In its second year the program has achieved some significant successes and is generally on schedule, and on some milestones ahead of schedule. We have a very active Partner Organization base that meets on a very regular basis, to address the issues faces by the urban poor in Luanda.
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Executive Summary
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this report.
In the second year of the program:
• The government has reaffirmed its intentions to move toward the creation of a new level of Municipal Governance (at least in Luanda) by restructuring administrative divisions of the city, arguing that this will facilitate elected “autarquias”. Autarquis is the term used in Angola to describe the municipal level institutions that are being planned as part of the state’s decentralization strategy. Autarquis will be a new autonomous level of local governance. They are likely to be composed of elected municipal or district councils and elected mayors. Autarquias are likely to replace the nominated CACs and mayors are likely to replace appointed administrators. The Autarquia will have its own charter or legal mandate and regulations and will take over the primary role of financial and budgeting units. They are likely to continue to be financed through transfer-payments from the state budget, but are likely to take over the right designated in Law 04/07 to generate their own income from local taxes or service fees. It is hoped that
the new Law on Autarquias will reverse the 2010 Law and allow locally generated funds to remain in the hands of the municipality (without reverting local income to the state budget). Autarquias are likely to
be able to pass local by-laws, set up municipal public enterprises to manage utilities and make municipal development plans. The Ministry for Territorial Administration who has been given the responsibility
for developing the Law on Autarquias has advised the first municipal elections will happen in 2015 once the national census has been concluded.
• The President’s office set up an Anti-Poverty Commission that borrowed much of it’s platform from the Civil Society Poverty Network that our project supports.
• Some significant improvements to water coverage has resulted from the project’s partnership with the Luanda Water Company EPAL and the National Water & Sanitation Directorate (DNAAS) in urban bairros where the program is engaged. Significant funds from the Water for All Program have been leveraged since the beginning of the project to bring water to approximately 157.000 people.
• Development Workshop’s advocacy for a strategy of community water management that builds community financial capacity to sustain and maintain water infrastructure, has been officially adopted by the Angolan Government in May 2012. DW has been commissioned to develop an operations manual for distribution across the country.
• Despite progress on the policy development, the project’s participatory monitoring of urban indicators demonstrates that the poor’s access to services remains below the targets promised by Government through their ‘Water for All’ and ‘One Million Houses’ programs.
• Urban civil society remains disenchanted with the slow pace of poverty reduction and the increasing gap between those elites who have benefited from Angola’s rapid economic growth and the majorities who have seen only slow improvements.
• Urban civil society however has become more articulate and effective in making their voices heard, through municipal forums, community and social media channels and demands for more accountability on how public budgets are developed and spent.
• The program has been engaging with Luanda’s Special Office for Urban Upgrading to promote good international practice and encourage more participatory approaches to planning. Consultation with civil society through the Municipal Forums has been one of the key outcomes.
• Frustrated youth are increasingly making their voices heard through street demonstrations and direct action. Opposition political parties have not effectively transformed these concerns into their policy agendas. The results of the recent national elections demonstrate this. In a country known for a high rate of participation in elections, the largest block of urban voters chose to abstain or spoil their ballots in last months election.
• The program’s key strategy remains targeting local Government and contributing to the process of creating elected municipal councils that are promised before the end of the current program.
In general we will continue implementing the program as planned.
Progress and Results for the 2nd year of the program – Introduction
The Voices of Citizens for Urban Change program focused on 6 municipalities in the Luanda Province:
- Cazenga
- Cacuaco
- Sambizanga
- Rangel
- Viana
- Kilamba Kiaxi
A new administrative division of the province of Luanda has been approved in parliament. Luanda has claimed land from the province of Bengo to accommodate its growing population. The government has decided to create three new municipalities and merge six others in one. Out of the six municipalities that have been merged a mega metro municipality has been created, the municipality of Luanda. Rangel, Ingombotas, Maianga, Samba, Sambizanga and Kilamba Kiaxi are the municipalities that have been incorporated. Cazenga, Viana and Cacuaco have been joined by the municipalities of Belas, Kissama Icolo Bengo and Luanda. Thus, the province will from now on have seven municipalities instead of nine.
According to the Ministry of Territorial Administration, by creating the mega municipality in Luanda, the government is trying to prepare the governance structure that will be formed when local elections take place in 2013. The government also justifies this change alleging that the former administrative division made it difficult for municipalities to implement their development strategies when boundaries between them were not very clear.
The law which backs up this administrative division is not clear yet about what form of leadership will exist in the districts and what roles they will play. This poses a challenge on the level of engagement or participatory governance processes that can be undertaken with government. As such, pending clarity on the government structures within districts, the project has focused more on working at the commune level and to provide support for CSOs strengthening and promoting engagements at communal level as these are the building blocks for engagement at higher levels. The project activities are thus not affected by the change. It is expected that CSOs will have the capacity to promote new engagements and leverage on their established links with existing structures which will be incorporated into the new structures once finalized.
The municipal administrator of the old Sambizanga municipality has been appointed as the “president” of the new municipality of Luanda (as from February 2012) although he still operates from his old office. While Sambizanga is now a district, there is still no clarity on what the governance structure will be and how this will relate to the municipal and communal level structures. For now, the “president” of Luanda municipality continues to oversee the affairs of Sambizanga (as was the case before the administrative change).
DW met with the director of the National Directorate for the Territorial Organization from the Ministry of Territorial Administration (MAT) to discuss potential points of cooperation within the new administrative division of Luanda. MAT recommended DW to continue producing municipal diagnosis so as to help the new administrators to produce consistent municipal plans. DW will continue (co-)producing maps and Municipal Profiles, and adapt them to the new boundaries.
Despite this new administrative division DW’s programs in Luanda will not be affected. The municipalities of Sambizanga and Kilamba Kiaxi will be districts which will also remain administrative entities. The active citizenship organizations that DW has been supporting in those places will continue engaging with the local administrations to promote participatory governance.
Due to the administrative changes in the municipal borders in 2011, we are now officially working with 4 municipalities:
- Luanda (the municipality, not the city at large)
- Cacuaco
- Viana
- Cazenga
See the larger versions of the maps attached in annex old municipal borders and annex new municipal borders. Each municipality consists of several comunas, and each comuna consists of a number of bairros. See annex map with bairros.
Progress and Results – The Angolan Context
Our Program Director, Belisario dos Santos, has left DW in May 2012 to become the new National Director of the Ministerio da Administração Territorial, Local do Estado, MAT. We miss him, but are also very happy that he has been able to increase his influence on the very important decentralization process in Angola. Belisario remains a very important adviser of DW and he will continue to support the mission, vision and programs of DW. He also gives us excellent access to this very important and high level in the Angolan government structure. Belisario has written an excellent report on the decentralization process and local governance development in Angola, see 2012 BdS Report on decentralization in Angola. For another analysis from his hand is about the Origins of Urban Poverty, see 2011/09/14 BdS Risk analysis of urban poverty and fast growing cities.
Evolving Urban Governance Environment in Angola
The reporting period up until the end of July 2012, coincided with the lead-up to Angola’s second post-war elections. The constitution had been modified in early 2010 to do away with presidential elections, while at the same time significantly strengthening the executive powers of the President. The constitution however did reaffirm that Municipalities were to become autonomous democratically elected units of local governance but the date for municipal elections was not fixed. The Presidency is assumed by the leader of the party winning parliamentary elections on the basis of a proportional system, which are now held every 5 years.
The reporting period also corresponded to a period when Presidential commissions to combat poverty took a strong intervention role in local development. The “anti-poverty commission” appropriated much of the language of civil society organizations (particularly the platforms of our current project partners in the “Voices of Citizens for Urban Change”). The influence of the project on the setting the agenda for urban poverty reduction is evident.
The elections in Angola
The elections have taken place one month after the timeframe covered by this report, on the 31st of August 2012. The preparations, after continuous postponing the planned elections, have influenced the last few months of this reporting timeframe. Tensions and opportunities arose from it.
It has been a time of massive (and biased) media attention, building tensions between the different parties, small but rather violently stifled protests, and some accusations of unlevel playing field. It also led to renewed promises to the citizens, more attention to service provision, and more active engagement of public servants with their constituency. The result of the election (72% MPLA, 18% UNITA, 6% CASA CE) leads to a continuation of the MPLA stronghold on Angola. The voter turnout, 63%, was significantly lower than in 2008, 87%. Significant in this is that fact that Luanda was heavily canvassed by the MPLA, but the voter turnout was even lower than the nationwide turnout, only 56%. And of that 56%, only 59% voted for the ruling party. See attached annex 2012 Elections results.
International institutions, such as the Human Rights Watch, the EU and African Union formally assess these elections as free and fair, but made several (in)formal reservations. See annexes 2012 EU formal statement on Elections Angola, 2012/08/01 HRW Report on Upcoming Elections Angola and www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19460914. MPLA had much more access to financial resources and the (state owned) media. In general many observers considered the opposition too weak to be a viable alternative. International observers do acknowledge improvement in the electoral process in Angola.
The local elections that were initially planned for 2013 are now scheduled for 2014 (by September). The change is due to the plan to conduct a national census between July and August 2013. The delay in holding local elections will have implications on how long it takes for municipalities to be financially autonomous. Municipal administrations continue ot depend on budgetary decisions of the central government thereby affecting how locally priortized projects are funded.
Other important background documents
Other interesting new and latest background information and documents on the Angolan context: Angola and especially Luanda is still one of the most expensive places to live and work in the world. See www.mercer.com for the statistics and www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16815605 for a few good examples.
On the general developments in Angola, the economy, the state of the country at large:
See annex 2012 Chatham House Indicators Angola
See annex 2011 Transparency International report on corruption Angola ranks 168/183
See annex 2011 Transparency International Angola report
See annex 2012 Bertelsman Institute Angola Country Report, important sections highlighted (DW mentioned p.45)
See annex 2012 HRW report on Angola
See annex 2011 UNDP Human Development Report PT
The main issue, coming from international research institutes, is the lack of transparency in Angola. People protest more openly and it has been a big topic in the election campaigns.
