OPERATIONALISING THE NATIONAL URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING FRAMEWORK - THE PHILIPPINE URBAN FORUM (Completed)

Background

The government of the Philippines (2001) formulated and adopted an innovative and forward-looking National Urban Development and Housing Framework (NUDHF) to guide management and development of the urban sector but, as in most circumstances, implementation of this Framework was the responsibility of a wide range of national and local institutions. The objective of the project, therefore, is to establish the Philippine Urban Forum as a platform to facilitate the convergence of urban sector interests and activities of a variety of national institutions, and at the same time to enable those institutions to develop a common Plan of Action to implement the NUDHF.

Results

Having launched the National Campaign for Secure Tenure through Good Urban Governance with its supporting "National Action Agenda" (NAA) in October 2002, the Forum concentrated its 2003 efforts on developing priority project profiles to operationalise that Agenda. As a result 10 proposals were prepared and disseminated to the international community at a "donors briefing" in August, when pledges were made by ADB, the World Bank, UNDP, SIDA as well as UN-HABITAT to support further project development, two of which were in advanced stages of development by the end of the year. The Forum also made significant "institutionalisation" progress, selecting five core institutions to "convene" themes prioritised under the NAA, to document good practices, synthesise lessons learned, and promote wider dialogue and dissemination through issue-specific regional round-tables and workshops. As a result, the Forum Secretariat was able to expand its membership to a broad "coalition" of other national government institutions, research organisations, private sector shelter agencies, NGOs and CBOs. The challenge for 2004 is to deepen institutionalisation as a means of sustaining its information sharing, advocacy, and coordination functions.