http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/47872/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32233/ 2002-02-27T00:00:00Z This report is addressed to professionals and urban practitioners who are interested in participatory planning processes and in the establishment of organised priority setting mechanisms and decision-making involving government and communities on the allocation of public investments. Those who work in the public sector or with public policies at the local government level will benefit from the findings of the research particularly if their interest lies on the establishment of government-community management of public funds. The findings of the research will be instrumental for NGO’s and CBO’s that are engaged in partnerships with local governments. The primary objective of the research is to analyse and describe the experience of the municipality of Santo André with participatory budgeting hereinafter called OP ( Orçamento Participativo) depicted from interviews and observations of key actors and stakeholders directly involved in the OP, and from the analysis of internal documents of the municipality. The research also makes a first attempt to unveil issues underlying the integration of the participatory budgeting (OP) as a short-term planning activity and the recently started strategic planning process hereinafter called CF (Cidade Futuro) as a long-term development planning process. The research makes use of participants’ observations and qualitative methods and intends not only to analyse and describe in detail the OP and CF in Santo André but also questions to what extent this peculiar participatory process can be replicated in other municipalities seeking direct citizen involvement in municipal affairs. The authors attempt to look at the lessons learned from these experiences in order to depict issues, processes and methodologies that can be replicated in Bolivian municipalities and particularly in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The authors look at this possibility against the enactment of legislation (Law of Popular Participation, Law on Municipalities, Sustainable Municipal Development Plan-SMDP) that seems to have created a conducive environment for genuine civil participation in urban management in Bolivian local governments. The Spanish report pays a particular attention to this dimension. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32235/ 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z This seminar report is about the Sinpa programme. Therefore a brief explanation of the objectives and project history is provided in this chapter to serve as background information for what is to follow. Objectives of the SINPA programme The overall goal of the SINPA programme is to help implement National Plans of Action and the Habitat Agenda by building sustainable local capacity for effective planning and management of urban development. More concretely, the programme aims to assist local government and its partners in capacity building for action in the broad areas of housing, local environmental management and participative planning processes and partnerships relating to these subjects. It especially focuses on the challenges of improving access to services and better environment for the urban poor, with particular regard to gender issues. The broad objectives of the programme are: • to stimulate the development of local capacity building strategies; • to stimulate selected local and national capacity building institutions to become more responsive to needs and to enhance quality of performance; • to stimulate urban stakeholders to learn from relevant past and ongoing experience with implementing urban development policy and projects; • to improve understanding and communication of experience relevant to needs of city development in the linked areas of housing, environmental management, participative planning and partnerships. SINPA aims to achieve these objectives by helping to bring local development partners and capacity building institutions together so as to improve capacity in a manner that will be sustainable locally. The programme is structured in a core programme, which provides co-ordination, information inputs, linkage and dissemination, and three country programmes that are developed locally in response to local issues. The country programmes are being implemented in secondary cities in Bangladesh, Bolivia and Zambia. The SINPA programme adopts a process