Progress and Results – the Angolan National Budget
One of the early steps in 2007 in moving towards decentralization was the empowerment of Municipal Administrations by making them local “budget units”. This step was called “deconcentration” rather than “decentralization”. The Law 07/04 gave municipalities the right to manage allocations from the state budget and also the responsibility to develop annual municipal budgets. The Law also created consultative councils (CACs) where civil society representatives were able to influence the processes of municipal planning and budgeting. The current project Voices of Citizens for Urban Change built much of its strategy around making these instruments work to promote pro-poor urban development. The project promotes the collection of data, its transformation into information and uses the mechanisms of local forums to use knowledge to influence the CACs and local Government administrations. Poverty indicator monitoring and the creation of municipal profiles are parts of this process.
Annual state budget data published by the Ministry of Finance has not been shared in a disaggregated format with the CACs or civil society institutions. In fact, the lists of data and figures are daunting for even local Government authorities to understand and use in planning their local programs. Development Workshop and several other civil society organizations argue that this information needs to de-mystified so that it can be understood at both the national and local level. DW therefore took on the task of disaggregating the 2012 state budget in order to abstract local budget information applicable to the urban municipalities where we are working and making it available to local stakeholders. We feel that this is an essential first step towards creating a process of “participatory municipal budgeting”.
DW analysed the Angolan National Budget 2012, as it was published on the website of the Angolan Ministry of Finance (www.minfin.gv.ao/docs/dspOrcaCorren.html)
The original goal of DWs’ disaggregation of the Angolan National Budget (OGE) was to clarify the municipal budgets available for the municipalities of Angola where most of our programs are implemented. So we could address the government structures with facts and figures when we address the levels of access to services and basic human rights. If only that was possible. Several NGOs have tried to access and assess the budget, and especially the pro-poor approach and ongoing decentralization process the government claims, received special attention.
In general there is a growing tendency to publicize governmental information. More and more ministries are posting information online, and have websites with general information. The Ministry of Finance website is growing fast. That is part of the political wish for more transparency and an indicator for growing capacities and interest in supplying information to the constituency.
In this analysis we wanted to look at the build-up in the budget, how does the budget reflect the statements made in de political arena, how much money is actually planned for highly visible programs, such as the ‘Agua Para Todos’ and the ‘1.000.000 houses’. How pro-poor is the budget? How transparent is the budget? Can we easily access and assess the information? Is the decentralization process reflected in the budgetary planning?
The budget is made in Angolan Kwanza’s and has not been published in a reader friendly way. The total amount of the OGE is 4,501,106,290,500.00 Akz. An amount most people can’t even pronounce, let alone grasp. It would have been better to present the entire budget with 6 numbers dropped, by explaining all amounts are x 1,000,000.00 Akz. If you can’t read a budget properly because the amounts are just too big, it does not aid in understanding it. Most amounts do not even fit on a calculator. So people are struggling to comprehend the amounts presented.
This excel version of the OGE has been made by DW. It has been made available to other NGOs and interested parties, for their own analysis.
On the income side the government demands that local tax income needs to be transferred to the central state coffers. There is a new regulation on decentralisation: The Presidential Decree No. 307/10 is a major reversal of the decentralization process begun in 2007, (Law 07/04) when Municipalities were identified as “autonomous budget units”. The new decree’s requirement that all revenues from fees, licenses, fines levied by local government offices and their agencies should be compulsorily deposited in the State Treasury Single Account. The decree undermines any initiative of municipalities in generating their own finances through local taxes, service fees or rates since local income will not be retained but be reverted to the State’s National Budget. The Minister states that he wants to prohibit the creation of two budgets, suggesting (which is necessary if Municipalities are to gain any level of autonomy). By this decree, Municipal Authorities will become completely dependent on transfers from Central levels of Government.
That means municipal budgets are not disbursed as budgeted. The municipalities have to prepare plans and budgets and request the funds from the central state coffers. This leads to delays, or even no requests made, as capacities for operational planning, project proposal writing, preparing budgets, etc, are still rather low (although improving) at the Municipal Administration level. Another problem is that the Municipal Administrations in general are understaffed, and many positions are politically appointed, not based on skills.
The total percentage managed from the centre is 86,50 %. How does that relate to the decentralization process? Especially if all the funds received in the decentralized structure need to be transferred to the central state coffers?
As we are still waiting for Municipal Elections, until today the motivation for local political leaders to perform, and thus secure future elections, is low. Leaders have been appointed from higher in the party structure, not chosen by the constituency. When these highly awaited elections will happen, the local leaders will have to shift their attention more to the local inhabitants.
In the OGE large amounts are budgeted under ‘on-going activities’, ‘not specified expenses’ or ‘other costs’. Quite often the biggest amount will be booked under these budget lines. You can’t monitor these expenses through the year, as it is unclear what falls under these lines. A budget is as transparent as its biggest amount that is unclear to the reader of a budget. This budget is unfortunately full of large, unclear budget lines.
21.28 % of the OGE is used for debt management. This is probably a result of the massive infrastructural work done since 2008. The state is still paying for these works. If Sonangol would fill the state coffers in a timely manner, according to their actual profits, based on the real oil prices, would these debts be needed? As was stated in the IMF and other reports, there is room for improvement there?
In total there are 90 different programs, many of them installed and/or managed by the Presidents’ office, outside the ‘normal’ ministerial responsibilities. That probably means 90 different organizations, all with their own overhead, offices, paper pushing and reporting. That is fragmented and will not aid an efficient and lean government, working towards servicing the population. It could be perceived as job creation for party affiliates. The press uses the term “Executivo” in a rather vague way. It is my understanding that the term should be used when referring to the State President as opposed to Government Ministries, the Parliament or other levels of Government. We should be very precise when we talk about Government and if we refer to a decision or a decree from the President we call it that and avoid the use of “Executivo”. Again the absolute main part of the budget, 72.35 % goes to ‘on-going activities’. Not transparent, or to be monitored.
The other main point of attention is that there are several programs working on water related issues, but the famous ‘Agua para Todos’ program is budgeted for a meagre 0.23 %. The government puts a lot of emphasis on the ‘Agua para Todos’ program, but the budget does not reflect that. See 2012/05 Agua que futuro – Africa Today – Maio 2012.
The ‘1.000.000 houses’ program is not mentioned. A development of housing program gets 1,07 % and a relocating/population resettlement program 0,39%. See for the full DW analysis: 2012/09 DW Analysis of the Angolan National Budget 2012.
In September 2012 we found on the website of the Angolan Ministry of Finance new information on the expenses made against the budget (www.minfin.gv.ao/docs/dspRelExecOGE.htm).
This is the first time we found publicly available information on expenses against the National Budget. That does not mean it was not available before, but an earlier serious research online and via our network (mid May 2012) resulted in nothing. On 2011 the information covers only the first 6 or 9 months. On 2012 only the first 3 months are available. No information has been posted on the years 2010, 2009 and 2008. There is however new information on 2007. The information is delivered without explanation on the breakdown of costs, or why budget lines are over or under spending. The information is available, though incomplete, but not in a form that allows the general public to access or assess the data.
DW has made a Media Scan on the State Budget OGE since 2008. See 2011 Media Analysis on Angolan National Budget. It shows the relation the press has with the government and the sometimes seriously different tone between the state media and other actors in the public domain.
Timeline year 2: start 1st of August 2011, ends 31st of July 2012. Total 12 months
Key Milestones Tab
Or as annex for easy reference: 2nd year milestones
Addendum to the program: The China Africa Workshop
In 2012 an addendum was made to the contract. The BMGF asked DW to participate in a new activity, the organization of the China Africa Workshop, hosted in Nairobi. The idea for a workshop bringing together Chinese and African experts and thinkers on how urbanization is affecting the poor came from observations in Angola last year. The question of what effects super-fast development was having on people arose in discussions between Prof. Liu Haifang, General Secretary of the Centre for African Studies at Peking University and Allan Cain, the Director of Development Workshop. Both China and Angola have urban growth rates among the fastest in the world, so joint development of informed strategies for the urban poor can be beneficial. Following a presentation by DW about urbanization at Peking University African Studies Center in November 2011 it was decided to draw in a wider community of expertise on China and Africa.
Allan Cain held a presentation; see PP 2012/07 Participatory Mapping of Urban Poverty – Nairobi AC for Gates China Africa. A report on the workshop has been made, see Pro-Poor Urban Development- China and Africa Workshop Report- 25th Sept 2012 report.
The workshop shared experiences and best practices in pro-poor urban development in both China and Africa, focusing on Chinese involvement in African urbanization, and promoted the development of concrete and actionable ideas for pilot projects to enhance the pro-poor impact of external Chinese investments in Africa. A select group of participants was mobilized from influential Chinese and African institutions, based on their experience of Chinese urban development, assistance in African urban development through Chinese aid and trade or African urban development and the situation of urban poverty in the region. Apart from a group of notable academics from China, officials of key government institutions dealing with China’s international aid and trade were present. Participants from Africa included senior representatives of notable urban research and development institutions and diplomatic representatives of the Republic of Angola.
Small working groups were tasked to prepare concept notes for submission by the end of October to other potential collaborators and funders after the workshop. It is anticipated that the high level of engagement of the participants will lead to realistic and effective interventions that will improve the pro-poor urban development impact of future Chinese activities in Africa. A table of project concept ideas that are under development follows here:
Project Concept 1 – Research project on land and housing finance: This project would bring together Chinese and African academics, practitioners, and policy makers to research good practices in provision of land, housing finance, and other support services to the urban poor. These could be practices in China, in Africa, and/or of Chinese projects in Africa.
Project Concept 2 – Pro-poor African Urban Road project: This project would bring together Chinese transport experts and construction firms, and African transport experts and NGOs/community groups. The idea would be to develop a concept and design for a pro-poor road, and then identify a location in Africa where this can be piloted by a Chinese construction company. The lessons learned could then be distilled into guidelines / good practices.
Project Concept 3 – Developing a course for Chinese and African urban experts: This project would develop a course, targeting Chinese and African urban practitioners, aimed at building their capacity to work together in Africa; incorporating good practices for participatory planning, implementation, and evaluation; and integrating pro-poor elements into their work. The course would then be piloted and revised/refined accordingly.
Project Concept 4 – Vocational training in sub-Saharan Africa: This project would include research on best practices on vocational training by Chinese companies in urban Africa, and networking with existing associations of Chinese companies to create a vocational training platform.
