Regular Meeting on 26 March 2004

AUICK Executive Committee held the second regular meeting for FY 2003 on 26 March 2004. Following an opening remark made by Mr. Kazutoshi Sasayama, Chairman of AUICK, the Secretariat presented a report on plans of budget and activity plans for FY2004 under the new strategic project proposal, which had been formally submitted to UNFPA on 21 January 2004. Following, the Secretariat made an explanation on an amendment of the AUICK administrative rules. This included changes in tasks of President. Both bills were unanimously approved by the Committee.

Members Attended:

Kojiro Niio

President, Kobe Institute of Urban Research (Chair) 

Takashi Iga

Professor Emeritus, Kobe University

Shozo Takayose

Professor, Himeji Dokkyo University

Kiyoko Ikegawa

President, Kobe City College of Nursing

Isao Mizohashi

Director General, Civic Affairs, Culture and Tourism Bureau, Kobe City

Kazutoshi Sasayama

Chairman, AUICK

Hirofumi Ando

President, AUICK

Masayuki Ishitsubo

Executive Director, AUICK

Regular Meeting on 25 June 2004

The Committee held the first meeting for FY2004 25 on June 2004. Following an opening remark made by Mr. Kazutoshi Sasayama, Chairman of AUICK, the Secretariat reported on the settlement of accounts for FY2003. Mr. Yoshikane Fujimoto, Auditor of AUICK, reported that they had approved the AUICK’s accounts for FY2003.

Next, The AUICK’s achievement during FY2003 was reported by the Secretariat and approved by the Committee.

Following this, the Secretariat made a brief explanation on AUICK Associate Cities (AACs), which had been selected as a core strategy of the project for 2004-2007.  The Secretariat also outlined the AAC’s Conference to be held in Kobe from 30 July to 2 August 2004, and requested the Committee for continued support and guidance towards smooth running conference.

Some discussion and changes of opinion followed, and the meeting was closed in agreement that they would make every effort to support the Secretariat.

Members Attended:

Takashi Iga

Professor Emeritus, Kobe University (Chair) 

Shozo Takayose

Professor, Himeji Dokkyo University

LaiXing Chen

Professor, Hyogo Prefectural University

Isao Mizohashi

Executive Director, Kobe New Town Development Center Co., Ltd.

Kazutoshi Sasayama

Chairman, AUICK

Hirofumi Ando

President, AUICK

Masayuki Ishitsubo

Executive Director, AUICK

Yoshikane Fujimoto

Deputy Director General, Civic Affairs, Culture and Tourism Bureau, Kobe City (Auditor of AUICK)

Regular Meeting on 7 October 2004

A regular meeting of the Domestic Advisory Committee (DAC) was held on 7 October 2004 in the President’s room of JOICEP, Tokyo.

Domestic Advisory Members and the AUICK Secretariat actively exchanged opinions and ideas on various matters including upcoming workshops, case studies and the reasoning behind AUICK’s focus on medium-sized cities.

The Secretariat outlined the background and contents of AUICK’s new Strategic Project for 2004 - 2007, and also the activity plan for 2004, which included the programmes implemented to date.

A couple of questions were raised and answered as follows:

- Why does AUICK target only medium-sized cities?

The Secretariat answered: “Large-sized cities have more opportunities of receiving considerable financial assistance and opportunities of capacity building from their national governments. On the contrary, as it stands, medium-sized cities receive comparatively less financial assistance and opportunities for capacity building from their national governments. Simultaneously, medium-sized cities face serious urban issues due to growing immigration. Therefore, to facilitate resolution of urban issues caused by population inflow, UNFPA recognized the need to support medium-sized cities. At the “Asia Conference on Population and Development in Medium-sized Cities” held in Kobe in 1987, it was decided to establish an information center to build up personnel and an information network among medium-sized cities in Asia. As a consequence, two years after this landmark decision, AUICK was founded in 1989. Due to these circumstances, AUICK has focused on medium-sized cities ever since its inception.”

