Category: Integrated urban development

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

Urban Gardening: Urban green spaces for social and economic resilience

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Connective Cities, together with partners from 5 districts of Berlin/Germany and other 10 municipalities in 6 countries, had prepared a dialogue event on Urban Gardening in Berlin from April 22nd to 24th. Due to travel and contact restrictions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was unfortunately postponed until the first half of 2021.

A virtual exchange was prepared together with the original participants on September 22, with the aim of bringing together the participants of the dialog event to discuss aspects of urban gardening, the relation between Covid-19 and urban gardening policies and challenges, as well as to warm-up for the next year`s dialog event.

The exchange focused on the role of urban gardening in building social resilience and included three input presentations that inspired rich discussions. Dr. Carolin Mees was the keynote speaker and shared her experiences with urban gardening development and policies in New York City. She was followed by Paul Yeboah, who presented a good practice from Ghana. A civil society project called “Ghana Permaculture Urban Garden Project” to promote sustainable urban gardening and food production in the municipality of Techiman. The third contribution was provided by Cornelia Mirke from the Berlin district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf with a beautifully produced short documentary on the history and current role of urban gardens in the district.

The documentary can be watched under the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69jKSmA9P8c.

Transport for under two degrees – the way forward

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The transport sector is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions at present. It accounts for approximately one quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions and hence figures prominently in efforts to transform the energy economy and protect the climate. Without a scaled-up global mitigation effort, it will not be possible to reach the climate targets of the Paris Agreement. A low-carbon transformation of the global transport sector is the next necessary step in the global energy transformation.

Germany’s Federal Foreign Office has commissioned the project “T4<2° – Transport for under two degrees”, a global foresight study on the decarbonisation and transformation of the transport sector to identify challenges and opportunities for a sustainable, low-carbon transport sector. The findings provide decision-makers with a clear vision and specific recommendations on how to achieve decarbonisation of the sector and orchestrate international efforts for a global transport system transformation.

Call for participants: Prevent infections through distance, communication and support of the informal sector

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Prevenir las infecciones mediante la distancia, la comunicación y el apoyo del sector informal

Intercambio virtual de experiencias sobre la pandemia de COVID-19 en América Latina el 14 de octubre y el 5 de noviembre de 2020

Para la versión en español, ver abajo.

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Shortly after the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe, the virus also hit Latin America hard. The current challenges in combating the pandemic require a combined solution strategy consisting of medical care, regulatory infection control measures and short-term economic bridging measures – and all this with the help of appropriate and convincing communication. How can cities and municipalities make a contribution here?

Even though many Latin American countries imposed strict measures, including curfews in accordance with the above-mentioned distance rule, at a very early stage, the pandemic could not be contained – the number of infections continues to rise in many countries.

In Latin America, other important factors come into play: a decisive factor is the high proportion of workers in the informal (urban) sector, who have to commute from densely populated urban fringe areas to the city centre to perform their daily work. The home office option does not exist for the informal sector, and the renunciation of the daily wage is not sustainable. As a result, distance rules cannot in fact be observed for a large part of the population working in the informal sector.

In addition to economic support, it is essential to follow chains of infection. Without precise observation of those infected and the tracing of infection chains, distance rules will not lead to success. Communication and the strengthening of public awareness is also an important factor here.

Connective Cities offers cities and municipalities the opportunity to exchange their experiences and success strategies and to discuss challenges together. In the process, approaches to solutions from German cities and cities in the Latin American region will be presented. If you would like to present a practical example from your city or discuss a specific challenge, we invite you to participate in our event.

After the virtual session the participants can continue their exchange on the virtual platform of Connective Cities in special virtual working groups. A virtual follow-up event (on 05.11.2020) offers the opportunity to deepen the solutions developed and to further develop possible project ideas.

Date: 14 October 2020 (part 1) and 05 November 2020 (part 2)
Time: 16:00 – 18:30 CEST / CET
Language: Spanish / Portuguese

Registration deadline: 09 October 2020

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Poco después del brote de COVID-19 en Europa, el virus también golpeó duramente a América Latina. Los desafíos actuales en la lucha contra la pandemia requieren una estrategia de solución combinada que consista en atención médica, medidas reguladoras de control de la infección y medidas económicas de transición a corto plazo, y todo ello con la ayuda de una comunicación adecuada y convincente. ¿Cómo pueden las ciudades y los municipios contribuir a ello?

Aunque muchos países latinoamericanos impusieron medidas estrictas, incluidos toques de queda de conformidad con la regla de la distancia mencionada anteriormente, en una etapa muy temprana no se pudo contener la pandemia – el número de infecciones sigue aumentando en muchos países.

En América Latina entran en juego otros factores importantes: un factor decisivo es la elevada proporción de trabajadores del sector informal (urbano), que tienen que desplazarse desde las zonas periféricas urbanas densamente pobladas hasta el centro de la ciudad para realizar su trabajo diario. La opción de la oficina en el hogar no existe para el sector informal, y la renuncia al salario diario no es sostenible. Como consecuencia de ello, las normas sobre la distancia no pueden observarse de hecho para una gran parte de la población que trabaja en el sector informal.

Además del apoyo económico, es esencial seguir las cadenas de infección. Sin una observación precisa de los infectados y el seguimiento de las cadenas de infección, las reglas de la distancia no conducirán al éxito. La comunicación y el fortalecimiento de la conciencia pública es también un factor importante en este sentido.

Connective Cities ofrece a las ciudades y municipios la oportunidad de intercambiar sus experiencias y estrategias de éxito y de debatir juntos los desafíos. En el proceso se presentarán enfoques de soluciones de las ciudades alemanas y de las ciudades de la región de América Latina. Si desea presentar un ejemplo práctico de su ciudad o debatir un desafío específico, le invitamos a participar en nuestro evento.

