Acknowledgements
EXPLANATORY NOTES ON INDICATORS
Participation & Urban Governance
All men and women should have a voice in decision-making, either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interests. Such broad participation is built on freedom of association and speech, as well as capacities to participate constructively.
The fulcrum of good governance is participation. Wider the civil society involvement in making choices and decisions on matters of municipal interest and public importance, the greater the interface and mutual confidence will be between the government and the governed.
Urban local governments can no longer govern cities all by themselves. In the past few decades, their control over city governance diminished significantly with the creation of statutory special Boards and Corporations.
Globalisation and the attendant return to democratic principle of governance have further changed the conventional role of urban local governments from being ‘city managers in complete control’ to being ‘stewards and managing partners’.
While the stewardship for the city will continue to remain in their care, urban local governments will increasingly witness greater sharing of responsibility with civil organisations and the private sector. They will be directing the city economy and managing the urban services. With the consent and support of the electorate, they will exert greater influence on municipal policies, legislation and services.
Wider public participation and debate are necessary pre-conditions for making mature urban choices. The urban constituency is no longer prepared to accept monofocal action of a few state/municipal officials and some elected municipal councillors as participatory decision making when wider participation is now considered necessary and feasible in a city.
Under the circumstances, it is sensible for local governments to move pro-actively and initiate administrative and structural changes in city governance to promote wider participation by the civil society in urban policy and strategy development and in programme planning and management. Such a move will help develop early a participatory culture in urban governance and prevent stronger partners from manipulating the control over city affairs. The changes must be so designed as to open up and support institutional avenues and mechanisms that encourage and nurture democratic participation of all those who are interested and knowledgeable in municipal level choice-making. Participation is feasible, productive and sustainable when generated through community-based organisations, non-governmental institutions, private corporate systems and the decentralised units of local government.
There are many levels and types of participation, ranging from manipulated involvement, (where the participants have little or no clue of what and why they are doing), through tokenism, (where there is an appearance of participation but the participants have no important decision making role to play in), to shared accomplishments, (where participation is real and productive, mutually satisfying and achieving a high sense of ownership and belonging to the decisions made).
Manipulation and tokenism are considered models of non-participation, which must be avoided in good governance. A good understanding of this hierarchy of participation levels and types is necessary for avoiding pitfalls of participatory nihilism where the civil society offers time and resources only to realise that it had been used by the promoters to give legitimacy to counter-productive urban agendas.
For further understanding of the subject, please refer:
"Care must be taken to help achieve higher levels of participation" by Sherry R. Arnstein, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 1979
"Children’s Participation – From tokenism to citizenship" by Roger A. Hart, UNICEF INNOCENTI, Italy, 1992
Concept of Participation is not limited only to choice and decision making. While participation in the municipal thinking and action process is important, it must also be understood that participation also means active investments of resources for service as well as for profits. Good governance provides the necessary level playing field for individuals and establishments to enter the urban money and goods market with a sense of social responsibility and make reasonable profits while helping the residents with opportunities for good livelihood. Also, it encourages and supports non-governmental social organisations and civic minded individuals to move in, organise the civil society, and help support good governance and augment municipal support services.
Real and active participation is a mutually satisfying relationships. It enhances consensus building, sharpens accountability, promotes equitable distribution of resources and benefits of democratic processes, supports rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, efficiency and the consensual development of a strategic vision for the city, all of which are major attributes of good governance.
For details on the nine characteristics of good governance, please refer:
'Reconcpetualising Governance', UNDP New York 1997
What follows are some good indicators of participation.
|
1.
Attitude of municipal administration to civil society
participation and availability of municipal mechanisms to ascertain
citizen requirements. Cities
where civil society organisations have shown greater commitment to
participate in municipal partnership programmes are those where the
municipal leadership (i.e. Mayor, Governor, Director, Commissioner,
Chief Executive Officer) has been able to influence a change in the
mind-set of their bureaucracy and staff. Entrenched in conventional
attitudes, methods and systems, most municipal administrations are slow
to grasp new adaptations; to seize new opportunities; to devolve power
and authority to those institutions and establishments such as academies
and NGOs which lie outside their administrative control; and, to
overcome their traditional realms of distrust. To achieve good
governance, their traditional barriers to motivation must be removed.
