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The AUICK Associate Cities Conference
First Session on 1 August 2004
Opening Address
Mr. Kazutoshi Sasayama, former Mayor of Kobe City and
Chairman of AUICK, welcomed the participants, and in particular the
Mayors and the representatives from AUICK Associate Cities, Mr. Tatsuo
Yada, Mayor of Kobe, Dr. Sultan Aziz, Director of UNFPA APD, AUICK IAC
members and representatives of the academia. He informed the
participants of the role that AUICK has been playing to help
medium-sized cities through training, research, and information
dissemination. He referred to the new AUICK/UNFPA project that is being
launched and the new strategy that will be adopted by AUICK in
implementing its future activities. He called on all partners to forge
closer collaboration and committed to work towards the creation of
ideal urban environments in Asia.
Keynote Speech
Dr. Sultan Aziz, Director of the Asia and the Pacific
Division, UNFPA, in his address “Local Action for Global Goals: Urban
Leadership for Population and Development” noted that more than half of
the world's population live in urban areas and within three decades
this proportion will reach sixty percent. He indicated that by that
time, Asia will house the largest number of urban residents and that
nearly half of the urban residents will live in slums and informal
settlements. He also noted that medium-sized cities (those with a
population of 1-5 million) account for a quarter of all urban
residents, and are growing at an alarming rate.
Dr. Aziz noted that this rapid urbanisation is both a challenge and an
opportunity. He expressed the hope that the opportunities do
materialise without being squandered by ill informed policies and
programmes. He noted that the MDGs and the ICPD goals “provide city
governments with a framework for action, to galvanise discussion and
transfer of lessons and experiences between cities, and across
countries and regions, and to integrate planning processes with
national plans and policies.”
Dr. Aziz recalled the commitments made at ICPD and underscored the
centrality of improving reproductive health and gender equality as
essential to achieving development goals. He noted that the MDGs are at
the centre of an international effort to reduce poverty and called on
the participants to “…ensure that global goals are translated into
action at the local level.” He underscored that eradication of
poverty, elimination of hunger, reduction of maternal and child
mortality, achieving gender equality and universal primary education,
combating HIV/AIDS and ensuring environmental sustainability will not
be possible unless “...people like you, local administrators and
officials, are implementing effective pro-poor policies and programmes,
ensuring equitable access to basic services.” He urged the participants
to “devise ways to localize the implementation of the Millennium
Declaration”.
Dr. Aziz also noted that “...Asian Urban Information Center of Kobe's
programme is a seminal initiative in this regard” and hoped that “it
will lead to concrete urban management policies that take into account
population dynamics, natural resource distribution and environmental
and health concerns.”.
Speech by Mayor of Kobe
Mr. Tatsuo Yada, Mayor of Kobe, gave a presentation titled
“Achievements and Challenges in Health, Welfare and Education of Minors
in Kobe City”. The Mayor’s speech focused on how the rapidly changing
modern world has remodeled the way that families are formed and
children are brought up in Japan. The Mayor also spoke on the
importance of local governments in identifying and addressing the needs
of both children and their caregivers to ensure that society produces
coming generations of happy, healthy and responsible citizens.
The issues facing the youth in Kobe can be traced to a continuing
decline in the national birth-rate, smaller families, diverse modern
lifestyles, the erosion of traditional support for primary caregivers,
and a general drop in the quality of care giving at home, particularly
in terms of social education. The Mayor explained how the modern era
had seen an increase in many social problems, such as juvenile related
crime, reported child abuse, isolation of primary caregivers and
subsequent anxiety about child raising.
The City of Kobe is taking active measures to address these issues
through policies that promote community based care and partnerships
with the private sector, initiatives that include provision of services
and financial assistance toward physical and mental health care, the
creation of more childcare centres, programmes targeting child abuse,
support for single-parent families and working mothers, expansion of
recreational facilities and activities for youth, and the promotion of
social education within schools. The Mayor also highlighted the
importance of giving the youth, who are the future leaders, a voice in
planning policy so as to incorporate their needs and ideas into
administrative decisions.
The theme of youth in modern society, their needs and the important
role which they play both now and in the future, was a pertinent topic
when more than half of the world’s population is under 25 years, and
when many of the countries represented at the Conference are
experiencing their own serious issues related to the health and well
being of their adolescents.
Election of Chairs
Following Mr. Yada's speech, the meeting elected Mr. Sasayama as the
chair of the conference. Upon the suggestion of Mr. Sasayama, Mr. James
“Bong” Gordon Jr., Mayor of Olongapo, Dato’ Haji Hashim Bin Abdul
Wahab, President of Kuantan Municipality as well as Dr. Krasae
Chanawongse and Dr. Haryono Suyono, two IAC members were elected to
co-chair the conference.
