Cuba Urban Partnership Program (UPP Cuba)
The aim of the CIDA-funded Cuba Urban Partnership Program (2006-09) is to contribute to Local Agenda 21 in Cuba, enhancing urban networks and dialogues, and promoting innovation in the urban and regional planning process in the country.
Funding Agency
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Canadian Partnership Branch. UPP Cuba is a component of the CUI’s International Urban Partnership Program (I-UPP).
Timeframe
2006-2009
Geographic Focus
This is a national-level project with activities in various provincial capital cities, including Holguín, Bayamo, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, and Matanzas.
Project Partners
 Operational Partners
Cuban Institute of Physical Planning (IPF)
Cuban National Environmental Health Unit (UNSA)
Co-ordinating Partner
Ministerio para la Inversión Extranjera y la Colaboración Economica – MINVEC (Cuban Ministry for Foreign Investment and Economic Collaboration)
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Background
CUI is maintaining and expanding our ongoing and highly successful initiatives in Cuba. We have well-established partnerships in Cuba, and Cuba is a core partner country of the UN-HABITAT Global Campaign on Urban Governance.
In Cuba, the economic transformation and recovery already in motion present new opportunities and challenges in governance for national agencies and local governments involved in development and spatial planning. The optimistic, top-down, city and regional spatial plans developed in the 1980s have lost much of their relevance. Beginning in 1995, Cuba began to decentralize spatial planning to the municipal level, and a new generation of urban and regional plans were drawn up for all urban centres, including all provincial and municipal capitals.
But for urban planning to be an effective governance tool, it needs to achieve many goals: It should reflect the vision of all city stakeholders, align with national and territorial strategies, take into account economic constraints and possibilities, help protect and manage natural resources, promote equity and redistribution of wealth, foster inclusion of women, minorities, young people and disadvantaged groups, and advance the culture and promote the identity of the city.
The Cuba Urban Partnerships Project (UPP Cuba) is assisting our partners, IPF (Institute for Physical Planning), attached to the Ministry of Economics and Planning (MEP), and UNSA (National Environmental Health Unit), a national agency of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), in their efforts to innovate new strategies, processes, and systems that support participation and efficient delivery of urban services, in particular those related to urban planning and environmental health, as our contribution to the nation’s priorities – modernization of state and sustainable urban development.
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Project Description
The goal of the program is to contribute to the development of urban governance in Cuba in order to build sustainable urban settlements.
The objectives of the project are:
- Actions – support Cuban partners to develop model approaches to enhancing urban governance and the public realm of cities as a contribution to the urban sustainability and poverty reduction objectives established in the Habitat Agenda and the Millennium Development Goals.
- Ideas – generate new ideas for advancing urban sustainability and poverty reduction in cities through participation in global, regional and local knowledge networks.
The Program operates at both the national and city levels. Areas of major emphasis are:
1. National level — strengthening knowledge and capacity for inclusive strategic and land-use planning and decision-making in Cuba. The program is assisting IPF in its strategy of modernizing the system of spatial planning to further the goals of urban sustainable development and promoting a new civic engagement, as well as assisting the LA21 process of urban-environmental action planning. This entails improving the efficacy and efficiency of urban and regional planning and strengthening linkages with local governments, institutions and communities; advancing the use of geographic information systems as a tool for inclusive local decision-making; consolidating national and municipal capacities in planning, design and urban management; strengthening linkages with institutions responsible for environment and health matters; diversifying contacts and exchanges with relevant international organizations and knowledge networks; and conceiving and implementing a strategy of communications that will contribute to a higher civic engagement. Our work supports the strategy of modernization of state and promotes community and local development to enable effective decentralization as a contribution to sustainable urban development.
