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Center for Environment
>> Return to Home Page >> Central Programs >> Global Programs >> Environment ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: Central Programs
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improved management of urbanization in targeted areas, 934-002; IR 2.1 Expanded and equitable delivery of urban environmental services and shelter
STATUS: Continuing
PLANNED FY 2001 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $1,820,000 DA
PROPOSED FY 2002 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $1,830,000 DA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1999; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2008Summary: Population increases have added to the pressures on the environment and have produced difficult management burdens for local government leaders. Decentralized responsibilities have been placed on city governments to deliver and manage a myriad of services, such as clean water, waste management, transportation and public health. The concentration of population growth in urban areas makes the expanded provision and proper management of these services critical to the long-term economic growth and security of developing nations. The urban activities within the Global Center for the Environment (the Center) seek to improve the living conditions of the urban poor by expanding the equitable delivery of environmental services and shelter. USAID provides technical assistance, training, and exchange of information, and promotes public-private partnerships that enable host countries to improve their ability to manage the urbanization process. Low-income urban residents, especially children, whose chance of survival is enhanced through access to clean water, sanitation and improved air quality, are the direct beneficiaries of USAID urban activities.
Key Results: Urban environmental degradation is a major constraint to economic growth. The Center has developed new approaches to reducing environmental degradation due to rapid urbanization, such as private enterprise-based mechanisms for financing urban environmental infrastructure as well as better management of pollution including greenhouse gases, sewerage or garbage. Critical focus areas include air quality, clean water, sanitation and shelter for vulnerable urban populations, especially for women and children. The Center also targets practices that save lives and prevent the spread of diseases, such as applying appropriate building technology, improving building codes, upgrading squatter settlements and community relocation from disaster-prone areas. These efforts, along with those of USAID's development partners, have improved the environmental quality, health, safety and economic potential of cities and the people who live there.
Performance and Prospects: USAID focuses its resources on the promotion of service delivery and shelter expansion for the poor through several approaches: 1) policy and regulatory reform that promotes access to urban services and shelter; 2) expanded financial resources available for investment in services and shelter; 3) an expanded private-sector role in service and shelter delivery; and 4) targeted approaches to provide services and shelter to low-income users. Also, USAID promotes the use of credit mechanisms to help leverage private capital investment that directly impacts the access of the urban poor to affordable basic shelter and environmental services through expanded shelter and service systems. These credit mechanisms allow the U.S. Government to share investment risks with host-country investors willing to pioneer improved urban shelter and service delivery systems. All of the approaches under this objective are designed to maximize impact through appropriate and equitable partnerships between the public and private sectors in creating cities with greater productive potential, reduced pollution, and which respond to basic citizens' needs.
In FY 2000, a total of 175,599 households were assisted with improved environmental infrastructure and shelter solutions. While this amount exceeds the target largely due to continuing outputs of existing credit program pipelines, the phase-out of the Agency's Urban Environmental (UE) Credit Program means results will increasingly be measured in terms of the growth of public-private partnerships.
Selected achievements include: 1) five municipalities in Morocco assisted in upgrading their capacity to manage solid waste; 2) about $100 million worth of bonds backed by residential leasing contracts in Chile going through the country's first such securitization. This lead the way towards accessing capital market financing for housing affordable to below median income households; 3) two new credit programs were negotiated in South Africa, leveraging $160 million in local currency urban development investment using only $2.3 million of USAID budget authority. These programs will bring shelter and municipal service improvements to over 712,000 historically disadvantaged households in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg over the next five years; and 4) the Center's work with nine urban centers in Indonesia's East and West Java. These centers completed Basic Urban Development Plans leading to the development of 26,000 urban environmental infrastructure projects. It is expected that more than 6.4 million person days of employment will be generated because of these small-scale projects benefiting poor urban communities.
Possible Adjustments to Plans: As a result of the phase-out of the Agency's Urban Environmental Credit Program and the adoption of the "Making Cities Work" (MCW) strategy, the Center is in the process of revising this strategic objective (934-002). Under guidance of new Agency leadership in FY2001, the Center will prepare a new strategic framework for this objective that will incorporate the MCW approach.
