MDP-ESA Participates in the Local Finance and Participatory Budget URBAL Programme March 4- 12 2006 in Porto Alegre . Brazil

From 4 to 12 March 2006, Mr. George Matovu, Regional Director of MDP-ESA and Mr. Justus Mika, Municipal Finance Advisor at MDP-ESA were in Porto Alegre, Brazil to attend the Annual Local Finance and Participatory Budget Conference organised by the International Centre for Urban Management (CIGU). The workshop was the third to be jointly organized by CIGU and the City of Porto Alegre to assist cities in Latin America to share their experiences and present proposals for common projects involving popular participation processes in municipal planning and budgeting. The conference was attended by well over 350 cities from South America and Europe.

We were fortunate to have in our midst the Mayor of Porto Alegre, His Worship Jose Fogaca who graced the opening of the conference and talked eloquendy about the significance of linking budget "to service delivery. He also underscored the need to promote cooperation between Africa and Latin America cities for purposes of strengthening cultural exchanges, knowledge sharing and capacity building.

Mayor Jose Fogaco addressing the Conference

We had the opportunity to participate in sideline events as well such as: Democracy and Information;) and Social Solidarity Economy; and Cultural Enterprising. These events added value to our exposure to democracy and local governance in Latin America. During our stay, met with the delegation from Belo Horizonte who expressed interest to initiate cooperation between their city and the Municipality of Dondo in Mozambique. We were privileged too to witness the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Porto Alegre and CIGU that is intended to strengthen the participation of citizens in the budget preparation in Porto Alegre.

George Matovu signing the MOU

On our part we held a meeting with officials of CIGU with a view to promoting cooperation between the two institutions. We both agreed to pursue a number of actions including: (i) the development of self-teaching courses on participatory budgeting; (ii) identification of reference cities in Latin America and Africa that can be linked; (iii) identification of national universities that can be co-opted in the PB network; (iv) strengthening of the knowledge base on PB through research; and (v) preparation of a joint MDP-CIGU Trainers Guide.

We also held a meeting with the World Bank representative, Dr. Andre Herzog to up-date him on the setting of the Participatory Budgeting Action Facility. Dr. Herzog commended MDP-ESA for the progress so far made in establishing the Facility. He was particularly pleased to note that: (i) the website on Africa Accountability Social Action Forum www.asaaf.org.zw is up and running; (ii) the e-Bulletin Newsletter was getting widely circulated; (iii) the development of the ten modules on participatory budgeting was on course; and (iv) the cooperation between CIGU and MDP was becoming a reality. Dr. Herzog underscored the need to bring on board more partners who are truly excited about and genuinely interested in introducing participatory budgeting. He also wished to a more active Help Desk taking shape.

Looking back at participation in various events, the things which stood out most for us were: (i) the level of political support, (ii) social solidarity, and (iii) community organization towards participatory budgeting. We salute the people, their elected leaders and officers for pioneering a revolutionary kind of local democracy and for bringing true meaning to decentralization.

George Matovu with Councilors

We are very grateful to our host Porto Alegre and CIGU for looking after us and to the World Bank for financing our travel and participation. We are particularly grateful to Mr. Cezar Busatto (Technical Manager of Porto Alegre); Dr. Jaime Vasconess and Dr. Yves Cabannes (CIGU), and Dr. Andre Herzog (World Bank) for making our stay comfortable and a learning experience.