
o Need to look at investment/ strategy infrastructure instead of looking at short term
projects
o Difficult balancing act
o Partnership important to bring additional budgets and skills and capacity
o Analysis of what is important (priorities)
o Checking on your economic drivers
o The role of regions in terms of their sustainability (strength)
o Transparency in relation to procurement
o Infrastructure for attracting investors
o Need to look maintenance
o Look at densification
o Multiyear planning
Session 5.3 Tools for Managing Sustainability and Growth
1. Spatial planning and land management response 2. Infrastructure planning response 3. Environmental Management and climate change response
Tools for Managing Sustainability and Growth The focus of this session was to receive responses related to spatial planning and land
management; infrastructure planning; and environmental management and Climate
Change.
Dr. Debra Roberts, Head of Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Unit, from
eThekwini Municipality noted that intermediary cities are very broad ranging and opted to
focus on the environment and climate change. She noted that environmental management
is very “urban blind”. Rapid urbanisation in the next 40 years will result in serious
environmental challenges. Climate change will be very evident and will impact seriously on
infrastructure development. There are monstrous changes in climate, and Africa will be
affected the most. There is already evidence of increasing temperatures, rising sea levels,
frequent storms, high rain fall, and drought.
In the future, as a result of massive urbanisation, intermediary cities must be prepared to
mitigate and adapt to climate change. African cities are urbanising rapidly and have the
most vulnerable people that need to be considered in terms of service delivery. Although
Intermediary Cities are contributing less to climate change emissions, they will be affected
the most.
Local government internationally has committed to climate change adaptation charters,
including Durban. There is a need for more learning exchanges around the subject matter so
that we can create networks between cities. These exchanges will influence government to
change policy and create an enabling environment to deal with climate change.
To address water scarcity, for example, we need to relook at water catchment areas and
their abilities to provide wider areas as opposed to developing more dams. The problem
with alternative energy is seen as a second level of service delivery, and communities have
not yet embraced them.
Mr. Marco Swarts from Swakopmund Municipality, Namibia, reiterated the importance of
Intermediary Cities being able to deal with climate change. The fundamental problems
among the Intermediary Cities are arguably the same. Namibia has low population figures
and that could be seen as a challenge because the country is vast. In Swakopmund, beach
developments are heavily regulated. The biggest challenge is to provide housing
development, water, waste collection and so on. Development needs to be undertaken
gradually.
Plenary Questions and Discussion
Questions
1. Water scarcity
Response: Neil McLeod is doing leading research in this area. The issue is being tackled innovatively through ecosystem management.
Day Three
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Programme Director for Day 3, Ms. Jacquie Subban (Head of eThekwini Municipality’s
Geographical Information and Policy Office) introduced the speakers and subject for Day 3.
Session Seven - Income, budgeting and performance management: mobilising finances for
viable intermediary cities & building performance management systems to sustain them.
Mr. Carl Stroud from National Treasury, South Africa, provided a background on National
Treasury in relation to local government. Rural municipalities, he noted, are battling with
service delivery challenges, hence they demand more funding. Treasury supports the
differentiation approach because it suggests that each category of municipalities can be
dealt with according to their needs. However, it is Treausry’s prerogative to influence local
government financial and non financial accountability.
Budgeting and monitoring is critical in the financial management of municipalities.
Benchmarking is also very important aspect for differentiating between municipalities.
Municipalities are able to see how credible their plans are against others. Local
governement is a business because they sell goods and services, and they have revenue to
collect. A fair share of municipalities pose an institutional risk when it comes to their
finances, and this is a serious challenge. There are a number of benchmarking tools that can
be used.
Despite the economic climate, Treasury can foresee growth of at least 4% year on year in
South Africa, which is a good outlook for intermediary cities. Funding sources (i.e. internally
and externally) are very important for cities. A mixture of funding sources is more desirable
and this can be substantiated with grant funding from Treasury. Stroud concluded by
highlighting that community needs and wants are different. Municipalities need to review
their revenue choices and collection. Service delivery needs to be managed properly in
order to actualise it.
Katia Lima, from the Participatory Budgeting Network, City of Guarulhos, Brazil, began her
presentation by providing the broader context of the City of Guarulhos. The city is located
within the Brazilian State, Sao Paulo; which holds a number of intermediary cities.