Después de la sesión virtual los participantes pueden continuar su intercambio en la plataforma virtual de Connective Cities en grupos de trabajo virtuales especiales. Un evento virtual de seguimiento (el 05.11.2020) ofrece la oportunidad de profundizar en las soluciones desarrolladas y seguir desarrollando posibles ideas de proyectos.

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Further information / Más información: Konzeptpapier (DE), Papel de conceito (PT), Documento conceptual (ES)

If you are interested or have any questions, please contact us / Si está interesado o tiene alguna pregunta, por favor contáctenos:

Paulina Koschmieder, paulina.koschmieder@giz.de

Call for participants: Experiences with contact tracing and outbreak management

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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 can act to improve the response to the current crisis. Among other issues, this dialog will discuss good practices of contact tracing and outbreak management. Practice examples will be presented by experts from Germany and abroad. The overall aim of the event is to achieve a joint exchange of experiences and to develop ideas for cooperation.

Date: 28th September 2020
Time: 13:00 – 15:30 (CEST)

Please find more information in our Call for participants (pdf).

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

South-East European Local Governments in Post Covid-19 Socio-Economic Recovery

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South-East European (SEE) local governments (LGs) have been and will certainly remain at the forefront in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic social and economic crisis. In serving and protecting their communities they have been facing unprecedented challenges in multiple dimensions. SEE local governments have been responding to these challenges with a strong spirit of solidarity, putting their citizens lives before everything else and working tirelessly to provide support to the most vulnerable.

The crisis required local governments to take timely measures to shut down selected local services, quickly switch to remote working practices and digitalise administrative services, expand programs for securing citizens healthcare, expand social protection and care for a significantly higher number of vulnerable people, take measures to allow the smooth implementation of online or long-distance learning, etc. In the aftermath of the control or minimisation of the first wave of infection SEE local governments have taken specific ad hoc measures to support the survival of their local communities and economies.

The purpose of this survey is to help improving the understanding over the impact of the COVID-19 crisis at the local government level in South-East Europe, identifying effective and innovative social and economic recovery strategies and ultimately helping formulating concrete policy proposals to inform advocacy efforts of NALAS member Local Government Associations.

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.
More

Climate-proof and Resilient Urban Development

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In view of the current situation worldwide, attendance formats for international meetings are neither sensible nor formally possible. Nevertheless, the international community of practice for sustainable urban development Connective Cities continued its offer in Latin America and invited municipal practitioners from Latin America and Germany to participate in the follow-up (LINK NITEROI) virtual workshop on the topic of “Climate-proof and resilient urban development – project planning of municipal adaptation measures”.

This time, 29 participants from eight different countries (Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Germany, Spain, USA) came together virtually to exchange experiences and knowledge. The aim of the event was to further develop the project ideas by revising strategic approaches with peer support and reflecting on examples from municipal practice.

Following project ideas were presented and jointly further developed:

  1. Project: Improving the resilience of people and environmental communities in areas vulnerable to climate change / Municipality: Portoviejo, Ecuador
  2. Project: Strengthening the ecosystem-based adaptation measures at the tourist location San Miguel de Allende / Municipality: San Miguel de Allende, México
  3. Project: Adaptation of existing and new households to the forecast increase in temperatures and precipitation for the Risaralda administrative area / Municipality: Quinchía, Colombia
  4. Project: Colina Verde – Strengthening of security conditions by limiting the risk of landslides and fires in the community of Boa Vista / Municipality: Niterói, Brazil
  5. Project: The importance of agroforestry systems as an adaptation measure to climate change and as an economic sector for the community of Tomé-Açu / Municipality: Tomé-Açu, Brazil

Water and Climate Change

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Climate change affects – and is affected by – global water resources. It reduces the predictability of water availability and affects water quality. Climate change also increases the occurrence of extreme weather events, threatening sustainable social-economic development and biodiversity worldwide. This, in turn, has profound implications for water resources. As such, climate change exacerbates the ever-growing challenges associated with the sustainable management of water. Conversely, the way water is managed influences the drivers of climate change.

The 2020 edition of the UN World Water Development Report addresses the critical linkages between water and climate change in the context of sustainable development. It also serves as a guide for concrete actions to address these challenges. It outlines actions, supported by examples from across the world, in three areas: first, enabling people to adapt to the impacts of climate change; second, improving the resilience of livelihoods; and, third, reducing the drivers of climate change.

Settlement Profiling Tool

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The Settlement Profiling Tool, developed by UN-Habitat in partnership with UNHCR, sets out the framework for preparing cross-sectoral spatial profiles which are intended to help inform urban development policy decisions.

A settlement profile is not a plan. It is instead a repository of spatial information that can be used to inform planning and development. The information is mapped and can include broad demographic data, from information on mobility and infrastructure to environmental studies. By going beyond analysis to provide recommendations or outlined scenarios that are relevant to policy, settlement profiles help establish political priorities and entry points for discussions with partners, communities and local governments about what to plan, where and when.

This settlement profiling tool is particularly focused on situations where protracted displacement has occurred, and supports a shift towards prioritising development interventions. The profile outputs should provide a concise and useful framework to help target investment in recovery situations. A settlement profile is intended to be used in conjunction with existing policies, organisational mandates, technical guidelines and studies to further support humanitarian actors. In particular, this includes UNHCR operations (e.g. country-level coordinators) when operating in urban contexts, which require a multi-faceted understanding of the specific conditions, dynamics and systems unique to urban and urban-like areas.