Annex C
STATEMENT ON DFID'S WORK WITH CITIES ALLIANCE
INTRODUCTION
1. The Cities Alliance is a global coalition
of cities and their development partners which provides matching
grants in support of slum upgrading and city development strategies.
Aims include promoting the positive impacts of urbanisation and
reducing urban poverty. It was launched in 1999 jointly by
United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT) and the
World Bank to help developing countries to address the growth
of slums and the long term health of their cities.
THE ROLE
OF CITIES
ALLIANCE
2. The work of the Cities Alliance is based
on the potential for urbanisation to address long term urban and
rural poverty. National and city governments are therefore encouraged
to devise strategies and policies to promote the benefits and
opportunities of urbanisation. This sometimes contradicts national
policy frameworks that hinder or distort urbanisation, as well
as a focus on rural poverty by many international development
agencies.
3. Working in poorer donor recipient countries
and through its members, the Cities Alliance offers support in
two main areas: (i) Assisting city and national governments on
slum upgrading programmes, and (ii) supporting long-term city
development strategies (CDS). The current 2008-10 strategy
emphasises a longer-term approaches that can be taken to scale.
Cities Alliance is aligned with the Paris Agenda for harmonisation
of efforts and the use of country or city delivery systems.
DFID'S PARTNERSHIP
WITH CITIES
ALLIANCE
4. DFID has worked with the Cities Alliance
in two significant programmes, namely the Community-Led Infrastructure
Finance Facility (CLIFF) and the Slum Upgrading Facility (SUF).
5. Established in 2002, CLIFF provides finance
to organisations representing the urban poor for housing and related
demonstration projects. The facility is active in India, Kenya
and the Philippines, with prospects for consolidation (especially
in Kenya) and further expansion. Donor funds are channelled through
Cities Alliance to Homeless International for a wide range of
agencies and to attract resources from other agencies.
6. Cities Alliance is seen as having expertise
that could help support the efforts of local CLIFF partners. This
includes, for example, a programme of targeted support to the
slum-dweller organisations in Nairobi, particularly their efforts
to undertake slum enumerations and mapping, building on support
being offered by the University of Nairobi.
7. The SUF is a technical cooperation and
seed capital facility whose central purpose is to test the potential
for increased access to formal credit for slum dwellers' organisations,
enabling them to implement slum upgrading projects. The pilot
project began in 2004 and is implemented by UN-HABITAT with
the support of Cities Alliance.
POTENTIAL FUTURE
COLLABORATION WITH
CITIES ALLIANCE
8. Early consideration is being given to
specific work in India, building on DFID's relationship with Cities
Alliance through activities such as SUF and CLIFF. This could
be a knowledge-based arrangement through the provision of support
to the Government of India's National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
9. DFID may be able to work with Cities
Alliance on new thinking and research on urbanisation, including
City Alliance's potential role as a response to both urban and
rural poverty. New approaches might include the use of international
development assistance to facilitate learning between developing
countries and cities and exchanges between their learning institutions.
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