Trust, transparency, respect and co-operation are cornerstones for
active civil society participation. Urban
local governments derive most of their revenue and political breath from
its residents. The political survival of the City Council and
councillors depend solely on public contentment. Prime purpose of local
governance is to meet the needs of the local residents. A government
cannot be responsive unless it knows what to respond to. Therefore, it
is good politics and good economics for city councils to ensure that
they have, at all times, a complete and profound knowledge and
understanding of what the residents expect from the administration and
what they feel about its performance. Keeping in touch with people’s
organisations can help in this regard. Good governance for consultative
processes between local governments and the NGOs, CBOs, the private
sector and all other partners in urban development. Periodic
consultations, round table, community meetings, can help understand the
people’s needs, aspirations; and, obtain their views and
recommendations on major public issues. For this purpose, the
administration must develop and nurture effective mechanisms to
encourage such partnerships that help it feel the pulse of the
constituency on a regular basis. These are cities that have
institutionalised these mechanisms as part of the governance process.
The ideal is to give those partners consultative status or observer
status within the city council, of course, without voting rights. It
must be a two-way communication mechanism: not only to communicate to
residents, but also to be communicated by them. A counter or a box for
complaints, views and suggestions is a good conventional start. But,
except for grouses, grudges and complaints, it has not proven to be
successful in generating ideas, suggestions and recommendations for
improvement of municipal effectiveness. In this electronic age,
innovative new methods can be found to get the constituency to speak up.
An e-mail hotline or a web-site, calling for good ideas with a periodic
award for best suggestions, may prove to be a popular and effective
mechanism for this. -
Is
the municipal leadership in your city actively promoting greater
participation by civil society organisations? -
Has
it built up good working relationships with NGOs? -
How
do you rate your municipality’s capacity to keep in touch with the
constituency? -
Is
it making a genuine effort and good progress in effectively learn from
the residents what they really need in order to be responsive to the
constituency? -
Is
the municipality sufficiently responsive to peoples’ needs? Does it
really have a good mechanism to obtain peoples’ views and feedback
promptly? -
Does
your city council have and mechanisms to consult the civil society
partners and build partnerships on major municipal issues on a regular
basis? -
If
it does, how useful and effective are they? |
|||
|
2.
Degree of municipal decentralization Many
nations have devolved power and decentralised the authority and
responsibilities through constitutional provisions, there by making
local governments autonomous and responsive. The 37th and 38th
Amendments to the Indian Constitution is an example. Over the years, by
trial and error, local governments have learnt that centralised planning
and delivery systems can be somewhat efficient but seldom effective.
Democratic processes are the first to suffer under a lack of
decentralisation and devolution. It makes ward representatives a bunch
of passive onlookers, not active partners. That hinders good democratic
governance. The ideal state of governance is when the representatives of
the governed have power, resources and control over the development of
their constituencies. Decentralisation of responsibility for programme
planning and implementation that enables direct participation and
involvement of all field level municipal staff and elected
representatives is a pre-requisite for effective urban governance. This
includes ward-wise desegregation of the municipal budget too so that the
ward members/councillors will be aware of the fiscal planning levels
within which they could effect development activities in their wards.
The Urban Basic Services programme implemented in over 300 cities and
towns in India ensures such ward-wise distribution of budget with good
results. -
Has
the constitution of your country devolved sufficient powers to the local
government bodies to make them responsive to citizen’s local needs? -
Has
your local government fully decentralised the programme development and
implementation responsibilities? -
Do
the ward representatives know what part of the municipal budget is
available for development of their ward? -
Is
the city council's development budget (i.e. excluding the administrative
and other recurrent costs) adequately decentralised and desegregated
into ward-wise estimates of expenditure? - Does the administrative system provide for and encourage ward development committees under the leadership of the elected councillor? |
|||
|
3.
Quality of participation of the selected members in Council
debates. The
main task of a City Council is to make responsible decisions to ensure
that administration and development of the city conforms to the needs
and aspirations of its constituents.
Municipal debates, therefore, are very important tools for good
decisions. The quality of member participation in council debate process
will determine, to a good extent, the quality of municipal decisions. - Do members make a genuine effort to help enhance the quality of municipal decision making? - Are at least 40% of the members making useful contributions to city debates on important issues? -
Is
the quality of city council discussions good? -
Do
they come prepared with relevant information and arguments to back their
positions? -
Is
the average attendance at meetings over 60%? |
|||
|
4.
Women’s representation in the City Council The
World Social Summit in Copenhagen recommended that civic organisations
must ensure that women represent a minimum of 30% of all elected and
recruited decision-making positions. UN system and many non-UN
organisations have complied with this guideline. The Government of
India, for example, introduced legislation in 1994 to ensure compliance
in the election of representatives to local and national legislatures.
