Category: Crisis Management

New working groups in the MENA network: Municipal recovery from the pandemic

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Following the intensive knowledge-exchange program on municipal response to the pandemic that was conducted in 2020 to support the Connective Cities network in MENA, several working groups are being established to sustain the results of the peer learning activities. The working groups consist of municipal representatives and partners from the business sector, civil society, and academia. From a thematic standpoint, the topics under focus are:

  • Waste management and circular economy
  • Digitalisation for resilient cities
  • Biodiversity and environmental protection (kick-off event: August 9, 2021)
  • Crisis management in Palestinian municipalities
  • Social entrepreneurship and local economic development (kick-off event: August 12,2021)

Several meetings and preparatory activities have been conducted to formulate the road map of each working group. The core working group on ‘biodiversity and environmental protection’ has developed and submitted a concept note to the EU Call for Proposals on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Protection in Lebanon. In order to be eligible for this call, an effective consortium was established under the umbrella of Connective Cities network. The consortium members included Saint Joseph University (represented by Dr. Jocelyne Gerard and Dr. Zaarour), Green Line environmental NGO (represented by Dr. Ali Darwish), and Menjez municipality (represented by its Mayor Dr. Georges Yousef). Other potential local authorities’ beneficiaries include Beit Meri, Jezzine, Al Buhayra Union of municipalities, which will join at a later stage of the project.  

We are looking forward to include new members to these working groups. If you would like to be an active member of these working groups, please contact us at: muna.shalan@giz.de

Successful pandemic response in the slums of Lusaka, Zambia

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Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, is growing rapidly. Within the last 20 years the number of inhabitants has risen from one million to over three million in 2020. The city’s formal housing could not be expanded fast enough, which is why especially the slums experience fast growth. Today around 70 percent of the city’s population is living in slums. 

In Zambia, COVID-19 primarily affects densely populated areas and especially the capital city of Lusaka, where more than half of the country’s recorded corona infections have been counted.

Lusaka’s slum dwellers are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic due to a high population density and an often insecure employment situation. In particular, the unemployment caused by Corona measures and the subsequent inability to pay has multiple broader consequences for slum dwellers, including: 

  • Food insecurity
  • Threats of eviction and forced evictions by landlords
  • Inability to pay for water supply and land rent to the city council. 

The Lusaka City Council took broad measures to address this. For example, land rents owed to the city council were reduced by 50 percent and fees for legalizing land ownership were sharply reduced. This relieved the burden on landowners and landlords, who were thus able to partially forgo rental income and refrain from evicting residents.  

Also, water access was no longer cut due to lack of payment, as water is particularly crucial for hygiene and thus for pandemic control.

In addition, food was distributed, and digital aid was disbursed to combat the acute effects of the pandemic. Decentralization helped to avoid crowded distribution points. High-traffic locations such as markets are regularly being disinfected so that the population can work and shop there with minimized risk. 

It became apparent that a multi-sectoral approach and the involvement of various stakeholders and local community leaders was necessary to pool resources and avoid duplication of effort

Further information

Urbanisation and proliferation of informal settlements in Lusaka, Zambia (PDF)

Recording of Event (Presentation on Lusaka starts min. 18): Urban Poverty and Living Conditions: Limiting COVID-19 Impacts in Densely Populated Backyard Rental Areas (only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform) 

Contact

Danny Chibinda
Director of Housing and Social Services
Lusaka City Council, Zambia
info@lcc.gov.zm

Pandemic response in Aracaju, Brazil

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Brazil is one of the countries most affected by the pandemic worldwide. Aracaju, the capital of the state of Sergipe in north-eastern Brazil, responded quickly and comprehensively to Covid-19.

In March 2020, a response plan was developed, and a crisis team was established. This meant that even before the first cases appeared in the region, people with symptoms could be isolated, tested and followed up. Random testing of citizens, for example, in public places, markets and train stations, was also very successful. Through this strategy, around 3,600 PCR tests and 1,200 rapid tests were conducted weekly in all 44 neighbourhoods of Aracaju. Testing allowed a-symptomatic cases to be detected and isolated. In addition, the protection of at-risk groups was vital for the Brazilian city. Therefore, they were tested especially frequently and at home. The prevention measures also included registering travellers at the airport.

In March 2020, the Aracaju city government set up eight medical centres, of which around 130,000 patients were cared for by October 2020. Furthermore, hospitals were equipped with respirators and beds were increased. The field hospital opened in May 2020 treated more than 450 patients. Thanks to these measures, the city’s health system was relieved.

