Quarterly Report of the Association for Local Authority in Namibia

To: The Management Committee

By: Ms. Jennifer Kauapirura

Date: July, 2007

Aims & Objectives of the Report

This report serves to inform the Management Committee on development of activities of the Association of the past 4 months and to further update all our members, partners and stakeholders of the activities of ALAN under the auspices of transparency, good governance and service delivery. The Report is of an informative nature and should clarity be sought, please confers with the office!

  1. ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT/CAPACITY BUILDING

1.1Alan/Nalao/FCM Tri- Partnership

With the assistance from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities the Association reviewed in May 2006 its strategic plan as that has enabled the Association to solicit for donor support to implement the much needed services to the members through capacity building and interventions in the following areas;

  • Local Governments Association Development:

Induction of Chief Admin Officer & Programme Officer

The Association’s institutional capacity has been strengthened through the appointment of additional staff. With financial assistance of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities under the auspices of this ALAN/NALAO/FCM Tri-partnership, the association recruited and appointed Ms Jennifer Kauapirura as the Chief Administrative Office who acts in her capacity as the Chief Executive Officer as from November 1,2006. The appointment is subject to a one two-year period contract. Ms Kauapirura holds an Executive MBA from the Maastricht school of Management, the Netherlands, specializing in Strategic Business Management.

Mrs Maureen Kampala was promoted to a Programme Officer under the FCM Partnership.

  • Improved Communication

Development and management of ALAN Website - up and running at . Services such as web hosting, web updating and annual Domain Name Renewal of the website is being done by Mr. Lancelot Nyachoto of Quantum Computer Solutions cc for a fee. Attached is as a generic copy of invoice.

  • Organizational Capacity Development

Development of ALAN Strategic Plan (SP) and Financing Strategy:

The Strategic Plan was initially compiled and was rendered incomplete in its current form and needed touching up and finalization upon request by FCM. JMC Management Consulting provided both the services for ALAN and NALAO Strategic Plans that had to be finalized before the FCM project wrapped by March 31,2007. The SP plans were completed subsequently but the Financial Strategy and printing of 150 x (2) copies of SP are pending, due to there no being funds available. Consultant has still not been paid for services rendered. (Funds awaited to pay consultant). Attached is copy of Strategic Plan and invoice from JCS Management

  • Greater Participation in Decentralization

By way of commissioning a Research on the Status of Decentralization in Namibia - Research not commissioned due to short time frame! How ever, greater participation by ALAN and LA has been at the order of the day by way of cooperation with the Line Ministry!

1.2ALAN/NALAO/FCM-Best Practice Workshop (February 2007

The ALAN/NALAO/FCM tri- partnership wrapped up in December 2006 and officially terminated in the form of a Best Practice Workshop that took place in February 2007 at the Safari Hotel in Windhoek, with the followings as key themes:

  1. DECENTRALISATION
  2. MUNICIPAL FINANCE
  3. MUNICIPAL TWINNINGS/PARTNERSHIPS
  4. ALAN/NALAO ASSOCIATIONS

Areas such as sharing of best practices from Canadian partnerships with local authorities in Namibia and moving forward the decentralization/advocacy component of ALAN's work plan, were highlighted.Three Namibian municipalities (Oshakati, Tsumeb and Otjiwarongo) have been partnered with Canadian municipalities for the past ten years under the CIDA-funded Municipal Partnership Program (MPP) and share their experiences.

It was also an opportunity for donors to see what has been happening with the Associations and theopportunities for supporting both ALAN and NALAO was presented, hoping thatnew donorsupport will be one output from the conference. The workshop produced the WINDHOEK COMMINIQUE handed to the Honorable Minister of Local, Regional Government Housing and Rural Development, Hon. John Pandeni – (Attachment)

1.3Institutional Capacity building

In addition to the Programme officer and the Chief Administrative Officer, the office is manned by two temporary staff members. These are in the form of the Office assistant/Secretary, Ms José line Coetzee and Mr. Engelhard Kamatuka as the Assistant/Driver. These members are on a three month contract till September 2007, upon which the office will officially advertise these positions. (Attachedare the contracts)