Guarulhos faces challenges building the city and ensuring sustainable development. The city
plans are aligned to national government priorities. Biggest challenge in the city is the
shortage of water and housing, which impacts directly on the livelihood of the people.
It is important to work with local people, especially during the budget cycle. The city of Sao
Paulo has a four year budget and local communities are involved in the process of compiling
a budget as well as its reviews and implementation. All our projects are carefully selected to
ensure that they address holistic outcomes. Women and youth are targeted in budget
deliberations and discussions to ensure maximum involvement. It is important to get regular
feedback from the elected officials. It is also important to know how the community
functions, what organisations are operating in the area, and so on. Community information
allows the city to make informed decisions. Public participates in the budgeting process.
The city of Guarulhos plans according to the government strategy. Central laws give the
public the courage and opportunity for participation. It is imperative to work with the public
to achieve the city’s goals. Funding is acquired through local taxes. The results from the
participation process are taken to the central govt in Brazil.
Mr. Emidio Sibinde City of Dondo, Mozambique, indicated that the city’s planning is not
perfect at present but the city is working hard to learn from other municipalities on how to
execute service delivery. Strategic planning is important for budgeting. Intermediary cities
need to take cognisance of global events. There are laws governing budgeting. Protecting
assets is important for service delivery.
Quiz the Panellists: Open Question & Debate Session:
To Katia - What is the structure of the government in Sao Paulo?
To Stroud – Why haven’t you included SDBIP in diagram?
To Katia – Would like to know if there are any resources from the case study?
To Stroud – How do you describe accountability? Are communities ever accountable?
Response: Stroud
Treasury does not just monitor the information; a lot of research is done. All municipal
budgets are assessed before they are approved. Local Government is accountable in terms
of performance. Grant structures are reformed on a regular basis. Treasury has
institutionalised long term financial monitoring. Long term planning in terms of Integrated
Development Planning is critical for municipality’s success. National treasury feels strongly
that municipality’s performance needs to be in the public domain.
Response: Lima
We elect people from the communities to give opinions and report back to communities.
We also have councillors that report back on day to day operations. We work with Public
Works in this particular city. When it comes to the promises that we fulfil, the people that
have been elected are able to explain to the public what has been achieved or why certain
issues have not been achieved. The government structure goes hand in hand with the
constitution of the country (built in 1998). We are guided by the government when it comes
to education, security systems, health and safety. Education is our major target that we
want to deliver to the people. We work hard in order to demonstrate the importance of
education all the way to university.
Question to C Stroud: is there an active discussion with the local government. Response:
There are participatory discussions with local government and are against a big brother role.
Question: In the diagram you show the different strategies. Why you haven’t included the
capital budgeting. Response: Institutionalised long term financial modelling. So we aren’t
looking only at 3 year time frames. How to structure your long term budgeting. It is key to
allocate resources strategically. It is important to get political by-in.
KL: Each region where people are located they work with municipal regions also have local
councillors that are responsible to report back to the communities. They report back to
municipal officials to. They also work with public works. Working together with the local
council. We do want to fulfil a certain promise, and explain why that didn’t happen. Explain
that there is a long process. The government structure goes hand in hand with the
constitution.
SB: our planning at this moment is not perfect. But we are working on learning how to
execute the requirements. We are talking to the community on what their needs are and
how we can achieve them. MDB Development of the locations, where the leader is choses
with his/her secretariat. Also we have a system of open presidency.
Carl
Growing the economic base and backlogs?
Questions on the Brazilian experience: Are the processes regulated by law, business,
academia and civil society?
Show a representation, the structures are not far from how we operate, we have goals of
what to reach in terms of health and education.
The funds from government, private sector and contribution coming from government
sector.
Question: is there anything regulating consultations. Use a municipal department, which
responds to the grievance, they don’t have consultation with the private sector.
Managing of revenue streams. Are the revenues being collected efficiently? In creating
vibrant cities, raise money due to the municipality. Municipalities need to bill accurately and
to collect the money due to them. Metros protect their revenue streams through rates and
taxes.
The ability to raise revenue is present but there is differentiation. Backlogs indicate where
treasury must place its efforts.
