Initial or Updated Assessment Building Block

The aim of a city assessment is to gather information about your city so that the greatest needs for city development are understood. An initial assessment can be thought of as the diagnostic phase of the CDS. Social, economic and physical characteristics of the city need to be investigated and ‘mapped’ to determine the existing development situation and to identify key development needs, potentials and opportunities.

The assessment should consider:

• The social/demographic characteristics of the city
• The economic profile and strengths of the city
• The city environment
• City institutions and planning processes
• Levels of poverty
• Governance, resources and management

The purpose of the assessment is to gather information about what is happening in the city (answering the question ‘where are we now?’) which can be used to determine what could happen as an outcome of the CDS process and how this can be achieved.

The extent of your assessment and its level of detail will depend on available data and resources. It is generally useful to begin by looking at existing plans and reports in particular the Socio-Economic Development Plan, Party report on current situation for the congress term and Party policies, the Construction Master Plan and relevant sectoral plans for the city and the province. It is important to place the city in its regional context. Existing reports, strategies and plans will contain useful information about demographics, economics and investment priorities for your city, the Province and nationally. They will provide essential information about government policies and plans which may be relevant to your CDS.

It is essential to investigate the city’s institutional structures as part of the assessment and to consider the position of the city in its wider regional, national and international context (for example your city’s position with regard to economic development zones planned by central government).

It is important to remember that the city assessment is only one part of the CDS process. You should not aim to undertake a comprehensive, lengthy and expensive assessment which deprives other CDS building blocks of essential funds and resources. Plan how much time and budget you want to allocate to your assessment and design the scope of the assessment to fit available resources.

It is important to base the assessment both on official government and party information, and also seek creditable external expertise as this helps raise different issues and add different perspectives.

An initial or updated assessment is important because it will help you to establish a baseline for your CDS. It will identify existing institutional structures and processes and share information on existing plans that may have been isolated. Linking the CDS into existing structures and processes will help ensure the CDS is successful and has lasting impact.

• Use existing resources (eg. city plans) where possible.
• Consider different indicators – social/demographic, environmental and economic.
• Balance the thoroughness of your assessment with available budget and other resources.
• Consider the past as well as the present. It is useful to look at how things have changed. This can help you to understand trends and future directions.
• The assessment should include an analysis component – data needs to be interpreted to determine the greatest needs of the city.

1. Identify and review existing city plans, reports and regulations

1. Identify provincial and national regulations which may be relevant for your city.
2. Collect demographic, economic and environmental data to establish the ‘base line’ situation (where we are now).
3. Investigate demographic, economic and environmental trends.
4. Source outside expertise
5. Investigate key indicators of the comparable cities for comparison
6. Undertake a SWOT analysis to make the data you have collected useful for the CDS
7. Conduct stakeholder surveys
8. Identify opportunities for your city and for attracting investment
9. Write a report of the “baseline” situation

a) Identify and review existing city plans, reports and regulations

Determine the funding structures and approvals processes relevant to your city plans.

Review city plans including the Socio-Economic Development Plan, the Construction Master Plan and relevant sectoral plans to collect relevant data. These plans are likely to contain useful statistical information about the social and economic characteristics of the city as well as information about visions and planning directions for your city (see Box 1 for an example of development targets used in a socio-economic development plan). Your CDS should aim to align with these plans where possible. The CDS can draw from these plans and when completed, be a useful resource when long term city plans are revised. The CDS should draw on the relevant Provincial and Regional Plans for Viet Nam.

Box 1: Socio-Economic Development Plan Targets

Useful information in a Socio-Economic Development Plan

Examples of targets used in the socio economic plan. Targets from the socio-economic development plan and any monitoring of progress towards them may be useful for your city assessment.

Major targets for 5 years and by 2010:

Economic targets

1. According to price comparison Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010 is 2.1 times higher than that in 2000. Annual average growth rate per capita for the period of 5 years 2006–2010 will be 7.5–8%, aiming at over 8%. GDP per capita will be about USD 1,050–1,100 at current price.
2. The shares of different sectors in GDP: Agriculture about 15–16%; Industry and construction 43 - 44%; and services 40 - 41%.
3. Total export turnover increases by 16% per annum.
4. National budget revenue will be about 21–22% of GDP.
5. Annual total social investment accounts for 40% of GDP.

Social targets

1. The population growth rate of about 1.14%.
2. Agricultural labor accounts for 50% of the labor force.
3. Create jobs for over 8 million laborers; urban UE rate stays under 5%.
4. The poverty rate will be reduced to 10–11%.
5. The universalization of lower secondary school will be completed; trained labor rate reaches 40% of the labor force.
6. Under-five malnutrition rate will be under 20%.

