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USAID: From The American People

Bringing Fresh Water to the People - Click to read this story

Center for Environment

ACTIVITY DATA SHEET

PROGRAM: Central Programs
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improved management of urbanization in targeted areas, 934-002; IR 2.2 More effective local governments
STATUS: Continuing
PLANNED FY 2001 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $2,180,000 DA
PROPOSED FY 2002 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $1,830,000 DA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1999;    ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2008

Summary: Municipalities are critical points where government interacts on a daily basis with local residents. The effectiveness of city governments' provision of basic services, such as solid waste management, clean water, transportation and energy, as well as to be more transparent and accountable to their citizenry, is critical to economic growth. Good governance is also fundamental to improving living conditions of the urban poor. The impact of local governments largely depends on their institutional capacity and their relationship to central counterparts, private enterprise and civil society. USAID provides technical assistance, training, and transfer of U.S. know-how that enables partner countries to improve their ability to manage the urbanization process and the urban impact on climate. Global's Center for the Environment (the Center) helps to improve the living conditions of the urban poor by making city governments more effective managers, service providers and partners.

Key Results: Well-managed cities are engines for economic growth. Therefore, the Center has helped improve management of urban service delivery, promote private enterprise, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance disaster mitigation planning and response, and establish municipal associations in client countries and between U.S. cities and partner municipalities worldwide. For example, during FY 2000, municipalities throughout India were assisted in developing and institutionalizing modern financial management practices. In Poland, not only were the majority of its Local Government Partnership Program (LGPP) cities implementing best practices, but also an increasing number of non-targeted cities adopted them based on their exposure to the program. Finally, the Center's collaboration with the United States/Asia Environmental Partnership (USAEP) continues to pioneer the use of customer satisfaction surveys to capture citizens' comments on the quality of their water service.

Performance and Prospects: USAID focuses assistance on municipal governments and public-private partnerships for urban services by 1) improving financial management and investment decisions by city governments to make them more conducive to private investment and to stimulate economic growth; 2) Improving city government institutional capacity to plan and deliver appropriate municipal services and to make them more environmentally and climate friendly; 3) promoting transparency and reliability of intergovernmental transfers and revenue-sharing formulas for local public works; and 4) enhancing city government accountability by increasing public awareness, understanding, and participation in municipal budgetary planning, policy development, and delivery of urban services. Selected USAID achievements in these areas include:

  1. Urban Environmental Services Program: This program has helped strengthen the capacity of local governments and improve the system of partnership between public and private entities in Morocco. In turn, this work has led to the construction of infrastructure projects, such as the cutting-edge, full-service wastewater treatment facility in the Al Attaouia region benefiting 15,000 people. Local government officials have been further assisted through the dissemination of more than 2,000 "best practices" manuals in liquid waste management, environmental planning, and solid waste management.
  2. Local Government Partnership Program (LGPP): In Poland, this program facilitated capital improvement plans in thirty cities; provided demonstration impacts for 50 additional cities; implemented cost recovery of housing rents (heretofore offered free or at a highly subsidized rate) in several cities; and distributed LGPP's guide on innovative practices to 600 attendees at the National Mayors' Conference.
  3. Resource Cities partnership program and direct technical assistance: Municipal officials of Lusaka, Zambia were assisted by counterparts in Dayton, Ohio as they progressed through a complex and difficult process of developing new community investment initiatives. This approach helps support democracy in Zambia. Another partnership will pair Ann Arbor, Michigan with Cebu City in the Philippines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  4. Support of the City Managers' Association of Gujarat (CMAG): The CMAG is expected to elevate its role in the state as a technical resource for municipalities and strengthen the model of a state-level association for replication in other states throughout India.
  5. Final efforts under the Coordinated Local Environmental Action Network (CLEAN)-Urban activity in Indonesia: The significant achievements of this activity are an increased number of pilot municipalities adopting capital investment programs (from four in 1999 to six in 2000), and the development of national standards and manuals to guide the country's national application of Capital Investment Plans (CIPs) by all municipalities in Indonesia. Center managed advisors also helped in the drafting new decentralization laws, which set the framework for the major devolution of power and resources to local authorities planned in early May 2001.

Possible Adjustments to Plans: Under the guidance of the new Agency leadership and following the Agency's "Making Cities Work" strategy, in FY 2001 the Center will revise the strategic framework for this objective (934-002) including new targets and indicators.

Other Donor Programs: USAID works closely with the World Bank, regional and sub-regional development banks, and the ten largest bilateral donor countries on a broad agenda to coordinate technical assistance, policy dialogue, development finance and training programs. For instance, the Center, along with ten major donor countries, helped found the "Cities Alliance." This consultative group, spearheaded by the World Bank and the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements (UNCHS), coordinates donor support to fund slum improvement projects and implement city development strategies. The Center works closely with U.S. cities and municipal associations, and client country city governments as well as local and regional organizations, such as the Federation of Municipalities of Central America and the City Managers' Association of Gujarat (India).

Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: Abt Associates, Community Consulting International, the Cooperative Housing Foundation, Deloitte Touche, the Institute for Public-Private Partnerships, Inc., Inter-American Development Bank, the International City/County Management Association, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the National Association of Counties, the Planning and Development Collaborative, Inc., Price Waterhouse Coopers, the Research Triangle Institute, the Urban Institute, and the World Bank.

Selected Performance Measures:

Indicator FY97 (Actual) FY98 (Actual) FY99 (Actual) FY00 (Actual) FY01 (Plan) FY02 (Plan)
Indicator 1: Extent to which municipal services and other municipal functions are well managed financially in targeted areas, using annual- budgets, program-based budgets, performance reporting, and/or industry's benchmarking. 2.4 3.0 3.5 3.0 3.0 3.0
Indicator 2: Extent to which local governments are managing the delivery of urban services efficiently. 1.3 2.1 2.8 3.0 3.0 3.5
Indicator 3: Extent to which central/state policies, codes, and practices are implemented to facilitate autonomy in decision-making and revenue generation. 1.8 2.7 2.5 3.03.0 3.0
Indicator 4: Extent to which local governments officials are being trained in modern management practices. 1.6 2.0 2.5 2.8 3.0 3.3

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 on 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 on this indicator for each year. RUDO reports Each indicator has a set of four descriptive "stages." The stages describe the expected steps that occur along a continuum to achieve a given sub-intermediate result. Each RUDO identifies the stage at which its RUDO-funded and/or -managed activities are on the whole. The stages for each indicator were designed to allow for maximum flexibility for the field managers. G/ENV/UP has developed these indices in consultation with the RUDOs.
Indicator 3: IR The average score of those RUDOs who are reporting on this indicator for each year. RUDO reports Each indicator has a set of four descriptive "stages." The stages describe the expected steps that occur along a continuum to achieve a given sub-intermediate result. Each RUDO identifies the stage at which its RUDO-funded and/or -managed activities are on the whole. The stages for each indicator were designed to allow for maximum flexibility for the field managers. G/ENV/UP has developed these indices in consultation with the RUDOs.
Indicator 4: IR The average score of those RUDOs who are reporting on this indicator for each year. RUDO reports Each indicator has a set of four descriptive "stages." The stages describe the expected steps that occur along a continuum to achieve a given sub-intermediate result. Each RUDO identifies the stage at which its RUDO-funded and/or -managed activities are on the whole. The stages for each indicator were designed to allow for maximum flexibility for the field managers. G/ENV/UP has developed these indices in consultation with the RUDOs.

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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002