Session Eight – Moving the Intermediary Cities Agenda forward in Southern Africa: Towards
a Road Map UCLG USP Secretariat, UCLGA SARO
Questions, Answers, Comments
The most important aspect is to determine what kinds of plans we can put in motion to
interact with our colleagues from international countries. The concept of intermediary cities
is a new concept. A suggestion is to improve the outcome. In order for people to take back
as much info as possible, presenters should be given more details on how to present the
information. Presenters would appreciate more detailed outline on how to make their
presentations, what information to submit for delegates. Going forward we must avoid
chasing a programme and rather chase content. Time constraints prevented delegates from
interacting with the content. Going forward, UCLG must consider a foreign opportunity for
intermediary cities and how to can they make use of their competitive edge. The tour of
KwaDukuza gave a great deal of information to delegates.
Definition – Intermediary Cities. We may need to speak about the definition. Can they be
called ‘intermediary’?
What is our technology going to look like in 20yrs time? Did not see that coming out clearly
in this presentation. Times are changing so rapidly. We need to consider where our cities
will be in the future? Suggestion for delegates to visit spaces in the city during the
programme. The programme needs additional funding to include a range of site visits.
We should not limit ourselves to community participation, rather apply public participation.
There needs to be some kind of principle position. It would be smart for us to determine
how we position ourselves. From the presentations, it was proposed that we create 3 / 4
thematic areas.
The fact that we were able to do a field trip before the conference was extremely
important. We should allocate time for a field trip to show how it varies from country to
country. International speakers must be prepared to get their msg across in 15 minutes. Yes
it would be advisable to talk about sustainability. Our business is public mgt. Sustainability
affects what we do and should be integrated in every learning experience.
ROADMAP
Comment + Questions + Responses
At SALGA, we support the engagement principle. Jacquie suggests that municipalities or
SALGA lead the engagement process. SALGA will play a role if the process is led by
municipality. What could be done by province to grow, assist municipalities. MEC suggested
that after the world urban forum, it would be very important to maintain communication
with KZN towns and other SA towns. The learning experience at the workshop should try to
permeate other regions in Africa.
Post 2012 the United Nations needs to know which direction to take. One of the major
issues with this is the delivery of basic services (mostly water). Where there are
municipalities involved, water is delivered a lot more effectively. Very few countries have
electricity delivered to them by the municipality. 70% of eThekwini municipality’s public
trans is via mini bus taxi. Sharing experience is essential in our developing context.
UCLG has opened a chapter for regional governance and perhaps COGTA can take
advantage of that and become a member. UCLG has adopted the approach of
decentralisation in its operation and the entities operate independently. The overall
objective of UCLG is to influence and lobby urban policy. UCLG is a representative of local
government and is fast becoming a source of local government information. In summary,
UCLG focuses on the following areas:
o Represent local government
o Inform and lobby on local government reality
o Report on social inclusion and participatory budgeting
o Platform for exchange of experience of cities, regions, and associations
o The UCLG committee on urban strategic planning has a clear learning agenda
o Nurture cities, associations and regions on Millennium Development goals.
Session Nine: Wrap Up, Evaluation and Closure Vote Of Thanks
Concept of intermediary cities needs to be embraced and in a way implemented in order to
alleviate challenges that are faced by metropolitan cities. MILE, UCLG and COGTA needs to
take the strategic planning of intermediary cities forward. For future, learning exchanges on
Intermediary Cities should include other similar sized cities. The concept of Intermediary
Cities has an urban bias, and most of our cities have rural areas. Public participation is much
broader than community participation. Study visits are crucial in order to get a better
understanding of the areas. “Environmental aspects are only one category of
sustainability…there are other aspects…it should therefore be understood in the broader
context…” Cllr. Silvio Barros
Way forward:
o SALGA will engage with all municipalities categorised as intermediary cities for future
dialogue on the subject matter.
o COGTA will deal with seven municipalities (52% population and 85% GDP) on a
differentiated approach by focusing on development pressure and so on continuous
basis. COGTA will also undertake research on intermediary cities.
o ALAN has commenced with considerations and will take it to the next level. There are
learning exchanges planned in Swartkopmund to replicate MILE.
o ILO views the implementation of the intermediary cities concept as an opportunity for
inclusive participation in economic development. The informal sector needs special
consideration so that it is not excluded from processes.
o UCLGA values learning experiences because cities are learning and getting new ideas.
UCLGA wants to spread and strengthen Institutes, associations and municipalities
throughout Africa. UCLGA is striving to get generic solutions for local government. The
learning exchange experience should permeate other regions.
