As a second milestone of the Deep Dive process, a workshop was held in Nairobi from 4 to 7 March 2024. The workshop marked the transition from the phase of sensemaking of the local contexts towards prioritization of challenges and solution options. Participants representing the cities of Nairobi, Aswan, Mombasa, Lviv, Lüdenscheid and Heidelberg discussed the observations and findings from the initial participatory field research including insights into how stakeholders and relevant actors perceive challenges related to the phenomenon of urban heat. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to learn about projects and initiatives implemented in Nairobi that are relevant to building resilience to urban heat.
Category: Categories
Establishing a Primary Healthcare Center
In Northern Lebanon, the municipality of Al Mohammara confronts conflict, economic hardship, and a persistent refugee crisis. In the framework of the partnership with the German town of Opfenbach that started in 2018, Al Mohammara decided to address the urgent need for accessible healthcare.
Amid Lebanon’s economic crisis and an extremely high inflation rate, Al Mohammara’s annual budget is insufficient to cover basic services provided by the municipality. Recognized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) as among Lebanon’s most vulnerable municipalities. The implementation of the Primary Healthcare Center project faced significant economic difficulties, primarily in the form of financial challenges during the construction phase.
However, the ongoing partnership between Al Mohammara and Opfenbach is yielding remarkable outcomes for the diverse local population. Despite facing economic challenges and regional tensions, the establishment of the Primary Healthcare Center has evolved from a simple idea into a two-floor, 1000-square-meter facility. Once, the center is operational, it will become a crucial provider of basic healthcare in the Akkar region.
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Further information:
Securing medical care in Lebanon
Interview: Building a primary healthcare centre in challenging times
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Eredvi Municipality (Georgia) grants renewable energy solutions for IDP settlements
Eredvi Municipality, located just five kilometers from Tskhinvali, has been navigating the challenges stemming from the 2008 Russian-Georgian War, remaining under the de facto control of the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia. Despite these challenges, the local government, operating from Tbilisi, has dedicated efforts to aid internally displaced families dispersed throughout Georgia.
The Eredvi Municipality’s Good Practices center on implementing sustainable solar power projects in internally displaced persons (IDP) settlements in eastern Georgia. Through a collaborative initiative with Lithuanian companies and financing, the municipality aims to address energy needs, providing free electricity to 692 families and municipal facilities while drawing inspiration from Lithuania’s successful experience in renewable energy solutions.
Banepa preserves traditional construction methods using bio-based materials
The historic town centre of Banepa in Nepal extends along a road for a distance of around 1.2 kilometres. Many of the houses have been in poor condition, making the town less attractive.
This good practice describes how the town of Banepa is restoring its historic centre and a retirement home using traditional construction methods. Bio-based building materials such as wood, bamboo, brick and clay are significantly more sustainable and earthquake-resistant than cement or concrete.
In order to allay the concerns of the local population, the municipality is first refurbishing one building to provide an example of the methods that will be applied to the others. It is working together with the Nepalese RP Foundation, which has over 25 years of experience in the renovation of historical buildings.
This good practice was presented at the Connective Cities dialogue event on climate-friendly construction with organic and recycled materials in Potsdam.
Transformative Riverine Management Programme
The Transformative Riverine Management Programme from the municipality of eThewkwini (Durban, South Africa) is an innovative project to integrate adaptive water and climate management and establishes a partnership between the municipality, research institutions, community organisations and citizens. The programme aims to transform the management of over 7,400 km of watercourses and river corridors. The aim is to improve water quality through ecosystem-based adaptations and reduce flood risk through community-level projects, such as paying for collected waste that can lead to drain blockages.
Interview with:
- Mr Geoff Tooley, Coastal Stormwater and Catchment Management Division, Department of Engineering, eThekwini Municipality.
- Mr. Emmanuel K. Letebele, Senior Planner, eThekwini Municipality
Watch video at YouTube:
Mr Emmanuel Letebele was part of the Working Group on Risk-Informed Urban Development (RIUD) in Sub-Saharan Africa. This working group is a joint initiative of GIZ’s Connective Cities programmes and the Global Initiative on Disaster Risk Management programme. More information on the RIUD working group.