Project Concept 5 – Research & recognition of Chinese Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Africa: This project would identify good practices within the Chinese corporate community that has investments and projects in urban Africa. In addition to disseminating those practices, an award/prize scheme is envisaged to highlight good projects and create incentives for a greater pro-poor orientation.
Project Concept 6 – Affordable clean technology transfer: This project would seek to identify selected low-cost Chinese technologies (energy, housing, etc.), with a strong potential to improve the lives of Africa’s urban poor, that have yet to penetrate the African market. It would then pilot technology transfer in one or more countries.
PROGRESS AND RESULTS – THE VOICES OF CITIZENS FOR URBAN CHANGE PROGRAM
In this report we try to focus more on results. Our last years’ report was the first report with an emphasis on processes and how we do our work, this year we want to focus on why we do it this way, and what the results are.
MILESTONES, SECOND ANNUAL INTERIM REPORT:
Objective 1 – To influence public policy through the participatory monitoring of the MDG urban poverty indicators
Activity/Milestone 1. Baseline diagnostic studies carried out and MDG maps produced.
Target month: 19
In the second year we have conducted a new round of focus group meetings, to establish the current situation in our municipalities. We have used the same questionnaire as last year, based on the urban poverty indicators adapted from the UNHabitat MDG recommendations. Each focus group was composed of 7 to 15 selected residents (strategically chosen people; influential individuals and members of community groups (church leaders, presidents/representatives of key associations such as the OMA, JMPLA, resident’s committee, “coordenadores de bairro e dos sectores”) and slum dwellers, including women, men and youth, in the specific bairro indicated. They represent their bairro, and answer on behalf of their bairro. So the answers show the average level of access to and quality of services, constructions, etc. for their bairro.
Training the focus group leaders in Viana, 2012
We always advise the Municipal Administration the questionnaires will be done again, and get their approval to collect the data. See 2012/05/23 MA Kilamba Kiaxi request to do Questionnaire. By doing this we ensure buy-in from the MAs, so we can influence their work after with the results from the questionnaires.
As examples, two of the new questionnaires filled out by focus groups from Rangel, now part of the Municipality of Luanda. See annex 2012/05/21 questionnaire Y2 Rangel and annex 2012/05/22 questionnaire Y2 Rangel.
In the 2nd year we have done a total of 222 questionnaires. Due to the change in the municipal borders, we have decided to enlarge the catchment area of the questionnaires. So we have added 3 ´former´ municipalities (Maianga, Samba and Ingombota) that were not part of the previous baseline study, but that are now part of the municipality of Luanda. We gave extra attention to the former municipality of Kilamba Kiaxi, as we did not cover that area in the previous round of questionnaires.
As the same questionnaire will be used annually throughout the runtime of the program, it will show improvements and/or deterioration on all the researched fields through the years. Each year we will ask our current and to be established focus groups to answer the same questions again, so we can measure the improvements or deteriorations in the Municipalities throughout the 5 years leading up to 2015 (the target year for achieving the MDGs). Each questionnaire is entered in a database. It allows us to analyze the information and share with our Partner Organizations and feed the eventual updating of the Municipal Profiles.
The information from our research is entered in MDG ‘poverty indicator’ maps. This research is based on several sources: the questionnaires, GIS mapping, geo-referencing, other DW research and research reports done by other stakeholders, such as NGOs and organizations (UN, WB, the Angolan Government). These maps show per municipality the information per indicator; access to potable water, costs of water, population density, construction materials, road conditions, health services, educational services, etc.
DW makes an important distinction between Coverage levels and Access levels. You can have water points all over the city, but if they are not functional, or deliver not enough water to satisfy the needs of the population, there is still an underperformance. The government only collects data on coverage; we are more interested in access. Do you have to wait in line for a few hours to have your turn at getting water? What are the consequences for the lives of women and girls because of that? Giving up school? Not enough income generation?
2011 DW MDG map Access to Water
2012 DW MDG map Access to Water
For bigger maps, see annexed:
2011 DW MDG map Qualidade Habitaçao
2011 DW MDG map Acesso Saneamento
2011 DW MDG map Densidade
2011 DW MDG map DireitoTerra
2011 DW MDG map Acesso Agua
2012 DW MDG map Qualidade Habitaçao
2012 DW MDG map Acesso Saneamento
2012 DW MDG map Densidade
2012 DW MDG map DireitoTerra
2012 DW MDG map Acesso Agua
The analysis after the second round of questionnaires gave us the following information:
Neighborhood Sanitary Conditions/Situation
Graph 1 shows a comparison of the 2011-2012 sanitary conditions in the neighborhoods compared to other areas of the city. We can note that Cazenga improves from 100% bad in 2011 to 15% good, 30% acceptable, and 55% bad in 2012. Cacuaco and Kilamba Kiaxi also register some improvement. On the other hand Rangel’s Sambizanga’s, and Viana’s sanitary situation has degraded a little in 2012 as compared to 2011.
Graph 1: Sanitary conditions in the neighborhoods (2011-2012 comparison)
Representing the percentage of respondents who have garbage
collection services in the neighborhoods comparing 2011 and 2012, graph 2
shows tremendous improvement in Cazenga, Sambizanga and Viana with
Kilamba Kiaxi showing a slight improvement. Cacuaco shows no change, but
Rangel goes slights negative. The situation in Ingombota, Maianga, and
Samba is not surprising, as those are well developed areas where the
rich(er) people live.
Graph 2: Existence of garbage collection services (2011-2012 comparison)
Household Sanitary Conditions
Graphs 3 and 4 below show an approximation of households who have lavatories inside their house as represented by the Focus Groups in 2011 and 2012 respectively. In 2011 52% of Cacuaco’s FGs said none of them had a lavatory inside the house, 40% said few of them had, and 8% said half the group had. Whereas in 2012 all of Cacuaco’s FGs said few of them had. Cazenga and Kilamba Kiaxi show very slight changes over the two years. Viana shows a good shift for the better. In 2011 50% of Viana’s FGs said none of them had a lavatory inside their house, 38% said few had, and 12% said many of them had, whereas in 2012 32% said few of them had, 29% said many had, and 39% said all of them had at least one lavatory inside their house.
Graph 3: Households that have lavatories inside their house (2011)
Cost of Water
Graph 5 below shows the average cost of 20 liters of water per Municipality in Angolan Kwanzas – Kz (AOA) as indicted by the Focus Group Discussions (FDG) for the two years, 2011 and 2012. Rangel and Viana registered a decrease with 20Ltr of water going at 50Kz and 49Kz in 2011 compared to 23Kz and 39Kz respectively in 2012. On the other hand Cacuaco, Cazenga, and Sambizanga show a rise for 2012.
Graph 5: Average cost of 20Ltrs of water (2011-2012 comparison)
Water Sources
Graphs 6 and 7 below show an approximation of households with canalized running tap water connected to their houses as represented by participants of the (FGD) in 2011 and 2012 respectively. For 2011, all the Focus Groups – FGs (100%) in Cazenga said there were few households in their neighborhoods with running tap water connected to their house, whereas in Rangel 32% of the FGs said none of the households had water connections with 68% saying a few houses were connected. In Cacuaco, Kilamba Kiaxi, and Sambizanga, there is slightly less households with connections compared to those without connections. Viana presented a fair distribution with 25% of the FGs saying all, and 38% many, houses in the neighborhood are connected. It seems that in 2012 the number of households with water connections have reduced while those without connections have become more in 2012 than in 2011.
Graph 6: Households with canalized tap water connected to their house (2011)
Gender issues are always mainstreamed in all DW programs. The questionnaire has specific questions to assess the position of women and girls. The baseline questionnaire shows the # of women consulted on the current level of services and other indicators in their neighborhood.
We have used the information from the baseline study to update the Municipal Profiles. DW involves the Municipal Administrations and their staff in the production and updating of the Municipal Profiles. The Municipal Profile for Viana has been updated this year and awaits the approval from the Municipal Administration. See annex Municipal Profile Viana 2012.
For the other municipalities we are still using the versions from last year.
See annex Municipal Profile Sambizanga 2011
See annex Municipal Profile Cacuaco 2011
See annex Municipal Profile Kilamba Kiaxi 2011
See annex Municipal Profile Cazenga 2011
Last year we indicated we would also make a Municipal Profile (MP) for Rangel, but Rangel is now part of the municipality of Luanda, so it is not very useful to make a separate one for Rangel.
We are not sure yet if it will be useful to make a new Municipal Profile for the Municipality of Luanda. That municipality is massive in every aspect, number of inhabitants, levels of service provision and very divers. Common sense is to keep working with the municipal profiles we have already, but start to refer to them as district of Sambizanga, etc. DW is dependent on the Municipal Administrations’ cooperation to come to a satisfactory level of the MPs. We share the information from the baseline and the MP with the CSO and Municipal Administrations in workshops, CACS, MCACS and forums.
Municipal atlas
DW started the development of Municipal Atlases, based on the MGD monitoring tools. They will be turned into printed books, but mainly used on a online platform, the forum.angonet.org. Each municipality will have its own online platform, with all useful information to advocate for better living standards in their areas.
See attached a first mock-up of what the atlases will look like!
See 2012 GPIMG Cazenga Atlas draft Typical Spread.
Activity/Milestone 2. Five ACOs trained in monitoring tools in each municipality.
Target months: 10, 22, 34
In the second year of the program we have done several trainings. The trainings and workshops focused on using the monitoring tools, but also on network development, establishing new ACO’s and communicating with the service providers. It is very important to understand the collection of data on poverty indicators, but much more important to use that information in the most useful way. We teach and support the local groups in the whole cycle.
The focus groups that filled the questionnaires were trained on how to collect the information and make sure that their questionnaire represents the situation in their bairro as accurately as possible. From each newly established focus group the leaders were trained. The LUPN got 7 day training, especially for CSOs on Network Development, Advocacy and Policy Development. 16 trainees, from different backgrounds and focus. Only 5 females in this group, below our normal target.
Giving these trainings on network development and how to manage such a network, leads to an active civil society, that is pro active in engaging in the political arena and demanding and defending their rights. Not only at the municipal forums, but also in getting their stories in the municipal and other media. They address their challenges by calling in to the local radio stations that hold debates, or where politicians are being interviewed, talking about it after church services, etc.