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  1. ALAN’S RELATIONSHIP with the MINISTRY of LOCAL GOVERNMENT and STAKEKOLDERS

ALAN is in the process of strengthening its ties with the Line Ministry, NPC, Association of Regional Council the Finish, French and Swedish Local Authority Associations, and development partners such as German Technical Zusammenarbeit (Cooperation), Freidrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), and many other institutions that have the sole purpose of addressing the socio-economic challenges of our members and our communities that we serve in unison. Members of the EXCO together with the Secretariat paid a curtsey call to the Hon. Minister and the Permanent Secretary.

In order to strengthen the administrative machinery of the Association some improvements needs to be made to allow for greater efficiency and effectiveness in the work of the Association. The more reason for the Association needing to do away with relying on Donor handouts and more on its MEMBERS! However, the current situation is not sustainable and operationally viable and due to this the Association was encouraged to knock on the Ministry’s coffers in directing and managing the Association towards the realization of set targets in ensuring stability in service delivery and continuation. A proposal and budget was submitted to the Ministry upon which Alan was advised to prepare a comprehensive proposal for the Ministry to submit to the Ministry of Finance and subsequently to Cabinet during the tabling of the National Budget in September/October 2007.

2.1 MRLGHRD/GTZ-Service Delivery Promotion

GTZ in partnership with the Ministry of Regional Local Government Housing & Rural Development held a workshop to take stock of initiatives that were not completed in the Ministry and the local authorities that had participated in the first phase of the Service Delivery Promotion Project during 2001 – 2005.

The objectives of the workshop was also to identify most pressing current issues that can be addressed in a network of knowledge and practice to establish whether the former project teams are still relevant to address past and current challenges and make adjustments if required and finally recommend an approached to facilitate the network in future and decide on an action plan. The workshop was held on March 19, 2007 in Okahandja and twelve local authorities that were part of the first phase and stakeholder organizations were represented, the Association was represented by its Programme Officer Ms Maureen Kambala.

2.2Alliance of Mayors & Municipal Leaders on HIV & AIDS in Africa (AMICAALL) - Amicaall-UNDP-MRLGHRD Community Capacity Enhancement Training Programme

Amicaall in partnership with the Line Ministry and UNDP held a training workshop on Community enhancement in the fight against HIV/AIDS at Rock Lodge, Okahandja on 13-22 MAY 2007. The objective of the workshop was to gain the buy in from selected pilot regions (Kunene, Caprivi & Erongo) in preparing for the project implementation. Cllr Fina Job has been nominated as the ALAN Management Committee member to serve on the AMICAALL Steering Committee and therefore attended the training. The training proved highly technical and therefore Cllr: Job, could not attend fully as the workshop was highly technical and a technical person should have represented ALAN.

2.3MLRGHRD National CONFERENCE on LOCAL Authority REFORM

The Ministry of Regional Local Government Housing & Rural Development held a stakeholders consultation workshop to discuss the proposed amendment to the local authorities Act in May 28-29 at the Country Club and Resort Hotel. A copy of the final reform document was to be submitted to the Line Minister and will be forwarded to ALAN as soon as it was ready.

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  1. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS/ACCOMPLISHMENTS for MEMBERS:

Due to the different levels of local authorities, the Association is faced with meeting the expectations of all levels of local authorities and therefore had requested from local authorities to identify specific areas of services expected from ALAN (Circulated correspondence attached). However, below follows a few areas of intervention with members:

3.1Capacity building - Public Private Partnerships Initiatives:

The Association has signed a number of MoUs with private entities in order to provide and avail better services for its members:(Attached are copies of MoU with Hollard Namibia, South African Local Government Associations(SALGA), Standard Bank Namibia and PriceWaterHouseCoopers outlining the benefits to local authorities and areas of concentration.

