Venice - March 11-12 1999
Concepts and Paradigms of Urban Management
in the Context of Developing Countries
|
|
International workshop Venice - March 11-12 1999 Concepts and Paradigms of Urban Management in the Context of Developing Countries |
|
Jopp de Wit and Monique Peltenburg (IHS - Urban Management Department)
"Information"
Introduction
It may be noted from the outset that the Dutch cooperation policy with DCs in the urban sector has only a fairly recent origin, and that it is also quite limited in terms of funds and scope. It was only in 1991 that the Ministry of Foreign Afaits recgnized the importance of urban issues and that a special section or programme 'Urban Poverty Alleviation' (UPA) was created in the ministry. Funds have only been quite limited; in 1997 the budget for Urban Poverty Alleviation was only 3% of the total aid budget.
The UPA programme initially focused on interventions aimed at directly improving the living conditions of the urban poor. Gradually there was a shift to activities which were aimed at the structural causes of urban poverty. The emphasises came to lay on generating income and work, improving the social and physical environment and rural-urban linkages. Following the Habitat Conference in Istanbul there is increasing attention for issues listed in the Habitat Agenda: community participation, public-private partnerships, and institutional development with a view to supporting good governance.
The number of programmes financed by The Netherlands is limited, due to the relatively small funds. Part of the UPA programme budget is applied bilaterally, and used for funding numerous programmes world wide. However, an unknown but considerable amount of money is used to support multilateral organisations, e.g. UNCHS, UNDP and World Bank. Examples are the UNCHS: Safer cities project, and the Urban Management Programme (by UNDP/UNCHS/WB).
Where Dutch development cooperation goes, an important development is that a new Minister for Development Cooperation has been installed. In the relatively short time in office, the minister has indicated to be planning quite ambitious changes in the way Dutch development policy is implemented, and to which countries it is provided. I will return to this below.
Even before this minister took office, there was an important chance in implementing development policy. As part of the so-called 'Hereiking', the planning and implementing development aid was decentralised from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs/ Development Cooperation to the Embassies in the various developing countries. Nowadays it is the embassies who control and spend most of the bilateral aid budget. This is mostly done by generalist civil servants, but involved are also specialists or 'Sector specialists' (there are only two such specialist out of 75 for the theme urban development). Civil servants in the Ministry in the Hague today manage less funds (mostly relating to world wide projects), but play a more advisory role as regards the embassies.
I may finally note that a considerable aid budget is available for Dutch International NGOs, e.g. Novib and Bilance. There are indications that the minister may be considering to change their role and way of operation.
Since the new Minister is developing many plans and floating many ideas, it is not certain just how things will develop. This also applies to the urban development sector. Various groups and agencies working on urban issues have advocated a strong and more prominent role for the Netherlands in the urban sector. The minister has subsequently convened a meeting with urban experts to be held on March 31 next to discuss the issue. The Themes to be discussed there are: Good Urban governance, income and employment, rural-urban linkages, urban environment and social habitat. Only after this meeting more may be known about the way things will develop.
1. Is there a particular feature of the Dutch cooperation policy with DCs in the urban sector, emphasis being put on urban management issues
As indicated, Dutch aid in the urban field has a strong focus on alleviating poverty. This is perhaps in contrast to other agencies which may attach great importance to institutional development. This is not so well developed in Dutch bilateral aid, but the new Minister attaches great value to issues of Good Governance. In this she is influenced by the World Bank report 'Assessing Aid' by David Dollar.
Relevant developments in the near future are:
The new minister is in the process of limiting the number of countries to which Dutch aid can be given. Aid is now given to perhaps 100 or more countries; this may be limited to about 20 countries. Criteria for selecting countries to be supported are the degree of good governance, the incidence of poverty, the demand of recipient countries.
The new minister is keen to start applying a sectoral approach, so as to enhance a more integrated approach, to further the ownership of recipient countries and institutions, to improve quality of aid and a achieve a larger impact.
Related to this the new minister intends to move from the present emphasis on the project approach to a programmatic approach; also more attention will be given to effect donor coordination, which is of course important in a sectoral approach.
This is perhaps the most relevant change expected, and the key question is whether urban development will be seen as a sector, and to what extent support will be given then to this sector. If this works out well, there is expected to be quite some attention for capacity building
It appears that the sector approach may lead to:
But again here, we cannot be sure how things will work out, what it means for the urban sector and for urban management issues.
It may be relevant to note that the Dutch International NGOs like Novib and Bilance, are presently also starting to become involved in project implementation - through Southern NGOs - in urban areas, after a long term almost exclusive focus on rural areas. It is not clear how the limitation of the number of countries will affect these NGOs; e.g. the question whether they will be expected to keep on working in those countries for which bilateral aid is no longer available.
2. Does this policy differ from that of other international institutions and aid agencies (WB and UN agencies) and from that of other Governments in Europe?
No, Dutch aid policy is very similar to the policies of the agencies mentioned.
Considering publications from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and statements made by the new minister, it is likely that Dutch Development Cooperation policy will be even more strongly linked to especially the policies of WB and UN Institutions. In particular, it is believed that the minister - who worked with the World Bank before - may be ready to cooperate closely with the Bank, but that she may attach more/great value to critically follow and evaluate the implementation and impact of Dutch supported WB programmes.
The Netherlands are committed to support international aid efforts and to support implementation of international agreements which has manifested itself in the declarations of international conferences, including Habitat II. This also applies to aid objectives for example as documented in 'Shaping the 21st century'
3. Do you anticipate - either in the medium or long terms - the emergence of a particular /original European cooperation policy with the DCs in the urban sector?
new minister appears to be quite critical about the aid policies of the European Union, and the application of EU funds. EU is now developing or rather strengthening a policy in the urvban sector, which may have implications for the use of EU funds.
is not clear whether this will result in European guidelines for development aid, and how this will effect EU member states.
seems certain that a particular EU cooperation policy with DCs in the urban will only take shape very slowly.