Written evidence submitted by Luanda Urban
Poverty Programme partner agencies: One World Action, Development
Workshop, CARE Angola and Save the Children in Angola
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. New approaches are being developed for
working in a difficult urban environment such as Luanda, Angola.
These can provide an important contribution to the development
of more inclusive urban development, including in post-conflict
situations, and in developing knowledge of how to work in such
contexts.
2. At the heart of urban poverty are the
issues of social and economic exclusion. Key in responding to
these is the strengthening of inclusive democratic governance
both in urban, municipal political structures and in service delivery.
3. Social exclusion, especially of women,
is a major contributing factor to urban poverty. Women, men and
children experience social exclusion when they are discriminated
against based on their gender, ethnicity, race, caste, religion,
language, sexual orientation, age, disability, HIV status, migrant
status, where they live or combinations of these. This discrimination
also exists within public institutions and services and legal
systems, keeping people in poverty and excluded from decision-making
processes that affect their lives.
4. Social inclusion occurs when we work
with the most socially excluded and marginalised groups across
the world so that they can engage with and transform the institutions
and processes that discriminate against them.
5. Based on the experience of working with
some of the most excluded women and men in Angola, we conclude
that unless those who have been traditionally excluded from urban
decision-making processes are included, decisions will discriminate
against them and ignore their needs.
6. Enabling and supporting women and other
excluded and marginalised groups to participate effectively in
formal and informal urban governance and justice systems and helping
establish an understanding of citizenship, improves and increases
the state's responsibility towards its citizens and the responsibility
of citizens to the state. People from the most excluded groups
will then be able to hold their municipal and national governments
to account, to ensure their needs and interests are addressed
and their human rights respected.
7. The DFID-funded Luanda Urban Poverty
Programme (LUPP) fits into this category. The current phase of
LUPP started in October 2007 and runs until September 2010,
building on experiences since 1999.
8. To ensure that urban poverty is reduced
in a sustainable way, the capacity of citizens to demand their
rights to basic services and to dialogue with local authorities
needs to be strengthened. The LUPP is enabling active citizens
and their organisations to begin to participate in planning processes
for local services and local authorities provided with technical
and managerial support to create the conditions for effective
service delivery. LUPP is achieving real impact both in terms
of policy influencing as well as in making a difference at a practical
level in the lives of poor women, children and men. LUPP is making
a difference to building more accountable local governance in
a very difficult urban environment.
9. LUPP has opened spaces for state/citizen
engagement and has provided exposure at different levels to participatory
approaches to urban development. This is providing the foundations
for accountability mechanisms to emerge. To date the LUPP has
been a successful initiative in the urban context of a post-conflict,
fragile state. It has stressed the need to strengthen urban governance
at all levels to ensure that all Angolans benefit from the growing
economy. This focus echoes the conclusions of the Commission for
Africa and much of DFID's recent analysis—even with economic
growth and peace, poverty will not be reduced without inclusive
democratic governance.
Full submission by the Luanda Urban Poverty Programme
partners, One World Action, Development Workshop Angola, CARE
Angola, Save the Children in Angola to the International Development
Committee
10. New approaches are being developed for
working in a difficult urban environment such as Luanda, Angola.
These can provide an important contribution to the development
of more inclusive urban development, including in post-conflict
situations and in developing knowledge of how to work in such
contexts.
11. At the heart of much urban poverty are
the issues of social and economic exclusion. Key in responding
to these is the strengthening of inclusive democratic governance
both in urban, municipal political structures and in service delivery.
Poverty and vulnerability can lead to a scramble for resources
as part of survival strategies.
12. Social exclusion, especially of women,
is a major contributing factor to urban poverty. Women, men and
children experience social exclusion when they are discriminated
against based on their gender, ethnicity, race, caste, religion,
language, sexual orientation, age, disability, HIV status, migrant
status, where they live or combinations of these. This discrimination
also exists within public institutions, legal systems and public
services and keeps people in poverty and excluded from decision-making
processes that affect their lives.
13. Social inclusion occurs when we work
with the most socially excluded and marginalised groups across
the world so that they can engage with and transform the institutions
and processes that discriminate against them.
14. Promoting inclusive urban development
is a key theme for all agencies and can provide an engaging link
to many people's experiences in different countries.
15. Based on the experience of Luanda and
Angola we conclude that unless those who have been traditionally
excluded from urban decision-making processes are included, decisions
will continue to discriminate against them and ignore their needs.
