Enquiries: JENNIFER KAUAPIRURA

Box 2721 Windhoek Namibia Tel: + 264 61 240914/5 Borgward Street Khomasdal MunicipalBuilding, First Fax: + 264 61 240929 Floor. E-mail:

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 1.1 Alan/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 www.alan.org.na . 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

2 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!

1.2 ALAN/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 the opportunities for supporting both ALAN and NALAO was presented, hoping that new donor support 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)

1.3 Institutional 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. (Attached are the contracts)

______

2. 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

3 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.

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

4 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.

2.3 MLRGHRD 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.

______

3. 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:

3.1 Capacity 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.

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

5 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 administrative machinery 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)

3.3 Development 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

6 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.

3.4 Facilitation 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)

3.5 National 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 January 2007). 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

7 requested to arrange a workshop for Local Authority, on the role of Local Authorities in regards to NDP3 and.

3.6 Strategic 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 www.alan.org.na. The website is aimed at facilitating; improved communication, capacity building and addressing of pressing municipal issues to the benefit of the Municipalities in Namibia.

3.7 Local 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!

3.8 Registration 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)

3.9 Strategic 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.

8 3.10 ALAN/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 such as 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 soliciting this 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!

The UCLG world secretariat and the UCLG-Africa are jointly implementing the programme, in cooperation with the Cities Alliance. The Programme is entitled City Future, Promotion of City Development Strategies based on the Millennium Development Goals. The long term objective/aim is to increase direct cooperation between local governments, cities, national associations of local governments, national governments and international development partners. (Attachment)

9 3.11 ALAN/Association of Regional Council(ARC) Cooperation and FINISH EMBASSY under the Finnish Support to the Namibian Decentralization Process (FiSNDP) Proposed Field trip to Finland and Denmark

The Chief Administrative Officer approached Mr. Mauri Starckman of the Finish Embassy under The Finnish Support to the Namibian Decentralization Process (FiSNDP) for potential financial assistance toward the Association. (Letter dated 18 April 2007 to the Finish Embassy under FiSNDP). At the same time, the Association for Regional Council (ARC) had approached them on a different occasion for assistance toward a workshop aimed at revisiting its current Constitution. Similarly, ALAN and ARC proposed at their consultative workshop in April, 6-7, 2006 held at the Harmony Centre in Windhoek, to encourage and strengthen relations between the two Associations. The cooperation is aimed at developing a new spirit and level of collaboration between ALAN and ARC, supported by partners and stakeholders such as the MLRGH, in order for the two Associations to act as a catalyst for, while providing effective joint support to the process of Decentralization.

It was against this background that the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development deemed it relevant - through the Finnish Support to the Namibian Decentralization Process to organize a technical fieldtrip to Finland to share experiences with the sister organization and to get inspiration from the way the Finnish sub- national government association is organized in terms of mandate, regulatory and functional framework, institutional set-up and practical operations.

The purpose of the technical fieldtrip is to expose relevant staff from ARC and ALAN to the experiences and lessons learned with regard to the association’s mandate, roles, institutional and organizational set-up, regulatory framework, and functioning in relation to sub-national governments, as well as central government.

It is in light of the above that a delegation consisting of 8 members was invited to undertake this proposed technical field trip to Finland and Denmark on 10 - 23 August 2007. An invitation was effected on behalf the President of ALAN; Cllr: Rosina Hoabes and Ms Jennifer Kauapirura as CEO, while Cllr. Agnes Kafula in her capacity as ALAN Executive Committee member was invited to accompany the President of ALAN. ARC is to be represented by the President of ARC; Mrs. L. McLeod, the Vice President of ARC, Mr: S. Nuuyoma, together with the Chief Administrative Officer, Mr. Kakune Kandjavera. The additional two members are; Mr Clifton Sibati and Sikume from the Directorate of Decentralization Coordination (DDC) and the CTA of the FiSNDP. Funding

10 for this trip has been secured through the Finnish Support to Decentralization.

Though the two Associations have different mandates the process of fostering better relations will enable them to undertake research that seeks to enhance the process of Decentralization, seek to understand the needs of its respective members so as to enabling the two associations to build a strong support base among its members through the provision of services that will add value to the membership. (Attached is the Terms of Reference for the proposed field trip to take place on 10-23 August 2007)

______

4. FINANCES AND MEMBERSHIP FEES

4.1 Members and Membership Fees

The Local Authorities (Windhoek, Gobabis and Swakopmund requested information from ALAN as to their benefits of being an ALAN member to justify payment of membership fees. Benefits were outlined and forwarded while a presentation was done for the Windhoek City Council regarding the same issue. In addition, ALAN is in the process of organising similar Presentations for all member Local Authorities should finances allow.

