As we move into the 21st century, more people in the world live in cities than in the country. The continuing process of migration – with the world’s urban population expanding on average by 3-4 % per annum – is causing a growing polarisation between urban and rural areas. In the large cities of Africa, Asia and Latin America, the slums can be expected to expand, and the problems of providing basic amenities worsen.
On the other hand, cities also harbour major potentials for development. The concentration of the population makes it possible to provide the necessary infrastructure at a lower cost in most cases. This in turn makes it easier to meet the people’s basic needs, which benefits the poor in particular. Urban centres are also generally the starting points for democratisation processes and for the development of new visions of ways to live and work in future.
Against the background of the intricately inter-twined relations between urban and rural areas, it is a core task of sustainable urban and regional development to foster decentralisation processes and to reduce the rural-urban gap by promoting economic and social development. The modernisation of public administration structures plays a major part in this, and it is essential that communities and regions receive appropriate financing.
InWEnt promotes sustainable development and urbanisation with the help of projects to strengthen the managerial competence of urban infrastructure enterprises, measures to modernise the public administration and to promote the opportunities of the people to participate in public and political life, and programmes to decentralise competencies and steering inputs. Cooperation with UN-HABITAT helps focus the available competencies in the urban sector.
InWEnt’s work strengthens key competencies, such as the ability to conduct a dialogue and the ability to facilitate complex development processes, so as to encourage cooperation between the public and the private sector, and to involve civil society in the planning and decision-making processes.
