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Roundtable on Peer Experience and Reflective Learning (PEARL) Programme under JnNURM 

 

Organised by

 -  Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD), Government of India

 -  National Institute of Urban Affairs 

 

Date: 4  December 2008

Venue: Conference Room, NIUA, New Delhi
The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) nominated the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) as the National Coordinator of the "Peer Experience and Reflective Learning" (PEARL) Programme under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). The focus is on disseminating informations and knowledge gaps on projects, best practices and reforms under JNNURM. The activities that would be carried out under the programme are to:

  • Help the Knowledge Managers (KMs) / partners to document various best practices related with project development, financing and construction as well as reforms under JNNURM.

  • Set up a website and publish periodic newsletters for exchange of information, innovation and initiatives.

  • Help KMs/partners organise three group workshops of participating ULBs and Knowledge Managers to exchange experiences and lessons learned.

  • Organise a national workshop on the status and experience of PEARL network.

A roundtable on the PEARL Programme was organized at NIUA with the support of MOUD on 4th December 2008. In his welcome remarks, Prof. Chetan Vaidya, Director, NIUA greeted all the participants and spoke about the objective of PEARL, which is basically a knowledge-sharing platform focusing mainly on projects, reforms and partnerships. Presently, this would cover all the 63 JNNURM Cities in India.

Mr. P.K.Srivastava, Joint Secretary & Mission Director, JnNURM, spoke about the background of the programme. Taking cognisance of the capacity building needs of the Municipalities, he said that PEARL is the platform, which would focus on improving the capacity and knowledge gaps of the municipal staffs in the cities. He stated that the major objective of the programme was to identify knowledge gaps and therefore, information sharing among key stakeholders. Prof. V.K.Dhar, NIUA, on the purpose and objective of the programme, made a brief presentation. Ms. Nilanjana Dasgupta Sur and Ms. Indu Senan, NIUA presented the PEARL website and also gave a short demonstration of the website. Short presentations were also made by Mega Cities Association, Kolkata; CEPT- Ahmedabad; CMA - Bhopal and AllLSG - Mumbai on the work being done by the mega cities, heritage cities, mixed economy cities and industrial city groups under the PEARL Programme. 

The main objective of the roundtable was to discuss contents of the proposed PEARL website - India Urban Portal (www.indiaurbanportal.in), which is the gateway to the 63 cities under JnNURM and shall be linked to the main website of JnNURM. The portal should be envisaged as a ready reference to best practices in planning, projects, reforms, accessible data/ resources and other innovations. The goal is to create an information network, community and resource that will provide qualified, trusted and variable information and contacts of the urban field. It will also provide the stakeholders, a knowledge-sharing platform for interaction and discussion.

The programme was well attended by the representatives of UNDP, UNESCO, WSP-SA, ADB, JnNURM- technical cell, All India Institute of Local Self Government - Mumbai, Mega Cities Association, Kolkata, ICELO, Bhopal Municipal Corporation, IIPA, CEPT- Ahmedabad, Agra Nagar Nigam and various other non - governmental stakeholders.

The programme ended with vote of thanks from Prof. V.K.Dhar, NIUA.