- When and how is AUICK planning to conduct case studies? Will the Secretariat recommend IAC members to participate?

The Secretariat explained: “Since we will endeavour mainly to conduct Baseline Surveys, we are not planning to conduct case studies independently. If we discover excellent examples of best practices in the baseline surveys, we will study them for further review and documentation, and its outcome will be shared in the future workshops.

- What is the schedule for upcoming workshops? It is suggested that if a training programme on reproductive health is held in Kobe, the use of research workers from WHO KOBE Centre would be worthy of consideration.

The Secretariat answered: “We are considering holding the first workshop on Reproductive Health in Kobe next year, and we would like to consider this suggestion in that case.

Members Attended:

Toshio Kuroda

Director Emeritus, Population Research Institute, Nihon University / President of JOICEP

Shinyasu Hoshino

Former President, National Institute for Research Advancement

Annual Meeting on 29 and 30 July 2004

The International Advisory Committee (IAC) held an annual meeting of two sessions over two consecutive days from 29 to 30 July 2004, in AUICK’s Meeting Room, on the 20th floor of the Kobe International House. The meeting was attended by seven regular members and one associate member. The main objective of the meeting was to deliberate on the new strategic direction of AUICK, specifically the new AUICK Associate Cities (AACs) Network of nine cities, and the baseline surveys which AUICK will conduct collaboratively with these cities as the first stage of this project.<

I. First Session on 29 July

The meeting was opened with the welcome remarks by Mr. Kazutoshi Sasayama, Chairman of AUICK. He noted that AUICK, established with the support of UNFPA and the Kobe City Government, was celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2004 and that there was much that it could be proud of. He informed the IAC members that UNFPA has approved funding for the first year (2004) of its four year project of cooperation with nine cities in Asia (called AUICK Associate Cities or AACs).

Mr. Sasayama alluded to the forthcoming conference for these Associate Cities, and informed the IAC members of the importance of implementing this project with maximum efficiency. He urged them to play a supervisory and supportive role in implementing the activities of the Associate Cities in their respective countries, in addition to continuing their important role as advisors to AUICK in development and implementation of its programme of support to Asia's medium-sized cities.

Mr. Sasayama requested that the IAC members discuss who would be assigned to help Weihai, Kuantan, Chittagong, Olongapo, and Danang, where IAC member resides in none of the countries where these cities are located. He also requested the completion of all the programmes funded by UNFPA for the year 2004 as scheduled, including the baseline survey, because non-completion of our programmes will require us to refund the unspent balance, and would cause UNFPA to lose confidence in AUICK’s ability to implement the project. Accordingly it will become difficult for AUICK to receive UNFPA support for the remaining three years. He concluded his opening remarks by stating “In this context, our achievement in the latter half of this year is crucially important to sustain our activities for the coming three years.”

Dr. Toshio Kuroda and Dr. Gayl D. Ness served as chairpersons for the rest of the Meeting.

The meeting was informed that Dr. Paul Cheung (Singapore), who had served on IAC, had been appointed as the Director of the United Nations Statistics Division and would no longer be an IAC member. The members expressed appreciation for the contribution made by Dr. Paul Cheung over the years.

Dr. Ness expressed his appreciation of the good work undertaken by AUICK and complemented its leadership on strengthening AUICK's activities.

