| 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, 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 are being 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. Objectives of the Consultancy: During the inception phase of the programme in 2016, the municipalities of Gulu and Mbale identified, through a participatory process, and endorsed two thematic areas of particular importance for equitable economic growth in their municipalities: local economic development and urban public space and land management. These two thematic areas have been investigated through Local Assessment Reports (LARs) and will be later translated into specific recommendations presented in the municipality-level policy briefs. During November 2017, UNCDF completed collection of primary and secondary data for the LARs in both municipalities in close cooperation with the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development; Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development; Urban Authorities Association of Uganda, National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda and other partners. The key findings and recommendations of the LARs were presented to municipal validation workshops in December 2017. The discussions led by municipal political representatives involved municipal staff, central government representatives and public service providers, NGOs and community groups, development partners, representatives of the private sector, media and academia. Following the municipal validation workshops and the feedback received from key stakeholders, the LARs were refined, finalized and consolidated into two thematic reports (on LED and public land and urban space management) aiming to generalize the findings and recommendations from both municipalities. These two reports were later synthesized in the form to two knowledge products with a specific focus on the identified critical issue explored in the original LARs. This consultancy is designed to produce and validate two city-level policy briefs on Urban Public Space and Land Management in Gulu and Mbale, which are the final deliverable of this project. The objective of the policy briefs is to inform the policy makers at the municipal level and the public at large about the essence of the challenges faced by the target municipalities in the area of public space and land management and present practical, implementable and customized recommendations (disaggregated into short-, medium- and long-term) to key stakeholders about how these challenges can be addressed. The financial implications of these policies will be estimated and incorporated into standard projections so that the feasibility of on-budget actions can be assessed. |