Membership fees for the year 2006/2007 are almost up to date apart from the payment from the municipality of Karibib. In this regard, the MLRGHRD has taken it upon itself to assist ALAN in the form of support to (small) Local authorities with payment of their accumulated outstanding membership fees to the Association. The council of Karibib is inundated with financial and technical issues and in view of the recent appointment of the CEO; financial statements are only being compiled and to be send to the Ministry for payment. Membership fees income for 2006/2007 is N$540 500.00. (Schedule attached)

4.2 External Funding and Donor Funds

ALAN has been finding it difficult to survive on the membership fees as these mainly can cover operational cost. Payment of staff has proven a constant challenge and In order to strengthen its administrative machinery that will enhance service delivery to its members while ensuring sustainability, additional sources of revenue are vital. Since the capacity building partnership with FCM through CIDA, which was ceased because Namibia is no longer seen

11 as a priority country in regards to Donor funds, the Association has not had any external support. However a number of efforts as alluded to have been made. One such approach was to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing and Rural Development which resulted in a Submission by ALAN to the TRUST FUND FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT and EQUITY PROVISIONS FOR APROVAL. The submission was completed on Friday 13 July 2007 and submitted, (Attached is the Proposal submitted). ALAN is also in the process of submitting a proposal to the Ministry for permanent financial assistance from Central Government for September 2007 for consideration during National Budget.

4.3 Financial Statements and Audited Financial Statements

These were finally returned in June 2007 and distributed to MC upon receipt from the Auditors the week before the MC took place on 14 June 2007. However, due to short time frame the Financial Committee have not met to analyze statements. These were subsequently referred back to the Financial Committee.

For the past two years (as indicated at the last MC) no Financial Statements have been in place. The year 2005-2006 does not have summarized expenditures or income statements/cash flow statements. However, there are piles of files with monthly expenditure vouchers dating back to 2005, funds received and membership fees etc. The only year that was audited was 2005 by KPMG (and this, still under scrutiny). Financial Statements have been with the auditors for eternity and could not be finalized due to missing items (vouchers). Nonetheless, these we returned with an uncompleted tag in June 2007, having bee with the Auditors since August 2006! A meeting is to take place between KPMG and the financial committee to reconcile the matter.

4.4 Budget: 2005/2006 and 2006/2007

Once again no Budget from the previous management and this resulted in the continuation of the Status Quo. The Status Quo: piles of files with monthly expenditure vouchers dating back to 2005, funds received and membership fees etc.

ALAN outsourced these services (Book keeping/Accounting for 2004/2005) to Mr Diergaardt, I consulted him and he informed me that 2005,2006, needed to be sorted out first and set a meeting to meet and sort out as to how we can proceed in order to bring the books up to date. He informed that ALAN needs a computerized system to compile all the monthly expenditures since 2005 in a comprehensive manner and in a shorter period. (Letter of recommendations attached). At most, delays in preparations of the books are being brought about by not all documents and systems being in place! It is in view of the above that the Budget and Financial Statements for 2006/2007 are outstanding.

12 4.5. Cost Cutting Measures/Controls.

The Office has been experiencing extensive telephone cost and in order to curb these, drastic cost savings measured needed to be put in place. In view of the above, installation of the Telepasport in Collaboration with Siemens re- rooting landline to cell was deemed necessary. Installation for N$ 2260.00 took place on 12 April 2007 and subject to a quarterly rental fee of N$ 1.452 00. An option of purchasing the system proofed too costly at the amount of N$ 22.114 and the best option was rental. Attached is the 5 year contract.

Let me, in conclusion reiterate that, highlighted here are only some of the activities the association have been dealing with and should there be a need for further articulation, to please not hesitate to contact the secretariat. Let me also take this opportune moment to express our gratitude for your resolute support while humbly hoping that the status quo remains.

Yours in local government development,

MS JENNIFER KAUAPIRURA CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

------

Jennifer Kauapirura [email protected] Tel: +26461-240915

13 THE WINDHOEK COMMUNIQUÉ

COMMUNIQUÉ OF CONFERENCE ON MUNICIPAL BEST PRACTICES FOR ADVANCING DECENTRALIZATION AND ENHANCING LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN NAMIBIA.