The Environment

1. Increase forest coverage to 42 - 43%.
2. 95% of urban population and 75% of rural population have access to clean water.
3. 100% of new production establishment apply clean technologies or are equipped with pollution minimization facilities and waste-treatment systems; more than 50% of production and business establishment satisfy environmental standards; 100% of Level-1, 2 and 3 cities, 50% of Level-4 cities and all industrial zones, export processing zones are equipped with centralized wastewater treatment systems; 80–90 % of solid waste and 100% medical waste collected and treated.

Source: Republic of Viet Nam (2006) The Five Year Socio-economic Plan 2006–2010, July 2006.

b) Identify provincial and national regulations that may be relevant for your city.

List the most significant provincial and national regulations which affect your city. It is important to ensure that the visions and plans of your CDS align with provincial and national regulations. Incorporation of important regulations into your CDS may assist effective implementation of particular regulations at the city level.

c) Collect demographic, economic and environmental data to establish the ‘base line’ situation (where we are now).

Ideally, most of this data will already exist in various reports and plans and will be available for you to collate and review. This step is therefore closely tied to your review of existing plans and reports. Identify what data is available from existing sources and then determine if your data collection has any significant gaps. New data should only be collected if there is a clear need for the information. What further investigation would be required to gather this data? The Province statistics office holds potentially useful data. Do you have resources available to undertake further investigation? Consider how important additional information would be in light of available resources.

d) Investigate demographic, economic and environmental trends.

Does the data you have collected indicate changes over time? It is useful to note trends in the social, environmental and economic profile of your city to predict likely future scenarios for your city. Understanding existing trends is helpful as your CDS aims to influence the development of your city.

e) Source outside expertise

Where the city does not have the expertise itself, it may need to use particular ouitside organisations with technical expertise. For example, Nam Dinh appointed CIEM to undertake the detailed economic assessment of the city on its behalf.

f) Investigate key indicators of the comparable cities for comparison

It is useful to compare your city with other cities in the same growth area as this will give you a better idea of how your city compares – what challenges or opportunities it shares with other cities, and what specific issues also need to be addressed. For example, the poverty assessments for Can Tho compare can tho with other Class 1 Cities in Vietnam.

g) Undertake a SWOT analysis to make the data you have collected useful for the CDS

You need to analyse the data you have collected to make it useful for your CDS. A SWOT analysis may help you to structure your analysis. A SWOT analysis requires you to consider your city with respect to its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. A SWOT analysis is a way of interpreting the data you have collected to identify opportunities for development and potential constraints. A SWOT analysis is usually conducted as a participatory process with a facilitator. You will need to carefully decide who should attend. The SWOT analysis should be captured in a documented form that is useful for others.

h) Conduct stakeholder consultation

You need to give stakeholders the opportunity to have input into the assessment phase. There are likely to be a range of different stakeholders who can provide information about the current situation of the city, the key challenges and the most realistic opportunities for improvement. There are many methods you might use to obtain stakeholder input, and which one you choose will depend on local circumstances. You may choose to conduct a survey, or use another method – such as workshops. See the Consultation and participation building block for more information.

i) Identify opportunities for your city and for attracting investment.

What does your city offer that is unique? What can your city offer that others cannot? What actions and objectives will be most likely to attract investment into your city?What indirect steps might also take the city in the desired direction? Once you are ready to implement your CDS, having necessary financial resources will be essential. It is useful to bear this in mind when undertaking your initial assessment. Look over your SWOT analysis and consider which aspects of your city could help to attract capital. For example, are there particular industries which you think will attract investment? Are educational institutions in your city likely to attract outside financial support? Is tourism a growth industry in your city?

j) Write a report of the baseline situation

Write a report based on the most important data collected. This report will serve multiple purposes as a point of reference for the CDS and its progress and achievements.

The city assessment undertaken as part of the Dong Hoi CDS involved 4 steps:

1. Collection of available data from accessible resources (this data is the ‘atlas’)
2. Selection of relevant information and editing of the atlas
3. SWOT analysis
4. Assessment of development potentials and possible constraints

Preparing the detailed Atlas was the first step in the Dong Hoi CDS. Local city staff and taskforce members collected existing data from provincial technical departments. A survey of the business environment carried out in parallel with CDS provided more inputs for the SME strategies in the Agenda. Poverty data and maps were collected from relevant departments and served as inputs for the Poverty Action Program at provincial level.

Parallel to the collection of data, existing maps were digitized. Data could then be input spatially to update maps and provide a physical representation in the Atlas.

The SWOT analysis was used as the main tool to analyse current situations in each sector. In addition, the Atlas provides a tool for visualizing issues, infrastructure and resource distribution.

