Local Agenda 21 And The Asian Context

This can be done by:

  • Identifying successful community projects and supporting them to become training institutions for other CBOs, NGOs and local government officials.
  • Identifying and supporting the replication of the curriculum of academic institutions that have created professionals who have helped change the relationship between communities, powerful interest groups and local government. Such institutions can also be supported to become training centres for other academic institutions.
  • Developing and supporting URCs or their equivalent so that alternatives to insensitive projects can be developed and promoted with the support of communities, media, concerned citizens and interested government servants. Existing URCs can become training centres for new URCs.
  • Supporting local governments, NGOs and communities in developing expertise of mapping their cities, neighbourhoods and existing infrastructure.

A civil society network created as a result of the above process (in a few cities it is almost in place) will be powerful enough to successfully press for:

  • A larger city plan.
  • Publication of all real estate owned by government agencies so that it can be available for NGOs, CBOs and academia. This will help in negotiating with the developer-bureaucrat-politician nexus.
  • Imposition of a non-utilization fee on unused land so as to lower speculation and make land available at more affordable prices to lower middle income groups and poor communities.
  • Publication of details of all development projects for the city at their conceptual stage and their exhibition at a central space in the city.
  • The creation of a steering committee of relevant interest groups (including NGOs, CBOs, journalists, academics) who should hold public hearings, if necessary modified the project accordingly, supervise its detailing and implementation.
  • Publication of quarterly accounts of the project in national newspapers.
  • The appointment of one person to be in-charge of the project from the initial stages to its completion.

The above recommendations if supported over a decade will help in creating conditions whereby the LA-21 process will not only be strengthened but will become a part of planning culture. Donor organizations wanting to combat “poverty” should support the creation of such a process.

What has been said in this paper is summarized in the attached diagrams.

 

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