AUICK Report
Under the chairmanship of Mr. Sasayama, the report on AUICK’s goals and
activities of the new strategic project was made by two eminent figures
of AUICK.
Dr. Gayl D. Ness, IAC Member and Professor Emeritus of the
University of Michigan, made a report on “Millennium Development Goals,
the ICPD, and AUICK Associate Cities.” He drew the participants’
attention on the eight MDGs referred to earlier. He enquired as to what
should be done to achieve these goals and what role Mayors can play. He
noted that accumulation of wealth contributes to the attainment of the
above goals and that progress has been made in many countries of Asia
that have experienced rapid economic growth. Dr. Ness indicated that in
general, local governments do not have either the power or the
authority over resources or decisions on the allocation of resources.
He alluded to the general mistrust between central and local government
bodies and he noted that steps are being taken to devolve power to
local governments in a number of countries, with mixed results. It is
therefore critical that local governments have the ability to
articulate their needs to central governments if they are to get the
resources required for their programmes.
Dr. Ness went further to point out that wealth is not the sole
determinant for development, and he provided many examples of
surprising progress despite low economic growth such as problems faced
by Mayors and local administrators as a result of differing
responsibilities among those involved in providing various services.
Dr. Ness illustrated how some cities have addressed their own needs
with innovative strategies.
Dr. Ness then outlined the importance of forging city-university
partnerships and the different steps that could be taken to promote
research and analysis, as well as modeling, to examine future
scenarios. He also discussed how the process that AUICK plans to adopt,
as well as the strategy, relies critically on the support of the city
administration of the nine AUICK Associate Cities. These strategies
were then developed further by Dr. Hirofumi Ando, President of AUICK.
In his report on “New AUICK Programme Strategy on Population and
Development,” Dr. Ando underscored the difficulties that medium-sized
cities face, even in the context of decentralisation, but also noted
that they can play a critical role in the development process. He
explained that AUICK has been (i) conducting research studies on population issues and organisational
issues faced by medium-sized cities, (ii) collecting and disseminating information on issues of population and
reproductive health in urban settings, and (iii) conducting workshops and training courses to improve knowledge and
skills among the senior officials involved in the planning and
management of medium-sized cities.
He then outlined the new strategy of AUICK's programme: “AUICK
Associate Cities” which focuses on nine Asian cities, promotes
south-south cooperation, while establishing and strengthening
partnerships with universities. This strategy also involves improving
information management and dissemination, and strengthening
collaboration among the different partners.
Dr. Hirofumi Ando, Presiden of AUICK, expressed the hope that the nine cities will
serve as a model for other cities in their respective countries, and
informed the participants that AUICK will work towards achieving MDGs
and ICPD goals by improving the organisational capacities of the AACs
to deal with major population issues, such as the provision of
reproductive health services, especially for the youth; HIV/AIDS
prevention, poverty eradication; education, particularly of girls;
water and sanitation and ageing. In this regard, he mentioned that
city-university partnerships would not only be beneficial, but also
indispensable for the cities to manage their limited resources more
effectively. Dr. Ando also noted that future training workshops and
training courses will include unique and inspiring experiences and
information from AACs and other Asian cities.
Presentation on AUICK Associate Cities
The Mayors and representatives gave a brief history and outline of
their respective cities, and highlighted the specific issues they are
facing. Mr. James “Bong” Gordon Jr., Mayor of Olongapo, chaired
the presentation of the first five cities, and Dato’ Haji Hashim Bin
Abdul Wahab, President of Kuantan Municipality, chaired the
presentation of the latter four cities.
Chittagong is a major port in Bangladesh. The city
has a high density and the population of 3.6 million is growing
rapidly. According to its
Mayor Mr. A.B.M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury, while the city has taken a number of steps to improve health
services, education and to preserve and protect the environment, it
faces “…problems mostly related to unplanned
urbanisation:-unemployment, environmental pollution, traffic
congestion, absence of solid waste management, unplanned hill cutting,
lack of a sewerage system, water logging, lack of power and water
supply, lack of civic facilities and amenities...”
Weihai, also a port city, is located in China and
has a population of 420,000. It has been enjoying rapid economic growth
during the past two decades, and according to its Vice Mayor Mr. Ma
Shi-he “the municipal government has consistently focused its attention
on environmental protection...” and “…realized the importance of
balancing environmental protection and economic development. Weihai has
been able to coordinate social and economic development in a
sustainable way.” He explained the principles that underlie planning in
Weihai. He noted that, despite progress in improving the living
environment, the city faces “…problems in housing, medical care,
education, transportation, and employment, due to the increasing number
of floating residents in the urban area.” The Vice Mayor also noted
that “…social security and cultural well-being of the aged population
are becoming more conspicuous”
Chennai, a port city in southern India with a
population of 4.6 million, has high population density and a very low
level of per capita income. According to Ms. Apoorva, Joint
Commissioner, Corporation of Chennai, the city has taken a number of
initiatives to deal with the problems that it is facing, such as water
scarcity and management, solid waste management, slum expansion and
traffic congestion. The city has enacted an ordinance making rain water
harvesting in all homes, government buildings and on road margins
compulsory, in order to increase ground water storage. The city has
also taken measures to beautify the city and to improve access to
health care. However, provision of services to slum dwellers remains a
major area of concern.