Report on AUICK’s Activities: 2003 and 2004

The Secretariat presented the report of AUICK activities during 2003, to the IAC. The highlights are as follows:

• The IAC Meeting on 28 June 2003 in which it adopted the new strategic direction of AUICK, focusing on nine Asian cities which would involve inter alia seeking political commitment from the Mayors and promoting city-university partnerships in these cities, and also strengthening south-south cooperation.
• Conduct of the 2003 workshop on “Population and Sustainable Development” in Kobe during 22-31 July, which was attended by nine senior administrative officials from selected medium-sized cities in Asia.
• Convening of the 2003 Seminar on “Population andSustainable Water Resource Management in Urban Planning” held in Kobe during 1-10 December 2003 and attended by nine senior officials from nine medium-sized cities of Asia.
• Finalisation of a book titled “Asian Urbanisation in theNew Millennium” (edited by Dr. Gayl D. Ness and Dr. Prem P. Talwar) for publication in 2004 by Marshall Cavendish (Singapore).
• A monitoring visit to Tianjin by AUICK staff during October 2003, to assess the impact of the above-mentioned training programmes.
• Convening, in collaboration with UNFPA Tokyo Office, of an open forum on “Population, Water and Gender in Asia” on 4 December 2003 which was open to the citizens of Kobe.
• Further development of a web-based database.
• Continuation of the publication of a newsletter, titled AUICK Newsletter; Asian Cities and People.
• Follow-up with UNFPA in the development of a regional project in support of AUICK’s new initiative.

The Secretariat informed the IAC members the status of AUICK’s activities (completed and planned) during 2004, which are as follows:

• Follow-up visits by AUICK staff to the nine cities during the first half of 2004 to: (a) inform the Mayors about the forthcoming AACs Conference and seek their support for AUICK’s new initiative, (b) to meet with the UNFPA representatives and inform them of the new initiative and seek their cooperation with AUICK's programme in their respective countries, and (c) to meet with the representatives of academic institutions in these cities for their active involvement in the city-university partnerships. The meeting with the Mayors resulted in their agreement to support AUICK's initiative and to identify a Liaison Officer to coordinate various activities. Likewise, meetings with UNFPA representatives, universities and academic institutions also helped to seek their support and cooperation in the new initiative.
• Conduct of the 2004 First workshop on “UNFPA goals and urban policies” in Kobe during 13-19 June, which was attended by officials (the newly identified Liaison Officers) from the nine AUICK Associate Cities.
• Conduct of the baseline survey to establish baseline indicators of the nine cities and to carry out a situation analysis focusing on MDGs and ICPD goals (for details see the section below).
• Continue publication of AUICK Newsletters, organisation of advocacy seminars, and updating the database information on medium-sized cities.
• Topics for subsequent workshops.
• Project monitoring.

A number of important points were raised by the IAC members.

• Mega-city issues are not very relevant to medium-sized cities which are most often neglected. They have their own special issues that must not be ignored.
• Many IAC members indicated that visitations by AUICK staff accompanied by an IAC member each were very important, particularly when the importance given to population issues is declining. A number of them indicated that AUICK's role was appreciated in their countries and that UNFPA's perception of AUICK's role was also improving. UNFPA views AUICK and its programme as a channel to identify and address the issues of medium-sized cities.
• In some countries (Bangladesh, Vietnam) UNFPA has programmes in the cities and/or in the corresponding provinces where the AUICK/UNFPA project will operate, which makes it possible to forge closer collaboration between the work of UNFPA at the country level and that of AUICK. In the other countries, like Pakistan, this is not the case and special attention must be given to forge links with UNFPA programmes.
• Future issues of the newsletter should include feature articles on stories of successful urban initiatives. IAC members could provide short write-ups for inclusion in the newsletter.
• Population issues, including issues of medium-sized cities, must be kept at the forefront through a number of strategies such as e-mail alerts and by the effective use of information technology, in particular the world-wide-web, for information dissemination.
• Forge greater links and communication among the partners (examples of clusters include: city and UNFPA, Liaison Officers, members of the baseline survey teams, IAC members) of the new AUICK project by establishing web-based e-mail networks for effective communication and information exchange.
• Liaison Officers in the cities should be closely integrated into the project activities and their cooperation should be sought in identifying candidates for training and workshops in the future.
• Special concerns of young people in the cities (due to the increase in sexual relationships and limited knowledge on HIV/AIDS) and success stories and best practices on addressing sensitive issues such as the contraceptives for unmarried persons should be included in the training programmes.
• In the future, the nine AACs could be used as model cities at the country level to scale up and/or expand the activities to other medium-sized cities. They could also be used as training venues for future training programmes.
• As far as possible baseline data (referring to 2003/4 and for a 20-30 year period preceding it) should be collected for all the indicators (MDGs and ICPD Goals on RH and Gender equality).
• The training programmes should aim at developing an action plan (based on the baseline information and situational analysis) that could be used to monitor progress in its implementation by the city governments.