Vote of Thanks
The session has been extremely useful. It is important for cities to engage on a continuous
basis. Cities need to talk to each other. Associations need to facilitate these sessions and
speak across boundaries. There are high expectations that UCLGA will be at the forefront to
take African cities to the world.
Input by Dr Michael Sutcliffe on the Gold Report:
UCLG brings together local government associations. Every three years, UCLG works on a
theme based on the UNs resolutions. The current theme revolves around the delivery of
services. Cities are struggling with the delivery of water, sanitation, electricity, solid waste
removal and disposal, public transport and roads. Intermediary cities are growing at an
extremely fast place. The Gold Report outlines access to services in the various cities and
how those services are delivered. Leaders need to recognise the importance of local
government in the delivery of basic services. Where local government is empowered in
terms of powers and functions and resources, they have the ability to deliver. UCLG would
like input and contributions from the cities and perhaps they can be used as case studies on
the report.
Cllr. Rehman Afzul Mayor Newcastle Municipality
INPUT FROM NCAMSILE TO GO HERE
Action Plans
Lots of learning to assist develop urban development framework for South Africa – IUDF
(integrated urban dev. Framework)
SALGA facilitate more of learning exchanges
Importance of public participation including on budgeting, cornerstone of democracy
Need to recognise differentiation factor, each city/ type has own peculiarities
Include the markets in strategic integrated planning
Striking the balance between long- medium-short term demands
Learning among IC’s and from metros both nationally and internationally
Inclusive participation (how to involve stakeholders)
Dealing with critical but unassigned functions: IC’s have to innovate
How to plan and manage informality in cities
IC’s must also focus on unemployment
Transparency in budget process. Lessons learnt from Maringa
Listening policy with communities
Vision building processes bottom up like Maringa
To advocate (as a local government association) to national government
More differentiated support to intermediary cities
To create awareness, educate, change mindsets to accept work and implement strategic
planning
Willing to engage across boundaries (regional integration) to enhance effectiveness of
planning
Will improve on targeted mechanisms/ strategies for participation of the unengaged
Sell the concept of vaccination of project from disease political discontinuity PRPV- Party
Resistant Project Vaccination. Signed agreements between parties
Importance of long term planning for IC’s
Stakeholder re-orientation and mobilisation to play active roles in visioning and
implementation strategic agenda to build sustainable ICs
Community driven planning and budgeting
Strict budgetary and financial planning linked to ICs functions and roles
Full understanding of strategic planning, i.e short, medium and long term implementation
and evaluation thereof
Community driven initiatives, such as funding for SMME’s etc
Institute proper financial controls
Address the issue of climate change
To hold politician responsible “social contract”
Importance of long term planning
Provide containers for traders
Start taxing informal traders in Maputo
Review policy on informal trading
Focus on IC is not on the size but the role of function of the municipality
Partnerships are crucial for development and sustainability (infrastructure development/
partnerships)
Strategic planning must be inclusive
Education of the population by the population the
Selves on revenue management
Development implementation plans between different levels of planning should include
climate change
For success people are included for them should be to value and support instead of
sabotaging
Common understanding of IC’s underpinned by principle of differentiation based on local
knowledge
The need to rework at effectiveness, efficiency and relevance of city. Partnerships to
maximise value add
Find the relevant balance between ecosystems based service delivery and hard
infrastructure
Need for stronger partnerships
Need for strong political will
Challenges are the same but no single solution
Recognise that there is a shared responsibility for cities in a region. Not just partial response.
The courage and value to share power
Knowledge gap for intermediary cities
Concept will give nuanced new imperatives to IC planning and implementation
Concept of IC strategic role identified
The role of IC your migration. Especially for local government and associations to advocate
more support to IC’s
The need for innovation and there is room for innovation. IC’s always have to innovate
The importance of planning for cities. Strategic planning key for success
Culture and regulatory environments are different and have impact on solutions proposed
Relevance of climate change
Strategic relevance of intermediary cities
Organisational culture needs to be improved. This can be assisted by consulting with all
stakeholders. The importance of planning today for the future.
Value and importance of sharing experiences and expectations to take back to
municipalities
Request for further platforms for future discussions, certain fundamentals that are cross
cutting. However need to focus in on what it means for intermediary cities
Reminder of value and necessity of political commitment of strategic planning