16. We know from experience that enabling
and supporting women and other excluded and marginalised groups
to participate effectively in formal and informal urban governance
and justice systems and helping establish an understanding of
citizenship, improves and increases the state's responsibility
towards its citizens and the responsibility of citizens to the
state. People from the most excluded groups will then be able
to hold their municipal and national governments to account, to
ensure their needs and interests are addressed and their human
rights respected.
17. Thus while we welcome the emphasis on
the capacity of States, we would like to stress that the urban
level should not be neglected. We believe that it is possible
for bilateral donors and international organisations, in partnership
with others, to work at the urban level in a way that:
(i) recognises the centrality of developing services
sensitive to gender, age, disability and HIV/AIDS
(ii) reduces material, social and human vulnerability
(iii) increases knowledge about a society, in
particular about the strengths and weaknesses of its institutions
and conflict risks
(iv) builds State capacity from the bottom by
developing the capacity of urban/municipal institutions,
(v) helps to develop the capacity of other urban
institutions and builds linkages with State institutions
18. The DFID-funded Luanda Urban Poverty
Programme fits into this category. The Luanda Urban Poverty Programme
(LUPP) has been ongoing since 1999, implemented by four international
NGOs—CARE International, Development Workshop (DW), Save
the Children UK and One World Action. It is supported by the Department
for International Development. The current phase, Building Influence,
Strengthening Governance, started in October 2007 and runs
until September 2010. LUPP is implemented in four of nine municipalities
in Luanda.
19. The Luanda Urban Poverty Programme very
much welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the International
Development Committee's inquiry on "Urbanisation and Poverty".
We will base our comments and recommendations on the experience
of our work in Angola, which is a country emerging from more than
40 years of conflict.
20. The Luanda Urban Poverty Programme has
become an important example of a peacebuilding and post-conflict
reconstruction programme which has its roots in work established
during the conflict in the urban context of Angola's capital city,
Luanda. We present this initiative to the International Development
Committee as a successful intervention in addressing urban poverty,
initially in the context of a fragile state.
21. To ensure that urban poverty is reduced
in a sustainable way, the capacity of citizens to demand their
rights to basic services and to dialogue with local authorities
needs to be strengthened. Active citizens need to be supported
to participate in planning processes for local services and local
authorities provided with technical and managerial support to
create the conditions for effective service delivery. In short,
there must be a focus on the interface of effective state institutions
with active citizenship.
22. LUPP is achieving real impact both
in terms of policy influencing as well as making a difference
at a practical level in the lives of poor women, children and
men. LUPP is contributing to making a difference to building more
accountable local governance in a very difficult environment.
23. The capacity of active citizen's organisations
needs to grow to articulate demands for urban poverty reduction
and to enhance dialogue and engagement with local government.
Urban poverty reduction cannot be achieved without significant
changes in the profound inequalities that exist in Angola by including
in the many groups that are currently socially, politically and
economically excluded.
24. Implementation of the decentralisation
process and inclusion of key Millennium Development Goals (ie
health and education) in the Government of Angola's own programmes
provide great opportunities and entry points to continue to promote
pro-poor policies and good governance in Angola. The Government
of Angola's own plan to reduce poverty will require a great deal
of drive and commitment and the allocation of funds at the lower
administrative levels. Most importantly it requires active citizens
to be organised, able to articulate demands and to plan and dialogue
with local government. It is essential that countries which benefit
from Angola's oil wealth also invest in more effective systems
to ensure that economic growth is inclusive and narrows the increasing
gap between rich and poor.
25. LUPP partners work in collaboration
with the Government of Angola to support the government to meet
its declared goal of halving poverty levels by 2015. The programme
is implemented in partnership with civil society organisations,
NGOs, service providers and government departments/ministries.
LUPP engages to promote pro-poor policies, especially in seeking
to guarantee the provision of basic services to Angolan citizens.
26. The Luanda Urban Poverty Programme has
pioneered pro-poor policies and best practices for Angola for
post-conflict poverty reduction in urban Luanda. LUPP responded
to the massive migration of war affected populations who fled
to the relative safe-haven of Luanda to settle in the unserviced
peri-urban musseques and in the margins of the city. Luanda's
population has swelled ten-fold from half a million at independence
in 1975, to over five million today. Working within an environment
of chronic crisis conditions, LUPP has demonstrated and promoted
sustainable, inclusive and replicable strategies (models, messages
and approaches) for basic service delivery, livelihood support
and effective poverty reduction.
