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The First 2004 Workshop
AUICK held the 2004 First Workshop on "UNFPA Goals and Urban
Policies"in Kobe from 13 to 20 June 2004, supported by the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Kobe City Government.
AUICK invited nine participants from nine AUICK Associate Cities
(AACs). This was the first workshop in 2004 as well the first
workshop of AUICK's new strategic project for 2004-2007.
BACKGROUND
Development actors now realise that urbanisation is a process that will
shape and characterise the world, particularly during this century, in
a way never before seen in our history. Over the last five decades the
world has witnessed the increasingly large movement of people away from
rural areas toward urban centres, and nowhere has this been more
noticeable than the Asian region. It is now projected that by 2015.53%
of the world’s population will live in cities, and most of this number
will be found in Asian cities. The international community is beginning
to identify and confront the problems associated with this rapid
urbanisation; however in many cities, particularly those in developing
countries, the influx of people is outstripping the ability of urban
centres to adapt, and this has led to much poverty, the spreading of
slum areas, incapacity of cities to supply water and sanitation, and
many other concerning issues.
Much of the international attention and efforts in this regard have
been devoted to assisting large and mega-cities to cope with rapid
urbanisation. Very little attention has been devoted to assisting
medium-sized cities, despite these cities playing a critical role in
bridging the gaps between rural areas and mega-cities. Perhaps more
importantly, small and medium-sized cities are the fastest growing, and
the United Nations has acknowledged that they will have crucial roles
to play in the future. Thus the need for a development strategy and
assistance for these cities in integrated urban planning has never been
more apparent. AUICK has, for 15 years, been working to fill this void
by assisting in the development of these medium-sized cities of Asia.
AUICK has largely directed efforts toward capacity building of Asian
urban senior administrative officials from throughout the region on
such topics as population and population ageing, reproductive health,
environment, sustainable water resource management, public utilities,
and solid waste management. This is a platform that AUICK will continue
in the future; though from this year AUICK will narrow the scope of its
project to just nine cities of Asia (AACs), and will work with them to
overcome their urban problems and to try to realise the United Nation痴
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
AUICK's new strategy, which it will embark on as part of a four year
project from 2004 to 2007, will pivot upon promoting south-south
cooperation and city-university partnerships to achieve the
above-mentioned goals.
As a lead-up to the project launch, the first
AUICK training course for this year was held from the 14th to the 19th
of June, and the participants were senior administrators from the nine
AACs. Many of the participants had worked closely with AUICK in the
past, and will continue to work with AUICK on its new project in the
capacity of Liaison Officers, who will strive to foster stronger ties
between each AAC and AUICK.
AIM
The focus of the workshop was to introduce the participants to the new
AUICK project, the goals and expectations of this project, the roles of
key players, as well as outlining how this project corresponds to, and
complements, the work of UNFPA in achieving the MDGs.
PARTICIPANTS
The workshop was designed for the Liaison Officers appointed by AAC
Mayors, who will communicate with AUICK on regular basis to ensure
strong ties between AUICK and AACs.
(Participants listed alphabetically
according to country)
Mr. A.K.M. Rezaul Karim
City Planner, Department of
Architecture and City Planning, Chittagong City Corporation, Bangladesh
Mr. Liu Qing Sheng
Vice Director, Family Planning
Commission of Weihai, China
Mr. Sun Cheng-Gong
Chief, Foreign Affairs Office,
Weihai Municipal Government, China (Mr. Liu Qing Sheng's interpreter)
Mr. Murugesan Panneerselvam
Chief Engineer (Bridges &
Buildings), Corporation of Chennai, India
Dr. Muhlas Udin
Assistant Secretary, Development
Administration, City Government of Surabaya, Indonesia
Mr. Alias Mohd. Salleh
Director, Planning and
Development, Kuantan Municipal Council, Malaysia
Dr. Rai Qamar-Uz Zaman
Deputy Director, Solid Waste
Management, Tehsil Municipal Administration Faisalabad, Pakistan
Ms. Elizabeth Simpao Zavalla
City Planning and Development
Coordinator, Olongapo City, Philippines
Mr. Chawalit Hongyon
Chief, Garbage and Waste Disposal
Section, Sanitary Work Division, Khon Kaen Municipality, Thailand
Ms. Anh Thuy Nguyen
Head, Protocol and International
Relation Division, Foreign Affairs Department, Danang People's
Committee, Vietnam
NOTE: This is a list of participants at the workshop, and not a finalised
list of Liaison Officers.
