Cities Alliance Annual Report 2018

Bangladesh
A final workshop was held in Dhaka to conclude Campaign City activities for two
cities, Narayanganj and Sylhet, in November 2018. Both cities presented their action
plans for the respective priority areas identified through the Campaign City process.
Narayanganj chose to focus on providing key services to women workers in the
garment industry, including a women’s centre and digital centres to help them pay
taxes, among other necessities.
Sylhet prioritised medical waste management, in the hopes of becoming a hub
for the medical industry in Bangladesh. The city has taken strong ownership of the
activities identified through the Campaign Cities initiative, and it is ready to commit
funding from its own budget for some of the activities, including for an incinerator
plant.
Ghana
In Ghana, the campaign city activities remain ongoing in two cities. The city of
Cape Coast is focusing on how improved solid waste management and sanitation
services can improve the tourism sector, while Agona Swedru is studying the local
agro-processing sector to see how facilities, support services and goods can be
improved to benefit local economies and strengthen regional value chains. The
JWP is currently undertaking household and business surveys in Cape Coast and
Agona Swedru to inform the local assessment report, which will eventually lead to
the formulation of policy recommendations and action plans.
In support of the campaign cities initiative in Ghana, UNCDF – a member of the
JWP – is developing and applying a diagnostic tool to support the cities with
modelling their local finances to get a clearer picture of their capacities to invest in
public goods and services. The diagnostics will be complemented by public-private
dialogues at the local and national level to improve the prospects for public and
private investment. The initiative will also be undertaken in Uganda and contribute
to a global knowledge product.
Uganda
The Campaign Cities initiative in Uganda was able to build on Gulu and Mbale,
two of the 14 secondary cities that were part of the Uganda Country programme.
With UNCDF as the main intermediary, both cities undertook local assessment
reports focused on local economic development and public space and land
management to identify which changes could be made at the local level, and
how public space could be used to promote equitable economic growth. Final
workshops were held in February to discuss and validate policy briefs and
recommendations.
As part of the activity, UNCDF produced a report for the two cities on the
management of public space and land. Land is recognised as a problematic issue
in Uganda, with overlapping land title systems, institutional fragmentation, weak
local government planning capacity and widespread land grabbing. The report put
the land issue in the context of urban development and the role of urban councils
in managing land and public space. It argued that without solving land problems,
it will be impossible to address the issue of sustainable cities in Uganda because
the population pressure on secondary cities is so tremendous. Unless action is
taken, both Campaign Cities will likely suffer from large gaps in access to public
space in the near future.
34 Cities Alliance