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258Towards safer and more secure citiesThe experience ofthe Safer CitiesProgramme to dateis that more cities invarious parts of theworld are signing upto it after its initialconcentration inAfrican citiesIt should also beremembered thatthe Safer Citiesapproach is not inthe territory of thequick fixIMPLICATIONS FOR THEUN-HABITAT SAFER CITIESPROGRAMMEThe experience of the Safer Cities Programme to date is thatmore cities in various parts of the world are signing up to itafter its initial concentration in African cities. 55 The availableevidence suggests that those cities that have chosen toparticipate in the programme have benefited from thatchoice, although this is not to say that their problems ofcrime and violence have all been successfully addressed. 56This gives rise to three kinds of challenges:• Can more cities that could benefit from involvement inthe programme be encouraged to choose to do so?• Is it possible to speed up the process in individual citiesso that more can be achieved quickly?• Are there any significant modifications to theprogramme that should be considered in the light ofaccumulated experience?These challenges are in some ways interrelated; but for easeof presentation, they will be discussed separately below.Continuing development of the programmeThere can be little doubt that the answer to the firstchallenge – will more cities benefit from this approach? –must, in the broadest sense, be ‘yes’. Reading the account ofthe cities that have already chosen to go along this pathsuggests that they are typical of many other cities that havenot done so; and as such, in principle, the same kinds ofbenefits that participating cities have obtained ought to beachievable in other cities as well. Of course, if cities do notbelieve that this is an appropriate model for addressing theirproblems of crime and violence, then that is a matter of theirchoice. Perhaps UN-Habitat could contribute to debates ofthis nature by promoting the benefits of the Safer CitiesProgramme more forcefully, particularly by using storiesfrom participating cities that demonstrate these benefits. Ofthemselves, such actions raise resource questions for theprogramme as a whole, and also for UN-Habitat in terms ofits role both in overall programme management and incontributing to individual city projects, especially in theirearly phases. This may be one area where the scale of internationalfinancial and practical support available could reallymake a difference.Can progress with individual Safer Citiesprogrammes be accelerated?The rate of progress with individual Safer Cities projectsdepends mainly upon the local situation. In some cases, thismeans that it is relatively slow, given that the pace at whichindividual city projects are able to proceed varies. This isundoubtedly related, in part, to capacity-building issuessince the capacity to deliver is one of the key factors in therate of local progress. This needs to be seen in the context ofthe problems being addressed, particularly where rates ofcrime and violence are high and/or growing. It also needs tobe related to the expectations of stakeholders, particularly towhat is needed to maintain their commitment, support andenthusiasm since these are vital ingredients of a successfulprocess. Thus, whether or not individual programmes aremoving fast enough really ought to be a local judgement.Nevertheless, there is scope for the individual cities thathave been moving slowly to learn from the cities that havebeen moving more quickly, and in order for this to happenthere is scope for developing existing experience-sharingarrangements.But it should also be remembered that the SaferCities approach is not in the territory of the quick fix.Rather, it is about gaining a thorough understanding of theproblem, working towards recognition of the importance ofgetting the right machinery in place, generating full andnecessary engagement with the process from all sectors, andbuilding capacity. It is also important that these things areproperly embedded within the working relationshipsbetween partners in order to ensure that beneficial change islong term. All of this is likely to take time, and since thechallenge each one poses will be different from one city toanother, it is likely that these time periods will also vary.While there is a prima facie case for speeding up the process,especially in cities where it has been slow, this should beseen in the context of the situation on the ground in individualcities, rather than by developing a standardized view ofwhat the pace of projects ought to be.Should the Safer Cities approach be adaptedin the light of experience?A useful starting point for considering this issue is byexamining the major problems that have been experienced,to date, in implementing strategies in Safer Cities projects.These are summarized in Box 10.5, which draws on theexperience of African cities since these are, as yet, the mostadvanced in utilizing the Safer Cities model. 57The first thing to note in Box 10.5 is that some of thepoints reflect the difficulties in making partnership modelswork, which are by no means unique to this programme.These issues about the experience of partnership have beendiscussed earlier; in particular, they have contributed to the‘checklist’ of ten groups of questions that should be askedabout partnerships, generated in the section on ‘Emergingpolicy trends’. It is also quite common to find that ‘process’issues in this area can be challenging. It is therefore notwholly surprising that some partnerships have struggled withtranslating broad goals into action plans. Similarly, it is not anuncommon experience that organizations sometimesmarginalize experimental or pilot projects, which they see aschallenging their traditional ways of doing things.Perhaps one way of addressing these ‘process’ issuesis to think about how Safer Cities partnerships mightthemselves be paired with partnerships in other parts of theworld that have relevant experience to offer, and which canhelp them to overcome some of these challenges by drawingon their own experiences and playing a mentoring role. Just