Baseline Survey and City-University Partnerships

Dr. Ness presented the guidance notes on the above topics. (see Annex A)

The IAC members discussed the proposal, especially for the collection of baseline data, conduct of the baseline studies/situation analysis and related modalities.

It was agreed that given limited time and resources, use will be made of secondary data to derive various indicators, and at this stage no attempt will be made to collect new data through surveys or other methods. It was also agreed that, as a strategy, each city will work closely with a university or a research institution to carry out the baseline study, and that these studies will be completed before the end of 2004 so that the results can be made available to UNFPA, in support of the continuation of the project and its activities for the remainder of the project's duration.

The study report will be organised into four sections, which are:

1. City Governance and Administration
2. Projects and achievements, focusing on success
3. Millennium Development Goals, baseline data and analysis
4. Priority Issues

After review and discussion, the IAC members agreed upon a set of indicators (relating to MDGs and ICPD goals) that need to be collected (to the extent possible for a 20 year period). The IAC members also identified a set of causal factors that could be used for modelling.

The IAC recommended the following time frame for the conduct of the baseline studies:

1. Appointment of the study director/advisory group: by end of August
2. Collection of baseline data: September-October and early November
3. Training in modelling: 21-24 November
4. Analysis and drafting of report: to be completed by mid-December

The IAC recommended that a project advisory group consisting of four persons (two from the city administration and two from the academia) be constituted. The project director and the Liaison Officer of the project from the city administration should be members of the advisory team. Ideally, the team from the university should consist of a social scientist and a professional from engineering or the natural sciences.

The IAC also accepted with appreciation the proposal by Dr. Krasae Chanaongse that the next training course would be conducted in Khon Kaen during 21st-24th November, and would focus on the analysis of the baseline data and indicators, and on the application of the modelling technique: STELLA, for the analysis of different scenarios. At the end of the training course a preliminary draft of the baseline study is also expected to be completed. Details are included in the guidance notes and were discussed with the representatives of the academia at the second session of the IAC meeting on 30 July.

The IAC members reviewed the Declaration (draft) for consideration and adoption during the Mayor's Conference. In general the members agreed on the draft, but made some suggestions for its improvement, which were incorporated.

II. Second Session on 30 July

Mr. Masayuki Ishitsubo, Executive Director of AUICK, welcomed the baseline/endline survey collaborators for AACs, who joined the meeting to discuss the plans for conducting the baseline studies. He informed the participants that AUICK was celebrating its 15th anniversary and that AUICK was organising the AACs Conference to mark the beginning of the new project, as well as a strategy to promote city-university partnerships. He indicated that the baseline survey was supported by UNFPA and the successful completion of the survey was important for identifying issues faced by the cities and for developing appropriate policies. He noted that it was also important for UNFPA's continued support of AUICK's activities in the future.

Dr. Hirofumi Ando, President of AUICK, while highlighting the progress made by AUICK, noted that it had spread itself too thin in the past. In the future, he said, AUICK would focus its activities on the nine cities of Asia. He hoped that the AACs conference would result in their commitment and support of AUICK's activities in their respective cities. Dr. Ando stressed the important aspects of the new strategy, including the focus on south-south cooperation, promotion of city-university partnerships, and the further development of the web-based database system to facilitate information exchange throughout the region, in addition to AUICK’s focus on the nine AACs.

