Major Accomplishments This Period. ▪ In March 2003, the USAID awarded ICMA the City-to-City Partnerships Project to address issues relating to urban development and local governance. The program name has been changed to CityLinks and recognizes the ties that exist between cities both in the US and internationally. The CityLinks Partnership model builds on lessons learned from the Resource Cities Program and offers an expanded menu of models that provide targeted, cost-effective and sustainable support to local governments, NGOs, and international communities. ▪ The Resource Cities website is now available. Minor adjustments will continue to be made to the content but majority of the material is available.
Major Accomplishments This Period. Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx, Project Manager, took maternity leave during this period resulting in Xxxxx Xxxxxx being appointed as the new partnership manager. The project has not moved forward substantially since the last report. Conversations with XXX also confirmed again the need to have firm commitment to the work plan and to complete the following activities to be reviewed and commented upon: • Prepare and translate curriculum and training materials • Prepare training evaluation survey • Design survey instrument and the sampling for preliminary baseline and final survey • Conduct surveys • Design post-survey for participants to evaluate program and adjust for large-scale implementation.
Major Accomplishments This Period. On May 27th and 28th, the partnership concluded with a Best Practices Symposium held in Cebu City, Philippines. The symposium was held in conjunction with the Solid Waste Management Conference and was attended by over 150 people from Manila to Cebu to Mindanao. The delegates represented local governments, the private sector and a host of NGOs. The symposium highlighted the results and lessons learned over the two-year period of the partnership. It also emphasized the work being done by the NGO and the private sector and discussed the need for increased local government participation in Solid Waste Management. As part of the symposium, the participants went on site visits to observe the work completed in Solid Waste Management. During the conference, representatives of the City of Fort Xxxxxxx presented a case study that examines the partnership and carefully outlines the issues, successes and potentials of the results.
Major Accomplishments This Period. Xx. Xxxxxx discussed the revised urban planning objective with Haiphong officials while in Vietnam. The City of Haiphong has agreed to the redesigned activities.
Major Accomplishments This Period. The first exchange was held in Bangalore and was attended by the following Reno officials:
i. Xxxxxxx XxXxxxx, Reno City Manager ii. Xxxx Xxxxxxxxxx, Director Information Technology
iii. Xxxxx Xxxxxx, Director Public Works The delegation was joined by Xxx Xxxxxx, Resource Cities Director; Xxxxxxx Xxxxx, Resource Cities Program Manager and Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx, Coordinator for ICMA – India. Throughout the week, the delegation was introduced to the Bangalore municipal structure. The delegation met with members of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force, the Bangalore Development Authority, the Bangalore Municipal Regional Development Authority, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, and the Bangalore Power Supply Company. In addition, the delegation met with members from Janaagraha and the Public Affairs Centre. Both organizations work to increase citizen involvement in local government. The week concluded with the signing of the MOU and the development of a preliminary work plan.
Major Accomplishments This Period. The second exchange was held in Sacramento County from May 31 – June 8, 2003 and included the following Jabalpur officials:
i. Xxxxxxxxxx Xxxxx, Mayor, Jabalpur Municipal Corporation ii. Xxxxxx Xxxxx, Municipal Commissioner
Major Accomplishments This Period. During the reporting period an official delegation from Karlovo, led by Mayor Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxx, Deputy Mayor Xxxxxx Xxxxxx and Chief of the Ecology, Agriculture and Forestry Department, Xxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx paid a return visit to the City of Winchester, Virginia during the week of May 5-10, 2003. During the visit the Bulgarian counterparts were exposed to Winchester City Government Operations, Citizen Information and Employee Training Programs. In addition, they visited several City-County Tourism and Convention Centers and learned about best practices in Separate Waste Collection, Waste Recycling and Park Development. The delegation also met with representatives from NGO sector and visited businesses manufacturing wood alternative products and recycling containers. The Karlovo delegation and Winchester staff had several meetings, where they discussed plans for landfill stabilization, source separation and the Besh Bunar park area development. As a result of the return visit both cities further developed their project ideas and elaborated and signed a detailed Action Plan for the implementation of three technical projects as follows: During the reported period the following Action Steps have been implemented:
Project 1: Development Plan for “Besh Bunar” Park Area, the doorway to the Central Balkans National Park