2. City level — improving governance as a means to achieving urban sustainability in vulnerable regions. CUI works with local governments and other stakeholders in focus cities in promoting inclusive decision-making processes of planning and regulation, as well as improving urban infrastructure and services, particularly those related to environmental health. The project’s emphasis is on four focus cities: the cities implementing the UN-HABITAT-sponsored Localizing Agenda 21 Program (LA21) – Bayamo and Holguín in the east, and Cienfuegos and Santa Clara in the centre of the country. There, and with special focus in Holguín, CUI is partnered with the local planning departments, LA21 project offices, and environmental health centres, and through them with the local governments and communities, to pursue the Habitat Agenda of human development and protection of natural resources through properly planned and managed cities. In so doing we are lending support to the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for Cuba, as well as to CIDA’s own priorities in its cooperation with Cuba, of supporting local development.
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Canada-Cuba Partnership Project for Environmental Health Service Delivery
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| Learning from the Walkerton disaster: the Honourable Dennis O’Connor (centre) meets with Cuban local government and health officials to discuss the Walkerton Inquiry (Toronto, 2002) |
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The aim of the CIDA-funded Canada-Cuba Partnership Project for Environmental Health Service Delivery (2001-2006) was to develop model approaches to improving decentralized health service delivery by Cuban local authorities. The project assisted Cuba’s National Environmental Health Unit (UNSA) and selected local governments within the Provinces of Sancti Spíritus and La Habana in undertaking participatory and coordinated approaches to improving the delivery of environmental health services in their territories, thereby contributing to a better quality of life for their residents. It involved participatory planning for environmental health service delivery, capacity development of local health service providers and communities and environmental health education.
Funding Agency
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), through the Agency’s Canadian Partnership Branch. This project was a component of the CUI’s multi-country International Partnership Program for Good Urban Governance (IPPGUG).
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Timeframe
2001-2006
Geographic Focus
This was a national-level project working in pilot communities. The pilot communities were in the provinces of Sancti Spíritus in Central Cuba (communities of Las Nuevas and Los Olivos), and in the province of La Habana (community of San Antonio de los Baños).
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Project Partners
National Environmental Health Unit (UNSA – Unidad Nacional de Salud Ambiental), an agency of the Cuban Ministry of Health charged with establishing, controlling and enforcing the nation’s health and sanitary regulations as these pertain to the health of the population.
Ministry of Health’s National Centre for Health Education and Promotion (CNPES)
Local partners included municipal governments of La Sierpe and Sancti Spiritus, popular councils of Las Nuevas and Los Olivos, the municipality of San Antonio de los Baños and its popular councils, along with citizens, family doctors and nurses, and public enterprises and agencies located in the regions.
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Background
The Canada-Cuba Partnership Project for Environmental Health Service Delivery, launched in 2001, was CUI’s main partnership project in Cuba during IPPGUG. The project contributed to CIDA’s social development priorities in the area of local health service delivery. This project inaugurated CUI’s new partnership with Cuba’s National Environmental Health Unit (UNSA), an agency of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) charged with establishing, controlling and enforcing health regulations and norms necessary for the control of environmental risks that can have an adverse effect of the health of the population.
Public health and the environment constitute two of Cuba’s national priorities. While infectious diseases are no longer a leading cause of death, they continue to be a significant threat to health, particularly of children. Their causes can be traced in most instances to adverse environmental health factors, particularly poor drinking water, improper waste treatment and unhealthy handling of foods. Governance issues are also at stake, with insufficient coordination among local government agencies, lack of risk awareness and environmental health education among the population especially the urban poor and faulty delivery of urban services. The eco-health problematique is thus a triangle of health, environment and governance reflected in the poor quality of delivery of urban services and greatly impacting the urban population.
The project sought to become a reference for this and other environmental health and governance challenges throughout Cuba. The expertise developed in this program can eventually be replicated elsewhere in the country in coordination with local governments, and the development knowledge and best practices can be disseminated to national and regional audiences.
Cuban health authorities have identified geographic areas, communities and settlements that are at greatest risk for enteric diseases, and developed an inventory of problems and possible solutions. Sancti Spíritus and La Habana provinces have some of the highest enteric disease morbidity rates in the nation.