It is, however, observed that the mere presence of women councillors in
the municipal council will not make much of a difference to the quality
of decision-making unless they actively engage themselves in the
municipal process. -
Has
your local government complied with this norm? -
To
what extent have your nomination processes and selection procedures take
this need into account and ensure maximum degree of women’s
representation. -
How
effective is the participation of women councillors? |
|||
|
5.
Private sector support to Municipal Human Resources Development
activities The
private sector can be and has been an effective tool in municipal human
resources development processes. The pre-requisite for such
participation is mutual trust and transparency. Private sector guidance
and active support can help upgrade the quality of municipal management,
through introduction of new management concepts, techniques, work study
methods, and management training programmes. Annual auditing of
municipal accounts too is another area where the sector has comparative
experience and advantage over the municipality. -
Does
the city administration make adequate and satisfactory efforts to use
the private sector expertise to upgrade/modernise the city offices’
administrative, fiscal and management systems? -
How
good has been the experience of your city council in collaborating with
the private sector in this field? |
|||
|
6.
Voter turn-up in the last municipal election or by-election Municipal
elections are an important indicator of people’s interest in municipal
governance, or the lack of it. Voter absentasion often indicates
indifference to municipal governance. In some countries, hardly one
third of the registered voters turn up and cast their ballot, leading up
to negligable citizen participation. In other words, two thirds of the
city’s population do not bother about who represents them in the local
government. Good governance has a responsibility to educate the citizens
on their right to be represented and to involve them fully in the
electoral process. -
Are
there municipal mechanisms that conduct periodic vote education
programmes in your city? -
Is
the municipal leadership encouraging the mass media with data and
information to educate the citizens on their voting and representation
rights? -
Are
you happy with the efforts of the municipal council at the last election
to encourage maximum voter participation? |
|||
| 7.
Municipal incentives for private sector participation in city
economy, environment care and in municipal staff development (HDR)
activities According
to a Survey of Mayors conducted by UNDP in 1997, Employment & Job
Creation was ranked the first of eight municipal priorities world-wide.
Ironically, that is one function over which urban local governments have
the least direct control. Yet, several city administrations have been
successful in attracting employment - generating high private sector
investments. Incentives such as 'no profit - no loss' serviced sites for
industrial plants, single-window facilitation counters for granting
municipal approvals and municipal tax holidays are capable of attracting
substantial new investments. Cities that are confident of their capacity
to provide industrial sites and services for private sector investments
are able to mount vigorous campaigns to attract private sector capital
shifts into the city that will generate jobs and increase the local
government revenue base. Urban transport and employment have been
traditional areas of private sector participation. Other potential areas
include water supply and sewerage, administration of municipal shopping
and market complexes. - Has your local government adequately exploited the private sector potential for the development of the city economy? -
Have
the private sector and local government drawn up any employment
generation plans for the city? -
Have
these incentives helped build the cities economy? -
Are
these incentives managed in a non-partial and corrupt-free environment,
politically and administratively? Globalisation
has put cities in greater focus yet, without much authority, resources
and good governance experience. Early realisation by urban local
governments that due to resource constraints, both financial and human,
municipal systems are operating far below the required capacity will be
good for city governance. On the other hand, the private sector has the
necessary links, access and exposure to global Total Quality Management
experiences as well as financial resources needed for urban development.
With due checks and balances, their expertise and capacity in planning
for and achieving clientele satisfaction can be harnessed for managing
urban social development too. Already there are some good experiences in
this field. In Bogota, Columbia, two private firms collect over 50,000
tonnes of city waste per month relieving the city government of over 50%
of its waste disposal responsibility. Metro-Manila’s Private Sector
anti-smoke-belching drive caused the rehabilitation of over 200 vehicles
in a relatively short period. The Philippine Business for
Environment’s flagship programme of Industrial Waste Exchange among
factories minimises the disposable volume of factory wastes
considerably. Other cities too have used the private sector in numerous
areas such as environment protection, supplementation of municipal
services and in urban renewal efforts. -
Is
your City Council actively encouraging the private sector to undertake
basic services and environment protection activities in the city? -
If
yes, have the quality and coverage of services increased as a result? |
|||
|
8.
Participation of the city’s poor in planning and implementing
activities related to their well being Poverty
in the world is fast becoming urbanised. In the first decade of the 21st
Century, more than half of the poor will be living in cities and towns.