Municipal Policy Award of the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation 2023
Municipalities make an important contribution to climate protection – in Germany and worldwide. They not only work directly on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, but have often additionally committed themselves to further climate protection. Municipalities also face similar challenges worldwide and can therefore benefit from close cooperation and lively exchange. This is especially true for cross-border cooperation projects, which require particularly high motivation, courage and, last but not least, organisational and assertiveness skills during the ongoing pandemic.
In 2023, the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation’s Municipal Policy Award will honour cross-border municipal cooperation projects on participatory municipal climate protection and adaptation measures with prize money of 2,000 euros. Outstanding cooperations of municipalities or municipal alliances with the participation of a German municipality or municipal alliance are sought.
All important information about the award and your application can be found in the competition announcement: pdf-Download [in German]
Deadline extension: The deadline for applications is Monday, 31 October 2022.
The prize is awarded in memory of the communal political work of Carl Goerdeler as Mayor of the City of Leipzig and his resistance activities against Nazi rule. The award is intended to serve the peaceful cooperation of municipalities and municipal alliances that unites people and to promote mutual learning for the benefit of the residents.
Contact:
Ricarda Meissner
ricarda.meissner@giz.de
Phone: +49 (0)228 4460 1138
Klaudia Sonntag
klaudia.Sonntag@giz.de
Phone: +49 (0) 228 4460 1587
Sustainable Urban Energy Planning in Southeast Europe (SEE)
Video about Connective Cities’ learning process II conducted in May 2021 – June 2022 to support municipalities in fine-tuning their project ideas in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy and developing them further towards bankable project proposals.
Watch video at YouTube:
More information on the dialogue event in November 2021:
Development of bankable project proposals for sustainable urban energy planning in Southeast Europe
The Development of Covid-19 recovery solutions at municipal level in the area of digitalisation and crisis management in the Southeast European region (SEE)
This report summarizes the activities developed under the project “The Development of COVID-19 Recovery Solutions at Municipal Level in the Areas of Digitalization and Crisis Management.” The project covered Southeast Europe and was conducted from September 2021 until December 2021.
The Report describes in detail the capacity-building processes conducted to support municipal resilience within the working groups of digitalization and crisis management over the course of several months, while also highlighting good practices that were identified and small urban initiatives that were developed together during the collaboration with urban practitioners from across the SEE region.
Additionally, the report covers processes and steps undertaken to support the expansion of the Connective Cities Network through encouraging more active and practical involvement of its current and new members.
For presentations and explanatory videos please refer also to
Development of Covid-19 recovery solutions at municipal level in the area of digitalisation
Development of Covid-19 recovery solutions at municipal level in the areas of Crisis Management
Toolbox citizen engagement for sustainable mobility planning and implementation
The success of sustainable mobility plans and projects often depends on the commitment and acceptance by citizens. Therefore, citizen engagement in planning and implementation of sustainable mobility in municipalities turns out to be a key success factor not only for impactful implementation of new concepts, but also for co-creating smart sustainable mobility measures. This happens when solutions are developed together with stakeholders.
Due to the consequences of the pandemic citizen engagement is limited or impossible. This can endanger the success and/or slowing down necessary sustainable mobility projects. For this reason, the Connective Cities working group «Sustainable Mobility after COVID-19» created a prototype for «Toolbox citizen engagement for sustainable mobility planning and implementation».
The toolbox covers different levels and degrees of participation. It is a collection of successful tools and roadmaps that can be used in different phases of sustainable mobility planning and implementation in and after the pandemic.
Urban Gardening Guidebook
From July to December 2020, an initial intensive global programme on ‘municipal response to the pandemic’ was conducted by Connective Cities that has been augmented with the programme ‘municipal recovery from the pandemic’ starting August 2021. The working group “Biodiversity and Environmental Protection” was the first group to be established as part of this programme.
This Guidebook is one result of an extensive exhange. It explains, why Urban Gardening Matters? and guides the reader through all steps of an urban gardening project – from the first situational analysis, over the preparatory and implementation phase up to a final monitoring and evaluation.