Center L-R  Raymond Kiptum; Lorna Johnson; Hon Gaudence Lymo, Mayor of Arusha.

Arusha and Moshi cities will host the 1st Eastern Africa Sister Cities Regional forum on July 25-28 2012. The forum which will bring together urban council leaders, business leaders, NGO’s dealing with urban related issues and Sister Cities representatives will discuss service delivery in urban centers.

The cities of Moshi and Arusha have embraced the twinning concept. Arusha is a Sister City to Durham and Kansas cities in the United States of America while Moshi is linked to Delray (US), Amtach (Sweden), Komak and Tubingen (Germany) among other cities.

Arusha, the home of the East African Community headquarters is an important city in the region. The mayor of Arusha Hon. Gaudence Lyimo admits that the numerous challenges that face the city can be alleviated through sister city relationships.  Like any other urban area in Eastern Africa, challenges like poor sanitation, poor drainage, poor road network and inadequate social amenities in the city hinder development. The mayor is especially passionate about partnerships that empower citizens by opening opportunities for employment and business. “We have a number of unemployed youth who need exposure to be able to be creative, initiate income generating projects, turn farming into business and use their talents to make money among other opportunities,” says Hon. Lymo.

Hon Lymo’s counterpart, Hon. Japhary Michael of Moshi Municipal council, is proud of the numerous achievements his city has achieved since it started twinning. “The various projects and exchanges we have enraged in other Sister Cities have made our city clean and attractive to visitors,” he says.  Through Sister city relationships, the city has been able to sponsor sporting events, organize business trips for the business community and carry out cultural exchanges. The city also is partnering with the city of Tubingen to combat environmental changes within the Mt. Kilimanjaro region. Moshi city has benefited from a grant that has helped boost the city’s sanitation efforts; new opportunities for investment; and exposure of   the councilors and other city council officials to best practices. Moshi and Arusha cities have initiated dialogue with Juba in the Republic of  South Sudan and Malindi in Kenya for regional twinning.

During their familiarization visit to the cities as part of the preparation for the Ist Eastern Africa Sister Cities regional forum, Lorna K. Johnson (Sister Cities International Consultant) urged the Mayors to use the coming forum to share their experiences and learn more on how sister city relationships can be used to better their towns. “It is an

Lorna and Kiptum with Hon. Gaudence Lymo (Mayor of Arusha) in his office.

opportunity for the mayors and other participants to learn and share various Sister city models and brainstorm on the way forward for the region,” said Lorna K Johnson. According to Raymond Kiptum (Program Manager, Eastern Africa Sister Cities) who accompanied Lorna, “The forum gives an opportunity for Mayors from the region to initiate Intra- regional twinning to foster peace and business relations between the involved cities.”

Speaking to the two officials, the District Executive Director of the newly formed Siha District Mr. Rashidi Kitambulio  expressed interest to have his district twinned with other regions. His District has a vision of being green and utilizing the flow of water from Mt. Kilimanjaro to improve farming and other economic activities. The Director presented the profile of the district and asked the Sister cities representatives to present the profile to potential cities for twinning. He said he understands the benefits of such partnerships since they allow leaders and citizens to share experiences and learn from each other through people to people diplomacy.

Lorna and Hon. Japhary Michael (Mayor of Moshi) in his office.

The Sister Cities forum aims at creating a community of Sister Cities in Eastern Africa that responds and reinforces the development and creation of strong regional and global twinning throughout Eastern Africa. It also aims at providing best practices, models and understanding of various sister cities and to explore city twinning as an avenue for best practice sharing to improve service delivery in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Sister Cities (EASC) advises the cities in the region to prepare their profiles and present to the office and other potential cities. This helps the cities seeking Sister Cities within the region and outside to match and approach them for twinning. It also markets the town and opens up opportunities for tourism and business opportunities.

By Raymond Kiptum,
Program Manager, Eastern Africa Sister Cities.