We, the delegates to the conference on Municipal Best Practices For Advancing Decentralization And Enhancing Local Governance, organized by the Association of Local Authorities of Namibia, the Namibia Association of Local Authority Officials (NALAO) in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities , held from the 26th to 28th of February 2007, at the Safari Hotel, Windhoek, NAMIBIA;

Comprising representatives drawn from the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa, the Ministry of Regional, Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, ALAN and NALAO and their Canadian counterparts namely FCM, the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and the Association of Municipal Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario, officials from the cities of Otjiwarongo, Tsumeb and Oshakati in Namibia and Tecumseh and Hamilton in Canada, representatives of development partners in Namibia including the Swedish Association of Local Authorities, the Urban Trust of Namibia and COPA;

Having received presentations, exchanged views and discussed in small groups and plenary sessions; on four key themes, namely the status of decentralization in Namibia, the financing of local authorities in Namibia, partnerships between Canadian and Namibian Municipalities and their Associations and the future working relationship of the representative local authority associations in Namibia - ALAN and NALAO;

Having made some observations, and after analysis - arrived at some conclusions and made key recommendations for follow-up by key actors in the local government sector in Namibia and its development partners, which if implemented, will promote efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of the decentralization process, lead to improved financing of local authorities, provide an enabling framework for mutually beneficial municipal partnerships and effective and functioning local authority associations, resulting in improvement in local governance and the delivery of social services as means to improve the standard of living of the people of Namibia;

14 The Conference made and released for public consumption this communiqué for the benefit of all stakeholders not present, and as basis for follow-up on our observations, conclusions and recommendations.

On decentralization We were encouraged by the commitment of the Government of Namibia to the process of decentralization as demonstrated by the enactment of the Decentralization Act, and the achievements made so far in setting up the Decentralization Secretariat and capacity building initiatives aimed at enabling the implementation of the process. We however note that ten years after the decentralization process was launched, there has been slow progress as many line ministries remain centralized and have no specific plans as yet to decentralize functions and resources to lower levels of governance. In this regard, we strongly recommend to the Government of Namibia that it accelerates the decentralization process as means to empower local authorities and communities and to address poverty at the local level;

On Funding of Local Authorities We considered the current state of financing of local authorities in the country and took note of the hardships they are currently facing in financing all the statutory and non-statutory service delivery requirements. We are aware that subsidies to local authorities that existed prior to Namibia’s independence in 1990 were scrapped as local authorities were called upon to be self sufficient and not dependent on central government. We also appreciate that your Ministry has on several occasions provided critical funds to those local authorities that had shown signs of distress, and many more are in that situation today. We are encouraged by the news that a more sustainable and equitable form of fiscal decentralization is being considered by the Government of Namibia and that a clear policy on Subsidies to Local Authorities will be developed during the course of the year 2007. We encourage the Government and all stakeholders to speed up development and implementation of this process, as local authorities are beginning to show signs of fiscal distress, which will negatively affect service delivery;

On Municipal Partnerships We reviewed the partnerships of Namibian and Canadian Municipalities and their associations that have been implemented in the past ten (10) years, and were impressed by the mutual benefits that have been achieved to date. We commend the Government of Namibia for its role in enabling these partnerships to take place. We were however amazed that there has

15 been very little if any sharing of the experiences from these partnerships locally. Further, we noted that there is a lack of clear framework and guidelines for partnerships by municipalities, coupled with the absence of a readily available and accessible database for purposes of monitoring and assessment of these partnerships as means to assess their efficacy and benefit to the local people. We recommend that the local authorities, through their associations and with inputs from others stakeholders, review this with a view to developing a national strategy for municipal partnerships, which will also address their financing.

On Inadequate Donor Funding for the Local Government Sector Further, we observed with great concern the absence of donor support for local governments and municipalities in Namibia. Although development indicators for Namibia may indicate the country as a case not deserving of donor funding, we state that Namibia’s local authorities are not financially endowed, even if Subsidies to local authorities were to be provided. We therefore urge development partners to assist our local authorities across the country to develop their capacity as well as assist them in provision of services for the benefit of local communities.

On the Representative Local Authority Associations The conference recognized the right of the two local authority associations (ALAN and NALAO) to exist as different but complementary organizations. Further, the leadership of the two associations agreed to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding within the next six months from date of this workshop, in which their specific roles and responsibilities will be clearly spelled out and areas for cooperation outlined. The two associations indicated that their mandate will be better fulfilled if they are recognized , legislated and funded. Pursuant to this, we recommend that your Ministry maintain its open door policy to the two associations and jointly work with them for a favorable status that enable them execute their mandates, which are consistent with the objectives of improving service delivery, enhancing local governance and empowering communities in Namibia.

Specific and detailed recommendations on the issues above and more are contained in the attached summary of Conference Recommendations.

Released on this day, the 28th of February 2007, Windhoek, Namibia.