Municipal Development Program is launched in the province of Cabinda
Photo: A. Bird, USAID/Angola
The Municipal Development Program was launched in the province of Cabinda on January 31st 2007, at the Ministry of Finance. During the launch, Carol Thompson, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa at the U.S. State Department, Eunice Carvalho, General Manager for Policy, Government and Public Affairs at Chevron, and João Mesquita, Vice-Governor of Cabinda, spoke about the importance of this program for Cabinda and Angola.
This program is being implemented in the provinces Bié, Cabinda, Cuando Cubango, Huambo and Lunda Norte by a consortium led by CARE International, and includes Development Workshop and Save the Children, in association with the Ministry of Territorial Administration. A three year program, it is being co-financed by Chevron, Lazare Kaplan Inc, and USAID. Chevron will contribute USD $2 million, Lazare Kaplan Inc will contribute USD $1.5 million, and USAID will contribute USD $4.9 million.
The Municipal Development Program aims to strengthen participation at the grassroots level, by enabling municipal administrations to work more effectively with citizens to address local needs. It will allow local citizens' groups and municipal administrators to jointly plan, budget, implement, and monitor local development programs, and seeks to strengthen participatory democracy and serve as a model for local economic development in Angola.
Also critical to the success of the program, are the relationships formed with other similar initiatives. USAID, Chevron, and the consortium, are thus formalizing relationships with organizations such as the Fundo de Apoio Social (FAS), the European Union, and United Nations Development Program, to find innovative ways to collaborate. The experience gained through this program will contribute to the design of effective and long-lasting models that will help prepare the basis for the development of policies and projects for decentralization at national level.