27. LUPP's core approach is to develop and
demonstrate urban governance good-practice and to use these models
to advocate for inclusive government policies, practice and service
delivery that benefit the poor in urban areas. LUPP has been working
with local administrations in four municipalities in Luanda to
build their capacity to engage, dialogue and plan with citizens,
and in this way, address the priority needs identified by communities.
At the same time LUPP has worked with often fractured post-war
communities to build their capacity to engage with local administrations
in order to discuss their needs and work together to try and identify
and implement solutions for them. Dialogue has taken place in
a range of emerging spaces for engagement and dialogue. In this
way, some of the priority needs of communities in Luanda have
been addressed such as access to water and sanitation, electricity
and the construction of schools. Community relationships with
the police have improved. The municipal level activities have
been complemented by an influencing strategy at Municipal, Provincial
and National levels. Municipal Forums piloted by LUPP have been
replicated and adapted all over the country through the Government's
new decentralisation programme.
28. LUPP's three key areas of work are:
1. Municipal support for urban poverty reduction:
Municipal institutions support the reduction of urban poverty
through more participatory, accountable, rights-based and transparent
governance
2. National and Provincial Policy Engagement:
National and provincial policies and plans have a greater urban
poverty focus, and enable the scaling up of good practice models.
3. Advocacy, Network Building and Spaces for
Dialogue: An active network on urban poverty established and supported
to engage effectively on urban policy issues with government authorities.
This is founded on enabling marginalised citizens to have a voice
in key decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF
LUPP TO DATE
29. The Luanda Urban Poverty Programme began
in 1999, shortly after the outbreak of the final phase of conflict.
Its goal was to reduce poverty in Luanda. Phase two of LUPP started
in 2002, after the signing of the accords that brought an end
to the civil-war, and focused on post-conflict recovery and planting
the seeds for local-level democracy. The current phase (2007-10)
began as the first national peace time elections were announced
for September 2008. LUPP has made real strides over the past ten
years around key issues, especially urban governance. The Programme
has brought together methodologies and approaches in microfinance,
water and sanitation, business development services, participatory
urban governance and early childhood development that have become
models for the Government of Angola and non government and private
sector actors and are being replicated in Luanda and beyond. LUPP
has received core support since 1999 from the UK's Department
of International Development (DFID) who have recognised LUPP as
one of the most successful urban projects and one working in an
extremely challenging environment.
30. As described in more detail below, LUPP's
work includes developing the first micro-finance programme that
made US$15 million worth of loans last year (supporting over
13,000 mainly women-owned small enterprises) and establishing
and supporting consumer cooperatives that cut food costs for low-income
households. LUPP's water and sanitation programme focused on low-income,
peri-urban areas and included a stand-post programme where government,
utility and citizen water committees worked together to double
water supply per person and cut water costs to a third that of
private vendors; this reached 74,000 people and the model
has now been adapted and replicated in a programme supported by
the European Union that will reach at least half a million people.
LUPP's sanitation programme has supported the construction of
3,500 household latrines plus 39 school latrines and
two public latrines in market places and this is also being scaled
up with European Union support. LUPP developed a solid waste collection
service for 1,600 residents and four markets that has influenced
Luanda's waste collection strategy. Finally, LUPP's model for
early childhood development that centred on community-managed
cr€ches has proved so successful that it has been adopted
for a government programme implemented in 11 provinces.
31. LUPP has played a role in putting urban
poverty high on the public policy agenda. As a result of LUPP
advocacy and proactive engagement, the Government of Angola has
established a National Urban Forum. LUPP's experiences feed into
national policy through the National Urban Forum, for which it
provides a secretariat to the Ministry of Urbanism and Environment.
The National Urban Forum provides a meeting space for policy discussion
and debate between senior government members, municipal administration,
local community members and NGOs. Issues such as land rights,
participatory planning and citizen engagement in urban governance
have been the focus of recent Forums.
32. LUPP has achieved real impact both in
terms of policy influencing at a strategic level as well as making
a difference at a practical level in the lives of poor women,
children and men. LUPP has a proven track record of making a difference
to more accountable local governance.
33. LUPP has gained the credibility of government
partners through its continued and long-term engagement and its
ability to demonstrate pro-poor and inclusive approaches:
— Government partners at all levels are
now raising urban poverty in open forums. With LUPP's constant
and proactive engagement, the awareness and depth of understanding
within government of urban poverty reduction is increasing. It
takes time. Engagement requires credibility and trust, which the
LUPP partners have now gained.
