[29 March 2018] -- When the Cities Alliance undertakes a Country Programme, it builds long-term networks and partnerships that last well beyond the conclusion of grant funding. This is the case in Ghana, where our Land, Services and Citizenship Country Programme grant formally ended in 2017.
The engagement with Ghana has continued through the Joint Work Programme for Equitable Economic Growth, where the Cities Alliance is applying the knowledge gleaned from the Country Programme and our Global Programme to secondary cities (Agona Swedru and Cape Coast).
The two participating cities seek to better understand the link between public service and goods provision and equitable economic growth, and how to foster productivity of the informal and informal sector.
As a next step, Cities Alliance is facilitating an initial engagement between the government of Ghana and the Coalition for Urban Transitions, an international initiative that supports national decision makers to unlock the power of cities for enhanced national economic, social, and environmental performance, including reducing the risk of climate change.
A special initiative of the New Climate Economy project, the coalition is hosted by the World Resources Institute (WRI) Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and jointly managed by C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and WRI. It is financed by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Cities Alliance Director William Cobbett is a member of the coalition’s Urban Leadership Council, which helps steer its research.
In Africa, the coalition has programmes in Ghana and Tanzania. It has also engaged the African Centre for Cities (ACC) in Cape Town to partner with national governments to better steer and capture the outcomes from urbanisation. The ACC and Cities Alliance have a long track record of collaborating.
In recent months, the coalition approached Cities Alliance for assistance in engaging with the government of Ghana, based on the platforms and networks established through the Ghana Country Programme.
The coalition’s main objective is to strengthen the second phase of the National Urban Policy (which was an initial outcome of the Cities Alliance Country Programme) and to enhance the case for its further implementation. This includes an in-depth review of the political economy of urbanisation and the links between urbanisation, industrialisation and a climate resilient economy.
Cities Alliance facilitated contact between the coalition and Ghana’s Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and an inception meetings were held at the Ghana Urban Forum in Accra (January 2018) and the World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February 2018. Further joint meetings are expected in Ghana in the coming months.
CUT approached Cities Alliance for assistance in engaging with the government of Ghana, based on the platforms and networks established through the Ghana Country Programme.
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