With large concentrations of the poor living in urban areas they will
permit themselves to be marginalised any further. Nor will they allow
the planners to by bypass or overlook their presence. Justly so, they
will want equal participation for their equal work as city builders and
stakeholders. Good municipal governance cannot and will not dare to
overlook them and their needs. Causes
and manifestations of poverty are multi-dimensional. Poverty is often
described as a lack of choice or voice. Information opens a door to
better choice. The least the urban local administrations can do to help
the city poor is to keep them fully informed of the procedures to access
anti-poverty programmes from which they can benefit. Many public sector
poverty-reduction initiatives often miss their intended targets because
the non-poor with access to information, plunder and appropriate the
benefits before the poor could get to it. Good governance will prevent
such miscarriage of justice by being transparent about the ways the
uninformed poor can benefit from City Council and other pro-poor
initiatives. Sometimes, the mere setting up of an Urban Poor Support and
Facilitation Counter, which require very little additional funds, within
the municipal office could tremendously enhance the interaction and
mutual trust between the poor and the city office. The community
education and conscientisation activities of the Kampung Improvement
Progamme (KIP), Indonesia, and the UNICEF-assisted Colombo Slum Gardens
Project and Million Houses Programme, Sri Lanka, Urban Basic Services (UBS)
Programme in India, provide some adaptable insights and experiences. Municipal
systems and processes must provide adequate space for all development
processes that affect them directly -
Does
your city council have a decentralised mechanism to obtain the views of
the city’s poor on matters affecting them? -
Does
it implement any major poverty
reduction programmes? -
How
often do the municipal officials sit with the poor to review such
programmes? - Are the poor involved in mid-term review of such programmes?
|
|||
Strategic Vision of Urban Governance
Leaders and public have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development, along with a sense of what is needed for such development. There is also an understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded.
A Government without a vision is blind. Where there is no vision, there is no progress. There is no way that local governments can aim for progressive change without adopting a long-term vision and appropriate strategies to achieve it. Availability of a clearly defined vision and perspective plan for city development is a sign of good governance. It is often said that cities plan to fail when they fail to plan.
The nine attributes of good governance that UNDP has articulated are inter-linked and inter-dependant. Sustainable human development in urban areas can be achieved only through equilateral promotion of all these attributes to bring about improved urban governance. For this, every city must have a long term vision and strategy for its realization. It must feel accountable to the people and state for translating that vision into action.
What follows are some indicators of the city government’s commitment and performance in this area.
|
1.
Availability and the quality of
its implementation of a strategic vision for the city Good
urban governance shall always pursue a vision for the city.
For sustainability, it must be a vision that transcends politics
and social divisions. It must be a product of a participatory
consultation process – a consensual product. It shall address the
needs of all main domains of city life and shall have clearly defined
goals. Vision is what clarifies the mission of the institution. The
mere availability of a vision will not help unless it is
enthusiastically operationalised. Most visions have faded away with time
without being realised. Good urban governance will do everything
possible to make vision a reality. -
Does
your City Council have a clear vision of what it likes the city to be in
ten to fifteen years from now? -
Is
this vision a shared vision of all political parties and major civil
society organisations in town? -
Is
the public fully conversant with its purpose, objectives and goals? -
Is
the leadership style in the municipality one that promotes the
achievement of the vision? |
|
|
2.
Availability of a clear strategy for poverty reduction Poverty
being a major challenge for city governance, city administrations must
have their own comprehensive strategy for poverty reduction. In the
absence a well-defined strategy, municipal interventions will be ad-hoc,
piecemeal, disjointed and unfocused. When a good strategy is present,
poverty reduction can become a social movement in the city. With the
introduction of the Urban Basic Services strategy, in many Indian
cities, poverty reduction has gained momentum as a social thrust. IN
Phnom Penh, Vietnam, the city administration has formulated a
comprehensive poverty reduction strategy and embarked on a comprehensive
5 year programme financed by DFLD/UNCHS to reach out to over 60,000
low-income families. -
Is
there a well-defined poverty reduction strategy in your city? -
Is
it a consensual one with all partners agreeing on its basic thrust and
approach? - Is the public aware of its purpose, objectives and goals? |
|
|
3.
Availability of clearly defined strategies for each priority
action area While
a well defined vision for the city spell out areas of special attention,
major challenges and overall strategic framework city improvement, the
city office must have a well-thought and clearly articulated strategy
for each of the key action areas of municipal priority. These areas
include employment creation, public health, water & sanitation,
solid waste disposal, poverty, transport, road safety, crime &
violence and environment. The strategy shall spell out the challenges,
the city council’s major responses to meet them, and approaches that
will be employed to implement the strategy. Over the years, many cities
in Asia and the Pacific have been able to formulate development
strategies for water supply and sewerage, and not much for the other
priority areas. -
Does
your city council have clearly defined strategies for each of its
priority action areas? - If it does, is it implementing them with due commitment? |
|
|
4.