Dr. Ness then outlined the objectives and the plans for the conduct of the baseline survey that were finalised by the IAC during the first day of the meeting. The baseline survey would concentrate on collecting data relevant to the MDGs and also selected ICPD goals on reproductive health. He also called their attention to selected urban indicators included in the study which have a bearing on the quality of life in these cities.

Dr. Ness informed the survey collaborators that no primary data collection was envisaged during this phase due to limited time and resources. The baseline study would therefore be based on secondary data that are already available from other sources. He also informed them that a training course would be organised during November in Khon Kaen (Thailand) to analyse the data and to construct some models (using STELLA method) to explore future scenarios. Two persons (one from the city planning and one from the academia) would be invited to participate in the training course. Dr. Ness reiterated that the selection of an academic partner institution, and the compilation of data, as per the guidelines, was important for the cities to be considered as an AUICK Associate City, and for the participants to be invited to attend the next training course.

The participants discussed at length the timing and duration of the training course, the details of the content of the baseline study and the indicators to be included in the study. There was recognition of the problem of availability and quality of data, particularly at the level of individual cities. Dr. Talwar stressed that in the event that data are not available for the measurement of some of the indicators, others which may reflect progress could be used as proxies.

Guidelines for the conduct of the baseline study were modified, taking into account the suggestions made by the group. The meeting agreed to convene the training workshop during 21-24 November, immediately after the holidays following Ramadan.<

Other Issues

The meeting highlighted the importance of monitoring to ensure the success of the survey and the completion of the baseline study. It was agreed that in countries where an IAC member is present, he/she will be involved in monitoring the progress. In other countries another nearby member of the IAC may be included in the monitoring visit party.

It was also agreed that each of the baseline studies will have a maximum budget of US $4,000. The research group directors were asked to submit a detailed budget of their respective baseline studies to AUICK, and to create a separate account for transfer of funds from AUICK.

Dr. Haryono Suyono indicated that his university of Airlangga in Surabaya, would convene a workshop immediately following the Khon Kaen workshop. This would introduce this MDG baseline study to a series of universities in Indonesia with which Airlangga has ongoing relationships. He asked the IAC members to attend that conference if they are available.

Participants

IAC Members:

Dr. Prem P. Talwar

Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, India

Dr. Haryono Suyono

Former Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation, Indonesia

Dr. Toshio Kuroda

Director Emeritus, Population Research Institute, Nihon University, Japan

Dr. Jung Duk Lim

Professor, Department of Economics, Pusan University, Korea

Dr. M.A. Kareem Iqbal

Member Sindh Local Government Commission Pakistan

Dr. Krasae Chanawongse

Advisor to the Prime Minister, Thailand

Dr. Gayl D. Ness

Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan, USA

IAC Associate Member:

Dr. Prijono Tjiptoherijanto

Secretary to the Vice-President of Indonesia

Baseline/Endline Survey Collaborators:

Dr. Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury

Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh

Dr. H. Sunarjo

Deputy Director, Post Graduate Program, Airlangga University, Indonesia

Dr. Alias Bin Abdullah

Director, Bureau of Consultancy & Entrepreneurship, International Islamic University of Malaysia

Dr. Asghar Cheema

Dean and Head, Department of Rural Sociology, University of Agriculture, Pakistan

Dr. Alex Brillantes Jr.

Dean, National College of Public Administration Governance, University of Philippines

Dr. Joel V. Mangahas

College Secretary and Director of Studies, National College of Public Administration and Governance, University of the Philippines

Dr. Peerasit Kamnuansilpa

Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty, Khon Kaen University, Thailand

Dr. Trinh Duy Luan

Professor, Institute of Sociology, National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam

Observers:

Ms. Zhang Yang

Director, Division of International Organisation, NPFPC, China

Mr. Yu Yu

National Program Officer, UNFPA, China

Ms. Apoorva

Joint Commissioner, Corporation of Chennai, India