Workshop on Formation of the City Managers' Association, Rajasthan (CMAR)

April 21, 2002

Cities in India today are reeling under the pressure of rapid growth and struggling even to provide the most basic services necessary for urban life, such as water and sanitation.

City Managers are faced with challenges on many fronts - financial, technical and managerial:

• Cities need more revenue and the autonomy to raise them
• City governments need more in-house expertise in some areas and procedures for outsourcing in others
• Cities need a forum for sharing experiences and information including local and international best practices
• Cities need a forum for advocacy of city level concerns to higher levels of Government
• City management needs to be recognized as a specialized profession with facilities for training research and development.

To facilitate all this, the need to establish a professional body of city managers was long felt. In May 1997, United State Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored a state level workshop in Ahmedabad to form the 'City Managers Association for Gujarat' (CMAG), the first of its kind in India. Over the last four years, CMAG has been actively working for the professional development of city managers in Gujarat. Following the success of Gujarat, USAID in collaboration with USAEP-ICMA promoted four more state level city managers' associations in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra during the year 2000. Subsequently, many more states expressed their interest for setting up CMAs, Rahasthan being one of them.

The Workshop on 'Formation of the City Managers' Association, Rajasthan (CMAR) was organized today April 21, 2002 at the Rajasthan Institute of Public Administration, Jaipur. A large number of city managers and---- from all over the state attended the one-day workshop. It was jointly organized by the Government of Rajasthan, Indo-USAID Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion (FIRE) project, National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi and USAEP with International City/County Management Association (ICMA). The Academy for Mountain Environics, a local NGO also supported the program. This professional association is expected to facilitate better co-ordination in solving problems faced by civic authorities in Rajasthan on financial, technical and managerial areas.

Dr.S.S. Sandhu, Vice Chairman, MDDA, welcomed the delegates. Mr. P.K. Mohanty, Secretary (UD), said that the proposed association can help the city managers' of the state in managing urban development. The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Navprabhat, Minister of Urban Development, Government of Uttaranchal. He said that the association will help in achieving objectives of the 74th Constitutional Amendment and provide technical assistance to municipal officials and elected leaders. He welcomed the assistance from USAID in this regard. Mr. V.S. Joshi, Administrator Dehradun Municipal Corporation, welcomed participants to the host city.

Mr. N Bhattacharjee, Program Manager and Regional Training Advisor, Regional Urban Development Office of USAID India, stressed the need to establish a professional forum for City Managers with the objective of actively promoting professional management of urban local bodies in India. CMAR will function as a forum to exchange ideas and experiences among ULBs (full form----?) in the state to address the challenges in urban development and management.

Ms. Corrine Rothblum from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), Washington presented the experience of ICMA, which has a membership of 78 countries all over the world and has been assisting the CMAs in India with technical assistance and sharing of best practices from across the world.

Mr. Lee Baker, Chief of Party, Indo USAID FIRE (D) project made a brief presentation on the project and outlined the areas in which it is providing technical assistance and training support to various state governments and ULBs for efficient delivery of basic urban basic services in India.

Mr. P. U. Asnani, Vice President, Gujarat City Managers Association outlined the successful experience of the CMA in Gujarat, which has completed four years. The CMA of Rajasthan will serve as a clearing house for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of local government information and data to enhance current practices, and serve as a resource to public interest groups in the formulation of public policy. It will also provide technical assistance on a broad range of management issues to local governments in the state.