Category: Crisis Management

Virtual Global Exchange

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The exchange was designed to bring together urban practitioners from all over the globe. The goal was to ignite creativity, innovation, solidarity and motivation, while creating and enhancing this global community of practice around the common purpose of combating the global COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences with smart local solutions and strategies.

During the first week, urban practitioners and experts from different municipalities, the civil society, business and academia, presented a total of 56 Good Practices in 18 sessions and gave insights into their experienced challenges and local solutions to deal with the pandemic. The exchange were centered around the nine topics were Public Health, Crisis Management, Economic Response, Housing, Education, Digitalisation, Crisis Communication, Innovation, and Green Urban Recovery.

The second week was about receiving practical “How To” workshops with practical exercises on topics that came up repeatedly during the exchange events such as: social media usage, digital tools, and how to plan for virtual meetings. Finally, the newly learned mindsets and tools could be applied in a 4-hour solution design workshop.

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115 good practice examples for municipal responses to COVID-19

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Some of the good practice examples were presented at the Connective Cities international dialogue event on lessons learned during the coronavirus crisis. These inspired the roughly 800 participants from 250 municipalities worldwide to see how they could improve their responses to COVID-19.

Municipalities the world over are on the front line of the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Above all, they have to maintain basic public services. Public health officers must organise tests and vaccinations, and public order offices need to monitor contact restrictions. Child day-care centres and schools must be largely kept running; public transport companies have to adapt to changed user behaviour, waste management utilities to different quantities of waste, and so on and so forth.

As a result, municipalities have been facing huge challenges for months. Many are overstretched, and often lack not just human resources and modern digital equipment, but also points of reference for how they might tackle the problems. On the other hand, since March municipalities have been generating countless ideas on how to cope with the pandemic as best they can. Some are falling back on crisis plans which they drew up years ago for disaster preparedness. Others are pursuing innovative paths, such as the Municipality of Hazmieh in Lebanon, which is relying amongst other things on geographic information systems to contain the pandemic, or Batnah in Algeria, where coronavirus-related medical products are being manufactured using 3D printers.

Sharing lessons learned internationally

To enable these examples to be replicated rather than remaining one-off solutions, from June 2020 onwards, and on behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Connective Cities gave local actors an opportunity to share their experiences with the pandemic in a simple and flexible way. This led to the ‘Municipal Responses to COVID-19’ series of events.

Just as the pandemic does not stop at borders, the expert dialogue on COVID-19 was designed to be international too. 256 municipalities from eleven countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America took part in 51 online events. All participants wanted to learn from and with each other, and improve their responses to the pandemic and their resilience – entirely in line with the ‘build back better’ principle

Municipal services in the pandemic

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Numerous German and international experts from 11 different countries met on 04.11.2020 at our virtual event “Municipal services in the pandemic”. The central topic was how municipal administration and municipal companies can act to improve the response to the current crisis.

Their practical experience was at the forefront. The cities of Rostock and Bremen (Germany) presented good practice examples of waste and water companies, and the Secretary for International Relations of Sao Paulo presented good practices from Brazil’s largest city. The other participants from Tunisia, Indonesia, Morocco, Somalia, Nepal, Iraq, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Palestine and the United States also shared their approach to the pandemic in the municipal services sector and discussed possible lessons learnt from the crisis.

Through our peer-to-peer consultation, the exchange was intensified and all participants had the opportunity to discuss among their peers, in order to support each other. In the end, new project ideas for further cooperation could be discussed and next steps suggested.

Communication in the crisis: citizens, passengers & customers

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As part of the series “International exchange of experiences: lessons learnt in the Covid-19 crisis”, a virtual meeting between various municipal actors took place on 28.10.2020. This time, the focus was on the question of how reliable and adequate information can be provided on time during a pandemic to all citizens, to public transport passengers or to customers of municipal service providers.

Good practices from Stuttgart (Germany), Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Hebron (Palestine) were presented. These good practices provided impulses for an intensive exchange of expertise and development of new ideas. Other participants from Lebanon, Brazil, Kenya and Palestine also shared their experiences in dealing with the current Covid-19 crisis.

Our peer-to-peer consultation approach enabled to initiate discussions that provided an added value for all participants. In the end, new project ideas for further cooperation could be discussed and next steps suggested.

Call for participants: Municipal services in the pandemic

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This event is part of our series International exchange of experiences: lessons learned in the Covid-19 crisis, and brings German municipal experts together with international actors to discuss how municipal administration and municipal companies can act to improve the response to the current crisis. Among other issues, this dialog will discuss good practices of response to the challenge of providing municipal services of water and waste management in the pandemic. Practical examples will be presented by experts from Rostock-Germany and abroad on the topics of waste management and water provision. The overall aim of the event is to achieve a joint exchange of experiences and to develop ideas for cooperation.

