Category: Gender-sensitive cities

Capacity building for gender equality at the local level

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Local governments and their local government associations play a large role in advancing gender equality at the local level through policy and programming. Local government associations also play a core role in awareness raising on and implementation of gender equality measures

The study aims to provide an overview and an inventory, highlighted by concrete cases, of what is happening in the field of promoting gender equality in the international work of the UCLG membership.

With this publication the CIB Working Group Secretariat explored how UCLG’s political gender strategy can be included in the many of projects and programmes. At the same time, it provides instruments and tools that will help UCLG members to implement gender strategies in their work. The brochure consist of guidelines, technical tools as well as twelve case studies, composed to demonstrate how local government development cooperation projects can concretely improve gender equality at both the local and regional level.

Kruševac’s Vision – “A city accessible to all”

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The Vision of Kruševac’s SUMP is that the urban environment and traffic should contribute to the city’s development. The aim is to make traffic accessible to all, regardless of age, gender, income, physical or mental ability. The target from the Agenda 2030 is „80:20“, namely that citizens will walk, cycle or use public transport to cover 80% of the trips they need to make.

Hazmieh in Lebanon: A lighthouse in good urban governance

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Hazmieh municipality has set a comprehensive and effective strategy for local economic development, in which the public and the private sector’s participation in planning and decision-making are the cornerstones. The municipality has partnered with representatives of the local community and private sector to ensure the formulation of municipal development plans that prioritize the prosperity and common good of the local community and ensure gender equality and youth participation.

The municipality has attracted investments by diversifying local economy in the city. By employing the business model “Everything under one roof”, Hazmieh has succeeded in proving that one doesn’t need to leave the city boundaries to secure supplies, resulting in making the city an essential hub for investment in Lebanon.

Amman – strengthening social responsibility

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With a prudent vision, the Greater Amman Municipality implemented several hard and soft measures to curb the impact of the pandemic on the local community using a three-pillars response approach: health, community, and environment. With the special focus on ‘community health and wellbeing’, the social development division fulfilled its role during the pandemic by implementing a myriad of measures under the umbrella of social services to the local community.

Her City

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There is a lack of knowledge in participatory urban planning and design, particularly in involving vulnerable groups in urban development processes. Research has shown that participatory urban development with girls and young women, local actors, as well as multi-level decision-makers, creates opportunities for more inclusive, equal and sustainable urban development.

Thus, Her City provides an opportunity to build capacity on a larger scale. Her City provides municipal professionals, urban actors and local decision-makers with a solid toolbox for mainstreaming youth, gender and socioeconomic perspectives by strategically involving girls and young women in urban planning and design.

Her City’s ambition is to contribute to a range of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG3 on health and well-being, SDG5 on gender equality, SDG10 on reducing inequality, SDG11 on sustainable cities and communities, SDG16 on peace, justice and strong institutions and SDG17 on partnerships. However, previous experiences have shown that this approach also contributes to implementing other SDGs on the local level.

Waste to positive energy in Mafraq governorate in Jordan

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The establishment of the composting plant to produce organic fertilizers was part of the plan for solid waste management in Jordan. The project was jointly planned by the Ministry of Local Administration and the UNDP in its first phase, and then it received technical and financial support from the GIZ in its second and third phases. The project aims to serve Mafraq governorate which hosts a large number of livestock farms, through the collection and treatment of animal manure to produce organic fertilizers to be used in agricultural land in the city.

Women’s Training and Development Center in Hay Al-Andalus municipality in Libya

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The Centre for Women’s Development and Training was planned as a socio-economic project that aims at women’s economic empowerment and promoting female entrepreneurship. The center provides job matching services and capacity development courses that include trainings on various scientific and social topics as well as recreational activities that target the wellbeing of the beneficiaries.

The project is part of the European Union and Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)- funded “Support to Municipalities” programme in Libya, which is implemented by GIZ in cooperation with the Libyan Ministry of Local Governance and the Municipality of Hay Al-Andalus. Other key stakeholders included the local civil society, the office of women’s empowerment in the presidential council, the Ministry of Labour and businessmen in the municipality.

Local Development Program for the City of Agadir in Morocco

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Agadir municipality has pursued ambitious policies aimed at enhancing the quality of life of the city’s inhabitants, while protecting the environment and fostering sustainable development. The undertaken efforts targeted various key areas, in which the requirements and responsibilities for achieving environmental, social and economic sustainability were met.

Call for participants: Local Economic Development and Job Creation in MENA

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Beyond the Immediate Response to the Economic Impacts of the Pandemic

The international cities platform, Connective Cities and its initiators, the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the German Association of Cities (Deutscher Städtetag) and Engagement Global GmbH with its Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW), invite urban practitioners from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) and Germany to take part in the virtual dialogue event “Local Economic Development and Job Creation” from 29th September to 07th October 2020.

Thematic focus of the virtual dialogue event:

The Connective Cities virtual dialogue event on will focus on the following subtopics:

  1. Strategic planning for LED: guiding a participatory LED process that encourages partnership arrangements and inclusive representation; mobilizing strategic partnerships with the private sector and investors to access alternative financing mechanisms; enabling the joint design and implementation of a common development strategy; using local resources and competitive advantages to create a resilient locality.
  2. Promoting sustainable livelihood opportunities and social enterprise: implementing livelihood programs to enhance entrepreneurship skills and support the establishment of microbusinesses; contributing to social cohesiveness and conflict prevention through decent job creation for local communities.
  3. Public investments in green infrastructure and circular economies: creating decent jobs and revenues for localities through the investment in green infrastructure and circular economy; transformation towards green economy.

Objectives and Methodology

This virtual dialogue event is the first component of the Connective Cities learning process on LED and job creation and it aims at promoting the exchange of expertise on good practices for planning and implementing LED and job creation programs in cities in MENA. It thus facilitates practice-oriented exchange and peer-to-peer consultations among municipal actors on effective solutions to address challenges related to LED and job creation in their local realities. Through its virtual format, the dialogue event enables sharing of a broad variety of information synchronously as well as asynchronously, while ensuring the ease of communication between the participants. Interaction will take place using a variety of tools and the discussions will be recorded for future reference.
The objectives of the dialogue event include:

  • Facilitating exchange of know-how and experience on good practices through peer-to-peer consultation among urban practitioners from MENA and Germany;
  • Developing the capacity of participants to analyse and overcome challenges of implementing LED and job creation programs;
  • Determining future support needed for projects, which includes support from the Connective Cities International Community of Practice for Sustainable Urban Development.

Participation and Contact

Prospective participants are expected to provide a good practice example from a project they implemented or are currently implementing fitting the thematic focus of the event. We particularly encourage showcasing of good practices that incorporate gender- and/or climate-sensitive solutions.
The deadline for application is 11st September 2020.

For further details see: Call for participants [pdf 4 pages]

For applications and queries from interested experts from the MENA region, please contact: Dr. Muna Shalan, GIZ Regional Network Coordinator Connective Cities – MENA region (muna.shalan@giz.de).
Interested German experts should contact Ms. Alice Balbo, Connective Cities Project Manager at the German Association of Cities (alice.balbo@staedtetag.de).