3.2Meetings with the Honourable Prime Minister and Hon. Minister John Pandeni & PS of Local Government

In accordance with a resolution from the Management Committee held in Okahandja, February 2007, a delegation comprised of EXCO and secretariat was accorded a platform with the honourable Premier, the Minister of LGHRD and the Permanent Secretary of the same ministry. The following items were discussed at these meetings:

  • Financial shortcomings that impede the strengthening of the administrativemachinery and enhancement of Service Delivery to Local Authorities and Capacity Building
  • Financial Assistance toward the Association from the TRUST Fund for Regional Development and Equity Provisions
  • Challenges faced today in the implementation of national policies such as Decentralization, Local Authority Reform process and NDP’s all in plea of achieving Vision 2030 and Millennium Development Goal (MDG), requires managerial and administrative knowledge coupled with understanding of Local Governing concepts in implementing policies for the benefit of the electorates.
  • Pertinent issues faced by Political Office Bearers/ Local Authority Councillors as the custodians and policy makers of respective local authorities such as:
  • Pension and medical benefits,
  • Leave days
  • Training in addition to Local Authorities Councilors Induction system
  • Full time employment opportunities for Local Authorities Councilors
  • Regional Electricity Distributors (REDs)

3.3Development Bank- Cities Alliances Grant, Participatory City Development Strategies for Namibian Cities

The Association in collaboration with the MLGHRD, FCM, NALAO and UTN participated in the elaboration of the proposal to Cities Alliances with the objective to undertake a preparatory study and identify and select several Local Authorities to collaborate in a Cities Alliance funded initiative to prepare City Development Strategies (CDS) to address social economic exclusion. The submission was done by ALAN re proposal for the Preparatory Phase and was successful in this regard (Notified on 23 March 2007) and will be getting the advance amount of U$89.235.

The funding is to be paid to ALAN in order to facilitate the preparatory study for the development and implementation of a selection process aimed at identifying the three pilot Local Authorities for the development of the Namibian Comprehensive Development Strategy (NCDS) for Local Economic Development for these 3 Local Authorities. The actual objective of the current proposal is to undertake a Preparatory study that will evaluate and define the components and steps needed that will result in the NCDS for Local Economic Development for these 3 Local Authorities. As the recipient of the Fund ALAN was required to open the following bank account with NEDBANK:

1. Account Name:ALAN City Alliance Project
2. Beneficiary Bank Name:Nedbank Namibia Limited
3. Beneficiary address:P O BOX 1, Windhoek, Namibia
4. Beneficiary Street Address: 12-20 Frans Indongo Street, Windhoek, Namibia
5. Beneficiary account No: 11000260357
6. Our Swift Code:NEDSNANX
7. Our Branch Code: 461609
8. Our Correspondent bank: DRESDNER BANK FRANKFURT (SWIFT CODE DRESDEFF)
9. Their account number: 0810491800

The funds are in the process of being transferred and should be by end of July 2007. Attached are the modalities re opening the Bank account.

3.4Facilitation of twinning arrangements/agreements for local Authorities with International counterparts:

Established partnerships with Canadian Municipalities (Tsumeb, Otjiwarongo, Ondangwa) are envisaged to continue while a delegation from SALAIDA visited Namibia with the intent of fostering twinning arrangements between Swedish local Authorities and Namibia Local authorities: Karas Region: Keetmanshoop, Berseba, Luderitz, Karasburg etc. Cllr Boas Ekandjo and Mrs M Kampala the Programme Officer accompanied the 2 manned delegations on a feasibility trip to the Karas region (Report of the trip- Attachment)

3.5National Planning Commission- National Policy Documents,

Regarding the current state of affairs of Policy documents e.g., NDP3 ALAN realized that there seem to be a high degree of exclusion of ALAN and Local Authorities entirely in the national policy making pool, an issue raised during the roll out of NDP 3. (Attached hereto is the letter to NPC dated 17 January 2007 and Rural Poverty Reduction: Demand Driven Actions Proposals - 22 January2007). The National Planning Commission held various Technical Working group meetings on the National Development Plan 3 at which ALAN was subsequently considered and participated as a development partner.