SCHEDULE
1st Day: Sunday, 13 June
The participants arrived separately in Kobe from each country.
2nd Day: Monday, 14 June
 Following an orientation by Mr. Nobuyuki Morimoto, Manager of AUICK,
the opening ceremony began. Mr. Kazutoshi Sasayama, Chairman of
AUICK, extended his greetings to all participants and wished them a
fruitful experience, while stressing the need for Asian countries to
cooperate and work together to find solutions to their urban problems.
Mr. Sasayama also expressed his hope that the new AUICK project for
2004-2007 would be successfully implemented in each of their cities.
 The first presentation of the workshop was given
by AUICK's Director, Mr. Toshiaki Baba, on the topic of "The
Administration Mechanism of Japan and an Outline of Kobe City". Mr.
Baba discussed the economic, political, and demographic changes over
the past 100 years that have shaped and modelled Kobe into the city it
is today. During the lecture he explained how Kobe has historically
been a trade and industry based city and up until the 1970s the city's
economy was prosperous and marked by rapid growth. The oil shocks in
the 1970s had a dramatic effect on slowing the economy and this created
an outward movement of ship building and steel industries from the
city, forcing the local administrators to look for an alternative
industry base.
Kobe turned its focus to fashion, tourism and
hosting conferences in order to stimulate the local economy and provide
employment opportunities. Port Island was built with this in mind, and
in addition to accommodating the previously mentioned industries, this
artificial island also provided much needed residential facilities to
tackle issues of land scarcity. In the past few decades, Kobe's
administrators have also shown remarkable innovation in funding
projects to improve the efficiency and capacity of water supply to the
city and in creating new housing projects in the west of Kobe. In fact,
Kobe was the first city in Japan to issue bonds on the overseas market
to successfully fund these projects.
Mr. Baba also described how, more recently, Kobe has revitalised the
city centre and successfully rebuilt following the devastating
earthquake of 1995. The spirit of volunteerism in Kobe following the
quake was so impressive that city officials decided to incorporate
local volunteers into future urban planning policy so as to make
maximum use of this valuable city resource.
Since the earthquake the city has managed to build more than double the
number of dwellings that were lost, however the economy has remained
stuck at 80% of the pre-earthquake level, and this is a challenge that
the city officials are now trying to address. In terms of successes,
the reclamation of land and the building of artificial islands is a
process that Kobe City has refined and which is still ongoing. The
current extension of Port Island, to make room for Kobe's first
airport, is the latest project of this kind.
In the past 100 years Kobe has also made significant progress in
building an environmentally friendly city, with many designated green
areas designed to provide clean air for healthy living. In his closing
remarks, Mr. Baba noted the tree covered mountains behind Kobe are
"...the lungs of the city".
 In the afternoon session, Dr. Zahidul Huque, UNFPA Representative in
the Philippines, delivered a keynote lecture on UNFPA's mission and
goals. Since its inception in 1969, UNFPA has provided funding support
in the amount of $6 billion to 240 recipient countries. The UNFPA's
current goals are focused on 1) the Programme of Action (POA) developed
at the International Conference on Population and Development(ICPD),
held in Cairo in 1994, and at two subsequent follow up Conferences held
at the 5 and 10 year marks, and 2) the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), which were developed during the United Nations Millennium
Summit held in New York in 2000.
The ICPD POA goals focus on access to
reproductive health and supplies, universal primary education, reducing
infant and maternal mortality, increasing life expectancy, the
prevention of HIV/AIDS, and the promotion of gender equality. The MDGs,
which are similar to those of POA, consist of 8 major goals:
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary level education
- Promote gender equality
- Reduce infant mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a global partnership for development
Under this umbrella, UNFPA's mission is "...to
extend assistance at the request of governments on reproductive health
and population issues".
