Background and Objectives:
This venture is the second phase of project AS/ECU/94/005, focusing on the new priorities of the municipal administration, which took office in 2000. These new priorities include implementation of mass urban transportation programmes and initiatives (Metrovia); social development initiatives in poor neighbourhoods; and continued modernization of administrative procedures at the municipality.
The objectives are to finalize the implementation design for three mass transport corridors and to track its operations; to design and implement a municipal Geographical Information System (GIS) - based system to monitor urban development; to optimize internal procedures vis-à-vis the internal and external public; to design and implement an internal system to follow up Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the local level; to prepare a municipal strategy for disaster prevention and mitigation; and to consolidate inter-municipal exchanges with local governments in Ecuador and other Latin America and the Caribbean Regions (LACs).
Activities:
The main activities include:
Recruiting national and international consultants in all topics.
Improving diagnosis of urban transportation conditions and possible improvement with public-private partnership.
Training of municipal staff on Millennium Development Goals, urban indicators, project preparation and management, fund-raising, and inter-institutional partnership arrangements.
Designing and building of social and economic indicators, including analysis and draft proposal of key policies and strategies.
Quarterly backstopping missions from Regional Office in Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC) to provide direct technical assistance to the municipality and its partners.
Results:
The municipal organizational chart re-organized to better manage mass urban transportation issues, including a public-private Municipal Foundation as the main operator of the Metrovia System.
The first mass transportation corridor implemented in July 2006.
Critical issues on municipal action for disaster prevention assessed.
Municipal GIS-based system for downtown area implemented.
Initiatives based on Millennium Development Goals criteria to strengthen urban and social planning processes agreed upon.
New technical cooperation initiatives for funding (EC and the World Bank, for instance) prepared and submitted.
Distant national education programmes aired by open TV on specific themes such as safe preparation of food, opening and managing micro-enterprises, health-care of small children, among others.
Schoolbooks distributed to all children enrolled in public schools.