Regularity of Future-Search and Strategy-Search efforts in the
City Council Responsive
local governments will pay special attention to: -
the quality and adequacy of its basic services interventions; -
emerging future needs and trends in city functions; and -
ways and means of improving the services and facilities. For
this, city governments must encourage consistent search for innovative
strategies. It should provide a platform for Future Search discussions
among those of the city council, the administration and with those
outside it. Search for new modes of public services action in priority
municipal areas will help prepare the city office meet emerging
challenges of the new millennium. -
Does
the senior staff of the city administration have a tradition of
periodically meeting to reflect on emerging new needs and trends in the
delivery and management of municipal services? -
If
they do, have they been successful in generating innovative ideas that
made substantial improvements to city governance? - Does the city leadership promote and encourage future search discussions within it and with outside agencies, academics, and civil society partners? |
|
Rule of Law in Urban Governance
Legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially, particularly the laws on human rights.
The legislative function of urban local governments has been generally confined to the spheres of regulating codes and standards of buildings, public health, land use, municipal revenue, consumer protection and road safety. Good governance insists that municipal legislation is fair and just to all, and evenly applied and enforced without fear or favour. The legislative responsibility is to ensure that norms are available and observed to maintain quality and equity in the distribution and use of urban services.
Ensuring the rule of law does also mean total commitment to enforce the rules and law. Municipal and other democratic institutions and processes in the city must be just and fair in imposing rules and regulations on their constituency. Their enforcement machinery must ensure that every citizen is equal before the law and that delivery of justice will not only be fair but also prompt. Also, it is necessary that the rule of law is effective within the local government institution first with a fair and regular performance appraisal system for its councillors and staff, rewarding the best and punishing the worst.
Rule of law is anchored in human rights and dignity. It is good municipal governance to ensure that the enforcement officials of municipal institutions and the city police are adequately trained to respect the human rights of every single individual in the city and help him/her realise them. This initiative generally rests with the Mayor/Governor.
Protection of the consumer from unfair trade practices too is increasingly becoming a priority need in urban market economies. With the demise of consumer protection safety nets that marked the planned economies of the pre-Eighties, consumer protection has now fallen squarely on the lap of municipal governments despite their lack of control over the market.
In most major cities in Asia and the Pacific, the responsibility of ensuring the rule of law is distributed among many statutory boards, departments and the local government. Consequently, the accountability is dispersed and weak. Municipal leadership must take proactive measures to compensate for this lack of clarity by assuming responsibility of co-ordination of those many agencies.
What follows are some indicators of the city government’s commitment and performance in this area.
|
1.
Public observance of city codes and standards -
Does
your city administration effectively popularise information about city
codes, regulations and standards and strictly enforce them? -
Has
the incidence of code-violations in your city come down in the past few
years? - Does the number of municipal litigations against code violations show a downward trend? (Remember lack of enforcement too could reduce municipal litigations) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
2.
Adequate measures and enforcement of municipal safety standards
for public buildings and roads As
the city populations grow and more and more learn to spend more time
away from home in public places, schooling, working, watching movies,
strolling on the malls, negotiating, transacting business or shopping,
safety standards of public building should receive special attention.
Good local governments, therefore, shall ensure that these public places
are safe areas for people; their construction quality is good and will
not endanger limbs or lives. Instances have been many when lives and
investments have been lost forever because of indifference, inefficiency
or corruption overlooking or compromising these safety standards.
Injuries, disablement and death due to non-adherence to building and
road safety standards and non-observance of traffic rules are a common
occurrence in cities. Most of these are avoidable through effective law
enforcement, regular monitoring of conformity and compliance, and
adequate public information and education. Well designed tri-partite
partnerships among the municipality, NGOs and the police department can
reduce the risk levels in the city.
- Does your city administration diligently ensure public adherence to rules and codes on buildings and road safety, before, during and after their construction? Or, does it consider its responsibility over after the issuance of the Certificate of Completion? - Are there mechanisms in place that makes ‘certification of fitness for use’ compulsory for annual licensing of buildings and roads? -
Does
s your municipality pay adequate attention to road safety measures and
proper management of the roads belonging to city government? -
Are
your city roads well protected with adequate preventive measures such as
strong railings separating the pavements; evenly paved sidewalks;
speed-deterrents; visible zebra crossings; and protected
railway-crossings? -
Are
roads properly lit in the night making them safe for night use? Are
there regular compulsory checks on their fitness for use? |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
3.
