In order to create pro-poor partnerships integrated with other poverty responses, and to create new strategic approaches to the development of partnerships within the urban management framework, it is vital that municipal leaders should grasp the importance of planning strategically. While the capacity to compose an effective strategic response depends on the thorough identification of problems and the formulation of objectives, it is also relies on a degree of skill in understanding the problem in its entirety, the broad implications of options, and recognising that a strategy has short-, medium- and long-term requirements and implications. At the core of this are the conflicts that may arise between the timing of delivering affordable services for the poor and the financial viability of any arrangement. A key aspect of this competency will be the understanding of whether or not a partnership arrangement is the best approach, and if so, what type of partnership is appropriate, which roles need to be filled and when such an approach would best be launched.