TRAINING
Apart from the mentioned specialisations (urban and regional, and environment) we also provide the service of training for Councillors as well as technicians with Local Authorities. Training is provided in the fields of town and regional planning, as well as the supporting environmental aspects. As the needs differ from one Local Authority to the other, training programmes and manuals are usually tailor-made for a specific Local Authority.
Aspects of training as provided are listed below.
Level 1 - General Land Management
(Land management skills and instruments; major concepts of land use planning, land economics, land valuation, land registration and surveying; socio-economic surveys; different professions in land management)
Level 2 – Land Management
(nature of urban areas and the phenomenon of urbanisation; working of the urban economy; provision and problems of urban land servicing; the process of land delivery; financing of land delivery and methods of cost recovery)
Level 1 – General Land Use Planning
(Land use policies; principles and norms in land use; zoning as an interment of ordering the use of land, and alterations; major attributes of land suitability analysis; acceptable land use classes)
Level 2 – Land Use Planning
(different levels of planning; structure of a land use plan; importance of objectives for land use planning; the importance of resource assessments for land use planning; different planning levels; define and apply decision-making processes in different contextual levels)
Level 3 – Land Use Planning
(compare different types of planning; the importance of master planning; the need of a national physical plan; the main objectives of a national settlement policy; compare and contrast planning instruments)
Level 1 - Planning Theory
(the concepts of development and underdevelopment; assess basic characteristics of any regional development; the purpose and objectives of development planning)
Level 2 – Planning Theory
(settlement hierarchy; integrated regional planning; basic development plans)
Urban Planning and Development
(basic concepts of urbanization and urban development; developments in peri-urban areas; recognising major land-uses within the urban environment; regulation of urban communities; different types of plans prepared by town and regional planners and the purpose thereof; the different urban governance systems)
Urban Infrastructure and services
(standards of service provision; planning for different urban services; different methods of provision and maintenance of urban infrastructure; stakeholder engagement in issues of provision and sitting of services)
Land Tenure Systems
(Flexible Land Tenure)
Cartography
(Reading and interpretation of general maps, topographic maps; aerial photos; satellite images)
Basic Ecology
(structure and composition of ecosystems; importance of biodiversity dynamics that drive an ecosystem; different ecological process)
Level 1 - Natural Resource Management
(renewable and non-renewable resources within the ecosystem; different types of environmental degradation and their causes; human’s role in the ecosystem)
Level 2 – Natural Resource Management
(Environmental Impact Assessments)
Community Based Land Management
(community participation in land management; legal and policy framework for CBM; basic principles of CBNRM; different types of CBNRM programmes; different institutions in CBNRM)
Urban Economic Development
(main concepts of poverty; different approaches to poverty alleviation; difference between formal and informal activities; form and nature of private/public partnerships; the role of urban agriculture in alleviating urban poverty)
Legal and Institutional framework
(the legal structure and it’s bearing on planning; apply planning laws and regulations; categorize institutions involved in planning; discuss on the planning roles of local authorities)
Town and Regional Planning for Local Authorities