An independent review of the on-going PROMISE project “Promotion of Inclusive, Sustainable Growth and Diversity to Strengthen Local Governments”, supported by the European Union, was conducted recently. The purpose of the review was to engage with the community in the pilot ward, and understand the issues faced by various stakeholders. It involved meetings and discussions with stakeholders such as Municipal officials, project implementation teams, and prominent citizens in order to record the progress and understand sanitation related issues in Ajmer and Mobility related issues in Karnal.

Activities conducted in the presence of the project team and representatives from the cities were – overview of the city in the presence of Municipal Officials, visit to the study area, meetings with the active representatives from the ward including the ward councillor, meetings and discussions with NGOs and other agencies working on the specific sectors. Multiple meetings with stakeholders were held to understand the relevance of the on-going project in the cities.

Besides meeting with the Mayor and City officials, in Ajmer, discussions were held with representative from organisations (PRIA, CFAR and Jagriti Foundation) working in the sanitation sector. The ICLEI South Asia team, along with the Review Oriented Monitoring expert, held meetings in Karnal with the Municipal Commissioner, Chief Engineer, other city officials, and prominent stakeholders such as members from VeoparMandar and NGOs. This was arranged to understand the needs of the city with regards to the mobility sector.

Glimpse of Ajmer

Glimpses of Karnal

In order to get an understanding of the on-going activities in Warangal, the expert, along with the ICLEI South Asia team, held a Skype call with the city officials.

In addition to the review of the project cities, face to face meetings and Skype calls with representatives from National Institute of Urban Affairs, Administrative Staff College of India, and UN Habitat were arranged.