Cities Alliance Annual Report 2018

REGIONAL PROGRAMMES
Cities Alliance has two regional programmes, in Asia and Latin America and the
Caribbean (LAC). In 2018 both programmes focused on business development
and portfolio management, while the LAC programme also continued to support
ongoing activities in the region to support the implementation of the New Urban
Agenda.
Asia
The Asia programme in 2018 included portfolio management of the regional grant
for City Enabling Environment (CEE) ratings for countries in Asia and the Pacific, and
two grants in India: one on heritage cities with the World Bank and a second to the
Indian NGOs for Community Led Urban Development (INCLUDe) network.
The team closed four projects during the year: CEE ratings for countries in Asia
and the Pacific; Mapping the Untapped Communities in Yangon; Bangalore
Urban Metabolism Project (BUMP); and the CityWorks - Enhancing Incomes,
Empowerment and Opportunities for Domestic Workers project. Both BUMP and
the CityWorks projects were part of the Innovation Programme and are covered in
that section of this report.
The Cities Alliance Secretariat continues to support member and partner activities
in the region. Cities Alliance is a member of the steering committee for the seventh
Asia-Pacific Housing Forum, which will be held in Bangkok in September 2019 and
is organised by HFHI. The Secretariat was also on the jury for selection of proposals
from Indian smart cities under a challenge fund supported by AfD and the EU.
City Enabling Environment
Ratings assessment for Asia
At the World Urban Forum in Kuala
Lumpur in February 2018, City Enabling
Environment Rating: Assessment of the
Countries in Asia and the Pacific report was
soft released, and the feedback was used
to finalise the publication and close Cities
Alliance’s grant to United Cities and Local
Governments – Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC)
for the assessment.
This, the first CEE Report in Asia, assesses
the city and local government enabling
environment in 28 countries in Asia-
Pacific, taking the CEE Ratings approach
piloted by UCLGA and the Cities Alliance
in Africa and adapting it to the Asian
context. It helps local governments identify
and address gaps in policy, legal and
institutional frameworks that are impacting
their efficiency.
A rating is assigned to each country based on an in-depth qualitative assessment
using 11 criteria. The diagnostics highlight the progress, constraints and policy
options for effective decentralisation – information that helps local governments
improve their effectiveness in sustainable development and implement the New
Urban Agenda. For its part, the Asian publication introduced a gender indicator as
an innovation, subsequently adopted by the African 2018 edition.
The Asia report’s findings show that while countries generally have legal provisions
for cities to function with some level of independence, more must be done to
46 Cities Alliance