International municipal cooperation: an enabling approach to development for small and intermediate urban centres?

Building relationships across the Timor Sea: an evaluation of the Australian/Timorese friendship agreements

“…The rationale for early IML experiments (1945)(1946)(1947)(1948)(1949)(1950)(1951)(1952)(1953)(1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958)(1959)(1960) was the promotion of 'friendly and peaceful relations'. These early links were mainly established after the end of World War II between cities or towns with similar names, similar industries, similar ethnic groups, similar geographical characteristics and/or cities that were a similar size, and promoted ideals of friendship, peace, partnership, cultural understanding and exchange (Zelinsky, 1990;Hobbs, 1994;Shuman, 1994;Schep et al, 1995;Hewitt, 2000;Cremer et al, 2001). For example, Coventry and Stalingrad formed a municipal link due to their shared experiences of bombings.…”

“…From the early 1990s there has been increasing emphasis on economic benefits (for North-North links) with the emphasis on economic opportunity, commercial ventures and industry and employment capacity. The other main focus during the 1990s has been the provision of humanitarian or development assistance under the guise of assisted development (for North-South links) which emphasises capacity building, improvement in municipal infrastructure and the transfer of technical services (Zelinsky, 1990;Hobbs, 1994;Shuman, 1994;Schep et al, 1995;Hewitt, 1999aHewitt, , 1999bHewitt, , 2000Cremer et al, 2001;Monteiro, n.d.). The assisted development model has resulted in a suite of more measurable outcomes.…”

“…Although international municipal links face a number of different challenges, the literature identifies five main challenges that need be addressed, by all participating municipalities, to ensure the sustainability of the link. The five main challenges appear to be: communications; unequal partnerships; lack of finances; bi-partisan political support and workable evaluations (Hobbs, 1994;Shuman, 1994;Schep et al, 1995;Hewitt, 1999aHewitt, , 1999bHewitt, , 2000Cremer et al, 2001;O'Toole, 2001).…”

“…The assisted development model of North-South municipal links sets up the binary of the 'expert' versus the 'non-expert'. The experts are understood to have all the answers and the non-experts are seen as lacking in some way (Buss and Vaughan, 1995;Schep et al, 1995;Hewitt, 1999aHewitt, , 2000Demers, 2002). The Friendship groups that privileged material aid over relationship strengthening run the same risk of creating systems of dependency through their focus on the transfer of goods.…”

“…Bi-partisan political support and formalising the link are essential if municipal links based on humanitarian and/ or development concerns are to succeed (Hobbs, 1994;Schep, 1995;Shuman 1994;Hewitt, 1999aHewitt, , 1999bHewitt, , 2000Cremer et al, 2001;Monteiro, n.d.). They argue that if the link is not made formal then participation can vary depending on the personal interest of the people in charge at each end.…”