Crisis communication was another key component in the strategic management of the pandemic in Aracaju. The citizens were informed about infection numbers in a daily briefing. Another concern of the city was to support the citizens emotionally. Therefore, Aracaju offered psychological counselling by telephone, an offer that was taken up more than 4000 times. Thanks to these comprehensive measures, Aracaju has recorded one of the lowest mortality rates in Brazil concerning Covid-19.

Further Information

Gestão Estratégica e medidas inovadoras no enfrentamento à pandemia em Aracaju/SE  –  Präsentation in Portugiesisch [PDF, 1,96 mb]

Event Recording in German, Spanish, and Portugiese (Presentation on Aracaju starts min. 73): Strategisches management zur Bekämpfung der Pandemie in Aracaju (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Contact

Frau Waneskade Souza Barboza,
Representative of the National Front of Mayors (FNP)
Secretary of Health of Aracaju Prefeitura Municipal de Aracaju, Aracaju, Brazil
waneska.barboza@aracaju.se.gov.br

Municipal Response to COVID-19: Crisis Management

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On 28th of April a virtual workshop on Crisis Management amid Covid-19 was held as part of the Connective Cities Series on Municipal Response to COVID-19. The event focused on the importance of multi-sectoral cooperation and fast communication strategies in unpredictable circumstances.

Approximately 15 participants from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine took part in the workshop.

The event focused on

  • Presenting crisis communication strategies/approaches
  • Introducing community-based disaster risk reduction methodology
  • Providing recommendations about possible next steps

After the event all attendees were given certificates of completion of the workshop.

Program

This virtual event was opened by welcoming remarks made by Dr. Piotr Żuber. Dr. Żuber provided background information of the workshop and briefly overviewed the agenda. Following the introduction, Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant, advanced into leading the core sessions.

The workshop revolved around the following three main topics:

  • Crisis Communication
  • Building back better in the pandemic period / recovery
  • Community based disaster risk management

Each segment was followed by a session of questions and answers, allowing participants to grasp the content more thoroughly. Attendees were also given floor to present practices and challenges of crisis management from their respective municipalities.

Presentations

  1. General Presentation of Crisis Management – Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant
  2. Evaluation of good municipal practices in the pandemic period – Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant
  3. Methodology of community-based disaster risk management planning – Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant

Results

During this online workshop representatives from multitudes of municipalities exchanged their experiences and insights of crisis and its communication in their communities. Moreover, they were introduced to some successful practices as well as generally acclaimed structures of communication approaches. Identification of fake news and establishment of early warning systems were some of the highlighted topics discussed during the event.

Multidimensional: The COVID-19 urban restoration programme “Lviv tomorrow”

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Ukraine, like most countries around the world, is strongly affected by Corona since March 2020. Individual cities experience little government support and are largely left to their own devices to combat and deal with COVID-19. Despite this challenge and only limited financial resources within the city budget, the city of Lviv managed to take quick and effective action.

The city, which is in northwestern Ukraine and has a population of about 750,000, established the “Lviv tomorrow” program to mitigate the negative consequences of COVID-19 and create the preconditions for improving the social, economic and cultural situation in the city. The program consists of 80 different projects, of which more than 50 already have been implemented.

An important pillar of the program is safety and health. The city of Lviv doubled the number of hospital beds available and set up its own COVID-19 testing laboratory. This allowed the number of COVID-19 tests to increase from 200-400 to over 3000 per day, speeding up the tracking of infected individuals and thus simplifying pandemic response.

The city also established new digital solutions that make it easier for the population to stay at and work from home. For example, a portal was created where the population can pay digitally for city services.

Especially the cultural sector was hit hard by the restrictions necessary to combat the pandemic. The city of Lviv is countering this by promoting open-air events and smaller cultural events, for example on balconies. This way, not only jobs in the cultural industry can be preserved, but also part of the life quality in the city can remain. In the uncertain times of the pandemic, cultural events are also a important psychological support for the population.

Another component of the “Lviv tomorrow” program is economic development. One project, for example, supports local food producers. In cooperation with supermarkets, food produced in Lviv is promoted and labeled with “made in Lviv” stickers.

With its extensive “Lviv tomorrow” program, the city of Lviv is taking action on many different levels to combat the pandemic and its effects. Not only the immediate aspects of the pandemic, such as the number of hospital beds, but also other areas of coexistence, such as cultural life, are included. Thus, not only acutely fighting the spread of Corona, but also creating a long-term perspective for the post COVID-19 city.

