4th Asia-Pacific Urban Forum in Hanoi (12-14 October 2005)

Symposium A: Localizing the MDGs

Symposium A explored the question how local actors could integrate the global mandate of the MDGs into their day-to-day activities. Mr Sushil Gyewali of the Municipal Association of Nepal and Mr Democrito Plaza II, Mayor of Butuan City in the Philippines, presented the case studies on the municipalities of Butwal and Butuan illustrating how these cities had localized the MDGs.

Mr Sushil Gyewali showed how the MDGs - together with Nepal’s 10th national plan – informed the development of the local poverty reduction strategy in Butwal Municipality. Inspired by both the current national plan and the MDGs, it was decided to aim for a reduction of the prevailing level of poverty by 50 per cent until 2015. This objective as well as the strategy to achieve this goal had been developed through a process of consultations with relevant stakeholders including poor communities, civil society groups, NGOs, government officials, and the private sector. After a series of such meetings, the strategy was finalized at a workshop in April 2004 which again included all concerned partners. Since then, the municipality had launched some model programmes that worked along the lines of this strategy.

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Mr Democrito Plaza II started his presentation by saying that at first the term and concept of Millennium Development Goals were regarded by many in his administration as new and foreign. Butuan had been invited by UN-HABITAT to participate in the localization initiatives for the MDGs and it was not until a while later that they realized that the municipality had actually been working on these goals already for some time. The city of Butuan had implemented and was currently implementing various activities that contributed to the attainment of the MDGs. These included not just programmes and projects but also executive and legislative actions supportive of the MDGs. In the near future, the building of the Butuan City MDG Park was planned, a one-stop park which would serve as a showcase for all MDG-related services of the city.

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During the discussion that followed it became clear that the process of localizing the MDGs should be conducted in a participatory fashion. At the outset, a stakeholder analysis should determine who needed to be included in this process. Care would have to be taken at this stage that the urban poor - in particular poor women, ethnic minorities, slum dwellers, and migrants – and where necessary other vulnerable groups such as People Living With HIV/AIDS, children and people with disabilities were not left out. Ideally, the MDGs should be integrated into existing urban planning strategies through a participatory consultation process. The municipality should adopt the role of a facilitator in this undertaking ensuring its fairness and inclusiveness. Setting intermediary targets, establishing a local poverty reduction fund and developing an appropriate monitoring system were suggested as other effective measures to make the achievement of the Goals a reality.

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Symposium A: Localizing MDGs
Symposium B: Urban Environment
Symposium C: Health
Symposium D: Education
Symposium E: Gender Equality
Symposium F: E-Governance
Symposium G: HIV/AIDS
Symposium H: Children