Towards Inclusive Cities: Urbis - An Urban Capacity Laboratory World Urban Forum, November 2008 Nanjing, China

1. Towards Inclusive Cities: Urbis - An Urban Capacity Laboratory World Urban Forum, November 2008 Nanjing, China

2. DIG Overview

3. DIG Overview • Private, international firm committed to fostering innovative solutions in the fields of development finance, urban and community services and fund management. • Areas of Expertise: • Development finance and financial services for the poor • Urban and community services • Fund management

4. Gates Foundation – Urbis Program • $8 million, three-year learning initiative (Sept 2007-2010) • Main goals: • To contribute to the foundation’s strategy to support capacity and growth of urban pro-poor organizations; to increase the influence of the poor over decision-making and planning processes that affect their daily lives. • To develop best practices in pro-poor urban innovators, and to understand how to scale up and replicate effective initiatives.

5. Approach: • Urbis functions as a “testing laboratory” on urban poverty, to learn what it takes to bring the poor to the decision-making table. • Capacity building activities in 7 cities where there is opportunity, not just need: Casablanca, Morocco; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Mombasa, Kenya; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and Luanda, Angola.

6. Projet “Urbis” • The Focus of our Capacity Building Includes: • Advocacy • Slum improvement • Better provision of services (water, sanitation) • Land tenure regularization • Financing for the urban poor • Economic growth • Others (health, education, food security)

7. How capacity building of pro-poor organizations translates into action for the poor Urbis Intervention Organizations build their capacity to help the poor Organizations help poor influence policy that affect them Poor influence policy making decision that affect them Policies and practice benefit the poor Urban poverty is reduced

8. Urbis Program • Some types of capacity building include: • Training and workshops (group, classroom setting) • Technical assistance (individualized output based) • Sustained on-site technical assistance • Study tours • Community of Practice, capacity-building toolkits, learning reports, three books and several publications

9. Towards Inclusive Cities – Pro-poor Organizations as Agents of Change • Types of pro-poor organizations that can be agents of change: • Community based organizations • Micro, small, and medium enterprises • Non governmental organizations (NGO) • Microfinance Institutions • Networks • NGO Schools

10. Urbis Program • Urbis city selection criteria: • Appropriate blend of needs and opportunities for Urbis implementation and learning • Capacity building as “fertilizer” to unlock a subsidy or existing mechanism

11. Urbis Program • Casablanca: • Improve community participation in the government's slum eradication (Cities without Slums) program, working with a network of 60 organizations. • Build capacity of the network to translate needs of community into actions that reduce poverty in the context of Cities without Slums. • Abidjan: • Work with national NGO and various CBOs to help slum dwellers organize to connect to government water infrastructure. • Provide capacity building to a federation of informal waste pre-collectors to formalize and professionalize services, and consequently obtain direct contracts with the Abidjan city government.

12. Urbis Program • Phnom Penh: • Work with two national NGOs to strengthen urban poor community-based savings groups, help them prepare community upgrading plans, and advocate for land tenure and slum upgrading. • Sao Paulo: • Work with municipal government’s NGO school to develop urban curriculum in partnership with NGOs, implement classes and determine course success.

13. Urbis Program • Mombasa: • Strengthen the capacity of NGOs and CBOs to empower communities to participate fully in the dispersion of devolved funds so that they meet community priorities. • Luanda: • Work with three NGO networks to effectively lobby the government on the allocation of newly available administrative and infrastructure funds. • Dhaka: • Build capacity of slum dwellers to address land tenure issues. • Help improve community members’ access to employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in urban economy via pro-poor CBOs.

14. Urbis Program • Accomplishments: • Creation of a city diagnostic tool • Design of toolkit to develop a capacity building plan • Diagnostics of the urban poor and pro-poor organizations in 12 cities • Publication of Urbis diagnostic book (downloadable for free at www.urbisnetwork.com) • Development of capacity building plans for 7 cities • Programs launched in 7 cities (Casablanca, Luanda Mombasa, Abidjan, Phnom Penh, Dhaka and Sao Paulo) • Creation and launch of Urbis Community of Practice website (www.urbisnetwork.com)

15. Question and Answer Session

16. Pro-poor organizations • Types of pro-poor organizations that can be an agent of change as part of Urbis strategy: • CBOs: Local PCAs • MSMEs: Abidjan water intermediaries; • NGOs: CREPA, CDLG, Ujama, UPDF, • MFIs: DW, Kuyasa, CapStone • Network: RASS, FEPSU-CI; SDI, ACHR • NGO Schools: ESPASO