Consultation is separate building block. However, consultation and stakeholder engagement should not be seen as a process that only happens once during a CDS. Rather, ongoing processes of participation and stakeholder engagement should be incorporated throughout the CDS. This means that participation activities need to be considered in the assessment phase and, in fact, the assessment phase is one of the best times to ensure wide consultation and involvement. This phase is an opportunity to reach out to a range of stakeholders who may not have been previously involved in discussions about the future of their city. Bringing new groups into the assessment stage can be very useful, as it means that the assessment of the current situation of the city is based on a range of different perspectives.

Use the following questions as a guide to making the city assessment phase a participatory one.

Has the process that is planned for the assessment phase been informed by the principle of participatory ‘bottom up planning’? What steps have been put in place for consultation and participation in this phase?

Can the processes in the assessment phase draw on the results of previous consultations?

Have a cross-section of stakeholders been involved in the assessment stage?

Have a wide range of views and perspectives been considered?

Pay particular attention to involving:

1. those people who are going to be most affected by CDS outcomes,and
2. those people whose actions or input will be crucial to the implementation of the CDS – this means including not just party officials, but other stakeholders such as city departments, non-government organisations and the private sector.

What will happen to the outcomes of the assessment phase? How will the results be communicated to the community? Will there be an opportunity for stakholders to have further input?

When undertaking a city assessment, the crucial aspects of SEA can be achieved by:

• Ensuring that the relevant local, provincial, national and international environmental legislation and policy is included in the analysis of key documents.
• Making sure that the consultation processes identify the environmental and sustainability issues that matter most to people.
• Ensuring that the development of the CDS is participatory

The policy analysis and consultation will help to identify a set of “critical factors” for sustainability. These will be of use in the ‘Visions, Objectives and Strategies’ Building Block and also as criteria to take into account in prioritising activities in the ‘Action Planning’ Building Block.

As part of the initial assessment, SEA can help identify gaps in relevant information (for example concerning dependency of people’s livelihoods on the environment and its relevance for overall economic and social development), the inter-relationships between different activities and drivers of sustainability and the potential resultant conflicts between different objectives for development.

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a separate building block, however M&E needs to be done for every building block for accountability and learning purposes. Keep records of all activities conducted and make sure that you document the process of carrying out 'Initial or Updated Assessment' building block. This means you need to document what happened for each 'key component' of this building block and share this information with appropriate stakeholders.

Also, use the following set of questions to help you learn from doing the 'Process Design and Preparation' Building Block and to provide accountability for funds spent on this building block. This is best done either through a workshop, interviews or a survey, and you will need to include the views of all those staff with key responsibilities for this building block. Consult the M&E section in this Guide for further information on monitoring and evaluation.

• What were the key outputs for this building block? Were these outputs of the desired quality?
• How efficient has the process for this building block been? In other words, how do the costs of doing this building block compare with the benefits?
• What worked well and what didn’t work so well in doing this building block? What would you do differently next time and why?
• To what extent was meaningful consultation and participation achieved?
• How were environmental and sustainability issues (through SEA processes) included?

• Define your study area. It is important to define the boundary of the study area. A decision to either define the city narrowly or to incorporate outlying areas will affect the results of your situation analysis.
• Consider the past as well as the present. While it is important to consider how things are now, it is helpful to look at how things have changed. This can help you to understand trends and future directions.
• Consider your city with respect to the wider region, nation and world. Look at the relationships between your city and outside to see what outside influences may impact upon your city.
• Build on other work if it exists. If other studies have been done which provide relevant information, build on existing information and add where necessary.
• Make links between the initial assessment and other CDS building blocks.
• Adapt to data limitations and don’t spend too much time on it. Assessments are often constrained by deficiencies in the quantity or quality of data. Often, ‘educated guesses’ or ‘expert opinion’ must be used in place of statistical information (Cities Alliance, p37). In particular, do not waste too much time verifying and debating accuracy of different sources.
• Learn from other experiences in Viet Nam. Make use tools and templates where appropriate.
• Think about how to up-date the assessments periodically

Socio-economic Atlas of Viet Nam

The Socioeconomic Atlas of Viet Nam (in Vietnamese and English) is available at

http://www.nccr-north-south.unibe.ch/publications/Infosystem/On-line%20Dokumente/Upload/Socioeconomic%20Atlas%20of%20Viet Nam.pdf.

This document has information about the demographic profile of Viet Nam and provinces. You may like to compare information for your city with wider Viet Nam.

SWOT analysis template as used in Nam Dinh

Note that the SWOT analysis was structured around the CDS Visions. Your city may be undertaking the assessment before developing visions, in which case your SWOT analysis will be structured differently. The table below describes a SWOT analysis structure using typical World Bank criteria

City indicators template – much of the data for this table should be available in existing city plans.