At its last Management Committee meeting held on 14 June in Otjiwarongo it was resolved that the National Planning Commission be requested to arrange a workshop for Local Authority, on the role of Local Authorities in regards to NDP3 and.

3.6Strategic Plan & Activity Plan

Though the association is facing various financial challenges that impede the implementation of activities set out in its strategic plan and Activities plan for the year 2007-2008 (Attachment dated 30 November 06), the Association has drastically improved on the service delivery as can be attested by the launch of its new website that can be visited at The website is aimed at facilitating; improved communication, capacity building and addressing of pressing municipal issues to the benefit of the Municipalities in Namibia.

3.7Local Authority Act- Reform Committee National Workshop

The need for ALAN to be included in the Local Authorities Act or alternatively sign a binding recognition agreement with the Central Government to actively partake in policy formulation, analysis and contribution to the best interest of the local authorities, is currently being proposed under the Local Authorities Act Reform White paper, however the Association needs for this process to be fast tracked due to it being a vital step toward the Strategic Objectives of the Association. A National Reform Conference held on 27 -28 May 2007 discussed and noted the issue and various scenarios that impede the development of Local Authorities and the Local Authority Associations as a whole were highlighted and the Document with the relevant recommendations is to be submitted to the Minister of Local Government in due course!

3.8Registration of the Association as a Legal Entity

The Association in its 54th existence was not a legal entity that would legally voice the wishes of the Municipalities. However, the Association is now (May 2007) registered as a legal entity. This will serve as the catalyst in the Association’s quest in being formally recognized by the government. (Attachment)

3.9Strategic Planning Sessions for Local Authorities

ALAN is in the process of assisting local authorities with strategic planning and change management issues (Correspondence in this manner has been circulated to all Local Authorities titled: Strategic planning needs and Priority areas identification (08 March 2007). Needless to say, not many Local Authorities heeded to this request! Only Okahandja, Opuwo, Karibib and Okakarara submitted requests for assistance. The Association is furthermore in the process of seeking financial assistance in regards to Strategic Planning sessions for a number of local authorities, currently operating without Strategic Plans.

3.10ALAN/United Cities and Local Governments in Africa (UCLGA) Membership

The Association is a member of the UCLGA and is expected to pay an annual membership fee of 2000.00 Euro UCLGA is established under its constitution as a Pan African intergovernmental voluntary association of its members. It maintains a regional office in each of the five sub-regions of Africa (East, West, North, South and Central. One of the core |objectives of UCLGA is to be the united voice and representative of local government in Africa. The president of ALAN Mrs Rosina Hoabes (1 of the ten members) is an Executive Committee member of UCLGA. This committee meet as maybe necessary to conduct its business - sometimes prompting the president of the Association and the Chief Executive to travel as the need arises. The Chief Administrative Officer is also a technical member of the UCLGA/SADC Technical Task Team and at times need to attend organized meetings in this regard.

During a meeting between Mr. Uyepa (Director at the Ministry of Local Government) Ms Kauapirura and Cllr: Rosina Hoabes (Alan President) in December 2006, the Local Authorities (Okakarara, Karibib and Opuwo) were identified as struggling Local Authorities in developmental issues suchas Strategic Planning etc, and a call was made out to ALAN to please see how it could assist these smaller Local Authorities. In accordance with its mandate to look after the Interest of its members, the process of solicitingthis much needed assistance for these Local Authorities was embarked upon and it was upon this background that the names of these Local Authorities were forwarded to UCLGA!

It is against this background that the towns of Okakarara, Karibib and Opuwo) together with the CAO of ALAN is invited to participate in, CITY FUTURE: PROMOTION OF CITY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES BASED ON THE MILLENNIOUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, WORKSHOP in JOHANNESBURG, 18 – 20 JULY 2007. This workshop is simply a platform through which these local authorities can learn from what other towns have done or intend doing to access funds via Cities Alliances City Development Strategy. These 3 Local Authorities attending the workshop are not part of the Cities ALLIANCES/ALAN preparatory proposal and are not partaking as the towns to be identified by the CA/ALAN proposal as this process has not taken place yet!