Background and objectives

This programme builds on the Sustainable Colombo Core Area (SCCA) Project and the Urban Governance Support Project (UGSP) to support the Government’s Ten Year Urban Development Framework (UDF). The SCCA and UGSP projects introduced the environmental planning and management approach to 18 cities focussing on environmental issues and poverty reduction, and then diversified to include participatory urban governance, gender inclusiveness and localization of Millennium Development Goals. The objective of this project is to institutionalize the good practices and processes to improve performance at provincial and local level in delivering services in a transparent and accountable manner.

Activities:
The main activities include:

• A thorough review and audit of participatory governance training modules, toolkits, good practices etc. and prepare a national compendium of Good Governance Practices and Training Approaches, including a manual on participatory planning and governance for Sri Lankan cities
• Use these experiences to institutionalise the lessons learned in national policies through the preparation of appropriate Cabinet recommendations, legislative reform and supporting implementation guidelines.
• Conduct Local Elected Leadership Program, conduct TOTs and prepare revised customized modules that will further strengthen the national replication of the lessons learned.
• Strengthen the City-Provincial and National linkages, especially at the Provincial-level, and build the capacity of Provincial Governments to better support urbanisation in the country
• Establish principles for the formulation of provincial strategic frameworks capable of articulating local level priorities and the successful localization of the MDGs, and integrating these into the Provincial-Local (city) development planning and budgeting process.
• Support three local authorities on localization of MDGs through EPM approach and city profiling, city consultation, establishing working groups, developing strategies and action plans.
• Build the capacity of selected Provincial Training Centres to institutionalise the lessons learnt in their training programmes, and support their outreach to additional cities.

Results:
The results so far achieved include:

• Project Implementation Unit in place, including the city teams in Dambulla and Batticaloa
• Compendium of Good Practices in participatory governance and urban management completed
• Draft  Cabinet papers prepared and under discussion to introduce new participatory planning principles and practices in all urban local governments in the country
• Local Elected Leadership Training of Trainers programme completed, with follow-up roll-out of customised and translated training materials under implementation
• Review of all participatory planning and management toolkits and approaches (by a variety of international agencies) underway, with a view of preparing a synthesised approach for national application, including integration into curricular at Moratowa University’s Urban Planning and Development course
• City Profiling and City Consultations completed in the three cities, with priority MDG implementation strategies prioritised and under implementation.