Submission of Proposals: Application Form
Please read carefully the "Guidelines for the Submission of Proposals" which outline the modalities for application and the criteria for the selection of proposals spelled out in the Cities Alliance Charter. Please ensure that all necessary supporting documentation is attached to this form. Additional information may also be enclosed, but total submission should not exceed 12 pages.
DATE: 14 January 2010
1. TITLE of PROPOSAL: Namibian City Development Strategies (CDS) Pilot
2. PROPOSAL SUBMITTED BY:
Name and Title: Ms. Rosina Hoabes, President
Organisation: Association for Local Authorities in Namibia (ALAN)
Address: PO Box 2721, Windhoek, Namibia
Telephone/Fax/E-mail: +264 61 240914 / +264 61 240929 /
Contact person for questions on the application:
Name and Title: Ms. Jennifer Kauapirura, Chief Executive Officer
Organisation: Association for Local Authorities in Namibia (ALAN)
Address: PO Box 2721, Windhoek, Namibia
Telephone/Fax/E-mail: +264 61 240914 / +264 61 240929 /
3. CITIES ALLIANCE MEMBER(S) SPONSORING THE APPLICATION:
Name and Title: Ms Elisabeth Gateau, Secretary General
Organization: United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
Address: carrer Avinyo 15, 08002 Barcelona
Contact Person: Sara Hoeflich de Duque, Programme Manager
Telephone/Fax/E-mail: +34 93 3428773 / +34 39 9428760 /
Name and Title: Mr. Tobias Gerster
Organisation: German Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
Address: PO Box 8016, Bachbrecht, Windhoek, Namibia
Telephone/Fax/E-mail: +264 61 222447 / +261 61 222427 /
4. RECIPIENT ORGANISATION: – organisation that will receive and execute the grant:
Task Manager Name & Title: Ms. Jennifer Kauapirura, Chief Executive Officer
Organisation: Association for Local Authorities in Namibia (ALAN)
Address: PO Box 2721, Windhoek, Namibia
Telephone/Fax/E-mail: +264 61 240914 / +264 61 240929 /
5. OTHER IMPLEMENTING PARTIES (if any):
Task Manager Name & Title: Carol Kardish, Regional Manager for Africa and the Middle East
Organization: International Centre for Municipal Development - Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)
Address: 24 Clarence Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 5P3, Canada
Telephone/Fax/E-mail: +001 613 241 5221 Ext. 280 / +001 613 241 7117 /
Task Manager Name & Title: Mr. Erastus Negonga, Permanent Secretary
Organization: Ministry of Regional & Local Government, Housing & Rural Development (MRLGHRD)
Address: Government Office Park, Luther Street, Private Bag 13289, Windhoek, Namibia
Telephone/Fax/E-mail: +264 61 2975180 / +264 61 258131 /
Task Manager Name & Title: Mr. Santos Joas, Executive Director
Organisation: The Urban Trust of Namibia (UTN)
Address: Private Bag 13291, Windhoek Namibia
Telephone/Fax/Email: +264 61 248708/10 / +264 61 248711 /
INFORMATION ON PROPOSED PROJECT:
6. Type of project (check one):
City Development Strategy_ü Slum Upgrading__ Both__
7. Geographic scope of project (specify):
City: ______
Country: Republic of Namibia
Global/Regional/Multi-country: ______
8. Expected duration: 18 months
BUDGET SUMMARY:
9. Amount of total budget requested from Cities Alliance funding: US Dollars $250,000.00
10. Co-financing amount of total budget, including local partners: US Dollars $50,000
11. Total project budget cost: US Dollars $300,000. 00
DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED PROJECT:
The proposed project aims to pilot a relevant and context-specific CDS process for Namibia that responds to the country’s various urban development challenges. Five local authorities have been chosen for the CDS pilot: Otjiwarongo, Omaruru, Karibib, Usakos, and Maltahöhe. These five local authorities will work in close co-operation with the Association for Local Authorities in Namibia (ALAN) and the Ministry of Regional, Local Government, Housing, and Rural Development (MRLGHRD) to execute the CDS process and evaluate whether CDS serves as an effective urban development instrument for Namibia.
The proposed project is innovative in that it seeks to enhance the development capacity of not just the participating local authorities, but also ALAN – Namibia’s local government association and key institution in urban development. Both ALAN and the MRLGHRD will be responsible for coordinating private and public sector players towards the development of the respective CDS processes for each individual local authority, while simultaneously addressing national level urban development issues that cut across the municipal boundaries of Namibia.
