A proposal for knowledge-exchange initiative between the municipalities of Abasan Al-Kabira, Palestine, and Hazmieh, Lebanon, was submitted to the Arab Land Initiative by the UN-Habitat. According to the proposal, Hazmieh will support Abasan in all joint actions that may foster mutual improvement in the domains that fall within their competencies particularly with regards to youth participation in the decision-making process and the integration of GIS in municipal administration processes.  The representatives of the municipalities of Abasan and Hazmieh had their first encounter as part of the Connective Cities Network.
 

Within the framework of municipal peer learning and knowledge-transfer and in coordination with ESFD, Hazmieh municipality and Al-Buhaira union of municipalities have shared their best practices during a peer learning visit at Hazmieh premises on March 18, 2021. During the study visit, Hazmieh’s advanced GIS dashboard was presented which supports planning, monitoring and executing municipal operations.  The existing GIS dashboard has contributed to optimising local governance in various sectors including finance, economy, investments, and emergency response. In line with Connective Cities goal, Hazmieh municipality continues to be a champion of promoting knowledge-exchange among the network members thus reinforcing the role of municipalities as a main driver of positive change at the local level.

 

A virtual networking event was conducted within the ambit of Connective Cities learning process on Promoting Energy Efficiency in MENA through innovative city-led projects on the 23rd March 2021. It aimed at presenting and discussing proposals for energy efficiency project developed by municipalities in MENA. Participating municipalities have benefited from peer-to-peer advisory as well as advisory on proposal writing for financing. Project proposals from the municipality of Sahab and Abasan Al-Kabira were presented in addition to a good practice example from Hebron on an energy efficient public school building. The participants have enagaged in a lively discussion that resulted in advisory on successful preparation of project proposals for funding. As follow-up, a bilateral meeting between the representatives of the Abasan Al-Kabira municipality and Adrar province in Algeria was organised.