Major Accomplishments This Period. In May 2003 ICMA Program Manager Xxxxx Xxxxxxxxx and FLGR Program Coordinator Xxx Xxxxxxxx met with Charlottesville City Manager Xxxx X’Xxxxxxx and City Planner Xxxxxxxxx Xxxx in Winchester, Virginia. This meeting allowed the Charlottesville local government officials to receive additional information on the specifics of the City-to-City cooperation, to get acquainted with another Bulgarian official delegation visiting their partner - City of Winchester, VA, to receive first- hand information about Pleven and Bulgaria, and to share their expectations with regard to their first forthcoming official visit to Bulgaria. • The first official delegation of the City of Charlottesville, led by City Manager Xxxx X’Xxxxxxx and Director of Strategic Planning Xxxxxxxxx Xxxx visited their Bulgarian partner City of Pleven during the week of June 1- 7, 2003. • During the visit the US counterparts were exposed to and gained knowledge of local self-government in Bulgaria, the structure and organization of the Municipality of Pleven, its main activities and operations, municipal budget and finance, urban development, infrastructure management, municipal property management, environmental protection, ecotourism and other areas. They also had the opportunity to discuss the priorities for the Municipality of Pleven in Local Economic Development and to learn about major investment projects. The delegation made several site visits to local businesses, municipal redevelopment projects, historic and recreational/tourism places, and they also met with the business community and representatives of local NGOs. A separate meeting conducted with the Chair of the City Council and City Councilors of Pleven brought additional insights to the newly established relationship and cooperation between the two cities. • As a result of the visit the Municipality of Pleven and the City of Charlottesville, VA established a technical twinning partnership, identified major and secondary areas of cooperation and formulated specific projects to be jointly implemented. • Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx, the Chief of the Mayor’s Office and Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx, the Director of Economic Development were appointed by the city leadership to attend training courses in Local Economic Development (LED) for Bulgarian professionals provided by the US resource group and took the lead in conducting and completing the community self-assessment for the Municipality of Pleven.
Major Accomplishments This Period. A delegation from Great Falls, Montana traveled to Naryn in April to reaffirm the cities' commitment and to begin Phase II. The delegation included: ▪ Xxx Xxxxxxx, Director of Great Falls Public Works Department, ▪ Xxxxxx Xxxxx, Director of Department of Solid Waste, and ▪ Xxxxx Xxxxx, President of Source Giant Springs, a bottled water company using Montana’s largest spring source. Much of the trip was spent reviewing past partnership results from the initial phase. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed and a preliminary Action Plan was developed. The quality of Naryn’s water treatment and distribution system is below global standards in terms of quality. The master plan previously developed discusses the importance of strengthening current methods of water distribution by repairing leakages and breakages in the system’s fixtures. During this exchange the partners set up benchmarks to improve utility management systems for Naryn. The partners identified concrete steps, such as updated tariff rates, control of residential water usage, and reductions in the system’s production costs. The partners also identified the importance of public information and outreach to inform citizens of the associated costs of public utilities and the need for cost recovery. The program will introduce a much-needed transparency to Naryn’s system of pubic services management. Naryn’s wastewater output drains directly into the river. Due to numerous leaks throughout the city’s sewer pipes the diluted outgoing sludge does not pose a pressing environmental issue. However, as Naryn is working to decrease leaks in the system, the concentration of outgoing solid waste in the river will rise. Under Phase I, the city of Great Falls helped Naryn draft a major solid waste capital plan, which suggests some capital improvements. While currently the city does not have the requisite funds for infrastructure investment, a lagoon system will be explored as an alternative method to alleviate prospective environmental hazards. During this exchange the two partner teams discussed the feasibility of a lagoon system outside the city that will be accessible through the city sewer pipes. The Great Falls team will assist Naryn to develop a reliable cost proposal to extend the sewer system to the lagoons, as well as purchasing potentially needed land. The city of Naryn lacks a modern system of solid waste collection. Instead of containers, waste is placed in open enclosures accessible to children, cat...
Major Accomplishments This Period. No exchange visits occurred during this performance period. An exchange scheduled for June 11th in Catawba was cancelled, as the Tirana team could not travel to the US. The two teams continued their communication on technical issues via email.