Effectiveness of anti-corruption measures in municipal
administration Corruption
always stands in the way of good municipal governance. Seldom can one
find a municipal office not accused of malpractice or corruption.
Corruption and good governance are incompatible and cannot co-exist.
Regular performance evaluation of all staff down the line is one of the
many effective mechanisms that can help combat the menace to some
extent. It will enable the supervisors to discuss corruption charges, if
any, without fear or favour as part of the performance-assessment
process and express dissatisfaction and non-readiness to recommend
promotions until positive change is discernible in the staff members’
attitude to work. -
Has
your City Administration been relatively free of major corruption
charges in the past three to four years? -
In
your assessment, does it make a genuine attempt to ward off corruption
among its staff and the elected representatives of the Council through
anti-corruption drives and public cooperation? |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
4.
Vigilance and action against crime and violence in the city
Good
governance insures that the city provides a conducive psychological
environment for development of sound mental, and physical health and foe
full social participation of the residents. Violence and crime, major or
petty, create fear, affect mental health and impede social life. Safety
for all, particularly children, women and other vulnerable groups such
as the aged and disabled, must be a prime concern of city
administrators. While maintaining law and order is not a direct
municipal function in most countries, mere municipal interest and
initiative in some cities have led to a significant reduction in the
incidence of lawlessness and violence. A good example of municipal/civil
society anti-crime drives come from the chain of municipal partnerships
that led to the strengthening of a plethora of Residents’ Associations
in major Indian cities, particularly in Delhi & Bangalore. There,
the city administrators have given special permission to the
Associations to install their own special security systems financed by
the residents themselves. The systems include night patrolling,
cordoning of the neighbourhood during night hours restricting entry to
outsiders, and recording of late night movements of non-residents. A
close coordination between the City Council and the Police Department is
critical for making cities free of crime & violence. Creating and
tradition in the City Council that enables the City Police Commissioner
to present a six monthly or annual ‘Report on Status of the ‘Rule of
Law in the City’ may help build a more responsible and constructive
relationship between the two institutions. It will also help generate
greater public interest in and dialogue on the Rule of Law. For
sustainability, partnerships must be of this nature and must be
institutionalised in the municipal system. -
Is
there any constructive engagement by the City Council in crime
prevention in your city? . -
Is
there any institutional mechanism that the City Council uses to engage
the city police department in joint planning for crime prevention? -
Is
the City Council promoting and supporting neighbourhood, organisations
of residents to be locally viligant? 5.
Quality of environment care of the city Responsible
local administrations are environmentally conscious. They are committed
to preserving the eco-balance of the city, improving air and water
quality and ensuring the conservation and expansion of green areas as
city lungs. Where governance is good and strong, effective
pro-environment legislative measures are taken to promote urban
forestry, tree-planting, drainage, protection of low-lying marshes as
water catchment areas and to discourage illegal land-fills, unlawful
tapping of municipal services, littering, illegal felling of trees and
transport of such timber, and other wilful damage to the environment.
