City Development Strategies (CDS)

The CDS project was developed in response to need to introduce an integrated, comprehensive, and participatory approach to urban management. Founded on the principles of livability, bankability, competitively and good governance, the CDS process guides the cities in the preparation of comprehensive, long-term development strategies, where the city government involves local stakeholders in the entire strategic planning process-assessment, visioning, strategy formulation and project prioritization and capital investment planning-through a series of consultations.

 The World bank implemented the pilot phase in the 1999 with 7 cities. Since then, the League of Cities of the Philippines, carried out 2 succeeding phase, which expanded the program to 58 cities in all. In 2001, the Up-scaling Poverty Focused City Development Strategies ( CDS2 )  covered 31 new cities. In 2006, the project CDS in the Philippines: An Enabling Platform for Good Governance and improving Service Delivery ( CDS )  added 15 new cities to the roster of CDS cities in the Philippines. Under the preparation grant for the City Development Investment Project, the League also carried out CDS for 5 new cities. As of 2008, 64 of 120 cities have participated in the CDS program, including 3 cities assisted by ADB under the Cities without Slums Project ( Caloocan, Quezon and Taguig ),and the 3 cities that participated in the Local Environmental Planning and management Project of the UN Habitat ( Lipa, Cagayan de Oro and Tagbilaran.