— Policy makers and practitioners are listening.
LUPP is seen to have expertise to share with legitimacy demonstrated
from working in the peri-urban areas/musseques with poor women,
children and men.
— Government agencies at all levels are
opening up for information, demonstration and lesson learning
from the LUPP models and approaches - for policy debate, development
of legal frameworks, supporting state citizen dialogue, and for
service provision. There is growing demand for best practice principles
and operational guidelines to support quality replication and
scaling up both by government and other donors including selecting
LUPP's Municipal Development Forum as a pilot for decentralisation.
— LUPP has opened spaces for state-citizen
engagement and has provided exposure at different levels to participatory
approaches to development. This is providing an environment for
debate and collaboration and is laying the foundations for accountability
mechanisms to emerge. At the same time it is creating opportunities
to change existing power relations and the formal and informal
rules of the game. In some cases local government is listening
and taking action based on concerns raised.
— LUPP's development of best practice,
community-managed approaches to basic service provision and livelihood
support is providing practical solutions for poverty reduction
and is having a real impact at the household and community level.
— LUPP is empowering ordinary people. It
has been successful in building up alliances and networks from
the various community based organisations. These are leading to
increased participation and giving voice to poor people so that
they can start to claim their rights. This is evidence of increased
confidence, rights awareness and information sharing and working
to find solutions independently from LUPP.
SPECIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS
34. Micro finance LUPP was the first
programme to develop and test micro-finance models in Angola.
Through its direct work in micro-finance, the Programme has gained
the credibility to successfully influence the Government of Angola,
the National Bank of Angola and private businesses by demonstrating
that micro-finance for the poor is an effective model and can
be financially sustainable. On the level of influencing the policy
and practice of others, LUPP has:
(i) Provided technical input in the drafting
of new legislation on financial institutions to ensure that there
is a provision for micro finance.
(ii) Provided the drive, technical and financial
support to establish RASME (Angolan Micro Enterprise Network).
This level of external influencing was made possible by LUPP's
groundbreaking work in micro finance and business development.
LUPP established micro credit and savings solidarity groups and
to make these interventions sustainable, LUPP has established
an independent micro finance institution, called KixiCredito which
has made loans valued at US$ 15 million last year to over
thirteen thousand mainly women owned micro-businesses. KixiCredito
is currently developing a housing micro-finance product.
35. Business Development Services
LUPP has supported the creation of an independent Business Development
Service that is now 100% sustainable. LUPP began by training trainers
and the best of these have subsequently established an independent
demand-driven private business providing business development
training to poor clients at a cost of $25 per client.
36. Cooperatives for the extremely poor
As an approach to reduce poverty among the extremely poor, LUPP
has piloted consumer cooperatives, aimed at reducing the cost
of basic products to poor families by bulk buying. There are now
seven Consumer Cooperatives, each of which is 100% sustainable.
Families report having increased the number of meals from two
to three a day and using savings to support children attending
school and accessing health care.
37. Water and sanitation LUPP has
established and tested approaches and methodologies to water and
latrine supply as well as solid waste disposal with a focus on
the peri-urban areas, which are difficult to access. The greatest
achievements have been to shift thinking within Provincial Government,
Municipal Authorities and the water supply company, EPAL, towards
community managed systems with significant involvement of citizen's
organisations (water committees and Area Development Organisations).
Influencing achievements in water and sanitation have been possible
because of many years of working in this sector through LUPP and
through Development Workshop's work prior to LUPP. In practical
terms, LUPP's outputs have been able to demonstrate real impact
on the lives of poor citizens. Stand posts have increased the
water supply per capita by more than double in those areas and
illnesses associated with the quality of water have fallen. Importantly,
the cost of water is three times lower than that supplied by private
vendors.
38. The Luanda Provincial Government's water
authority EPAL has adapted and replicated the LUPP model with
financial support from the European Union to reach over half a
million people.
39. In terms of sanitation, 3,500 household
latrines have been built during the life of the programme, plus
39 school latrines and two sets of latrines in market places
(serving 1,200 vendors and clients), reducing open-air defecation
in the project areas and improved environmental hygiene. The programme
has demonstrates reductions in illnesses associated with poor
hygiene and sanitation. The EU has initiated a programme in 2007 to
scale up the LUPP model in Luanda.
