Burkina Faso/UN-Habitat: A new approach for a more efficient urban planning and local development

A technical workshop to share the results of the evaluation of urban planning and local development tools and to put into perspective the internalization of the NEXUS approach in the conceptualization of new urban planning and local development tools opened in Ouagadougou on Thursday, June 23, 2002. The opening ceremony of this workshop organized by UN-Habitat was chaired by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Urban Planning, Land Affairs and Housing, Yacouba Dié.

The massive arrival of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in urban centers fleeing insecurity is putting local authorities to a severe test. Urban planning tools and local development plans, which were already struggling to be effectively implemented due to the ongoing challenges related to land issues, are now practically obsolete and no longer adapted.

The arrival of these IDPs in urban centers in search of security and hoping to gain access to basic urban services (education, health, water and sanitation) has led to the creation of a number of new local development projects.The arrival of these IDPs in urban centers in search of security and access to basic urban services (education, health, water and sanitation) and to natural resources, including land, reveals the need to update these planning tools. Their installation in undeveloped areas, land reserves and administrative areas poses the threat of greater instability and will hinder the sustainable development of cities in the long term.

It is aware of this situation that UN-Habitat has commissioned a study to assist local, decentralized and national actors to better identify land conflicts in order to better inventory and conceptualize innovative and adapted tools for the prevention and mediation of these land conflicts.

The technical workshop, which will be held on June 23 and 24, 2022, is therefore an opportunity to provide elements to help strengthen the understanding of the issues and challenges of urban planning and local development in the context of the security and humanitarian crisis, based on the NEXUS approach. More specifically, the aim is to provide local, deconcentrated and central level actors with a new approach to conceptualizing and understanding local planning and development in the context of a security and humanitarian crisis.

"When there is an influx, there are migration challenges. And who says migratory challenges, says occupation of space in a context of humanitarian emergency. Therefore, populations on the move are bound to occupy urban space without thinking about planning tools and without respecting development plans. So the idea of this workshop is to help local authorities and the Ministry to revisit the planning process at the level of these cities to integrate the security crisis dimension. Because a security crisis necessarily means the displacement of populations and all the impacts that this entails. Planning is really about giving directions for investments. Today, all the guidelines for the vast majority in terms of basic urban services or in terms of spatial occupation are outdated. These tools were developed in 2012 in a context where there was no crisis," explained Yombi Ouédraogo, program officer at UN-Habitat.

During this workshop, participants will define the challenges in terms of urban planning in the context of cities in a security and humanitarian crisis, and provide guidelines for revisiting urban planning and local development tools in the light of the security and humanitarian crisis.

At the end of the workshop, they should also have a good understanding of the need to orient new urban planning and local development tools towards new paradigms taking into account the NEXUS approach. During the workshop, they will also formulate recommendations for the development of a simplified guide for the prevention and mediation of land conflicts in a context of security crisis.

Adama Nana, representing the president of the special delegation of Kaya, welcomed the holding of this workshop. He recalled that the commune hosts a very large number of internally displaced persons. This has an undeniable impact on the spatial occupation of the city and on the availability of basic social services. "More and more, we observe in our communes, the occurrence of conflicts due to the pressure for basic social services, land and especially space for the construction of housing and development of reception sites. Solutions must be considered now to avoid an exacerbation of these conflicts and to safeguard social cohesion, which is already under severe strain," he said.

He stressed that the municipality has urban planning tools that unfortunately had not sufficiently integrated the new challenges related to the security crisis. They therefore expect a lot from this workshop.

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Urban Planning, Land Affairs and Housing, Yacouba Dié, reassured that the Ministry intends to play its part in the successful integration of the IDPs into the local development plans.He reassured the audience that the Ministry intends to play its part in the successful integration of IDPs in cities by ensuring a concerted and more coherent urban planning policy and sustainable urban development.

Source: lefaso.net