The South African Cities Network’s board of directors approved a five-year strategic plan for 2006 – 2011.

Strategic plans on SA Cities

THE Strategic Plan grew out of 15 workshops held with development practitioners, urban development specialists, and representatives of various government departments.

These workshops identified several aspects on which to focus:

• Increasing the status of urban issues across government policy and action;
• Preventing institutional exclusion by fostering participatory, transparent and democratic administration for every urban resident;
• Maximising the impact of government action in urban areas by aligning policies, investment and enforcement;
• Introducing new instruments and incentives for urban reforms that meet social need, create economic opportunities and protect the environment;
• Improving intelligence on urban dynamics to inform policy, planning and spending; and
• Developing human capacity for urban management and co-operative governance

The theme for the Strategic Plan became ‘Supporting the South African Urban Development Framework for the Second Decade of Democracy’ and the objective was to develop the knowledge, information and technical resources and expertise required to provide member cities with guidance on a strategic set of urban development themes and urban policy priorities.

SACN divided its drive into three categories:

1. Guidance: Preparing and disseminating strategic inputs and position
2. Discovery: Undertaking selected monitoring and evaluation including a regular State of the Cities Report
3. Assistance: Preparing technical inputs on leading practice and processes

Midterm Review

Midway through the period, we commissioned Veda Associates to review and evaluate performance in implementing the plan. This was done to:

1. provide an objective analysis of successes and weaknesses; and
2. inform operational and programmatic activities to strengthen performance during the remaining implementation period.

Read more: The Mid-Term Review