In Cazenga a commander of the police force was so inspired after the meetings with the local network at the forums that he has now opened his office for a monthly meeting with the network to come and talk about the situation in the neighborhood. He build a lot of credit by doing this, and it greatly improved the trust between the police and the neighborhood. They are now working together in fighting crime and nuisance in the area. This is a very important development as in Angola at large the police are not necessarily seen as a service provider that is there to serve and protect, but as something to stay away from as they have been known to abuse their position and are seen as highly corrupted.
We have made a few case studies of the cycle of events:
See annex 2012 DW Case Study Ngola kiluanje Sambizanga PT
See annex 2012 DW Case Study Cacuaco access to water and other services
See annex 2012 DW Case Study Tala Hady on lack of local elections
See annex 2012 DW Case Study Cazenga Access to water
For the municipalities of Cacuaco, Cazenga and the District of Sambizanga, ACOs members received refreshing trainings for baseline updating. More than ten ACO representatives were trained in monitoring tools in the municipality of Viana and the district of Kilamba Kiaxi.
Technicians from the municipality of Cazenga participated in a joint MDGs indicator & mapping training with the poverty network. In addition each municipal head was part of the commission of updating the information that was used to update the MDGs indicator & mapping.
The Cazenga and Cacuaco Municipal Administration staff participated in trainings promoted by DW and the Poverty Network partners. The training in Cazenga was directed for the Tala Hady Communal Administration staff who had difficulties in assisting the communities in the various tasks that they are demanded for. DW trained the staff on how to use basic computer software, such as Microsoft office packages in order to be more efficient in catering for the communities and avoid unnecessary delays. In the municipality of Cacuaco the poverty network trained the staff of the commune of Funda on how to carry out a proper community mobilization and consultation before approving a development project.
Municipal profiles produced through the MDGs Indicator & Mapping have become very important working tools for the municipal administrations of Cazenga and Cacuaco. The Cazenga municipal administrator said in a meeting in parliament that he was very happy to be working with partners like DW that have been equipping his staff to be more effective. The inclusion of municipal head of partitions helped the Cazenga municipal administration to own the MDGs Indicator & mapping produced and present the tool as their own.
While there are many demands for the services rendered by municipal and communal administrations, their staff is rarely trained on how to manage essential tools that can help them do their work more effectively. With the training provided by DW, the administrative staff from the Cazenga municipal administration is now able to produce documents such as residence certificates and land titling quicker. This has helped reduce the work load and the waiting list.
3 trainings on community development and leadership benefiting community leaders and senior staff from the communal administration from Kicolo (Cacuaco), Funda (Cacuaco) and Ngola Kiluange (Sambizanga) were carried out to enable the participants to lead effective participatory processes through the use of the spaces of engagement and dialogue. Each training session was attended in average by 18 people. 2 trainings on mobilization principles suitable for informal settlements was delivered to representatives from local NGOs and associations from the municipalities of Cazenga and Sambizanga. An average number of 25 people participated in each training.
DW facilitated training on electoral systems and local elections aimed at municipal CSOs in order to help them understand how electoral period can be used to bargain about the changes needed in communities and also to prepare them for the local elections in two years time.
In Cazenga, DW provided trainings for the newly created local associations on participatory management and spaces of engagement. More than 25 community meetings were organized in the municipalities of Cazenga, Sambizanga and Cacuaco, Kilamba Kiaxi, Viana and Belas to raise awareness on active citizenship and rights. DW trained members of local organizations in collecting and analyzing poverty indicators from their communities so that they can testify on the findings to the MA, media and service providers. The CSOs then use their (new) network and knowledge to engage in the meetings of Municipal Forums and Councils, CACS and other meetings.
We work with many CSOs at all levels in Luanda. Some represent their bairro, comuna or municipality; some represent a certain cause or concern such as HIV, youth or gender issues, some residents’ commissions or water committees, etc.
See annex 2012/10/02 VCUC-Gates Partner Organization details for the growing (we engage with more CSOs throughout the years and new CACS and ACAs are formed) list of partner organizations. In this contact information sheet we also assess the strength of the partner organization (PO). So we can follow up on capacity building with the weaker Partner Organizations. We have indicated where available the disaggregated numbers of males and females in the POs, and the same for the management level of the organizations. The list grew in the last year.
In 2011 we had 88 organizations, 887 men and 788 women members; of them 78 men and 54 women were part of the management structures. In 2012 we had 116 CBO/CSO/ACAs, with 2721 male and 1166 female members; of them 146 men and 189 women were part of the management structures. Considering the Angolan context that is a very high score on female participation.
Activity/Milestone 3. Training conducted for municipal administrations in using MDG indicators & mapping.
Target months: 11,23,35
DW continued carrying various capacity building sessions involving community members, resident commissions and staff from municipal and communal administrations. DW gave a GIS training to architects from the Gabinete Tecnico da Requalificacao do Cazenga e Sambizanga. See also Milestone 4, for more information about this cooperation between DW and this Special Office of the GoA.
DW has provisioned maps of the political administrative division of Luanda to the National Statistical Institute (INE) to be used for the coming Census in 2013. Further cooperation is being discussed. See also Milestone 4.
In January 2012 we held a presentation on how to build a network, how a group of people can combine their forces and address the challenges they face. See 2012/01/31 DW Workshop how to develop a network.
In March 2012 we held a week long intensive training on ‘Managing Active Networks’. An international consultancy group with extensive experience in partner organization development came to Angola to conduct this training. Both representatives of the Municipal Administration and Civil Society Groups joined the training. See 2012/03 MDF workshop Report.
The municipal administration of Cacuaco sought DW technical assistance to continue setting up community water management systems in the newly built water points. The administration is now working more closely with the communities to plan and set up water community management systems.
The DW research department gave 4 trainings on MDG indicators, mapping and data collection, in the months of April and May 2012, to the leaders of the Focus Groups and the municipal administration staff. The trainings took place in Cazenga, Kilamba Kiaxi, Sambizanga and Viana. We trained the CACS, and together with the MA we organized trainings in Cazenga, Cacuaco and Sambizanga.
This relates to our answers in Milestone 2. We always try to combine the trainees to come from both the CSOs and the MA. We do this for a reason: networking is a very important part of influencing the MA and their work. In the Angolan context it helps a lot to know the people working in service provision personally, to get things done. So if we cna bring the groups together in trainings and workshops, it brings down the barriers already.
DW has been seeking cooperation with IFAL, the national training institute for municipal administration staff. Proposals have been send in, and we hope to start cooperation soon. See 2012 cooperation plan IFAL/DW and 2011/09/12 DW Training proposal on CACS IFAL. The case studies mentioned in Activity/milestones 2 show clearly the cycle of actions and the improving cooperation between the MA and the CSOs.
Activity/Milestone 4. Results of MDG mapping presented at annual Municipal Forums.
Target months: 14, 26, 38, 50
The DW staff gives presentations to different stakeholders at different levels. With these presentations they spread knowledge about the current situation in the municipalities and strengthen the name of Development Workshop as a leader and a serious and supporting partner in the fight against urban poverty.
The program does an annual review using the community diagnostic tools to measure poverty indicators in the municipalities across Luanda. The program focuses on building communications and synergies with the aim of reinforcing the Angolan local governance process and through that improve service provision to all, especially the citizens living in the musseques. We promote the effective implementation of urban public policies, acting as a facilitator of the planning processes and encourage the municipal participatory planning. This catalyses more informed debate, more collective organization and practical actions in the monitoring of public policies at the provincial, municipal and communal levels. Strategically, this includes technical assistance to organize events such as Municipal Forums, supporting the implementation of the “Water for All Program” (Programa Água para Todos) and engaging in the National Urban Forum. The opportunities include promoting participatory planning in consultation with communities in compliance with the Millennium Indicators which the Angolan Government has ratified.
We are using the Municipal Profiles at all levels, not only at the Municipal Forums. We share them wherever we see fit. Several meetings brought together the same stakeholders that would also meet on a Municipal Forum. So the meeting may not be called a Municipal Forum, but it would have the same impact.
Meetings take place at every level, bairro, comuna, municipality, province and national. Some meetings are with and by CSO only, some with CSO and MA or other government representatives. All of them lead up to and influence the agenda at the Municipal Forums. The pre-MF meetings lead to a more focused agenda, and strategy on how to present the struggles in the bairros and comunas. The CSO groups meet each other on a regular basis to talk about the issues they want to address at the Municipal Councils, CACS, MF and other meetings. The media is also targeted to write and broadcast about the issues of the community concern.
To give a few examples:
The Technical Office for Urban Upgrading (Requalification)
Allan Cain and Willy Piassa have established close working relations with the special technical department in charge of the upgrading (requalification) of the (former) municipalities Sambizanga, Rangel and Cazenga. They want to work in a strong participatory way, and have sought DWs’ technical assistance in reaching that.
See 2012/05/09 Aid Memoir Gabinete Tecnico Caz Sam Rangel
See 2012/05/28 presentation AC WP Gabinete Técnico Assembleia Nacional on requalification
GTRUC is active online and has posted their work on Facebook: www.facebook.com/GTRUCS
See also the annex PP 2012/05/08 GTRUCS FB reconstruction plans Cazenga Sambizanga Rangel
INE
The program offered to the INE, the National Institute for Stastics to help with the mapping of Luanda, following the new municipal borders and the upcoming census, planned for 2013. See 2012/02/29 letter to INE on support mapping Luanda. One of DWs’ employees, Katulozo Sanza Paulina, our GIS mapping specialist, is seconded to the INE and works together with their teams to turn statistical data into useful presentations and maps. DW has made maps of the new municipal borders, those have also been shared with the INE.
University Augustino Neto
Allan Cain held a speech at the Augustino Neto University in August 2011 on the costs of water for the rich and the poor in Luanda. Based on the MDG mapping he was able to explain the students how prices vary throughout the city, and what could be done about that. See annex 2011/08/19 AC Speech on preço da água at Agostinho Neto University.