Event Registration

If you have any queries about the event and the participation process, we encourage you to contact:

Alexander Wagner
alexander.wagner@engagement-global.de
Telefon +49 (0)228-20717-455

Thiago Garcia
thiago.garcia(@)engagement-global.de
Telefon +49 (0)228-20717-633

Municipal expert exchange to COVID-19- compact

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Topics: Public Health & Crisis Management / Economy, Housing & Education / Digitalisation & Communication / Innovation

Time: 23 November – 3 December 2020

Cities worldwide are severely affected by the impacts of COVID-19. Unlike national governments, municipalities are in close contact with their citizens and are responsible for the implementation of measures decided by governments to reduce the spread of Corona infections.

Cities worldwide also have collected important experiences, which will be of immense relevance in the global fight against the virus. The crisis has shown how important the resilience of municipalities is: this directly applies to local crisis management and disaster preparedness as well as to the need for constantly adaptive urban planning. The current crisis has shown and proven once again that resilience is an essential capacity of municipalities.

To continue tackling the challenges of the pandemic in the future and to find suitable solutions to minimise its negative impact, it is now necessary to learn from and share experiences that will support the joint development of further measures. In the framework of its COVID-19 Municipal response dialogue, Connective Cities is organising a virtual global exchange series on “Municipal Response to COVID-19” from 23 November to 3 December 2020 and kindly invites you to be part of this series of events. This international exchange effort takes place in cooperation with engaged urban practitioners, municipal experts as well as local experts from academia, civil society and business.

More information

Call for solutions until 9 November: #SolutionsForCities

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Worldwide cities face similar challenges. This has become even more visible through the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic situation has generated inspiring creativity and solidarity. How can we transfer innovative solutions from the pandemic to the future? How can we promote sustainable urban development for the common good? To tackle these questions, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community initiated the international, digital ideas competition #SolutionsForCities.

In a two-day virtual Challenge Lab, current challenges of cities were identified together with German Smart City model projects and with partner cities of the International Smart Cities Network (ISCN). These challenges will be published on the platform www.solutionsforcities.de with the Call for Solutions from October 28th.

Call for Solutions from October 28th to November 9th 2020

The Call for Solutions is a global call for the submission of digital solutions for the common good. It is aimed at international companies and start-ups, as well as local authorities, research institutions and projects, and civil society. The Call for Solutions opens on October 28th 2020 during the Smart City Day at the Smart Country Convention 2020! Until November 9th 2020, digital solutions can be submitted on the platform www.solutionsforcities.de as response to the published urban challenges.

Scalathon from November 23rd – 25th 2020

After the Call for Solutions, the participating cities or municipalities select the most suitable solutions for their challenges and compete in the Scalathon as a team with the respective solution providers.

The Scalathon is the core of the ideas competition and will take place from November 23rd – 25th 2020. During the three-day virtual workshop, selected solution providers will work closely together with the respective city or municipality, further develop the digital solutions and adapt them to the concrete local challenges.

Pandemic Response in refugee-hosting cities

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More than 20 municipal representatives from around 8 cities in MENA participated in the sixth virtual event of the knowledge-exchange series on Municipal Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The event aimed at showcasing good practices and special measures tailored to the needs of the vulnerable group of refugees and their host communities. For example, information-sharing through local networks of community volunteers, religious leaders and humanitarian workers became a decisive factor in combatting the spread of the virus. Other effective measures undertaken by refugee-hosting cities have put the Global Compact for Refugees into action with respect to targeting migrant and refugee communities in the context of the pandemic.  The virtual event provided the space for an interactive exchange of experiences and all participants have engaged in a lively discussion bringing their local expertise to their peers.

Program

In this virtual session, the experience of the municipal unions of Dreib Al Awsat and Jurd El Qayteh in Lebanon was presented and their good practice of developing and employing an open source tracking application was showcased.  In addition, insights from Irbid (Jordan) were shared by the representative of the city’s municipal council who has shed light on the economic impacts on refugees and host communities employed in the agricultural sector.

Moreover, the following set of questions were addressed:

  1. What have been the core challenges for refugee-hosting municipalities?
  2. What measures have refugee-hosting municipalities implemented to protect the vulnerable group of refugees?
  3. Are there any lessons learned with respect to service provision and preparedness against pandemics in refugee-hosting settings such as camps?