12. Background – issues to be addressed and scope of project[1]
12.1: Cities Alliance – World Bank Preparatory Study – In June 2007, Cities Alliance granted ALAN US$ 89,325 to support the preparation of this CDS funding proposal. The purpose of the grant was to undertake a preparatory study that would: (1) define the steps needed for Namibian CDS process; (2) develop and implement a selection process to identify pilot local authorities; (3) develop a <how-to> guide for the study phase of the CDS project; (4) run a CDS workshop; and (5) empower the community around governance issues and mobilize them in local government activities. All but one of these outputs – that is the <how-to> guide came to fruition. The steps needed for an effective Namibian CDS process have been identified and are outlined within this proposal below; a selection process has been developed and five local authorities chosen for the pilot; a CDS knowledge-sharing workshop took place with the five pilot local authorities and other key stakeholders in June 2008; and the local community has been mobilized to participate in local government through various Local Economic Development (LED) activities. The LED activities that took place resulted in surveys with local businesses and subsequent reports on the current state of local economic development in each of the pilot local authorities. The development of the “how-to” manual is now slated to be completed in the early stages of the pilot project (see Activity 1.1).
The preparatory study was an opportunity to remediate bottlenecks in local planning activities, related to Namibia’s recent and still on-going decentralization process. ALAN will encourage local authorities to act on lessons learnt and undergo pragmatic CDS processes. The role of ALAN will be focused on strengthening inter-regional relations and emphasize the need to increase local authority’s decision-making power through both capacity building and resource allocation. ALAN has developed a solid relationship with the MRLGHRD during the preparatory stage and it will continue to be fostered during the pilot to ensure CDS processes are efficient, effective, and legitimate.
12.2: Urban Governance in Namibia – Namibian has a 3-tier government structure: Central Government comprised of several ministries and departments; 13 regional councils; and 56 local authorities made up of three categories of local governments: municipalities (Part I and Part II), town councils, and village councils. The Local Authorities Act (1992) provides for the determination and establishment of councils; qualifications and election of councillors, management committees of councils; administrative management powers, duties, functions, rights, and obligations of councils; and financial matters. Namibia’s cities, towns, and villages are responsible for the provision, operation and maintenance of most municipal infrastructure including roads, drainage, water supply, sewerage, street lighting, and solid waste management. While some local governments in Namibia have developed local level policy and regulatory instruments to help govern these functions, many lack of resources, both in terms of monetary funds and institutional capacity, required to effectively execute their municipal responsibilities.
In 1996, Central Government through the MRLGHRD adopted a decentralization policy. A series of new laws have since been introduced, most notably the Decentralization Enabling Act (2000). Decentralization in the Namibian context is defined as the delegation and devolution of functions, resources, and authority from Central Government to regional councils and local authorities, within the framework of a unitary state.[2] So far, those functions decentralized to local governments have been done so without the necessary fiscal resources. Current local government financing is ad hoc, except for village councils who almost on an annual basis are in receipt of financing for their budgets. Support for local authorities from the MRLGHRD occurs as reactive bailouts instead of proactive structured transfers (subsidies) to sub-national levels of government. Nine years on since the enabling legislation was promulgated, the decentralisation process is slow due lack of cooperation from ministries, lack of staff and resources across the board, and the complexity of the policy itself.
Central Government has several national strategic frameworks in place to guide development processes and implementing economic and social programmes. The overarching document is Vision 2030, which aims to transform Namibia from a middle income country to a highly developed nation by 2030. The vision consists of eight thematic reports on: inequality and social welfare; peace and political stability; human resources development and institutional capacity building; macroeconomic issues; population, health, and development; natural resource sectors; knowledge, information, and technology; and the environment. The Third National Development Plan or NDP3, is the five year development plan of Central Government which Namibia should achieve by 2012. It is a systematic step to translate long-term development plans such as Vision 2030, into goals, roles, indicators, and targets to achieve identified results. NDP3 emphasizes the importance of monitoring, reporting, and evaluation at all levels, including local government.
