Cities Support Programme: Climate Resilience Projects Strengthening Intergovernmental Coordination

Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC), South African National Treasury

South African cities continue to face significant development challenges, despite the progress in expanding access to basic services. There are extreme inequitable environments that exclude poor people from social and economic participation, exacerbated by the macroeconomic constraints to growth which impact cities. The underlying imperative of the Cities Support Programme (CSP) is, therefore to improve economic growth prospects in cities to help respond to the development challenges they face.

OneWorld was contracted to provide technical and expert services to assist the CSP in delivering climate-resilience projects and strengthening inter-governmental coordination. The project aimed to improve climate resilience and urban governance of the eight metropolitan municipalities responsible for the urban governance of South Africa’s (SA) largest cities, with respect to climate change and environmental challenges, across three themes or objectives: Sustainable Energy, Financing Climate Resilience and Disaster Risk Management, with knowledge management support as a cross-cutting activity. The project involved designing and implementing adaptive processes for establishing, maintaining and supporting partnerships and the co-creation of flexible governance strategies to improve public sector service delivery and thus enhance metros’ climate resilience.

Secondly, the project aimed to support and strengthen intergovernmental coordination to identify, agree and deliver on reforms that strengthen the intergovernmental system (policy, institutional and fiscal) for climate resilience and sustainability in the identified project(s). The project also provided technical and programme support to the climate resilience component of the project.

OneWorld delivered this project through the development of a suite of tools, such as establishing scoreboards for the overall programme and for each of the sub-programmes. Progress indicators reflecting the project’s goals were used to monitor and manage delivery in partnership with GTAC and CSP teams.

Priority focus areas for the project were: diagnostic assessments, sustainable energy, financing climate resilience, disaster risk management and knowledge management.

Energy component

An integral part of the OneWorld team’s work was working with stakeholders to develop a series of credible scenarios for local governments in South Africa to mitigate against unpreparedness for certain futures and also to enhance the possibilities of a just transition, particularly in the context of high poverty, low employment and inequity.

Human Settlements Climate Change Strategy component

As a fourth project component, OneWorld (through CSP) worked closely with the South African National Department of Human Settlements (DHS) to develop a National Climate Change Response Strategy and Implementation Plan for human settlements in South Africa. OneWorld developed a Diagnostic Report underpinned by a national climate change risk and vulnerability assessment, including extensive stakeholder engagement. The assessment identified “hotspot” settlements which are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The Strategy and Implementation Plan identified priority areas of action to be taken by DHS to increase the climate resilience of human settlements and the various partnerships and the cooperative governance and funding arrangements necessary for successful implementation.

Kaalspruit component

The Kaalspruit Catchment Management project was developed within the Financing Climate Resilience (CR27) theme and sought to support effective management of the Kaalspruit catchment that spans between the boundaries of the City of Ekurhuleni, City of Johannesburg, and City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipalities. The project focused on building collaborative support and partnerships between the Metros and other relevant institutions at the vertical and horizontal levels for improved governance of the catchment.