Surabaya, a port city situated in eastern Java, is
the second largest city in Indonesia with a population of 2.7 million.
According to the Mayor’s representative, Mr. Togar Arifin Silaban,
the
development strategy of Surabaya “focuses on sustainability,
a
community basis, and environmental preservation.” Key issues
faced by
the city include lack of urban infrastructure, lack of financial
capacity and a lack of human resources. The specific problems cited
were flooding, solid waste management, water quality, poor health and
poverty.
Kuantan, located along the east coast of Malaysia,
has a population of 358,000 with a low average density in comparison
with the above-mentioned cities. According to the President of Kuantan
Municipal Council, Dato' Haji Hashim Bin Abdul Wahab, the goal of the
council is “to lead Kuantan as a progressive, clean, beautiful, well
planned and healthy growth centre.” In its governance, the Council
emphasizes the principles of participation, rule of law, transparency,
responsiveness, consensus orientation, equity, effectiveness and
efficiency, accountability and strategic vision. Transport, water
management and slums are the three most important issues facing the
city. The Council President also highlighted the underlying causes of
these problems and informed the participants about the council's plans
to deal with them.
Faisalabad, located in central-west Pakistan, has
2.2 million inhabitants and is an industrial centre. The Mayor, Ch.
Mumtaz Ali Cheema, noted that his most important priority was to ensure
and provide basic facilities to all citizens. Mr. Cheema highlighted
the steps taken to improve the infrastructure and access to basic
services. He noted that the city is confronted with major problems such
as solid waste management, insufficient sewerage and drainage systems,
water supply and pollution. Persistence of high infant and maternal
mortality, associated with poor water quality and living conditions,
were cited as major areas of concern. The Mayor also saw a close link
between rapid population growth and many of the current problems.
Olongapo, a port city in the Philippines with a
population of 194,000, was seriously affected by the eruption of Mt.
Pinatubo and by the closure of the American Naval Base in Subic Bay.
The Mayor, Mr. James "Bong" Gordon Jr., developed the concept of a Freeport in
Subic Bay. He underscored that within a short span of time the city
transformed itself into a model city with a colour coded transport
system, an expansion of its public markets, an integrated solid waste
management system, vendor's cooperatives and community organizations.
Its aim is to become a Freeport city with trade and commerce, a tourist
city with excellent facilities, and a cultural centre. Major problems
confronting the city, according to Mayor Gordon, are: poverty, poor
reproductive health; insufficient skill of the city’s labor force; air
quality; traffic congestion; and factors such as lack of sewerage and
drainage that contribute to deterioration of the environment.
Khon Kaen, a city of 130,000 people in North-East
Thailand, has been associated with AUICK’s programme for many years.
The Mayor, Mr. Peerapon Pattanapeeradej, highlighted the importance of
human resource development and of the right to education. Guided by
this philosophy, the Mayor noted that the University of Khon Kaen is
opening its doors to people from surrounding villages as well as from
other parts of Thailand. He also highlighted the issue of solid waste
management and informed the participants of the steps that have been
taken to address this issue. In this regard, he underscored the
importance of working with the people, the direct beneficiaries.
Danang is an important port city in central Vietnam
and has a population of about 750,000 people. According to the Vice
Chairman of Danang People's Committee, Mr. Tran Phuoc Chinh, the city
is considered to be one of Vietnam’s most successful cities in terms of
progress in infrastructural development. Danang has also significantly
improved access to reproductive health information and services during
recent years. The issues confronting Danang today, according to the
Chairman, are; eradication of poverty and hunger; waste disposal; and
supply of fresh water. The Chairman also highlighted the importance of
good urban planning to deal with these and other issues.
The AAC leaders were unanimous in their support for the new initiative
of AUICK, and pledged to work together in the coming years to fulfil
the goals of ICPD and the MDGs.
Overview of the Conference Room
PHOTOGRAPHS OF PARTICIPANTS BY GROUP
Participants from Bangladesh
Participants from China
Participants from India and Indonesia
Participants from Malaysia,
Pakistan and Philippines
Participants from Thailand and
Vietnam
Participants from UNFPA
Headquarters and AUICK Committees
Participants from Kobe City
Government and AUICK Secretariat
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