“COVID-19, a global pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), is crippling the global economy and upending people’s lives thereby threatening sustainable development across all its dimensions. Africa is also facing the dire consequences of the crisis, necessitating timely response, recovery and rebuilding policies and strategies. Globally, urban areas are the epicenters of the epidemic accounting for most of the confirmed COVID-19 cases. UN-Habitat in collaboration with UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG), African Development Bank (AfDB), and Shelter Afrique have joined hands to produce this new report: COVID-19 in African Cities: Impacts, Responses and Policies. The report proposes several interventions to promptly and effectively address the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic in Africa at the urban level led by national and local governments supported by international and regional development institutions.”
Author: erik
Decalogue for the post COVID-19 era
The COVID-19 pandemic is working as magnifying glass that highlights the aspects in which we were already behind, at a global scale. In a context of unprecedented and universal challenges local and regional governments around the world are at the forefront of the efforts to overcome these proving times as allies of other spheres of government, of the scientific community, and as global actors with important transformational and convening power. The Decalogue for the COVID-19 era is a political charter for the aftermath. It is the document that will guide international advocacy, and shape our thinking for the future of humanity, focusing on the commitment of local and regional governments to build a world of solidarity.
Call for participants: Municipal Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
A series of virtual events will be organised with the focus on municipal response to the pandemic. This municipal knowledge-exchange activity aims at analysing and discussing practical examples from municipalities in MENA, Sub Saharan Africa and Germany. The event will thus provide a platform for learning how to plan, manage and evaluate effective measures to curb the impacts of the pandemic. It will also be possible to discuss individual questions with urban practitioners. Municipal representatives from both political and technical levels are invited to participate in the exchange.
Thematic focus of the events
1. Public health and municipal administrative processes:
All countries evoked the public health legal framework and the WHO guidelines to enforce measures to reduce the spread of the virus. Nevertheless, the pandemic has revealed shortcomings in municipal capacities to overcome its implications. Investing in digitalizing municipal administrative processes, IT systems as well as the overall healthcare infrastructure is being prioritized by many localities. Countries have also applied a combination of measures and technologies to monitor and control the situation at both the local and national levels. This session will focus on the possible strategies and measures implemented by public health and administrative municipal actors.
2. Municipal service delivery including water, sanitation and solid waste management:
Maintaining high standards of hygiene requires adequate provision of urban services such as water, sanitation and solid waste management which are key in combatting the spread of the virus. In many regions, the pandemic has heightened the existing shortcomings in the provision of these services. Some municipalities have provided temporal measures in order to improve the service delivery. Urban informal settlements in particular, are struggling with the situation, especially where social distancing rules cannot be effectively enforced. This session will focus on municipal service providers in the water and sanitation sectors.
3. Economic impact:
The pandemic has negatively impacted the economy on all levels. Most countries resolved to partial or complete lock down that resulted in paralyzing many economic sectors. It is in those cities that imposed the strictest lock down measures that the negative economic impacts are most apparent as per initial observations. A significant part of the labour markets in developing countries is informal and is comprised of daily wagers who have suffered immensely from the lockdown measures that impacted their livelihoods and ability to pay for services. These measures have also had a negative impact on the revenue stream for the municipalities. On the flip side, some economic sectors are witnessing growth. For example, many cities are relying on local manufacturing enterprises to produce medical equipment like masks, protective gear and ventilators which they would import in the past. This session will focus on possible measures to cushion the negative economic impacts of the pandemic on the local level.
More information: Call for Participants
Contact
If you wish to participate kindly email Dr. Muna Shalan (muna.shalan@giz.de) for MENA region, Sophia Kamau (sophia.kamau@giz.de) for Sub Saharan Africa and Alex Wagner (Alexander.Wagner@engagement-global.de) or Thiago Garcia (Thiago.Garcia@engagement-global.de) for German cities and counterparts
German-Turkish Municipal Partnership Conference
In cooperation with the German Association of Cities and Towns (Deutscher Städtetag) together with the Association of Turkish Municipalities (Türkiye Belediyeler Birliği, TBB) and with the support of the city of Istanbul (Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi, IBB), the German representations in Turkey are planning a two-day German-Turkish municipal partnership conference in Istanbul in the second half of 2020. The municipal partnership conference is intended to identify mutual issues and challenges as well as successful approaches for project cooperation.