They aim at ensuring and enhancing the environmental quality of the
city. Keeping
the city environmentally safe and clean means promptly disposing solid
& liquid wastes, ensuring surface-water drainage systems; minimising
the emission of lead and other pollutants into city ambience; promoting
environment friendly citizen behaviour, and effective management of
water sources. These are some major municipal responsibilities. Cities
that have neglected this responsibility over the years have become
eco-burners not only affecting their immediate environment but also the
global eco-systems. There are cities where dust particles, CFCs, toxins
and gases fill the air throughout the day resulting in a permanent haze
hanging over the city. City administrations are urged to ensure good
governance because of the lessons learnt from such past failures. In
addition to effective law enforcement, environmental impact assessments
(EIAs) and other regular environmental audits, city governments must
ensure that there are sound and effective public education programmes on
the subject. In some cities, NGOs and scientific research institutions
are urged by the city offices to undertake regular research and public
education to ensure that the residents are environment-conscious. Some
even have begun to ban the use of some petroleum-based products such as
polythene bags that are not biodegradable. Some cities in Bangladesh and
Japan are actively promoting recycled paper and jute products as
alternatives. Industries are given deadlines in some cities to install
their own solid waste incinerators and used water treatment plants
before they apply for the extension of their industrial licenses. The
Centre for Environmental Education in Ahmedabad, India which began their
basic environment education activities in municipal schools in the city
of Ahmedabad is now a centre of excellence producing environmental
teaching aides, curriculae and training manuals for most of the Indian
schools. The GTZ funded Bagmati river cleaning programme in the twin
cities of Kathmandu – Lalitpur in Nepal is another example of
municipal concern about environmental issues. In
many cities now, all development planning is subject an Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA). Environmental care is an area which requires
constant Research & Development (R & D). Environment-conscious
city governments encourage R & D efforts. Where governance is weak,
environmental protection efforts will either be minimal or totally
absent. Singapore and Malaysian cities provide an enviable record in
discharging this responsibility through proper planning of environmental
care, strict law enforcement & EIA. -
Is
your city administration environment-friendly? Is it genuinely working
to make the city environment better? Does it have a long-term
perspective plan for environment protection? -
Does
it insist on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to approve new
development projects and industrial investments? -
Is
air and water quality reasonably good in the city? -
Does
the city budget allocate adequate funds for environmental care? -
Are
there effective public education programmes by the municipality on
environment care? -
Is
your city a pleasant and liveable place that you can be proud of? |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Transparency of Urban Governance Transparency is built on the free flow of information. Processes, institutions and information are directly accessible to those concerned with them, an enough information is provided to understand and monitor them. Good governance will encourage and permit public scrutiny of their processes, procedures, decisions, instruments of contracts, agreements, MOUs and personnel decisions except those that may endanger public security and also the credibility of the state. Transparency being the hallmark, a good government will conceal very little from the constituency. It will ensure that its civil society partners have easy and direct access to information on all municipal work except those that impinge on state security and public safety. Transparency is a by-product of accountability. It generates informed debate; enhances the quality of public participation; reduces avenues for corruption, and opens up potential opportunities for collaborative action. It thrusts on local government a great responsibility to ensure that all staff in the city administration are well trained and well cared for so that they will consider transparency as the single most important link between the administration and residents. Unskilled and disgruntled staff cannot and will not care for image building for their institution. What follows are some indicators of transparency
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accountability in Urban Governance
Decision-makers in government, the private sector
and civil society organisations are accountable to the public, as well as to
institutional stakeholders. This accountability differs depending on the
organisation and whether the decision is internal or external to the
organisation.
Local
Government is accountable to two major superiors. On one hand it is accountable
to the people who elect the City Council and expect results. On the other, it is
accountable to the state for administrative and fiscal compliance with state
norms, audits and political vision. While
the former responsibility is discharged to the people through the council
representatives, the latter is done through various state institutions,
particularly the Commission/Department of Local Administration/Government
Services or Local Administration.
Accountability
means ensuring the rule of law, transparency of action, responsiveness to
peoples’ needs and wishes, equity in the distribution of the dividends of
local governance, and effectiveness in reaching people and improving their well
being.
It
also means capacity building and upgrading city council skills to help,
facilitate and manage urban change to the desired levels. A concern for urban
governance today is its serious lack of effective management systems and skills.
Lack of target orientation and change-ushering work-plan culture too plagues
many of them. Resistance to change-oriented management systems too retards
effectiveness. Lack of managerial skills to steer the governance vehicle
efficiently towards that change weakens accountability.
Often,
the quality of accountability is enhanced through:
§
rationalising
human resources,
§
maximising
the change-ushering capacity of the municipal system,
§
setting
realistic & responsive targets,
§
delegating
responsibility and authority,
§
information
networking,
§
consistent
staff performance assessment, and
§
merit-based
promotions.
|
23.
Degree
of decentralisation and delegation of authority Decentralisation
brings about greater democratic participation in the city. It also puts
city operations in harmony with peoples’ needs and expectations.
Delegation of authority is essential for effective decentralisation. Where
delegation is absent, decentralisation will loose teeth and power. Most
municipalities mistake out-posting of personnel to ward or district level
sub-offices as decentralisation. In actual practice, such out-posting
without delegated authority, disaggregated targets and budgets can only be
called ‘bottlenecking’ for they in the sub offices will not have the
initiative to be proactive, innovative and responsive without going
through a time-consuming prior approval process each time they want to
respond quickly to new needs, situations and challenges. Good governance
ensures that every member in the governance team has sufficient degree of
delegated authority and also resources to accomplish the assigned tasks
efficiently and effectively. -
Is
your city administration adequately decentralised? -
Is
the city budget sufficiently disaggregated? - Are the senior and mid management level staff well trained in devolution of power, decentralised planning and management methods and processes? |
|
24.