Contact:

Mr. Oleksandr Kobzarev
Director of the City Institute. Center of strategic planning in Lviv, Ukraine
o.kobzarev@city-institute.org

More Information:

LVIV TOMORROW. RESTORATION PROGRAM [pdf 11 pp.]

Interaktive Präsentation über Lviv (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Municipal Response to COVID-19 in the Area of Governance

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Approximately 50 participants from Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Argentina, Bolivia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania and Germany (16 countries) participated in the virtual event of the knowledge-exchange series on Municipal Response to COVID-19 in the area of governance.

The event focused on exploring the role of e-governance in combating COVID-19. It reviewed how municipalities manage to ensure the supply of essential municipal services with the help of efficient e-governance systems. During the event various topics were discussed, such as:

  • Crisis management experiences and existing challenges
  • Exploration of how we can enhance or scale-up strategies to meet current crisis-induced demands.

The web-seminar explored the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on municipal plans/strategies and municipal services, the actions and communication strategies deployed in response, and the cooperation of municipalities with national governments as well as international organizations.  

Program

 In this virtual event, Dr. Giorgi Khishtovani presented the methodology and results of the research on COVID-19 governance responses within the Connective Cities network. Thereafter, two good practices were shared from Tartu (Estonia) and La Paz (Bolivia). The moderated panel discussion covered the topics of e-governance and the effectiveness of ICT solutions at municipal levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were then encouraged to continue with the exchange on the virtual platform Connective Cities where other resources were shared in addition to the session outputs.

Presentations of good practices

Municipal Business and Governance Response to COVID-19: Tartu Case
Raimond Tamm, Deputy Mayor of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.

Public Services and I-Government in COVID-19 Era
Roberto Zambrana Flores, La Paz, Bolivia.

Results

During this online exchange representatives from multitudes of municipalities exchanged their experiences and insights in the fields of municipal response in health, business, and governance. This virtual exchange brought together city leaders and field experts in health, business, and governance to discuss prevalent trends, opportunities, and challenges emerging, along with the development and reinvention of municipal responses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Crisis teams: A successful crisis management tool

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Better preparedness enables municipalities to cope better with crises like the corona pandemic. But what makes for good emergency preparedness? Berlin’s Senate Department for Health makes a case for a 24-hour crisis team. But a vitally important team like this is not formed overnight.

Being prepared in times of crisis

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“We have distributed soap everywhere,” says Mishi Rama Mbete. The 48-year-old is sitting on a cardboard box in front of her mud hut, her hands folded in her lap. She wears the face mask correctly over her mouth and nose. “Corona is a terrible disease that has no cure yet. We are the medicine, our behaviour is, like when we wash our hands many times a day.” Mbete is one of 30 Community Health Volunteers from the informal settlements of Majengo and Mzambarauni who, on behalf of Participatory Slum Upgrading Project (PSUP) and its collaborative partner, the Community-based Organization Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), tackled the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, going door-to-door for weeks in awareness campaigns. She, among others, distributed hand sanitizers and soap, explaining the importance of washing hands properly, wearing a facemask, keeping social distance when possible, and recognising the symptoms of COVID-19 in time. Suspected cases of infections were referred to government facilities for further tests and follow-ups.

The awareness campaign is part of an emergency response package that PSUP and SHOFCO launched at the onset of the Corona outbreak in Kenya in March 2020. The aim, from the very beginning, was to prevent a looming disaster in the slums. No one was to be left behind during the pandemic. Together with the County Government of Kilifi and the communities in the PSUP project region, both partners set up 20 handwashing stations, maintained by men and women from the communities for a small additional income, to protect local people from the virus. The Community Health Volunteers were trained by the County Government’s Department of Health to use their expertise to conduct education and provide up-to-date emergency assistance.

More

Interview with Hugo Salomão França: Crisis Communication

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Bem-vindo to Belo Horizonte, Brasil, a city that communicates to its own citizens and also helps partner cities and organizations worldwide.  Learn how Hugo Salomão França and his team helped to make sense of this unprecedent situation.

More: https://youtu.be/hzdH0EqS0bg

Join us and watch a special series of videos and podcasts that will show how to overcome a crisis from many different points of view. More videos, podcasts and interviews on our COVID-19 page.

Bremen: Good crisis management pays off in times of COVID-19

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For years now, the Bremen-based wastewater utility company hanseWasser has been investing in efficient crisis and emergency management. Now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, its preparedness is paying off. The company is able to adapt its operations quickly and efficiently in line with new demands.