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I. SUMMARY OF TRAINING EVENTS HELD UNDER THIS TASK ORDER
Under this task order, the Urban Institute (UI) and Training Resources Group (TRG) worked closely with staff from USAID's Urban Programs Team to design and deliver three training events targeted at USAID officers from missions worldwide and from key Washington bureaus. The courses create a community of practice of USAID staff who are aware of the importance of cities and who can incorporate their knowledge of urban issues into their work with other sectors.
All of the courses integrated presentations by experts in their field, interactive case study
exercises, and small group discussions. Several presenters were drawn from USAID and the Urban Programs Team's partner organizations—UI, Cities Alliance, ICMA, and Evensen Dodge. Other presenters came from the World Bank, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Environmental Health Project, and the United Nations Alliance of Mayors' Initiative for Combating AIDS at the Local Level. Prior to each offering, UI and TRG spoke at length with the individual presenters about the objectives of their session and conducted dry run presentations to ensure quality control.
Development and Cities: Urban 101—December 3 and 4, 2002
The pilot training seminar Urban 101 was held on December third and forth for 25 participants representing a wide variety of regions and technical areas in which USAID works. This offering was unique in that representatives from USAID partner organizations participated in addition to USAID officers. This overview course on urban issues included the following presentations:
— Factors Spurring Urbanization in the Developing World
— USAID's Urban Programs
— Characteristics of a third World City
— Urban Poverty Assessment
— Capital Finance Options
— Slum Upgrading/Participatory Management
— Service Delivery/Urban and the Environment
— Municipal Finance and Infrastructure
— Local Economic Development
— Youth Unemployment
— Disaster Mitigation
Development and Cities: Urban 101—March 26 to 28, 2003
Development and Cities: Urban 101 were offered a second time from March 26 to 28, 2003, for 24 USAID officers. (Two participants had to cancel at the last minute because of new travel guidelines due to the onset of war in Iraq.) Based on feedback from the pilot training seminar, the course was lengthened by a half day to introduce some new sessions and to allow more time for Q&A with the expert presenters. This offering included the following presentations:
— Why Cities Are Important
— Analyzing Urban Poverty
— Urban Food Security
— Urban Environmental Health
— HIV/AIDS and Urban Development
— Slum Upgrading
— Municipal Finance and Infrastructure
— Better Services through Participatory Management
— Local Economic Development
— City Development Strategies
— USAID Urban Tools & Resources
Cities and Economic Growth: September 9 to 12, 2003
Utilizing input from past and potential course participants, senior Economic Growth officers, and Urban Programs Team members, the team designed Cities and Economic Growth, which was held from September 9 to 12, 2003. 28 participants attended this three and a half day course, with attendance staying strong throughout the course. Each day of training had a particular theme which related to the course objectives: For USAID staff to gain a better understanding of the role and importance of cities in USAID's development and economic growth efforts, including urban and rural linkages; identify characteristics of urban economies and urban poverty and the implications for USAID's development efforts; discuss various approaches and opportunities for promoting economic growth of cities and regions; and identify tools, resources, and references that are available to help USAID officers and their development counterparts address issues related to cities and economic growth.
Day One: Laying the Foundation
— Urbanization, Decentralization, Democratization and Economic Growth
— Economies of Cities and Regions: Why Cities Are Critical to Economic Growth
— Measuring Urban Poverty
— Exploring the Informal Economy of a Developing City
Day Two: Mobilizing Private Resources for Economic Growth in Cities
— Municipal Credit Markets
— Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Infrastructure Investments in Secondary Cities
— Housing Finance: Engine of Urban Development
— Financing Her Home—One Wall at a Time
— Managing Governmental Property Assets: Thinking "Out of the Box"
— Public Private Partnerships for Municipal Infrastructure: "Darling Child" or the "Bad Seed"?
— Public Private Partnerships in Tourism Development and Destination Management
Day Three: Role of Local Government in Promoting Economic Growth
— Decentralization and Local Economic Development
— Connecting National and Regional Economies through Industry Cluster Strategies
— Elements of an Effective Local Economic Development Program
— Community-Based Strategic Planning for Local Economic Development
— What Works—What Doesn't: A Case Example from Mbarara, Uganda
Day Four: Back Home Planning
— City Development Strategy Tool and Cities Alliance Resources
— ICMA City Links Program
— Global Development Alliance
— DCA Guarantees
— Other Urban Program Tools / Resources
The interactive case study exercises developed for Cities and Economic Growth were particularly successful. Each of the four case study exercises focused on a country in a different region—LAC, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Near East. The case study exercises were all developed by the same person, a consultant on local economic development. For two of the cases, the consultant had first-hand information from his own consulting experience. For the other two cases he obtained background information from a FSN mission staff member who was a course participant and from an Urban Institute staff member who was also a course presenter. Though each case study exercise was rooted in reality, they did contain some fictitious information. Each small group was assigned a different case study exercise, but with the same processing questions at the end. UI and the Urban Programs Team conducted a mock run-through of the first case study exercise with USAID officers to understand whether or not it served the purpose of the seminar and how it could be imp roved. From this mock run-through, the questions asked to participants were clarified and modified.
Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).
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