Quality
of Monitoring the implementation of Delegated Tasks A
critical aspect of decentralisation and delegation is the availability of
appropriate and effective management apparatus to periodically ascertain
whether delegation has been effective and not abused. Decentralisation and
delegation do not mean leading the flock to the woods and letting them
lose. A good shepherd will pitch his tent at a vantage point and stay
around to oversee and protect the flock. Good governance is like the good
shepherd. For it, delegation does not mean relegation or dereliction of
responsibility. In fact, the responsibility is grater when a host of
others control the operations. Therefore, good governance systems must
ensure that effective standards and monitoring tools are available within
the city government to measure the progress and impact of implementation
of the delegated tasks. -
Does
your city government employ sound tools for measuring progress and impact
of projects/programmes? -
Do
the tools of monitoring also measure the capabilities of the manager who
carries out assignments? -
Have
these tools been effective? |
|
25.
Quality
of Human Resources Management To
keep pace with the ever-growing demands of ever increasing populations,
city administrations must be target - oriented and performance conscious.
Located in the best of commercial and communication hubs of the country,
there is no reason why city governments cannot learn from the corporate
management practices and discipline and improve their own human resources
management systems. The staff at all levels must be trained and oriented
towards customer satisfaction, public participation and poverty reduction.
If political and administrative will is there, there will be many
institutions to render technical assistance, even voluntarily, to upgrade
municipal HRD systems with good practices of target setting, job
classification, human resources planning and target-related performance
evaluation. -
Does
your city administration have a sound human resources management system? -
Is
it achievement-oriented with periodic target setting exercises? -
Does
it adopt a consultative process with senior staff members to assign
special responsibilities and set targets for achievement during the year? -
Does
it use the private sector expertise in upgrading personnel management
systems? - Are you satisfied with the human resources planning and management quality in your city office?
|
|
26.
Consistency
between defined hierarchical structure and actual delegation Public
administration is often plagued by the high incidence of inconsistency
between the hierarchical structure approved in the Organisation Chart and
the actual delegation of tasks. Often, they are incomplete contravention
of what the Chart stipulates. Compared to the private sector, the
incidence is much higher due to political interference, lack of checks and
balances and ineffective grievance redress systems. The net result is
staff demoralisation, in-fighting and gross inefficiency. Eradicating this
practice may not be possible, yet, good governance must be able to
minimise it to levels that it will not affect the overall efficiency and
corporate goals of the city administration. -
Is
the inconsistency between the officially approved hierarchical structure
and actual delegation of task a big problem in your city administration? - If yes, have remedial actions been taken? |
|
27.
Municipal
attention on recycling of waste Recycling
of waste, both solid and liquid, is an important urban intervention. It is
not only an environmental action but also a sound accountability action.
Efficient handling of the increasing volume of city waste indicates a high
sense of city office responsiveness and accountability. It also depicts
good governance. -
Does
your city government pay sufficient attention to the possibilities of
recycling waste? -
Are
there recycling operations already initiated by the city office? |
|
28.
Participation in major governance networks There
are many global and regional networks that urban local governments can
participate in and benefit from. They focus on different aspects of urban
governance and aim at helping city administrations improve their
governance. They promote cross fertilisation of good urban practices;
arrange for training of municipal personnel; encourage inter-country and
intra-country urban dialogue and inter-city partnerships; facilitate or
conduct urban research and comparative analyses of urban systems and
services; and disseminate usable information through publications,
web-sites and conferences. Where requested, many of these networks are
ready to provide short-term consultancy support for review/evaluation
missions. Some of these major
networks are The UNDP/UNCHS Urban Management Programme (UMP), MEGA-CITIES
Project, UNCHS/Habitat Global Urban Observatory (for urban indicators),
CityNet, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), Asia Pacific Cities
Forum, International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI),
TRISHNET, The Urban Governance Initiative (TUGI). Cities are not born with
good governance. They are created through human enterprise.
They must learn from the success of others and these networks
provide the best opportunity for that. Good governance cities are
generally members of one or more of these networks. -
Does
your city participate in any global or regional urban networks? -
If
it does, is it benefiting from that partnership?
- What technical support does your city get from these networks? |
 |
Return to the Cover page - Contents "Urban Governance: A Sourcebook on Indicators" Comments and suggestions to - hsrinivas@gdrc.org |