Presentations

In Arabic: Pandemic response using the open source application ‘Salamti’ in the municipal unions of Jurd Al Qayta and Dreib Al Awsat in Lebanon.
Mr. Abdul Ilah Zakaria, head of Jurd El Qayteh union, Lebanon
Mr. Abboud Merheb, head of Dreib Al Awsat union, Lebanon
Ms. Souraya Hammoud, SKLI

Measures to alleviate the economic impacts of the lockdown on Syrian refugees and their host communities in Irbid, Jordan.
Arabic version  |  English version
Ms. Iman Al Zoubi, Representative of municipal council, Irbid-Jordan

Results

Pandemic response in the refugee-hosting municipal unions of Jurd Al Qayta and Dreib Al Awsat in Lebanon was optimized using the open source application ‘Salamti’. The showcasing of this good practice resulted in an opportunity for cooperation between the initiators of Salamti application and greater Absan municipality in Gaza. Connective Cities will facilitate this cooperation as part of the follow-up activities.

Update on follow-up activities: Concrete cooperation on a solid basis

Connective Cities has organized a meeting between the initiators and developers of Salamati application at Balamand university in Lebanon and representatives of Greater Absan municipality in Gaza- Palestine (the mayor Dr.Anwar Abu-Zarifa and Mr. Ahmad Abu-Ismail) to discuss the dissemination of the good practice of Salamati application in Greater Absan municipality. The Representative of GIZ in Gaza has also participated in the meeting.

It has been agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the municipality and the initiators and developers of the application in order to kick-start the process of good practice dissemination including the provision of the Salamati application in Greater Absan municipality.

Salamati app is an open-source GIS-based application that enables local authorities to rapidly screen potential COVID-19 cases and to classify areas and people at high risk.

The launch of this pilot project is supported by SKL International under the aspect of digitization. As part of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), SKL International works worldwide to promote and strengthen local and regional self-government and resilience. By supporting active citizenship in Akkar-Lebanon through the promotion of local systems, community capacity building and community participation in local decision-making, Covid-19 can also be better contained and the negative effects of the pandemic reduced.

Civil society initiatives during and after the corona pandemic

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More than 15 municipal representatives from Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Tunis, Libya, Morocco and Algeria participated in the fourth virtual event of the knowledge-exchange series on Municipal Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The aim of the event is to showcase good practices that reveals what civil society organizations are doing on the ground, and the added value they bring to municipal response to the pandemic.

 The virtual event provided the space for an interactive exchange of experiences and all participants have engaged in a lively discussion bringing their local expertise to their peers.

Program

In this virtual event, three good practices were shared from Beni-Khalled (Tunisia), Greater Amman (Jordan), Zletin (Libya). The moderated plenary session provided an opportunity for discussion between the presenters and the participants. The participants were then encouraged to continue with the exchange on the virtual platform where other resources were shared in addition to the session outputs. Overall, the following set of questions were addressed by the presenters:

  1. What have been the core challenges for civil society organizations in their role of supporting municipalities during the pandemic?
  2. What measures have civil society organizations put in place?
  3. How do the civil society organizations deal with vulnerable groups which were most affected by the pandemic?
  4. Are civil society organizations cooperating with municipalities to set different development-or service-related priorities in the aftermath of the pandemic?
  5. What are the lessons learned from the perspective of civil society organizations?

Presentations of good practices in Arabic (for members only)

Civil society initiatives supporting municipal response to the pandemic in Beni- Khalled, Tunisia and the community development sector.
Ms. Leila Ben Gacem, Beni-Khalled municipality

The role of civil society and the community development sector in the Greater Amman Municipality
Ms. Ghaida’a Al Hadidi; Greater Amman Municipality

Civil society and private sector initiatives to alleviate the impacts of the pandemic and the lock-down in Zletin, Libya
Dr. Taha Wali; Zletin Municipality in Libya

Results

The input given and discussion thereafter confirmed the immediate role of civil society in monitoring the pandemic’s impact on municipal service delivery as well as facilitating engagement with affected communities, a critical part of ensuring contextually relevant responses.

 In order to follow through with the initiatives in the municipalities, Connective Cities provided a practice-oriented exchange between network members on Connective Cities platform where members could share their challenges and interventions in the provision of their civil society responses.

More: COVID-19-Update

C40 Mayors’ Agenda for a Green and Just Recovery

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As the tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, mayors’ immediate priority is to face this unprecedented crisis and protect lives. At the same time, the city leaders who together established the Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force are leading in taking the first steps towards recovery. They have committed to providing the swiftest and strongest possible rebound for their citizens and reaffirmed commitment to the principles of the Global Green New Deal — to protect our environment, strengthen economies and build a more equitable future – and reach out to other cities, youth, unions, business and civil society to join in this effort.
[…]
By taking a sustainable path at this critical juncture, by respecting science, fostering unity and embracing a spirit of innovation and purpose, cities will secure the best recovery they can and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Amid the devastation of this global pandemic, mayoral leadership has never been more important.

Nine principles for a green and just recovery are elaborated that can support cities’ recovery efforts.
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