The goal of the Investing in Cities Literature and Program Review is to 1) aggregate together what USAID has learned across the 18 Making Cities Work (MCW) task orders and 2) complement the USAID-specific learning with broader learning from academic research about urban governance.
The Making Cities Work indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract made 18 task orders for urban governance work, totaling over $500 million. The purpose of Making Cities Work is to provide access to short- and long-term technical services, training, and capacity-building in areas related to improving urban and local governance. Making Cities Work enabled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Missions and Washington Bureaus to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the unprecedented pace of urbanization around the world and support USAID’s implementation of the Agency’s Sustainable Service Delivery in an Increasingly Urbanized World policy.
This presentation synthesizes the available literature on this topic and present successes, contributors to success, and lessons learned within each of MCW's five functional areas (service delivery; local government accountability, transparency, and autonomy; climate change adaptation; disaster resilience; and local government finance, creditworthiness, and borrowing), as well as cross-sectoral integration. Finally, the session will provide recommendations for future sustained investments in cities and local governments. Mission respondents Spencer Milian and Brendan Wheeler discuss their experiences with Task Orders under the vehicle. The session is moderated by Kevin Nelson, Urban Governance Lead for the Governance Team within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance at USAID.
About the Authors
Kate Marple-Cantrell, MA, MCP, is a senior researcher at Cloudburst with more than ten years of experience globally in mixed-methods research on social policy and programming in urban environments. Trained as an urban planner and evaluator concentrating on housing and community development, Ms. Marple-Cantrell also has DRG sector expertise spanning civil society, media, local self-government, rule of law and human rights, elections system strengthening, anti-corruption, integrity systems, administration and governance reform, civic education, and capacity-building, as well as vulnerable populations such as women, youth, and members of minority groups.
Moira O’Neill Hutson, JD, is an Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Virginia. Dr. O'Neill Hutson also serves as an associate director of the University of Virginia’s Environmental Institute. Dr. O'Neill Hutson is a public law and urban planning scholar focused on land use law, climate resilience, equity, and democracy.