Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. The City of Hai Xxxxx often attracts attention of the central government due to its high profile. Such attention often leads to delays, as the central government is slow to act. Xxx Xxxxx officials attended the Asian Pacific Mayors Conference in Seattle in May 2001; according to Seattle and USAEP representatives, this trip established the necessary relationship between the two cities that facilitated the signing of the MOU.
Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. Xxxxxx Xxxxxx resigned her position with the City of Lockland to take on the position of Director of Economic Development for the City of Cincinnati. In May of 2001, Xx. Xxxxxx resigned from her position with the City of Cincinnati. Due to the uncertainness of Xx. Xxxxxx’x future she had to terminate her participation in the partnership. The plans for the July trip are proceeding as scheduled, however there will be no work done on the economic development activities. ICMA, with support and cooperation from the City of Cincinnati, will identify another economic development expert and plan a trip in the late summer to Pancevo and Timisoara that will focus on economic development activities.
Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. Upon the completion of the Peoples Congress, ICMA worked with USAEP Country Director Xxx Xxxxxxx and XXXX/Director to initiate action on the partnership. The original pre- diagnostic mission report, prepared by Mr. Xxx Xxxxxxx in November of 2000, was reviewed and updated. Two candidate cities were contacted to determine their interest in the program, Hue and Vung Tau.
Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. As a result of an ICMA travel ban implemented in spring 2003 due to the international political climate, the first official visit of the partnership was postponed, thus causing a delay in the start-up of the technical projects to late summer-fall 2003, a time when the Bulgarian city will be involved with the local government elections. Though this delay has the potential to unfavorably impact the effectiveness of the technical cooperation, the demonstrated strong commitment of both partner cities will ensure final project development and implementation within the time frame of Phase IV.
Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. At the end of June the LED professional from Stara Zagora left the municipality for a new job, which created uncertainty in terms of the further participation of Stara Zagora in the LED and Marketing Project for Bulgarian Municipalities. FLGR Program staff requested from the leadership of Stara Zagora to reconfirm their commitment to the Program. The results of the leadership’s decision will be known early next quarter.
Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. At the end of the quarter the Chief Engineer of Blagoevgrad and FLGR program staff visited the Municipalities of Kiustendil and Radomir to monitor progress on replication activities. During the visit in Kiustedil the following challenges for project implementation were identified: • Due to the variety of municipal and private properties in the territory of the landfill and the existing complicated current legal framework, the Municipality of Kiustendil will be required to complete several procedures prior to acquiring the property adjacent to the landfill. As steps to acquire the lots from private owners could be skewed so as to be potentially harmful to the political image of the municipal leadership in a pre-election period, such activities will be postponed until the end of the year. As a result, an appropriate timeline for the accomplishment of this task is for the first and second quarters of 2004. • The Municipality of Kiustendil faces difficulties to cover the landfill with dirt on a regular basis because of a shortage of dirt. In this respect a decision has been made to start excavations of soil in the western side of the landfill to use for cover. • The disposal plan for the landfill has not yet been developed. It has been agreed that the Chief Ecologist of the Municipality of Kiustendil and the manager of the landfill will work closely with the City Engineer of Blagoevgrad to initiate the development of the plan in the next quarter.
Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. At the outset of the partnership, the Mayor of Almaty identified the Alatau Nuclear Village, about 10 miles outside of the City of Almaty, as a site to be re-developed— ideally for high-tech research and related business that would benefit from access to an active nuclear reactor. While the partnership explored this possibility, the President visited Bangalore, India, and decreed that Alatau should be re-developed in the image of Bangalore, and would become a center for information technology. Despite the President’s desires, many believe that there are significant roadblocks to this plan, including the fact that English is not a prevalent language in Almaty (as it is in Bangalore) and that having a nuclear reactor in the middle of an Information Technology Park was a significant detriment. Though some privately agree in Almaty, no one is able to object or modify this Presidential decree. Thus, the partnership chose not to continue to develop a business plan for Alatau. The partnership also undertook an initiative to enhance economic development in Almaty through micro-credit financing. A Tucson representative met with Almaty, and was encouraged by the possibilities. Subsequently, a short 14-28 day internship was arranged for a representative from Almaty to travel to Tucson to learn first-hand some of the procedures for a micro crediting program. Unfortunately, the person was not allowed to travel to Tucson, and without adequate replacement, the prospects for this task could not be achieved. Finally, some small progress was made in the area of solid waste management. Tucson and Almaty were able to exchange staff, and some operational improvements were made in Almaty as a result. The review of equipment specifications was not useful as decisions were made at the national level to determine which equipment should be purchased. ICMA determined that further work in the area was not useful.
Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. In late June the partner cities decided to re-schedule the first technical visit of Winchester experts to Karlovo, which had been planned for the week of July 12-19, 2003 to the week of August 16-23, 2003. Since the implementation of the activities envisioned in the Action Plan is on schedule, the decision to postpone the trip by one month will not effect the overall project development and implementation.
Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. Since the last quarter significant progress has not been made by GAM and the MOE. This has prompted USAID/Amman to consider canceling the partnership. Royal Scientific Society, our local partner organization, is following up with GAM and MOE to prompt and encourage progress concerning the outstanding issues. The following issues still need to be fully confirmed and/or implemented: • Written concurrence from the MOE/GCEP on the pilot project work plan as redrafted during the January 2003 MOE/GAM exchange visit to Des Moines. • A definitive contact list of responsible parties/managers from MOE/GCEP and GAM, i.e., the key individuals who will be in charge of and responsible for the implementation of the pilot project, and who are expected to provide consistent, accountable leadership and follow-through from start to finish. • Confirmation of the NGOs that GAM will engage to lead the public outreach component of the pilot project, and what their specific roles and responsibilities will be. A JES representative participated in the January exchange based on GAM’s indication that JES would lead the public outreach component of the pilot. However, Xx. Xxxxxx from JES told MWA and ICMA that his organization’s participation had not yet been definitively decided. • Confirmation that, as we discussed, the costs of the NGO participation in the pilot project (for labor, production and printing of public information brochures, etc.), will be born by XXX as indicated during the telephone conversation (February 26th) with ICMA partnership manager Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx. Xxxxx Xxxxxx xxxx travel to Amman to conduct the Diagnostic and MOU signing for the medical waste project with East Carolina University and the Jordan University of Science and Technology. While there, Mr. Xxxxxx xxxx attempt to meet with GAM (Xx. Xxxx), the XXX, Royal Scientific Society (RSS), in an attempt to determine whether to move forward or not. If so, develop a plan with discrete steps.
Challenges/Remedial Actions Taken. The Drug Prevention and Treatment Program in Pavlodar have successfully established community-based treatment programs throughout the country. ICMA and USAID/Almaty will review the possibility of providing a small grant to the program to enhance the work of the center. The work in water treatment has been less successful. The Mayor originally considered water treatment as the highest priority. The Helena team offered at least seven low cost options to help re-write the specifications of the next tender (to be issued Fall, 2003) to ensure they were enforceable and met European standards. The offer was not accepted. The Mayor seemed unable or unwilling to assert himself.