Dr. Huque explained that while UNFPA is the biggest multilateral
organisation working in this field, the relatively small US $600
million annual budget places practical constraints on what can be
achieved. UNFPA does not have the capacity to fund reproductive health
services, but under the direction of Ms. Thoraya Obaid, the new
Executive Director, UNFPA's new strategic direction involves
contributing to reproductive health by developing "...a synergy
between reproductive health strategies and population strategies".
Dr. Huque stressed the importance of the relationship that exists
between population and development; when families have fewer children,
there are fewer dependents, and this pays demographic and economic
dividends. There is more money to invest in health, education,
reproductive health and social services and "...new studies confirm
that high fertility rates at the country level, does increase poverty
by slowing economic growth". The benefits of having fewer children has
already been seen in East Asia, including Japan, where huge economic
gains have been made in line with significant decreases in birth rates
and family sizes.
A discussion followed Dr. Huque's address, with the participants asking
many questions regarding UN achievements, member country contributions,
UN policy and the UN's experience working at national and regional
levels. The participants also drew on many examples from their own
cities, as they debated the ability of the UN and individual countries
to achieve the goals of ICPD POA and MDGs by 2015.
 Following Dr. Huque's keynote lecture, Dr. Hirofumi Ando, President of
AUICK, outlined AUICK's new strategic project. Dr. Ando discussed some
of the critical reasons why AUICK, and the international community, are
committed to dealing with, and finding solutions to, pressing
population issues. In particular the rapid growth in urban centres seen
over the past four decades, and the fact that "...the expected urban
population to be at 2.7 billion in just 30 years, in terms of the
absolute number of the population, is staggering".
Looking specifically at Asia, 54% of the
population will be living in cities by 2025. 25% of those will be
living in medium-sized cities. During the 1970s, UNFPA realised that
these cities would have a large role to play in the phenomena of rapid
urbanisation, but at the same time these cities often lack the
administrative and technical capacity to handle the problems associated
with rapidly expanding populations. Consequently, UNFPA has held
several international conferences to address issues of urbanisation: in
Rome in 1980, in Mexico City and Barcelona in 1986, in Kobe in 1987,
and in New York in 1994. These conferences were aimed at drawing the
international community's attention and commitment to tackling issues
of urban population growth, and both the Mexico and Kobe conferences
were particularly focused on the issues pertaining to medium-sized
cities.
Dr. Ando shared with the participants that during the 1980s, a time
when many of these conferences were held, no UN agency or mechanism
existed to support medium-sized cities, but "...we felt it was
extremely important for us to focus on these cities to slow down
growth". Dr. Ando described how Kobe's experience with receiving large
numbers of migrants after the second world war (Japanese returning from
abroad), the innovation of city officials in addressing problems of
land scarcity, and the city's good universal social and economic
measures for citizens, were all factors that sparked the idea that Kobe
could serve as a good model for other Asian Cities. This led to AUICK
being formed jointly with the City of Kobe and UNFPA.
Dr. Ando explained that AUICK's initial objective had been to provide
information and linkages on population and development, to provide
technical training and knowledge to urban administrators, and to
provide forums to share this information among medium-sized cities.
With these aims AUICK published a newsletter and began a website
database, and trained so many senior administrative officials from Asia
that "...the number of people trained was impressive". However,
according to Dr. Ando, it was felt that despite these achievements,
AUICK was stretching resources too thinly, and a new strategic plan was
needed. Such a plan has now been developed and will be adopted from
this year, the 8 key points of the new project as follows:
- To serve as a forum for sharing experiences and lessons;
- To build a critical mass of experts in each of nine
selected cities in order to focus resources more effectively;
- To focus on population planning, including gender issues
and reproductive health;
- To facilitate further south-south cooperation among cities;
- To include training activities to help achieve MDGs and
ICPD goals;
- To disseminate successful experiences from AAC members;
- To prepare case studies of successful planning strategies;
- To continued issuance of newsletters and the further
development of the website.
