Background and objectives:

The State of Veracruz is an important economic region with great cultural diversity. It is the third most populous state in the country with 6.9 million inhabitants. The state government has given priority to promoting “participation for strategic planning”, focussing on urban poverty reduction in the marginalized areas of the cities and metropolitan regions. UN-HABITAT technical support was also requested to build local government capacity to address sustainable urban development, with emphasis on Local Economic Development. The state government and UN-HABITAT signed a framework agreement for a six-year period.

The project aimed at collaborating with the state government to strengthen urban development policies, such as city and metropolitan strategic and participatory planning, urban environmental management, improvement of quality of life of slum dwellers, applying the tools and know-how of UN-HABITAT.

Activities:
The main activities included:

• Diagnosis of the conditions and needs to identify support activities
• Developing and adapting training material for Strategic Planning in Local Economic Development
• Preparing project proposals and partnership arrangements
• Training and Capacity Development of Local Governments in Strategic Planning
• Organizing monitoring systems through Local Urban Observatories
• Implementing a local campaign for participatory planning in low-income urban settlements.

Results:
The results achieved were:

• Local authorities initiated strategic urban development initiatives with support from the UN-HABITAT Unit in Veracruz
• Local Urban Observatories consolidated and in operation
• Local partner agreements, with plans of action, initiated to promote participatory planning and development initiatives in low-income settlements.