40. In terms of solid waste disposal, LUPP
has been able to demonstrate a willingness of citizens to pay
for services that function effectively. This has influenced the
Ministry of Energy and Water's new cross-subsidy policy. The LUPP
experience of establishing SELL as a private sustainable company
servicing four market areas and 1,600 residents in Kilamba
Kiaxi has been important and the Provincial Government continues
to learn from LUPP's experiences and technical advice; the new
Luanda waste removal strategy has been informed by LUPP models.
The state sanitation company ELISAL has turned to LUPP for technical
advice in dealing with the complex issue of waste management in
the inaccessible musseque bairros.
41. Urban governance In urban governance,
significant advances have been made in developing approaches and
methodologies for citizen/Municipal engagement and dialogue. These
are demonstrating that it is possible to develop greater accountability
to citizens in local governance while also enhancing the effectiveness
of local government. The Kilamba Kiaxi Development Forum model
is feeding into discussions of decentralisation. The models are
being replicated through the national decentralisation programme
lead by the Ministry for Territorial Administration (MAT) and
the National Urban Forum chaired by the Ministry of Urbanism and
Environment (MINUA).
42. The models can be broken into three
areas:
(i) Forums and assemblies that bring together
Municipal residents with local administration to plan jointly
for municipal development, assess progress and access funding
for new projects. A Development Forum was created in Kilamba Kiaxi
with a membership of some 500 representatives from all sections
of the local community. In a similar mode, a representative Consultative
Council has been established in Hoji Ya Henda with the support
of LUPP, that meets every quarter to review reports from the local
Administrator, service providers, the police and civil society
organisations and plan for the next quarter. With LUPP support
the Municipal Consultative Council for Sambizanga Municipality
has been convened for the first time and through a participatory
planning process, developed its first municipal development plan
and participatory budget. Using the framework of the newly published
Decentralization Law and the Physical Planning Law, a participatory
process is being mapped out for municipal development planning.
(ii) Local area associations, NGO consortia,
water committees, youth groups, parent committees (cr€ches)
and others that provide spaces for inclusive representation and
planning from the bottom-up. These feed into planning processes
at Comuna and Municipal levels and demand the rapid resolution
of problems such as breaks in the supply of water to standpipes
and electricity failures.
(iii) Capacity building for local administration
and government. This has involved feeding into courses provided
by the Institute for Local Administration, providing opportunities
for Municipal Administrators from other areas of the country to
learn from LUPP's experience. Support has been provided through
LUPP to establish information management capacity inside Municipal
Administrations and the Provincial Government, including GIS,
maps, and support in monitoring progress against Municipal Plans.
43. Early Childhood Development (ECD)
LUPP models for ECD for the poor have been especially important
for four reasons:
(i) they provide poor children a "head start",
which has been shown to have a sustainable impact on school success
(ii) they improve children's protection and health
overall as they are no longer spending all day in market areas
or are left to their own devices in their neighbourhoods
(iii) they allow women and men the opportunity
to work more hours and to concentrate on their businesses, and
(iv) the cr€ches have created employment
for over 100 childcare workers. LUPP has allowed for the
development of a sustainable community-managed cr€che model.
The model has been adopted by MINARS and the Ministry is providing
its own funds to expand community-managed cr€ches into 11 Provinces
across the country as well as more intensive support to piloting
in three Provinces. Families report improved child health and
a chance to begin adapting to education pre-school. They also
report impacts on incomes as women can invest more time in productive
work.
44. There is evidence of a shift in perceptions
on inclusive and accountable governance systems. Municipal Administrations
that have participated in local governance programs tend to be
more open and engaged with citizens than in other Municipalities.
There is growing recognition within Municipal Administrations
of the common interests between citizens and governance in resolving
problems. Those Administrations that are not yet engaged in participatory
processes have been surprised by comments by Provincial Governors
in support of this work. By working with Municipal Administrations
and the GPL (Luanda Provincial Government) to establish and strengthen
participatory approaches to planning and consultation with citizens,
LUPP enabled Municipal and Provincial institutions to exercise
more inclusive, participatory, accountable, rights-based and transparent
governance. In the context of the first national and, in due course,
local elections since the end of the war, LUPP has been and is
an extremely timely and important initiative for post-conflict
Angola.