National Urban Forum 1
We actually had two National Urban forums; this may be the result of the planned elections. At the National Urban Forum, held in August 2011, DW played a large role in setting the agenda, and being in the frontline where it comes to community participation in urban planning. The network members were clear in stating that one of the major problems we face today with the urban redevelopment of the territory, especially in Luanda is the fact that urban plans are produced without consultation or participation of local communities. This causes people not to take ownership of the processes and the projects become unsustainable. The network argues that it is necessary for people to be involved in projects that have to do with the improvement of the conditions of their lives, in all processes.
The Luanda Urban Poverty Network, the LUPN, in Luanda, was positive the government recognizes that DW should continue to present the system of urban indicators / national urban observatory. See 2011/08/19-20 National Urban Forum Experiencias da Participacao.
National Urban Forum 2
The second National Urban Forum (NUF) was held in October in Cunene, on World Habitat Day. The theme for this year was “Cities and Climate Changes”. The Ministry of Urbanism and Construction invited DW to make a presentation on people settlement in urban areas in Angola. Members of the urban poverty network were also present in the event, where they presented proposals on how to improve the environment in the musseques. See annex 2011/10 NUF Cunene AC presentation Mudancas Climaticas e Assentamentos Humanos.
Media outlets
In the different newspapers DWs work is mentioned on a very regular basis. This is one of the best ways to spread our knowledge and influence the service provision levels in the city. See activity/milestone 6 and 9 on the Angolan Media Scans and other media proofs.
The 5th Civil Society National Meeting
The 5th National Civil Society Conference was held in the province of Malange in the end of November 2011. Ten members of the Luanda Urban Poverty Network (LUPN) were present in the meeting. The LUPN are representatives of the provincial conference in the province of Luanda that happened before the national meeting. They were responsible for taking the conclusion and recommendations of the Luanda conference to Malange. The CS movement is growing at a very rapid pace in Angola. The Malange conference had an attendance of over 1000 people for the three days. The Poverty Network will ensure that recommendations and follow up points are taken seriously in Luanda. See the 2011/12/12 Trip Report on 5th CSC Conferencia Nacional da Sociedade Civil 2011.
Provincial Meeting for Water Associations
Development Workshop’s advocacy for a strategy of community water management that builds community financial capacity to sustain and maintain water infrastructure, has been officially adopted by the Angolan Government in May 2012. DW has been commissioned to develop an operations manual for distribution across the country. The strategy is based on the more equitable distribution of stand posts in the large musseque settlements of Luanda where household water connections have not yet reached. Individual stand posts are managed by elected water care-takers (zeladores) who are grouped together on bairro or comuna basis into Water Associations (ACAs) which are legally registered, keep accounts of water-user fees and negotiate with the Provincial Water Company (EPAL) for the purchase of bulk piped water for distribution to stand posts within their jurisdiction. Water Associations are emerging as important representative civil society organizations that speak with the legitimacy of urban water consumers. Through their fee-for-service, cost-recovery strategies they have put together their own local development funds that are invested in small-scale priority projects identified by their constituents. Some of the ACAs have become strong advocates on community issues that go beyond just water service delivery.
A provincial water association Annual Meeting was held in the municipality of Cacuaco. This meeting was attended by Water Associations (ACAs) from the municipalities of Cazenga, Cacuaco, Viana and Sambizanga (the district of Sambizanga is now part of the municipality of Luanda). This forum was used to evaluate activities carried out by each association in 2011 and set up goals for the next year. Since the forum was held in Cacuaco, the municipal administrator sent the head of the water and electricity department to be present in the meeting and express the administrations’ commitment to continue working with the municipal water associations to ensure that water services are available and sustainable. The various associations have expressed the desire to organize a national community water management forum in the end of 2012.
Municipal Forums
Two Municipal forums sessions were held in Cazenga, two in Cacuaco, one in the District of Sambizanga and two in the District of Kilamba Kiaxi. The average participation in the municipal and the district forums were of 90 people each and the main issues discussed were the upgrading processes in the municipality of Cazenga and district of Sambizanga.
Communal forums are now established and operational in Ngola Kiluange and Funda (Cacuaco), Ngola Kiluange (Sambizanga) and Tala Hady (Cazenga). Their secretariats are regularly present in the CCACS. These forums opened ways for communes to engage in dialogue with their administrators and service providers before submitted their recommendations to the municipal forum. Issues discussed during forum meetings included problematic supplying of water, electricity, rubbish collection and child registration.
Some photos from a Cazenga Forum:
The Tala Hady Communal Administrator invites the Civil Society members to come and participate as often as possible in the CACS.
Active citizens are demanding their rights, and local service providers and representatives from the municipal administration making promises and explainign the plans.
Civil society members explain to the Communal Administrator of Tala Hady, Cazenga, how the delivery of electricity and water is influencing their lives in the bairros. These pictures were taken at one of the forums held in the municipalities.
Women are getting more and more active in the forums
DW stimulates in all trainings and in these meetings the women to claim their space. Some more picture proof of meetings. During the reporting period municipal forums were held in all the municipalities. Community groups and associations engaged amongst themselves to discuss ways of building synergies and agree on best strategies to engage with service providers and the various provincial and central government working commissions that have been working in the respective municipalities.
The combination of all these meetings, workshops and trainings gives a constant sharing of information and raising of expectations between stakeholders, and keeps the pressure on all of them to perform their duties.
An example of the meeting matrix of some of the project officers at DW Advocacy team, see annex 2012/09/23 Partner Organization and Meeting Matrix Sheet Cazenga Simao. In milestones 2 we already gave a few examples through case studies on the chain of events.
Objective 2 – To build an Urban Poverty Network to advocate for improved and equitable access to basic services
Activity/Milestone 5: Organize Municipal Forums on 6 monthly basis.
Target months: 7,14,19, 26, 31, 38, 43, 50, 55
As explained in Activity/Milestone 4 we have had many meetings, that are not necessarily called Municipal forums, but bring together the same stakeholders and have the same goal and impact. We try to get as much exposure for the LUPN as we can, in all possible forms and shapes.
During the reporting period several municipal forums were held in all the municipalities. These Forums discussed the provision of basic services, road infrastructures, sanitation and housing. A lot of attention is also given to the social fabric of the society. There is a lot of attention of youth, crime levels, lack of access to decent work, domestic and gender based violence. DW believes strongly all these issues need to be addressed, and will participate in these debates also as much as possible. If people, and especially women are not safe in their own homes or neighborhoods, that will affect the service delivery also. The conclusions and recommendations of the meetings were discussed taken to the CACS meetings which are led by the municipal administrators.
The aim is for the municipal LUPN to meet on a monthly basis. But since there have been discussions on municipal and provincial civil society conferences, which are being promoted by LUPN, the meetings have been taking place more regularly. Some municipalities hold meetings every other week, while others almost every week. The LUPN leadership group decides what they think to be convenient for them. We provide technical assistance in terms of methodology but we try not to make any decision on their behalf. The city-wide LUPN continue meeting regularly on a monthly basis.
A few examples of Municipal Forums that took place:
See annex 2012/04/13 6º Municipal Fórum Kikolo Cacuaco
See annex 2012/04/24 3º Comunal Forum Ngola Kiluangi Sambizanga
See annex 2012/07/31 report on 4 forums Cazenga & Sambizanga
Friday debates – Debates de Sexta Feira
Every Friday, DW’s research department organizes the Debate de Sexta Feira. The Friday Debate. Every week we have a speaker, or a group of speakers, and we have presentation with a debate afterwards. These debates have been gathering media attention and we have more and more regular visitors to the debates. We try to react to current affairs, and always try to link the debate issues to our work in the communities. We received some media attention also. The Friday Debate is published on our Facebook Website and the invitation is send to the same group of people that have subscribed to the monthly CEDOC Angolan Media Scans. The focus on the Friday Debate is to have a more academic approach to poverty eradication. We have many speakers with an academic background and view on the matters at hand.
To give 2 examples: See annex PP 2012/02/03 Friday Debate on CACS functionality. See annex PP 2012/02/01 Friday Debate OGE DW by BdS.
An overview of all speakers and subjects in the reporting time frame:
Other advocacy activities:
Allan Cain, DW director has written a Monograph that is to be published shortly in a Peer Review Journal. The Monograph is about the developments in the Urban Land Markets. See annex 2012 Allan Cain on Urban Land Markets Luanda peer review journal.
Willy Piassa is part of several work groups and joins meetings at all levels. See chart below for several examples.
Activity/Milestone 6. Community media articles or broadcasts covering the Municipal Forum debates.
Target months: At least 10 x.
DW supported Radio Ecclesia, a local radio station. Radio Ecclesia broadcasts in the wider Luanda area and has approximately 3.000.000 listeners (www.france24.com/en/20090323), one of the few critical radio stations, in a series of broadcasts. Radio Ecclesia held 9 debates on service provision and the decentralization process. In each radio show a guest is interviewed and then the public is invited to call in, live on the radio, to ask questions or challenge the speaker in to a debate. Very lively shows and people call in frequently.
We have the MP3s from all radio shows available. And short transcripts have been made.
See annex 2012/05/02 Radio Ecclesia on decentralisation process
See annex 2012/04/04 Radio Ecclesia Importance of paying fee to improve services to citizens
See annex 2012/04/14 Radio Ecclesia Importância da participação do cidadão nas eleições
In the Voz de Cacuaco, one of the community newspapers, supported by DW, there are always stories about service delivery. See annex 2012/06 A Voz de Cacuaco – Julho 2012 for the highlighted examples.
DW has trained members of local organizations in collecting and analyzing poverty related indicators from their communities so that they can testify on the findings to the MAs, media and service providers. In addition to the indicators collected in the communities DW also provides community organizations with media scan produced on a monthly basis by the DW/CEDOC. See also milestone #9.
The local organizations use the information to challenge their local governments during CACS meetings, forums and through the media. The issues that are mostly featured include water and electricity accessibility, basic sanitation, access to work, especially for the youth, gender based and domestic violence, birth certificate registration and crime.
Municipal and provincial representatives of the Urban Poverty Network were invited to participate in Radio and TV programmes to discuss and present proposals on effective urban poverty issues. Because of the way the poverty network members presented their cases in the radio and TV programmes, they have been sought after to give their opinions on issues related to poverty and community development. TV and Radio stations are more open to attend meetings organized or promoted by municipal CSOs and the poverty network.
For more examples of media attention to our work, the program, and the state of affairs in our municipalities:
DW in the media
2011/08/19 Novo Journal ACain interview on water justice
In milestone 9 we have the Angolan Media Scans, many of the articles there will mention DW also.
