Abstract
According to the results of the development projects undertaken
during the last decades, on the basis of the neo-liberal approach,
it is widely accepted that their effectiveness has not reached satisfactory
levels.
The evaluation has often shown the reasons of this failure (in terms
of lack of cost recovery, limited size and scope of the development
projects, troubles in selecting proper target groups, lack of sustainability,
etc.) and the necessity of new approaches is commonly shared.
In order to avoid these project results and negative side effects,
the experts' practice has tried to develop some alternative options.
Among them, in the context of planning development project, the
role of local governments seems to have an increasing importance.
This, thanks to different reasons. First, the human resources belonging
to local government institutions are most of the time the only available
ones. Second, the development of the institutional framework instead
of giving priority to physical project options, can assure higher
performances in terms of project sustainability.
The European Union (and the DG Development with EuropeAid Co-operation
office in particular) is acting in this field with a methodological
approach which should enable local development and governance, and
should decrease, at the same time, a passive dependence of developing
countries on international aid. Nowadays, relations between the
European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states
are at a historic turning point. Ties with the ACP countries, governed
since 1975 by the regularly adapted and updated Lomé Convention,
are a particularly important aspect of the EU's development cooperation
policy and, more widely, of its external action. These ties have
been reinforced with the new EU-ACP agreement signed the 23rd of
June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin. Generally speaking, the partnership
is centred on the objective of reducing and eventually eradicating
poverty, but also on the objectives of sustainable development and
the gradual integration of the ACP countries into the world economy.
Based on the above principles, the EU supports realistic regional
economic integration initiatives among developing countries that
are consistent with national economic reform programmes. This support
usually comprises three interrelated areas:
1.capacity building (including technical assistance, training and
research) on the subject of regional economic integration at the
level of regional institutions and national governments;
2.assistance to the private sector to facilitate restructuring in
the larger regional and world market, including improvements in
the financial sector;
3.support to governments committed to implement regional integration
to help them cope with net transitional effects on budgetary resources
(balance of payments or budgetary support, complementary to national
economic adjustment support).
The paper presents a review of the general EU approach on urban
and regional planning issues in developing countries, with particular
reference to the reinforcement actions of the municipal board and
their governance effects. It is given a selection of EU development
projects - mostly done in partnership between Africa 70 (an Italian
ngo) and Iuav - and underlined the importance of working on urban
management capabilities, as a sustainability factor. The projects
which have been selected (in Cape Verde, Mauritania, Central African
Republic, etc.) are usually based on two components (training and
improving the municipal staff and testing its skills in some specific
pilot projects), but the municipality is always considered the main
target. A strong emphasis is given to the informal sector and to
the existent traditional leadership as local development resources.
The pivotal concept is based on a double assumption. First, a successful
planning development project has to be much more devoted to the
empowerment of urban management capabilities, instead of giving
priority to the infrastructural components of the project and its
cost recovery. Second, the ex post evaluation must be able to recognize
some side effects, trickle down benefits and intangibles, which
could let a project be successful even if the designed goals are
not reached. In this perspective, a development project could become
an opportunity to produce building capacity and human capital, much
more effective if the project can be adapted to the context modifications.
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