Dr. Ando concluded his address by stressing the
importance of developing closer relationships with AACs, the role of
Liaison Officers in this, as well as the hope that each AAC would
become a model city from which successful experiences can radiate
outward.
3rd Day: Tuesday, 15 June
In the morning session, Dr. Gayl D. Ness, a member of AUICK’s
International Advisory Committee (IAC) and Professor Emeritus,
University of Michigan, USA, led a discussion on the themes for future
AUICK training programmes. During the lively discussion that followed,
it was agreed that AUICK should focus on integrated urban planning,
with each workshop having a particular focus under this overarching
goal. Some of the topics suggested were: environmental management and
protection; public health care and family planning; reducing infant
mortality; social work and social services, particularly for the aged;
solid waste management; traffic flows and parking; water supply,
sanitation and drainage; slum improvement; employment and unemployment;
educational policy, especially promoting vocational training; and parks
and recreational areas.
On the topic of trainee selection, it was widely felt that AUICK should
focus on the mid-level technical staff, particularly those who are
likely to stay in the city for a long time. It was agreed by all that
the selection process should also rely heavily on the recommendations
of the Liaison Officers for appropriate professional participants for
future training programmes.
In the afternoon session, the participants presented the draft of the
city reports which would be delivered by Mayors and representatives at
the AACs Conference the following month. (See "Report on AUICK Associate Cities")
4th Day:
Wednesday, 16 June
In the morning of the third day, the participants finished
presentations of their city reports.
5th Day:
Thursday, 17 June
Throughout the day, the participants toured the accommodation facility,
conference venue and inspection sites chosen for the AACs
Conference. In the evening, the group left for Tokyo by bullet
train.
6th Day: Thursday, 18 June
The group began the morning in Tokyo with a guided tour of Japans' parliament building: the National Diet Building.
Next, the group visited the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo,
at which the Director, Mr. Akio Nomura, gave a short presentation on
the United Nations’ history and current programmes.
 Another highlight of the Tokyo visit was a lecture by Dr. Toshio
Kuroda, President of the Japanese Organization for International
Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP) and also an AUICK IAC member.
The lecture was on the topic of population and urbanisation issues and
Dr. Kuroda outlined how the global population is changing in a way that
has never before been seen in the history of the world. Dr. Kuroda
noted that while the population growth issue is now so serious that it
is threatening the very survival of humankind, very few people actually
understand the extent or gravity of the situation.
The population explosion seen over the past 50 years has led to several
serious problems, including rapid urbanisation; the migration of the
young to cities, which leads to higher birth rates in urban areas and
higher death rates in rural areas; and the worrying global trend of
aging populations. Dr. Kuroda concluded by stressing the importance of
these issues, and the need to address them in each country and at local
levels, while maintaining international cooperation. Dr. Kuroda’s
lecture concluded the workshop programme.
 To formally bring the workshop to a close, Mr. Masayuki Ishitsubo, Executive Director of AUICK, expressed his thanks to the participants and the lecturers, and asked
that the participants remember that the success of the new project is
very dependent on the role of Liaison Officers and the contribution
which they make toward the project upon their return to their own
countries.
7th Day: Saturday, 19 June
The participants departed for their respective countries.
REVIEW
The 2004 workshop on UNFPA Goals and Urban Policies was a successful
lead-in to the new AUICK Associate Cities Networking project, with
senior administrators of the nine AACs now conversant with the project
aims, the background to the project, and the role of Liaison
Officers in achieving the project goals. Through the forum of
discussion and information sharing among these participants, AUICK has
also initiated a more participatory approach to future trainings which
will more adequately address the specific need of these nine cities.
The 2004 workshop on UNFPA Goals and Urban Policies was a successful
lead-in to the new AUICK Associate Cities Networking project, with
senior administrators of the nine AACs now conversant with the project
aims, the background to the project, and the role of Liaison Officers
in achieving the project goals. Through the forum of discussion and
information sharing among these participants, AUICK has also initiated
a more participatory approach to future trainings which will more
adequately address the specific need of these nine cities.
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