Activity/Milestone 7. Launch Luanda Urban Poverty Network (LUPN).
Target month: 6
The Luanda Urban Poverty Network (LUPN) is officially active. The Poverty Network was formally established in 2009, growing out of an informal network of groups and individuals active since early 2001. It is a membership organisation with a range of varied experience in addressing issues related to poverty and social exclusion. The membership is made up of a wide range of organisations including grassroots community groups, individuals facing poverty, voluntary organisations and statutory organisations in the province of Luanda.
Membership is open to all organizations that share the desire to tackle poverty and social inequalities in Luanda. The current membership of the poverty network include women associations, organizations working on child protection, HIV/AIDS, informal vendors, environmental issues, education, health and water and sanitation.
LUPN is non-party political, and will work with all organisations that support our aims and our values.
The poverty network has been engaged in solidifying its membership base at the commune and municipal level whereby various organizations have attended the meetings and events held. Although many have showed interest in what the network does, we cannot consider them all as members as yet. The municipality of Cazenga has had an increase of four solid/committed organizations, while Cacuaco has had two, Viana one and Kilamba Kiaxi two. Sambizanga has not had any increase in recent months. There are currently 125 organizations affiliated to the poverty network. However, there is a process of assessing these 125 members spread out in six municipalities to see which ones are still very committed/solid. This assessment may increase or decrease the total number of members.
The Poverty Network seeks to influence policies at local, provincial and national level that will have an impact on poverty in the musseques and tries to create the conditions for a more socially just Angola. LUPN carries out this work through a range of activities: campaigns, advocacy, networking, project work. Central to the approach is working alongside people experiencing poverty to have their voices heard.
Members are primarily members of the municipal civil society networks from the musseques of Luanda, namely Sambizanga, Cazenga, Rangel, Viana, Kilamba Kiaxi and Cacuaco. Members of organizations are encouraged to participate in the municipal meetings and each municipality (or now district) sends its elected representatives to participate in the provincial meetings that are held once a month. The Poverty Network is governed by a board which is elected by full members each year at the AGM. The board sets the strategic direction of the organisation and meets regularly. Each municipality has four members in the board, thus totalling 24 members. The network aim is to combat poverty by working with others to empower individuals and communities to affect change in the distribution of power and resources.
The LUPN has four objectives for the period 2010-2013:
- To work with people and communities experiencing poverty to empower them to address poverty
- To work with organisations to build a strong anti-poverty network in Luanda and scale up to other provinces
- To influence decision makers at the local, provincial and national levels for the development of policies which promote social justice and combat poverty
- To raise awareness about poverty and encourage debate about solutions.
- Implement on an annual basis community based social researches in order to carry out an evidence based advocacy.
Services: Most people living in the musseques among the poorest of the poor in the Luanda, yet they spend more of their incomes on public services such as water, electricity, health and education than those who are better paid and who live the urban centres. A key policy focus over the next three years will be to ensure that people living on low incomes have access to high quality public services. Over the coming three years we will work to ensure that services used by and targeted at people experiencing poverty are defended and improved.
Participation: The participation of people experiencing poverty is central to developing better policy solutions. To ensure that more participatory spaces of engagement, negotiation and consensus building are developed in each municipality where network members operate. The primary focus is on the municipal level, but will also seek policy change that ensures that people are able to have their voices heard at the provincial and national levels. Municipal and communal forums involving local authorities and public service providers will be organized in each municipality. Once a year, the Poverty Network promotes municipal and provincial civil society conferences in Luanda. Empowerment is a process whereby people can have more control and influence over the decisions that affect their lives. Despite some progress in reducing inequalities between different groups, poverty remains a phenomenon that some people are more likely to experience than others.
In carrying out our work we recognise that some groups; for example, disabled people, people living with HIV/AIDS, women and children are more at risk of living in poverty. The cause of this inequality has its roots in both direct and indirect discrimination as well as structural causes. We seek to bring an understanding of the impact of inequality to our work in addressing poverty and ensuring that the work we do reflects the differing experiences that people have of poverty.
Despite the economic growth Angola has experienced in the last ten years, the population of the musseques is still living in precarious conditions. The basic forms of poverty manifestations, such as inadequate housing, inadequate sewage and drains, inadequate health and education facilities are almost as visible as they were a decade ago. Cases of forced eviction and demolition of houses people have built are still happening. Main points of advocacy with municipal, provincial and national governments will therefore be to ensure that people’s right for tenure are respected and the current upgrading and regeneration projects in some musseques is carried out using more human and pro-poor approaches. The results of diagnosis and community researches will be the produced in policy briefs that will be published in community newspapers and copies sent to relevant government institutions.
Activity/Milestone 8. Meetings of the LUPN held four times per year.
Target months: quarterly
The LUPN is currently meeting on monthly basis in order to follow the pace of the political and social changing context in which Luanda is going through. In the period being reported the main issues discussed included the slum upgrading process for the municipality of Cazenga and the district of Sambizanga and the strategy to educate communities to participate actively in the elections.
Seven representatives from the Poverty Network (three women and four men) participated in the National Urban Forum held by MINUC in the province of Cunene. The Poverty Network organized an extraordinary municipal forum in Cazenga to discuss the municipal upgrading program. The Program was presented by the architects from the Provincial Upgrading Office established by the President. The municipal forum was attended by representatives from municipal and communal administrations, churches, local communities, residence commissions and NGOs.
The Poverty Network promoted municipal and provincial civil society conferences in the municipalities of Cazenga, Viana, Cacuaco and in the districts of Kilamba Kiaxi and Sambizanga. These conferences were an opportunity to bring together CSOs operating in the same municipalities to discuss ways of coordinating their advocacy and policy influencing strategies on common issues.
An inter-municipal water forum was promoted to discuss ways of promoting actions that envisage better access and water and sanitation services. Beside representatives from water associations, the forum was also attended by the representative of EPAL and municipal administrations; Poverty Network members were trained on how to interact with media and participated in Radio and TV programmes to present their proposals on how to improve living conditions in the musseques; Policy briefs produced by members of Sambizanga municipal CSOs were much debated in communities and in the Radio Mais.
The representatives of the Poverty Network who participated in the National Urban Forum raised their concerns about the way the government led upgrading process in some municipalities in Luanda are not respecting local way of living. The focus is much more on concrete and walls while recreational spaces are being destroyed. The minister promised that at the end they will make sure playgrounds are available in the musseques and he vowed to work closely with the community to ensure this happens.
As a result of the various meetings held by the poverty network and their active participation in some government led meetings, the Network has raised attention from other organizations willing to work with them. The network has secured funds from the Norwegian People’s Aid to carry out an active election education campaign in the musseques to ensure that people’s choices are rational. Some members of the Network have also been invited to participate in Radio and TV programs to express their views on poverty reduction strategies.
The Cazenga upgrading program presented by the Upgrading Office was highly criticized for proposing to construct buildings that are not in accordance to people’s habits. The technicians of the Upgrading Office valued the contribution of the participants and established strategic consultative areas where they are interacting with the community to get more inputs on the plan.
The strengthening of the participation of women in participatory governance has contributed to improved responsiveness of the government. Women have been an integral part of project activities and they have been encouraged to take a lead in processes of engagement and participation with service providers and local government authorities. Women-led CBOs and groups have also been linked to provincial and national women networks working to advocate on women related issues. There have been specific trainings aimed at building the capacities of both men and women in addressing gender issues.
Advocacy on water provision has focused on the need to reducing the burden on women and young girls who lose out on livelihoods and education a a result of long hours spent in search of water. As a result of the active engagement of local government representatives in municipal and communal forums and in civil society conferences, community leaders and civil society representatives at the communal and municipal levels in Cazenga, Sambizanga and Cacuaco are more confident in voicing their concerns in CCACS and MCACS.
The municipal administrator of Cazenga has publicly recognized that unless community organizations are active in articulating their concerns and proposals with the municipal and communal administrations, it will be very difficult for development to take place. The administrator has been inviting community representatives to take part of the MCACS meetings.
Activity/Milestone 9. Monthly and annual media scan monitoring review published.
Target months: 14, 26, 38, 50
The CEDOC research department of DW scans all the Angolan media for articles that connect to the work of DW or are about the work of DW. It covers all national, regional, local printed and most online media. It covers state owned, private and community based media. This milestone was to be reached only in year 2, but has been effectively reached since the beginning of the program.
Every month the newest CEDOC Media scan is sent to many stakeholders. A printed version is always available at the project office in Luanda. As the document averages 80 to sometimes more than 200 pages, we do not print versions unless requested. Every month the CEDOC team makes a PDF file that is sent to all the stakeholders and other interested parties. This monthly media scan is send to 527 people. All the monthly media scans done during the last program year of the Gates program have been made. We attach here just one example: See annex 201206 CEDOC media scan.
All the monthly Angolan media scans are available via the website of DW. See https://dw.angonet.org/pt-pt/cedoc. All the Angolan Media Scans can be downloaded from the website. Many articles, reports and other sources of information are uploaded to the website. DW has decided to focus more on online activities, to invest in upgrading the website, and is now active on Facebook. See www.facebook.com/DWAngolaCEDOC.
Objective 3 – To increase sustainable access to potable water through the promotion of community management models to ensure consumer voices are heard
Activity/Milestone 10. Base-line mapping of water services in the project municipalities.
Target months: 8, 18, 30, 55
We have the baseline questionnaires information in the DW Database as described in milestone 1. The questionnaire covers all MDG poverty indicators and collects answers on 11 questions regarding the access to, quality and price of water. See also the information already given in milestone 1. This information is used for the updating of the MP and in the field by the WATSAN officers.
In the first year we worked on 168 water points with fountains and other weaknesses that did not work or not work sufficiently. With public investment through EPAL we supported the rehabilitation and improvement of the main “Wastewater Treatment and Water Distribution” system in the province of Luanda, from September 2011 to July 2012. Over 95 new fountains were built and in operation, totaling about 263 fountains in operation in the program area. See annex 2012/08/07 DW WATSAN Database water points Luanda.