Other Donor Programs: USAID works closely with the World Bank, regional and sub-regional development banks, and the ten largest bilateral donor nations to promote sustainable approaches to the provision of urban services and shelter. USAID also works with a large variety of client-country, city-level government institutions, NGOs and private-enterprise organizations. The Center, along with ten major donor countries, helped found a multi-donor "Cities Alliance" spearheaded by the World Bank and United Nations Commission on Human Settlements, to coordinate donor funds promoting slum-upgrading and city development strategies. The Center also has an agreement with PLAN International's "Credit for Habitat" initiative to promote market-based home improvement loans for low-income families. PLAN has forged alliances with established micro-credit lending institutions in several countries to set up sustainable cutting-edge lending systems for low-income families to access credit for the first time.
Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: Abt Associates, Community Consulting International (CCI), International City/County Management Association, PLAN International, Planning and Development Collaborative, Inc., Research Triangle Institute, Urban Institute, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Institute for Public-Private Partnerships, National Association of Counties, Cooperative Housing Foundation, Center for Nations in Transition, Deloitte Touche, and Price Waterhouse Coopers.
Selected Performance Measures:
Indicator FY97 (Actual) FY98 (Actual) FY99 (Actual) FY00 (Actual) FY01 (Plan) FY02 (Plan) Indicator 1: Extent to which an integrated policy framework is in place and is used to guide the system whereby urban infrastructure is financed 2.3 2.6 3.0 3.0 TBD TBD Indicator 2: Timeliness and effectiveness in facilitating and managing the privatization process 2.0 2.5 2.7 2.6 TBD TBD Indicator 3: Degree of choice among appropriate financial mechanisms for municipal and other urban investments 1.9 2.7 3.0 2.8 TBD TBD Indicator 4: Level of financial sector and other involvement in municipal and urban infrastructure finance in targeted countries 1.6 1.9 2.3 2.7 TBD TBD Indicator 5: Total number of target households benefiting from improved urban environmental infrastructure and shelter solutions 528,570 506,085 273,905 175,599 TBD TBD Indicator Information
Indicator Level (S)or(IR) Unit of Measure Source Indicator Description Indicator 1: IR The average score of those RUDOs who are reporting this indicator for each year. RUDO reports Each indicator has a set of four descriptive "stages," which describe the progress towards a given sub-intermediate result. Each RUDO that reports on this particular indicator identifies the actual stage its RUDO-funded and/or -managed activities has reached and determines targets for future activities. The stages from all of the RUDO activities that report on this indicator are averaged to reach overall SSO stages, which are presented here. Indicator 2: IR The average score of those RUDOs who are reporting this indicator for each year. RUDO reports Each indicator has a set of four descriptive "stages," which describe the progress towards a given sub-intermediate result. Each RUDO that reports on this particular indicator identifies the actual stage its RUDO-funded and/or -managed activities has reached and determines targets for future activities. The stages from all of the RUDO activities that report on this indicator are averaged to reach overall SSO stages, which are presented here. Indicator 3: IR The average score of those RUDOs who are reporting this indicator for each year. RUDO reports Each indicator has a set of four descriptive "stages," which describe the progress towards a given sub-intermediate result. Each RUDO that reports on this particular indicator identifies the actual stage its RUDO-funded and/or -managed activities has reached and determines targets for future activities. The stages from all of the RUDO activities that report on this indicator are averaged to reach overall SSO stages, which are presented here. Indicator 4: IR The average score of those RUDOs who are reporting this indicator for each year. RUDO reports Each indicator has a set of four descriptive "stages," which describe the progress towards a given sub-intermediate result. Each RUDO that reports on this particular indicator identifies the actual stage its RUDO-funded and/or -managed activities has reached and determines targets for future activities. The stages from all of the RUDO activities that report on this indicator are averaged to reach overall SSO stages, which are presented here. Indicator 5: IR Target households RUDO reports Urban environmental infrastructure and shelter refers to any activities providing mortgages; small home loans; construction loans; and servicing of sites with water, sewage treatment, and/or solid waste disposal. Targets and actuals are highly dependent on eventual credit-subsidy levels and decisions and ability of countries to borrow (or request disbursements) in a given year. Hence, numbers chosen reflect expected disbursements of authorized loans only. Targets for FYs 1999-2001 begin to show the impact of the decline in UE authorization levels starting in FY96, $3.5 million in FY97, $3.1million in FY98, and $1.5 million in FY99.
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