12.3: Namibia’s Key Urban Development Challenges – Namibia borders the Atlantic Ocean in southwest Africa and covers over 800,000 km2. It has a population of approximately 1.8 million people (2001) and a population density of about two people per km2. Following independence from South Africa in 1990 and the subsequent end of the apartheid system of controlling the movement and settlement of people based on race, Namibia’s urban areas saw an increase in informal settlements. In-migration to urban areas is typically motivated by the search for employment and a better quality of life, fuelled by the degradation of soil and unsustainable farming practices in rural areas.
Namibia is one of the driest countries of the world and especially affected by global climate change. Both the Namib Desert and the Kalahari Desert form two-thirds of the country’s landmass, leaving Namibia drought endemic. Namibia’s natural resources fall into two categories: those important to the future growth of the economy (water, mining, fisheries, and wildlife) or those crucial to the livelihood of the country’s rural population (water, woodlands, grazing lands). Those resources essential to future growth are typically large-scale operations undertaken by the formal sector, and (with the exception of wildlife) are based in urban areas. Those sectors crucial to livelihood tend to be rural, small-scale, and informal. Namibia’s local level environmental problems are mostly related to water and affect about 65% of the population – mostly those who are the poorest. Income distribution is among the most unequal in the world, with 65% of wealth concentrated among 10% of the population.[3] Namibia’s Gini co-efficient (2005) stands at 0.707. Post-apartheid, stark economic disparities based on race remain. Namibia’s main economic sectors are mining, fisheries, fish and meat processing, and government services, although the economy is also driven by a growing tourism industry.
Development advances in Namibia are threatened by the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa. Namibia has the third highest per capital incidence of HIV in the world and one of the fastest growing infection rates. Nearly one-third of Namibians aged 15 to 49, are infected.[4] HIV/AIDS and other diseases such as malaria, contribute to income poverty of households by weakening the country’s most economically productive adults and children, and burdening households and communities with the cost of medical treatment and community care.
With growing urban poverty, most local authorities are faced with non-payment for services rendered. Also, due to the deregulation of core services (i.e. electricity distribution) local authorities have lost access to primary income-generators. In the face of such challenges, local authorities must depend on other revenue sources to ensure their medium-to-long-term sustainability. Without structured subsidies and improved Local Economic Development (LED) initiatives, most will struggle to deliver essential services, let alone invest in their outdated physical and social infrastructure. A general lack of skill and institutional capacity also affect both the short and long-term planning efforts of local governments. While partnerships between the three tiers of government are envisaged, inter-governmental co-operation is lacking with national and regional development plans not necessarily corresponding with local level needs.
12.4: Scope of the Project – The proposed project aims to harness the potential of CDS to help the pilot local authorities of: Otjiwarongo, Omaruru, Karibib, Usakos, and Maltahöhe address five important thematic areas of development (as identified in the Cities Alliance CDS guide):
;
12.4.1: Livelihood: Livelihood encompasses issues such as job creation, business start-ups and household incomes. CDS processes would be linked to improving the lot of the urban poor, particularly new migrants; making local authorities’ more economically competitive vis-à-vis similar localities; and improving access to relevant education and training, especially for the urban poor.
‘
12.4.2: Environmental Sustainability, Energy Efficiency, and Service Delivery: Given climate change, rising energy costs, frequency of natural disasters, and scarcity of freshwater sources – environmental sustainability and energy efficiency are key considerations for CDS. Energy and water costs can seriously impact a local authority’s competitiveness. Municipal service delivery would be considered in the CDS process in terms of geographic coverage, accessibility, affordability, and quality versus cost.
‘
12.4.3: Infrastructure and Spatial Form: The neglect of infrastructure investment can negatively impact a local authority’s economic performance and competitiveness. Infrastructure assessment and investment require careful deliberation in the proposed CDS process, particularly the trade-off between the accessibility and the affordability of service delivery (roads, water, sewage, public transport, etc…) and meeting economic objectives through capital investment in expressways, ports, airports, etc… CDS processes would consider spatial form in terms of three relationships: the link between urban form and energy efficiency; the link between municipal amenities/attractiveness and economic performance; and the importance of land tenure, availability and location when addressing informal settlements, slums, and new municipal lands.
‘
12.4.4: Financial Resources: The proposed CDS project assumes that an important role for local government is to mobilise financial resources, both from inside and outside the municipality, and from the public sector (e.g. national government funding), the private sector (e.g. national and multinational companies) and civil society sources (e.g. NGOs). CDS processes would focus on increasing the potential for local authorities to raise large amounts of capital by creating an enabling policy framework, proper marketing, promotion, and so forth.