It is important to mention that in this last period mentioned above, EPAL has built and put into operation about another 250 new fountains. Although they are not specifically located in the program area, EPAL recognizes and calls for collaboration from the DW WATSAN team to support the program to establish the model of community management in the area. This is, however, an issue that is under discussion and negotiation between EPAL and DW.
So far we are doing a calculation based on the estimated coverage of services, taking into account that a fountain supplies around 100 families and a family can be estimated at 5 to 7 people. Thus, the actual number is above the target of 80.000. We are estimating reaching approximately 157.000 people within the program area, and many more outside.
DW WATSAN began to introduce the approach of the estimated calculation based on access to services (analyzing different quality indicators). This information will be collected and analyzed from the monitoring sheets completed by the janitors at each water point. This set of activities is part of the business plan of the project team for the period that we are starting.
In the last 2-3 years, the Community Management Model of Water (MOGECA) scheme was implemented in pilot projects; one component in the peri-urban towns of Luanda (with EPAL) and Huambo (with DPEA), and in the rural areas around Huambo, Huila and Cunene. In the year 2012, the MINEA – Ministry of Energy and Waters officially adopted the Water Management Model MOGECA to be replicated throughout the country. This recognition and achievement are satisfactory, but at the same time is a major challenge to the main actors with responsibilities for its implementation.
The official MOGECA Agua Manual has gone to print. The book will be distributed to all provinces and is to be used as the Policy and How-To on community water management systems. See annex 2012 MOGECA Agua Manual.
Activity/Milestone 11. Training of stand post committee staff in maintenance and financial management.
Target months: 11,23,35
DW developed a guide for development of municipal plans for water and sanitation. The result has been used in the “Training Course for Facilitators for the Preparation of Plans Municipal Water and Sanitation”, administered by the DW Watsan team in November last year (2011). Participants were members of the administrations, EPAL, Associations and Technical Sectors in Watsan. The manual is a comprehensive 62 page document, that explains the history of water committee development and management. But its main strength is that is serves as a how-to guide for Municipal Water and Sanitation Planning. See 2011/08 DW CB Municipal Water & Sanitation Plan. The WATSAN team has created and supported 7 new ACA’s and approximately 168 stand post managers. They have supported legalization of 2 Associations, and another 4 are almost done with their process.
Five associations have developed their capacities so well, supported and trained by DW, that they are now producing activity reports, prepare project proposals, liaise with the public and private service providers and institutions. We organized 4 communal forums on Water and Sanitation; 1 in Kikolo, 1 in Ngola Kiluanje, 1 in Cacuaco and 1 in Moxico. Several communities were consulted in the process of physical planning for the construction of new water infrastructure. Three communities show behavioral change: The have adopted the good practice to carry water `using closed containers in water transport`. This was the result of several sessions in their area, including street theater. Reportedly 580 people involved, including 422 women!
Three training sessions took place: One on Community Management, one on Accounting, and one on Public Service and Conflict Resolution. In total 96 people were trained, including 49 women. We strengthened the cooperation with EPAL. We had 4 joint monthly planning meetings, 8 field visits, and 2 training sessions. We have registered improved cost recovery systems at the stand posts. From a reported 2000 US$ to 30.000 US$
Activity/Milestone 12. Best Practice model tested and validated.
DW’s mission envisions the organisation to become a “knowledge-based institution” with the aim of using research and practice to feed the national debate on poverty reduction and to bring advocacy to scale by influencing public policy. DW’s research team closely monitors the public media in Angola with the aim of monitoring the Government policies but also public perceptions of these policies. DW’s documentation centre CEDOC publishes a monthly bulletin tracking all media coverage related to the five MDG indicators as well as urban poverty generally. The CEDOC bulletin is distributed widely through an email-list server and published on the CEDOC website. DW has also created an on-line library on its website to publish research findings.
The research results have allowed DW to feed national policy debates on urban poverty. Research findings have been fed directly to the Government partners of the National Institute for Urban and Territorial Planning and the Ministry Of Urbanism’s Territorial Information System. Early results were presented at the National Civil Society Conference in 2010 and at the National Urban Forums in 2010 and 2011. DW has joined several other civil society organisations in founding an Angolan Poverty Observatory where DW will focus on urban issues. DW’s director was invited in September 2011 to join the Minister of Urbanism’s expert advisory group on developing a national urban strategy and the results of the research were presented to that group. The Ministry of Environment has asked Development Workshop to prepare a background research study for Angola’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and include recommendations for mitigating urban environmental risks.
DW has developed training materials for the use of GIS tools by municipal administrations. These tools are currently being used in Huambo to build capacities of five municipalities with an aim of developing their capacities in land mapping, cadastres and land tenure registration. In Luanda training of INOTU staff has been largely through on-the job internships with DW’s GIS and research units. About 30 university students were involved in the research project and some of them used their research findings in the preparation of their own dissertations.
DW has also joined the steering committee of University of Cape Town’s African Cities Centre. Research results have been presented in conferences in Johannesburg, Addis Ababa, Mombassa, Durban and Nairobi.
The MOGECA National Policy on Water has now been turned into a 420 page book. It will be published before the end of 2012, and will be distributed to all 18 provinces, and all municipal administrations. The so called ‘Water Manual’ can be seen as a policy document, a ‘how-to’ book, an Atlas, all in one. Its purpose is to help local Administrations and service providers to understand the context, goals, bottlenecks and solutions of sustainable water provision to the population, wherever they live.
On the BBC world service Martin Mulenje explained the work of DW on Water and Sanitation. DW has started, together with Co-Water, cooperation with DNAAS, funded by the African Development Bank, continuing the work DW is doing on the Voices of Urban Citizens program.
The first objective is to assess sector strategy and policy development, and sector planning and program formulation in the rural water and sanitation sector. The second objective is to develop a realistic national rural water and sanitation program (NRWSSP), and to outline sample rural water supply projects to be implemented in the coming years (2012-2016).
- Assessing the relevant water sector regulations and institutions, decision-making processes, roles and responsibilities in the sector
- Assessing progress to date in the rural water sector, in terms of policy towards sustainable water supply and sanitation for rural areas
- Assessing the interaction between water supply, sanitation and related sectors and sub-sectors;
- Assessing national indicators of water quantity and quality coverage and other relevant characteristics (e.g. sanitation, hygiene, etc.)
- Assessing the “Water for All” program and identifying lessons learned
- Assessing external support and programs
- Defining and obtaining consensus from DNAAS on criteria for selection of new projects;
- Identification and selection of new projects with DNAAS
- Developing a program concept note (PCN) including well-defined performance indicators and an investment plan
Our role, in providing services for the development of a comprehensive National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program (NRWSSP), as described in the TORs for the services, is to assist the National Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation (DNAAS) of the Ministry of Energy and Water (MINEA) to develop the program. This is to be done within the context of a rapidly changing sector as service provision progresses from emergency rehabilitation to meeting national and MDG targets, while at the same time it is being devolved to provincial governments. We will support government in its planning, managing, monitoring, policy development, program preparation, etc. The goal of the technical assistance is to provide project management support and expert inputs to the assessment of the sector and development of the NRWSSP. The output of the program will be a comprehensive national rural water and sanitation program, including investment plan, and manual for implementation of the program to assist the GoA leverage more resources for the RWSS sector and meet the MDG targets.
DW has been working closely with the Water National Directorate from the Ministry of Energy and Water in order to replicate the community management model to other communities across the country. There have already been some significant successes, but there is still a lot to do. One of the biggest difficulties faced here is not directly related to the government’s acceptance of adopting the model but the capacity of providing timely assistance in those communities where water services are being implemented.
The government led “Water for all Project”, for example, is trying to provide for water for nearly 75% of the population by the end of 2012 and most of services will be community related ones, that would require community management model. An attempt here is being made so as to enable Local Administration Training Institute (IFAL) to start delivering courses on water management models.
Progress
- General Progress:
We believe that the program is doing fine and in general has already achieved some significant successes and is generally on schedule, and on some milestones ahead of schedule. We have a very active Partner Organization base that meets on a very regular basis, to address the issues faces by the urban poor in Luanda. The constraints we face were already anticipated at the beginning of the program. The cooperation with the local and national government bodies has been positive but dealing with Angolan bureaucracy which is often slow to respond has obliged us to adjust timeliness on some outputs. We had a short period in which we had to slow down the visible part of the work, due to the elections, but we expect to be able to perform as planned in the 3rd year. In general we will continue implementing the program as planned.
- Key Milestone Deviation:
We are meeting all milestones.
- Course Correction:
At this moment we are not planning any course corrections.
- Plans for Next Reporting Period:
Not applicable. We will continue as planned.
We have started looking for our Midterm Review consultant. We would like to select Andy Rutherford. We have worked with Andy Rutherford before and he has been a great support to us. He is critical, action oriented and able to advise us on course corrections, if needed.
- Risks:
Luanda keeps growing at an almost unsustainable speed.
That leads to an ongoing struggle to provide sufficient services to the population at large. The whole city, rich and poor areas, suffer from very frequent power failures and hampered water provision. Also in the areas where everybody is connected as a paying client to EDEL and EPAL. The reasons given by the service providers link to the level of water in the rivers and dams, and blame the massive use of air conditioners and the fast growing of the city. Many new shopping malls, massive condominios (gated communities) have opened, and continue to open. The influx of people, but mainly the natural population growth lead to potential sustainability problems.
See 2011/09/14 Belisario risk analysis of urban poverty and fast growing cities. Most if not all risk were already identified before. Below you find an update on our risk assessment and strategies:
Risk 1: Lack of a serious commitment by the Government and/or abandonment of the promises made in relation to poverty reduction may affect the results of this project.
Situation at moment of reporting: During 2011 and the first half of 2012, the Angolan Government has made a renewed effort to deliver on its ambitious agenda promised during the election campaign of 2008 and the elections in August 2012.
This includes the construction of: (This section has not changed)
• One million houses: In the first phase of this project 710 buildings and 3000 houses (apartments) were built. The forecast through 2012 is to build another 82,000 apartments. The government already acknowledged they will not reach the total of houses promised before the next elections. The costs for one of these houses (between US$126.000 to US$200.000) is out of the reach of most Angolans, and especially the most needy. This has created widespread discontent contrary to the expectations created. The clearing of land for housing and the demarkation of housing land reserves has also involved the forced removal and in some cases demolitions of existing ‘informal’ housing, whose owners often are not properly compensated (in terms of resettlement and availability of social services). The division of land reserves for residential purposes is is rarely done with prior consultation with local residents. The current program Voices of Citizens for Urban Change aims to influence municipal administrations involved in the housing program to employ participatory planning methods of negotiation with the communities.