As a kick-off to the German-Turkish municipal partnership conference, a virtual pre-conference will take place from 15 to 18 June 2020. Topics of the technical workshops are:
- Digital City
- Sustainable urban development
- The role of municipalities in protecting marginalised groups and refugees in the COVID 19 crisis
- Youth exchanges in municipal partnerships
Please refer to the conference announcement (in German) for further information on registration, programme and technical requirements.
Towards ecological urban development in Palestine
For the Palestinian town Ajja, transitioning into a sustainable growth path was a result of a comprehensive vision by its municipal council backed up by the local population to build resilient municipal infrastructure that utilizes renewable energy sources and promotes sustainable management of the town’s resources.
Application: Award of the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation 2021
Topic: Exemplary measures to overcome the corona induced crisis
In memory of his municipal governance work of Carl Goerdeler as the Lord Mayor of the City of Leipzig as well as his opposition to the Nazi-Regime, Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation has established since 2015 an annual practice-oriented “Award for municipal governance of the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation” to recognize outstanding practical achievements of municipal administrations. The award is intended to serve the peaceful cooperation of municipalities and municipal alliances that brings people together, especially in Europe (as defined by the Council of Europe) and beyond. At the same time, mutual learning for the benefit of the inhabitants is to be promoted.
The call for proposals is also in the context of the activities of the Connective Cities project, which is being carried out as a cooperation between the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Engagement Global gGmbH / Service Agency Communities in One World and the German Association of Cities. Implementation partners include selected regional and national city associations in Africa, America, Europe and Asia and their member cities. The project is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Content description and target group
The prize serves to honour outstanding achievements (“best practices”) in local government or regional communities of responsibility, if necessary also involving civil society forces. The award is intended to honour cooperation between municipalities or municipal alliances with the participation of a German municipality or municipal alliances. The cooperation should have taken place in areas relevant to the management of the pandemic (e.g. health, civil protection, security, urban services, mobility, schools/education, economic development or similar). This should have sustainable positive effects in the following areas: strengthening civil society and/or social cohesion, improving services of general interest, modernising public administration, strengthening economic power, promoting European and global integration.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Application is open until the 31th of Oktober 2020
More about the award:
Kommunalpolitischer Preis der Carl und Anneliese Goerdeler-Stiftung 2021
[pdf, 190 kb, in German only]
Promoting female employment in the water sector services in Jordan
Despite societal and structural challenges that impede women’s participation in the Jordanian labor market, a pioneer program in Jordan has resulted in promoting female employment in the water sector services in refugee-hosting cities.
So coronavirus will change cities – will that include slums?
for David Sanderson, it’s hard to see how the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to any better outcomes for the close to a billion or so people who live in fast-growing, low-income, informal settlements, or slums, that cram cities throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific. These settlements are some of the densest and most poorly serviced places on Earth.
The Ebola outbreak of 2014-16 killed over 11,000 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and had devastating impacts on economies, lives and health-care systems. However, yet evidence of post-Ebola improvements in urban planning are hard to find. The coronavirus — just one more tragedy for many who live in slums?
Prevention of plastic waste in production and consumption by multi-actor partnerships
This study outlines the objectives, structure and work programme of the PREVENT Waste Alliance and provides a background to the prevention of plastic waste by describing the need for action, environmental impacts and risks to human health. To pool the know-how and practical experience of the various stakeholders in the PREVENT Waste Alliance re-garding plastic waste prevention, the study presents examples of smart practices along the plastic value chain implemented by members of the working group “Conserving re-sources” and their partners. The focus is on multi-actor partnerships and examples that can be transferred to other countries. The examples cover education & consulting, the establishment of reusable options, the development of waste prevention infrastructure, innovative products, studies on plastic waste prevention as well as guidelines & over-views of best practice examples.
Finally, the study offers recommendations for the further work of the PREVENT Waste Al-liance. This includes success factors for plastic waste prevention, necessary next steps and conclusions regarding required policy frameworks.
Migrants’ contribution to the COVID-19 response
Refugees and other migrants are part of the global workforce of essential workers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: every day they save lives and contribute to our economies and societies. Yet their contributions can be hidden, their skills undervalued, and their rights denied. These examples of reforms, new initiatives, and campaigns to recognize and better support migrant essential workers in the COVID-19 response demonstrate that change is possible. Regular updates! ODI collected already more than 80 examples worldwide and presents them with an impressive visualization.