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DEVELOPMENT:
Italians Help
Shape Brazilian Cities
Elisa
Marincola
TURIN, Italy, (IPS) -
Training technicians and
officials could be the best way
of promoting development,
delegates agreed at a forum for
Italian cities assisting those
in Brazil.
The forum on '100 Cities for 100
projects in Brazil' Sep. 21-23
was organised by the Association
of Italian Cities and Provinces
to enhance cooperation between
Italian and Brazilian cities.
The programme launched by the
Turin city administration in
2003 together with the Brazilian
ministry for the cities is
intended to support
administrative decentralisation
and participatory democracy in
Brazilian cities.
The cooperation is focused
primarily, but not exclusively,
on local projects.
"We don't want to concentrate
financial and human resources in
too large projects where it
would be difficult for citizens
to have transparency in the use
of funds," Turin deputy mayor
Marco Calgaro told IPS. "But we
do offer a structure of services
and a centre to work on big
issues like water and waste
management, territorial
planning, policies for children,
and the environment."
Over the past two years the
province of Turin agency for
local cooperation established
contact with public
administration bodies,
universities, research centres
and private bodies working in
water, waste management and the
environment who agreed to share
knowledge and a part of their
working and human resources to
cooperation plans.
"Our biggest commitment is to
make technical knowledge
available for developing
countries," director of the
agency Gian Paolo Morello told
IPS. "We are working with the
Brazilian ministry for the
cities to implement their new
Cities Act. So we set up courses
to train local authority
officials and technicians to
implement town planning schemes
and manage water and waste
plants."
Hydroaid, an international
school in Turin, has launched
two pilot projects in Brazil: to
train government officials in
rebuilding the environment, and
a plan for managing rainwater.
Both projects have been set up
with the assistance of the
Italian government and the city
of Turin.
"More than funds, we want from
Italy technical cooperation for
urban social development," mayor
of the Brazilian city Belo
Horizonte and vice-president of
the Brazilian Association of
Cities Fernando Damata Pimentel
told IPS. "Indeed we really lack
technicians, and our cities need
to know how to manage their
basic services."
The Brazilian association is
committed to "involving our 500
cities members to develop pilot
projects, and we are helping
them find Italian cities to
cooperate with," he added.
Belo Horizonte has for instance
launched a cooperation scheme
with the city of Bologna in
Italy for introducing
information technology in health
services through training and by
supplying equipment.
All these policies must be
implemented efficiently and with
transparency through involving
and consulting citizens, said
Nelson Trad Filho, mayor of
Campo Grande in Brazil. "Housing
plans need to be made together
with those who live in the
cities. And slums cannot be
improved through large-scale
eviction, which only produces
social exclusion."
Taking the social consequences
of administrative decisions into
account is also of importance in
waste management, city officials
say.
There is a need for pilot
projects that can improve urban
living conditions together with
providing employment, "because
waste can be a significant
economic resource for city
dwellers in developing
countries," said Riccardo
Serafini, who is responsible for
waste management for the
province of La Spezia in Italy.
This goal is more affordable if
cooperation projects are
implemented at the local level,
rather than through government
agreements, Morello said.
Italian local authorities can
offer their experience of
achieving transparency through
information technology, but
"partnership with all social
actors working on the territory
is the best way to promote
democratic participation and to
avoid mistakes and abuses."
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