[KALIMUJISO BANDA]

Urban planning in Malawi:
1) The main needs for a local authority to lead a strategic planning
process include strong leadership (of the Mayor, CEO), financial
capacity, technical expertise and finally government's support of the
initiatives.
2)In case of Malawi, for a long time planning for local authorities
has mainly been physical planning i.e structure plans and zoning. Such
plans do not address complex issues of poverty as well as
urbanization. devbelopment strategies are more flexible and dynamic
and deal directly with peoples lives. Of late Malawian Citie have
adopted the use of CDS in championing development.
3)Strategies rely more on stakeholder support and on good
communication. The role of local government regarding participation in
planning process is to provide overall policy guidance since all local
authorities fall directly under their mandate. it also express the
government's expectations of the local authorities. Besides, local
governments identifies "best practices" and facilitates knowledge
sharing amongst the local authorities. Local governmant associations
also share this role.

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Kalimujiso J Banda
CDS Operations Manager
Lilongwe City Assembly
Box 30396
Lilongwe 3
Tel: +265 1 773 144
Fax: +265 1 770 885
Cell: +265 9 992 71 644