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Project Description
Phase I of the project (2001-03) selected two municipalities; an urban municipality corresponding to the provincial capital of Sancti Spíritus, and rural La Sierpe, in particular the community of Las Nuevas, inhabited primarily by migrants from the Eastern provinces recruited to work as agricultural labourers in the sugar and rice fields. Differences in income, education, employment and general well-being of the two populations, as well as in the harmony and spirit of the communities and commitment and efficacy of the local governments, required adaptive responses and strategies that enriched the project and informed its team members.
Phase II (2003-06) involved intensifying the Sancti Spíritus experience and replicating the know-how gained in environmental health service delivery in another community within Cuba – the municipality of San Antonio de los Baños (SAB) within the Province of La Habana. The aim of Phase II was to continue to assist UNSA and selected local governments (SAB Municipal Government and Este Urbano Popular Council) in undertaking participatory and coordinated approaches to improving the delivery of environmental health services and building stakeholder capacities, thereby contributing to a reduction in the incidence of enteric diseases in the territories and strengthening governance. While the focus of Phase I in SSP was more on educating and improving the health lifestyle of the populations, Phase II in SAB emphasized the urban service providers, both agencies and workers, and their impact on the population’s health. In both cases the project engaged local governments in the pursuit of participatory, integrated approaches to health and environment, trained stakeholders in strategic planning and results-based management, and leveraged the project with other international cooperation funding wherever possible.
San Antonio de los Baños is a primarily agricultural municipality that over the years has become a satellite town of the capital city Havana. It provides health services to many neighbouring municipalities, making its Municipal Hygiene and Epidemiology Centre, local hospital, and related facilities an important focal point for the peri-urban regions of Havana. Interestingly, both settlements are shaped and distinguished by their urban rivers: the Yayabo in Sancti Spíritus and the Ariguanabo in San Antonio. Both rivers determined the historical origin of the settlements and today play an important role in the identity of place for local residents. Issues of pollution, restoration and governance are common to both communities, as they are to many other settlements across the country centred on Cuba’s urban rivers.
The overall objectives of the project were the following:
Assist UNSA, local governments and other stakeholders in formulating and implementing participatory and holistic strategies that address the delivery of health services and environmental restoration of selected municipalities in Cuba.
Reduce the incidence of acute diarrhea through improvements in the quality of drinking water, handling of foods and disposal of wastes in target areas.
Develop and strengthen national and international networks to disseminate best practices and new knowledge on good governance, environmental protection and delivery of social services resulting from this project.
The project consisted of three activity components:
Participatory planning for local social service delivery, involving participatory strategy development for environmental health intervention and the implementation of selected demonstration projects
Capacity development and strengthening of local social service providers
Communication and dissemination, involving environmental education, health education, community participation and the sharing of best practices and lessons learned to national and regional audiences.
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Key Results
Healthier communities in Sancti Spíritus and San Antonio de los Baños.
Improved leadership, governance and environmental health service delivery in pilot communities
Decline in environmental risks contributes to quality of life improvements.
Learning by doing taking place through demonstration projects.
A new national model in environmental risk surveillance and hazardous waste treatment in place.
A new national reference point for integrating environmental health programming into participatory local development.
Passing the ball: linkages between Canadian and Cuban public health agencies are sustaining project gains.
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Canada-Cuba Partnership Program for the Revitalization of the Parque Metropolitano de la Habana
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| Parque Metropolitano de la Habana |
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With long term funding from CIDA’s Canadian Partnership Branch, the CUI worked with the City of Havana (through its authority the Parque Metropolitano de La Habana and the regional planning authority known as the Group for the Integrated Development of the Capital) to facilitate the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of one of the capital city’s largest environmental restoration projects. This long-term project, which ran from 1995-2002, aimed to revitalize the watershed of the Rio Almendares, a large and highly polluted urban river. Using community-based strategic planning approaches, the project engaged civil society in planning and built local government-community partnerships for implementation. It also undertook institutional strengthening of the park authority itself to move toward economic self-sustainability.
