| Overview : The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is a UN organization with a capital mandate (unique in the UN System) focused on reducing poverty and inequality first and foremost in the least developed countries (“LDC”s). UNCDF develops and tests out financial models which mobilize and recycle domestic resources to meet local needs and which raise investor confidence in these local economies so that they can become centres of growth. UNCDF works with local governments, promoting financial and fiscal accountability to its citizens through local development funds, performance-based grant systems, structured project finance, and by strengthening local revenue streams. It also supports accountable planning, budgeting, and decision-making at the local level, recognizing the importance of having decisions about resources being made locally, and those resources being spent or invested locally. UNCDF in partnership with the Cities Alliance, the global partnership for poverty reduction and the promotion of cities in sustainable development with a representative global membership of over 30 full and associate members is implementing the Joint Work Proramme on Equitable Economic Growth in Cities in Uganda. The JWP on Equitable Economic Growth in Cities (2016-2020) focuses on supporting equitable access to public goods and services by all citizens and formal and informal businesses in cities. It works with development partners to produce global knowledge, facilitate policy dialogues and support city-level diagnostics and policy recommendations. The goal is to support growth trajectories increasingly characterised by equity, inclusion and environmental sustainability. UNCDF is specifically responsible for implementation of JWP Component 3: The Campaign Cities Initiative. The main objective is to assist two municipal governments in Uganda, the municipalities of Gulu and Mbale, to develop well-researched and evidence-based policy recommendations on how to improve the delivery of municipal public goods and service that contribute to equitable economic growth. Also, the project will facilitate UNCDF and other JWP members to support the promotion of equitable access to public goods and services in the selected Ugandan cities, based on local needs, capacities and priorities. During a 24-month local support initiative, the two Ugandan municipalities will be assisted in producing a number of outputs, such as an Institutional Enabling Environment Report, a Local Assessment Report, and city-level evidence-based policy briefs and recommendations. Two themes were identified through a participatory and consultative process for Local Assessment Reports in Gulu and Mbale – Public Space and Land Management, and Local Economic Development. Local Assessment Reports are intended to provide detailed information about a particular public service, its scope, delivery mechanisms and recommendations about service improvements required to promote equitable economic growth. A Local Assessment Report contains a situation analysis and mapping of the city economy in terms of factors, systems and structures related to the provision of and access to public goods, resulting in a clearly documented evidence base. It is the key input to inform city-level evidence-based policy briefs and recommendations to specify policy, legal and regulatory actions to be employed by municipal authorities to implement the LAR recommendations. Objectives of the Consultancy: For the process of urbanization to take place rapidly and efficiently, proper land use is critically important to ensuring that these areas drive growth in productivity and productive employment. The economic benefits of urban growth come from exploiting economies of scale; from agglomeration effects; and from effective substitution between land and non-land inputs. One of the most important pillars of an efficient city is appropriate land use, which in turn is determined by land policies and institutions that support urban efficiency. Increasing the density of economic activities is one of the key features of successful urbanization, enabled by using land for higher value activities over time. As Ugandan towns strive to foster equitable and inclusive economic growth, the challenges of ensuring proper public space and land management become more pronounced. Effective urban land management is required to promote urban regeneration and development of new industrial and commercial districts, investments to upgrade and expand critical infrastructure systems, programs to enhance and protect the environment, and initiatives to upgrade social overhead capital (housing, education, healthcare). Inadequate urban land management is a key challenge to the private sector’s engagement with developing the town by providing businesses and residents with shops, offices, factories and housing. Municipal governments, with their democratic mandate, play a triple role with respect to effective urban land management: - as regulators in charge of the open space and land management framework at the local level through development plans, physical and land use plans, zoning regulations by-laws and ordinances; the regulatory function also includes enforcement of the applicable regulations;
- as users of land under their direct administration, including open space, directly responsible for effective use and maintenance of land and associated natural resources including land acquisition, rent or sale to third parties;
- as developers implementing, directly or in partnership with third parties, land development projects including changing landforms for a purpose such as housing or industrial development; subdivision of real estate into lots as well as real estate development.
The New Urban Development Agenda (2016) stresses the need to take advantage of the opportunities of urbanization as an engine of sustained and inclusive economic growth, social and cultural development, and environmental protection, and of its potential contributions to the achievement of transformative and sustainable development. Specifically, it calls for the development of urban spatial frameworks that support sustainable management and use of natural resources and land, appropriate compactness and density, polycentrism, and mixed uses, through infill or planned urban extension strategies as applicable, to trigger economies of scale and agglomeration, strengthen food system planning, enhance resource efficiency, urban resilience, and environmental sustainability. The New Urban Agenda explicitly promotes safe, inclusive, accessible, green, and quality public spaces as drivers of social and economic development, sustainably leveraging their potential to generate increased social and economic value, including property value, and to facilitate business, public and private investments, and livelihood opportunities for all. Hence, UNCDF seeks to engage a Consultant to prepare a Local Assessment Report on Public Space and Land Management in Gulu and Mbale and perform other relevant activities associated with this output. The objective of the LAR is to establish a reliable evidence base with respect to the public space and land management in the target municipalities from the perspective of public service delivery that fosters equitable economic growth. |
