Background and objectives
UN-Habitat has been providing technical support to the national programme since February 1998.  The programme's objectives are to develop the capacity of the Zanzibar Municipal Council to work with its partners in the public and private sectors to set up an environmental planning and management (EPM) process for the sustainable development of the city.  The main issues the municipality faces are haphazard construction, developed areas characterized by a lack of basic infrastructure services, solid waste management, water and sanitation, flooding during heavy rains, institutional conflicts and municipal financing.  An environmental profile of the city has been prepared and discussed with all parties.  A city consultation took place in December 1998. 

Activities
Priority environmental issues and approaches to dealing with these issues were identified and elaborated at a city consultation: managing haphazard construction, unplanned settlements, city expansion, solid waste management, water supply, flooding (storm water drainage) and sanitation, institutional responsibilities (including changing of town boundaries), upgrading of infrastructure service in Ng'ambo Areas; and municipal financing.  Environmental-issue-specific working groups have been set up to prepare strategies to address specific issues and agree on action plans for their implementation.  Agreed priority actions have been formulated into development packages for implementation.  An environmental management information system (EMIS) has been set up to support a development strategy for the city on the findings of the working groups. 

Results
Results include the establishment of ZSP core team and steering committee of the project, sensitization and briefing through mini-consultation, preparation of environmental profile, city consultation, youth consultation specifically for the school children, training working groups established and operationalized for priority issues identified at the city consultation, capacity-building, demonstration projects on infrastructure service in Ng'ambo areas and on waste management.  The external funding support will come to an end in December 2000.  The German Development Service will continue support to the ZSP.