Funding Agency
The Canadian International Development Agency (Canadian Partnership Branch)
Timeframe
1995-2002
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Geographic Focus
The geographic focus of this project was the City of Havana, Cuba. The Parque Metropolitano de La Habana (PMH) is a local authority with jurisdiction over a 700-hectare expanse of land in the heart of the city, which roughly corresponds to the lower watershed of the Rio Almendares. PMH is one of four major parks along the river’s basin. As such, it is an intrinsic part of the capital city’s greenbelt system. Beginning at the river’s mouth at the coast, the park follows the river for nine kilometres as it winds its way through urban neighbourhoods, industrial complexes, public green spaces and agricultural lands that reflect the city’s diversity and history.
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Project Partners
The project was undertaken in partnership with the City of Havana and its local authority the Parque Metropolitano de La Habana. Other individuals and organizations that contributed were the late Honourable Jesus Montané, Deputy of the National Assembly and advisor to Cuban President Fidel Castro, the Ministry of Foreign Investment and International Cooperation (MINVEC), the Group for the Integral Development of the Capital (GDIC), Havana’s polytechnic university IPSJAE and the municipalities and popular councils within the boundaries of the park and its zone of influence. Many other Cuban, Canadian and international organizations contributed to the success of this initiative.
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Background
The Rio Almendares is the largest urban river in the capital city of Havana. The river is highly polluted and runs through some of Havana’s poorest communities. Issues such as deforestation, unrestrained domestic and industrial dumping and an overall lack of environmental management are contributing to the degradation of the river and the destruction of flora and fauna. Communities are faced with problems related to sanitation, solid waste management and accessible and safe recreational space. The Canada-Cuba Partnership Program for the Revitalization of the Parque Metropolitano de La Habana was a pioneering initiative that undertook a community-based strategic planning process. It is serving as a model for other local authorities across Cuba on approaches to sustainable development, environmental protection, community involvement in the local governance process and the self-sustainability of local government authorities.
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Project Description
The aim of the project was the revitalization of the largest urban park in the Cuban capital and the restoration of the polluted river that runs through it by strengthening capacities of the Parque Metropolitano de La Habana team and other local authorities in participatory strategic planning, inter-agency cooperation and economic self-sufficiency. The PMH project became one of the four priority urban restoration projects in the capital city. Strategic urban management and popular participation approaches were adopted in all aspects of implementation of this multi-faceted initiative. The strategic plan and sectoral action plans formulated in the partnership continue to guide project implementation. Multiple partnership arrangements (both international and between the local authority and community groups and NGOs) were established for project implementation. The project is now being replicated in other local authorities within the Havana urban region. Economic sustainability of this environmental restoration project has been substantially strengthened with the approval by senior government of the establishment of the PMH as a public enterprise. This grants the PMH revenue-raising authority that will grant it the mechanism to fund the longer-term revitalization initiative.
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Approach
Project implementation began with the formulation of a participatory strategic plan for the PMH. The plan resulted from environmental diagnosis by community working groups, a mechanism through which those involved got to define the specific problems, understand the interconnectedness and brainstorm potential solutions. A major emphasis was also placed on promoting good governance practices at the local level such as through the creation of community-based and inter-agency partnerships for implementation, as well as through capacity building of the PMH organization. The latter included building the capacity of the PMH staff in project management, financial control, participatory planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, environmental education and various technical areas related to environmental remediation. Capacity development was also directed towards civil society, to build an overall enabling environment for participation in local governance and development processes.
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Key results
Popular participation in PMH project innovated a uniquely Cuban approach to community-based strategic planning and the mobilization of social and institutional capital
PMH becomes a strategically managed, learning organization that is sustaining one of the country’s largest long-term urban environmental restoration initiatives
New institutional mechanisms for revenue-raising helping to sustain the revitalization process.
 Restoration of Havana’s Almendares River watershed serving as model for other local authorities and communities in the country.
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