45. LUPP has become a catalyst of policy
change and change of practice in participatory urban planning
on the ground, with people insisting on their rights as citizens
to speak up on issues of importance to their lives and livelihoods
and to influence urban planning and management. LUPP has been
successfully laying the foundations for active citizens to become
part of shaping their futures at Municipal, Provincial and National
level in post-conflict Angola. The purpose of LUPP is to influence
equitable, inclusive, pro-poor policies and best practices for
Angola for poverty reduction in urban Luanda.
46. The policy influencing agenda is the
overarching framework of the programme. LUPP seeks to influence
poverty reduction in Luanda by:
— Demonstrating effective, sustainable,
inclusive and replicable best practice strategies (models, methods
and approaches) for basic service delivery (water, sanitation,
rubbish collection, community cr€ches), livelihood support
(micro-credit, savings, Business Development Services (BDS) and
consumer cooperatives), social capital, governance and poverty
reduction more generally which can be effectively replicated in
poor urban areas to bring about positive change in the lives of
poor urban families;
— Facilitating active learning and understanding
on urban poverty issues and policies by key stakeholders and producing
strategic information on the lessons, messages and methods emerging
from the models and approaches, adapted to demands for policy
relevant information;
— Strengthening the commitment and capacity
of local authorities and civil society to promote and implement
inclusive and participatory local development;
— Promoting greater engagement, inclusion
and accountability between government and civil society on urban
issues, largely through the creation of spaces in which different
actors can come into contact with the lessons, messages and methods,
absorb their implications and take forward the work of integrating
them into policy and practice.
47. LUPP is achieving real impact both in
terms of policy influencing at a strategic level as well as making
a difference at a practical level in the lives of poor women,
children and men. LUPP has a proven track record of making a difference
to building more accountable local governance in a very difficult
environment. LUPP is becoming a ground-breaking example of policy
influencing in an extremely difficult environment in a fragile
state. LUPP has brought together methodologies and approaches
in micro finance, water and sanitation, business development services,
participatory urban governance and early childhood development
that have become models for the Government of Angola, non-government
and private sector actors and are being replicated in Luanda and
beyond.
48. LUPP has opened spaces for state/citizen
engagement and has provided exposure at different levels to participatory
approaches to development. This is providing an environment for
debate and collaboration and is laying the foundations for accountability
mechanisms to emerge. At the same time it is creating opportunities
to change existing power relations and the formal and informal
rules of the game. In some cases local government is listening
and taking action based on concerns raised.
49. LUPP's development of best practice,
community-managed approaches to basic service provision and livelihood
support is providing practical solutions for poverty reduction
and is having a real impact at the household and community level.
50. LUPP is empowering ordinary people.
It is successfully building up alliances and networks from the
various community based organisations. These are leading to increased
participation and giving voice to poor people so that they can
start to claim their rights. There is evidence of increased confidence,
rights awareness & information sharing, and working to find
solutions independently from LUPP.
51. Notwithstanding the challenging context,
LUPP's experiences over the past ten years have identified entry
points that could help to have an impact on reducing poverty as
measured by the MDGs. The Campaign Against Poverty is one of the
two top goals for the Government of Angola in its medium term
plan. However, how the Angolan Government can address poverty
is not as clear. LUPP is a goldmine of practical approaches to
reducing poverty and fills a gap for the Government of Angola
in understanding how to address complex issues of urban poverty.
Various levels of government have already shown interest in replicating
LUPP approaches.
52. LUPP's experiences since1999 have
been impressive and in particular in their capacity to bring citizens
closer to Municipal authorities for joint planning. The Programme
has shown that it is possible, even in the difficult urban environment
of a fragile state, to enhance dialogue at the interface between
citizens and state. LUPP has had considerable success in helping
citizens to organise into representative groups and work together
with Municipal Administrations to plan for services. As Municipal
Administrations have become more confident about these methodologies,
their enthusiasm has grown and LUPP has provided technical support
to Municipal Administrations from 17 of the 18 Provinces
of the country.
53. The current phase of LUPP is building
on existing gains focusing on promoting pro-poor policies and
service delivery through active citizenship and more accountable
governance. The Programme emphasises creating sustainable capacity
within Municipal Administrations and the Provincial Government.
At the same time, it will reinforce the capacity of citizens'
organisations to negotiate for their rights to basic services
and participation in democratic processes.
54. To date the LUPP has stressed the need
to strengthen governance at all levels to ensure that all Angolans
benefit from the growing economy. This focus echoes the conclusions
of the Commission for Africa and much of DfID's recent analysis—even
with economic growth and peace, poverty will not be reduced without
democratic governance.
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