• Water for All: This program is also very ambitious, aiming to reach 80% water coverage by 2012.
Despite having reached improvements in the richer commercial housing areas in the south of the city, in old informal settlement areas and the peri-urban peripheries, where the lack of water is higher, this program has not (yet) met its objectives. While the government is realizing the benefits of implementing projects using participatory approaches, there are still some entities who insist in implementing projects without consultation. Most of these projects have been raising people’s expectation but fail to deliver. This is happened to many water tap stands that were built in Cazenga and Cacuaco by BFA and other companies which have never worked. People expectations at local level have increased so much that the government at all levels are feeling the pressure of having to improve people’s living conditions immediately. This pressure sometimes makes the government to implement projects without giving enough time for consultation. As a result many of these projects are inefficient and do not produce the desired results.
The programs get mentioned in many speeches and media outlets. However progress against targets set by the Government rarely gets tracked. We have the plans, but the detailed budgets and the results on these plans are rarely published. Journalist are sometimes scared about inviting radical community leaders to be part of life TV or Radio programs with the fear that they can say things that can put the jobs of these journalist into danger. Many media stations are heavily controlled by the ruling party.
Mitigation Strategies: The Voices of Citizens for Urban Change Project will continue to carry out studies and monitoring of progress or lack of policies and programs around the Angolan Government. The results of these studies of monitoring will be shared through the media and CSOs. That will lead to pressure on the government to improve the implementation of the policies. The project team will continue to train MA staff and CSO organizations to improve their capacities.
Risk 2 A: The Government does not provide sufficient funding to local authorities.
Situation at the moment of reporting: Although the Angolan Government has provided its policy agenda in the administrative and fiscal decentralization to the level of Municipal Administration (MA), the allocation of roles/ functions has not been accompanied by an adequate allocation of financial resources and capable human resources.
MAs have the status of autonomous units in the state budget, but they still have not assumed the full autonomy to control their own resources permitted by law. MAs are in practice still dependent organs of the Provincial Government. The MAs have to send their plans and budgets to request for funds. They do not have access to a sufficient funding every year to fully implement their plans. The Provincial Governador determines the monthly amount of funds available to each municipality.
Mitigation Strategy: Based on the Decree 17/10 on the organization and operation of the MA, the MAs and communities come together in Consultative Municipal Councils (CACS). There are important Councils that the residents can use for discussion and resolution of local problems. The project gives great importance to the CACS and promotes public education about its potential through the dissemination of information. Some CSOs still see the CACS as just a place of “approval” of what has been decided, suggesting another role of public communication of a consultative forum for citizen participation. See also our analysis of the Angolan National Budget 2012 in the first part of the report.
Risk 2 B: Successive changes of directors and governors of Luanda.
This leads to MAs that are busy with the consequences of the change in leadership. As people are not elected but appointed a new leader could lead to shifts in staff positions. The focus will not be on building capacities of staff of MA. Due to the elections and the restructuring of the municipal borders staff has been moving around again.
In Angola having personal relations with the stakeholders in any situation is very important.
Mitigation Strategies: The Voices of Citizens for Urban Change Project continues to provide training and capacity building in the field of municipal participatory planning, to enable the creation of an environment of mutual trust and relationship within the CACS. All trainings and meetings, if appropriate, are given to ‘mixed’ group, MA staff and CSO representatives, so there is always a change for networking. DW invests a lot of time in getting to know all the ‘movers and shakers’ in the Angolan Administrative structures, at all levels.
Risk 3: The government sometimes accuses civil society organizations to be spokesmen of political opposition and introduce restrictions on their activities.
This risk remained and increased somewhat for some CSOs, especially those who advocate aggressively on human rights, land tenure and asymmetries in the distribution of income in the country and corruption. Some NGOs and CSO have criticized individual government leaders personally expounding political party positions. Public space tends to close for these organizations. The CSOs in the CACS are not fully able to expose their views freely. It is supposed to be a very democratic space, but there is room for improvement.
Securing public television station’s coverage of major communal or municipal meetings has been very challenging. Public TV tends to favor the position of the government, and fear to broadcast issues that present a different picture of people’s living conditions from the ones presented by the government. As elections are drawing closer, journalists are scared to cover and publish events that will expose the government poor policies to tackle poverty. Journalists are scared that some people within the ruling party may want to get fired.
Mitigation Strategies: The Voices of Citizens for Urban Change Project will continue to work with the Institute for Local Administration Training (IFAL) to train the government and CSOs on how to best use the CACS as spaces to promote a constructive dialogue between governments and CSOs.
Risk 4: Leadership challenges within civil society.
I) Reduced space for CSOs in the public sector, due to stricter legal control by the government of CSOs.
II) Drastic reduction of donor funds to Angola
III) Strong staff members of NGOs move to the public or private sector, as NGOs are struggling to compete with salaries offered
IV) The State sometimes fails to recognize the role of some CSOs, especially those who criticize government programs
Example: The independent Radio Ecclesia still being stopped from broadcasting nationally, being a very critical station.
Mitigation Strategies: The Voices of Citizens for Urban Change Project continues to invest in the promotion of relevant training workshops for CSOs, forums and CACS to promote participatory and democratic elections of representatives to public spaces, inclusive and participatory municipal planning and leadership activities in CSOs and MAs.
Risk 5: Changes in the borders of MA lead to delays and unclear structures.
Luanda has changed the municipal borders but new administrative systems are not all made and active yet.
Plans will be submitted later, and plans in process will cover old boundaries.
Mitigation Strategy: Our principal institutional counterparts in the MA and Central Government appear to still be in place at the time of reporting. Our CSO focus strategically focuses on working with bairro and communal level community based organizations who will still be active and vital even if municipal boundaries are re-configured. We will therefore keep our ongoing work focused on the bairros, irrespective of which municipality they belonged to or are becoming a part of at a future point.
Risk 6: Municipal Elections were expected in late 2012.
No date has been set, but we expect them only in 2013 or 2014. This could influence the speed of the MA development of Plans and Budget. And this could lead to the rapid building of water points without propermanagement and maintenance structures developed. Water points are a very visible and important improvement in most areas. But without proper management of the water points, that will lead to water points that will function only for a short time, if at all.
The DW management model is based on participation of all stakeholders. In a highly politicized society, under the pressure of upcoming elections we have to be aware of and vigilant of the neutrality of DW. Mitigation Strategy: Make sure DW keeps her independent image, and promotes civic education and the importance of proper water management systems. While there are some expected challenges requiring re-adapting the approach to engage with the new governance structures at the municipal and provincial levels, the project does not foresee any major changes in its operation.
Sustainability:
The Voices of Citizens for Urban Change (VCUC) Program is part of and scaling up of a long-term cooperation between DW, many Angolan and international CSOs and NGOs, and the Angolan Government at all levels, national, provincial, municipal and comunal. DW is able to execute the Voices of Citzens for Urban Change program, because of the long standing cooperation between DW and all the other stakeholders. We have supported the development of ACAs we in the past that have been operational for many years without further operational of financial support from DW. We have long term cooperation with EPAL, IFAL, several ministries and other government bodies. And of course with our CSO and NGO partners in Angola. One of the aims of the program is to facilitate and support the growing cooperation between all stakeholders in the improvement of the living conditions in Angola, and in the case of this program, in Luanda. But we disseminate our knowledge and information throughout the country and share information with, and learn from (inter)national partners as often as we can. This is one of the main tasks of Allan Cain, supported by Cupi Baptista and Willy Piassa. They often join (inter)national conferences and workshops to strengthen the cooperation with other organizations.
As the Angolan government is keen on continuing the cooperation with the CSOs and NGOs (including DW) we expect the continuous development of this cooperation to continue after the grant period has ended.
Scalability:
We aim to increase the influence of the citizens on the development of their bairros, comunas and municipalities. And that work is not restricted to the 4 municipalities of the Voices of Citizens for Urban Change program. Our work spreads throughout the whole city, and where possible also outside Luanda and through the National Urban Forum and the Annual Civil Society Conferences the lessons learned from the program are shared and replicated at a national level. Due to the visibility of DW in Angola, we often get invited to share our work and our research in other parts of the country, and abroad. During the current reporting period DW has had the opportunity of sharing the experience of the Voices of Citizens for Urban Change program in China, South Africa, Sweden, Kenya and Mozambique.
Development Workshop is developing a partnership with the African Centre for Cities (ACC) based at the University of Cape Town. The DW Director is serving as a Board Member involved in the State of African Cities Project. The ACC wishes to extend the scope of their program to include Luanda, which is now recognized as Africa’s fastest growing city. In partnership with our project and the Cities Alliance we are exploring the expansion of our participatory urban indicator monitoring work to other municipalities and sharing the lessons with other cities within the African region.
The Africa-China Workshop on Pro-Poor Urban Development Exchange, which DW has initiated in partnership with the Centre for African Studies at Peking University and support from BMGF, has great potential for significant impact on a large scale. The largest and most important investments in urban Africa today and for the foreseeable future are Chinese. The initiative aims to influence the direction of this financing and promote good practice so that these investments will positively promote pro-poor development.
Lessons Learned:
• We are very aware of the importance of working with and partnering with the key people in the strategic institutions. We continue to develop functional working relations with all stakeholders in this program. Especially the continuous changes in the Municipal Administration staff, that already have a rather high staff turnover and now following the municipal restructuring due to the establishment of the new municipal borders, leads to some extend to extra work, but that has to be accepted.
• Training of all stakeholders at all levels remains vital to the program. The sharing of all available information in an action oriented format is crucial. Doing research and sharing the outcome leads to better knowledge and decisions.
• That helps the program to come to results that all will benefit from. The population because their needs are met, the municipal administrations because they improve their capacities and strength to influence the situation in their municipalities. It is not a lack of will to improve the lives of the poor, but sometimes the problems, needs and demands are so overwhelming and complex they lead to in-action or fear to take decisions. The Program supports all stakeholders to keep moving in the right direction.