Mayor supports Cities programme to make NEPAD happen at the local level

South Africa’s eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal is looking forward to a “formidable partnership” to make NEPAD happen at the local level, the Executive Mayor of Durban, Obed Mlaba, said in a presentation to the Africa Partnership Unit of the Development Bank of Southern Africa at the DBSA headquarters in Midrand, South Africa on 24 October 2007.

The Mayor was speaking to the theme “African Cities Driving the NEPAD Objectives” in a proposal related to the NEPAD Cities programme which is designed to promote the ideals of NEPAD at community level through municipalities.

In this programme a NEPAD City is an African city that will deliver on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) and the NEPAD objectives, the Mayor said.

To further the programme a Mayors Committee was set up in Lagos in 2004, with Mayor Obed Mlaba as the chairperson.

In 2007 the Mayor signed a special Memorandum of Understanding with UN Habitat for Durban to lead the co-ordination of the NEPAD Cities programme.

In his proposal to the DBSA, the Mayor said the main objectives were to :

Interact with other cities in Africa to share development experience ;

Contribute to democracy and good governance ;

Develop a comprehensive system of Sister City relationships for strategic partnership ;

Promote effective skills transfer and exchange of expertise to improve access to basic social services in all African cities, such as water, sanitation, electricity ;

Promote relationships and development of local economies and markets ;

Share programmes on alleviation of poverty, health challenges and rural development ;

Promote Afro- optimism as opposed to Afro- persimmism by integrating Africa into a global economy ;

Accelerate the empowerment of women and the youth by maximising development potential.

The Mayor gave the following profile of a NEPAD City : a rich and productive city ; a functional city ; safe and secure ; environmentally healthy, hygienic and aesthetic ; historically rich and culturally vibrant ; informed, socially inclusive and just ; and sustainable.

Cities already involved in the NEPAD Cities programme include : Lagos, Nigeria ; Bamako, Mali ; Nairobi, Kenya ; Lusaka, Zambia ; Douala, Cameroon ; Rabat, Morocco ; Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and Maputo, Mozambique. Source : NEPAD, 26 octobre 2007

Training programme for district health managers

Fifteen district health managers from Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe have completed a four-week training programme at the University of Pretoria School of Health Systems and Public Health.

This was part of the Third Country Training Programme, a five-year programme initiated as a collaborative effort between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the University of Pretoria under the Japan-South Africa Partnership Framework, in partnership with NEPAD and the AU/NEPAD Health Strategy.

The programme aims to address capacity constraints of mid-level managers who are expected to play a key role in strengthening the district health systems in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

The four-week training programme, from 3-28 September 2007, was run by Dr. Eric Buch, Professor of Health Policy at the University of Pretoria and Health Advisor to NEPAD, and Dr. Zola Njongwe, Senior Lecturer in Health Management at the University of Pretoria. Source : NEPAD, 26 octobre 2007