[UNDRR GETI, UNDRR ROAF, UNDRR ROAS & UCLG Africa Online Training] Online Capacity Building Workshop on Urban Risk-Informed Planning and Making Cities Resilient

Context and Justification

Over the past 20 years disasters have affected 4.4 billion people, caused USD 2 trillion of damage and killed 1.3 million people. Disasters affected people living in developing countries and the most vulnerable communities within those countries. Over 95 percent of people killed by disasters are from developing countries. 

Current and future challenges of mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in development planning demand new approaches, mechanisms, sets of skills and competencies that need to be identified and strengthened in order to form the basis of increasing public demand and political commitment to local actions and budget allocations. Lack of appropriate knowledge on the subject, lack of government commitment and the absence of mainstreaming in current organizational and government strategy are key existing challenges. 

Urban risk is continually increasing. It has been estimated that, more than 50 per cent of the world's population is living in urban areas. Urbanization is taking place at an unprecedented rate. In the next 20 years, the world’s population is predicted to increase by an additional two billion. By 2030 more than 60% of the world’s population is expected to live in cities, with record concentrations in large urban conglomerations and megacities in the developing world.  Vulnerability of cities to disasters is on the rise especially as poor people settle in high-risk urban areas. Unfortunately, planning and development of cities has given little consideration to the consequences of hazards such as earthquakes, hydro-meteorological risks and others.  The implication of this reality is the need for countries to focus their collective energies to create a safer world for urban dwellers and develop a series of innovative approaches to meet this challenge.  

We need to recall, if needed, the international commitments through the SDG11 and the Sendaï Framework focusing both on resilience at the local level.

In this regard, building resilience and adapting to climate change is crucial for cities. Efforts to build resilience in cities can benefit from integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation with existing efforts in disaster risk management, sustainable development and other similar planning processes. 
 

General Objective

This short online capacity-building workshop, while promoting the importance of effective climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, aims to:

1. Increase political commitment and social demand for disaster resilient development, adapted for climate change, aiming for sustainable development.
2. Increase engagement of local government actors in the field of local development and planning with disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation agenda as well as to enhance city planners and decision makers’ ability and commitment to promote disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation through relevant systems, policies, and processes
3. Learn about the Making Cities Resilient Global Campaign and how its tools, materials and approaches may be used to build local resilience to disasters. 
4. Provide an opportunity for local experts and officials to enhance capacities with a focus on DRR action plan development and implementation based on the Making Cities Resilient Campaign 10 Essentials for making cities resilient
5. Strengthen the linkage between national-local disaster risk reduction planning and implementation
6. Serve as a platform to share good practices and exchange in-depth learning among participants
    

Expected Outcomes

Trained cadres of national, local governments officials and relevant stakeholders, equipped with knowledge and tools in making cities resilient with focus on the development and implementation of local DRR strategies and action plans in alignment with the national DRR strategies and Sendai Framework.

Approach and Pedagogical Modalities

This online capacity-building workshop will be based on the principles of andragogy and will take place in a framework of co-construction of knowledge by drawing on the experience of the participants and the contributions of the trainers. 

Based on an active and participatory approach, and peer learning, the capacity-building workshop will be divided into:  

• Interactive Power Point presentations;  
• Discussions; 
• Brainstormings;
• Exchanges on experiences and sharing of good practices;
• Documentation;

The online capacity-building workshop will be held in English with simultaneous translation available in French, and Arabic.

It will be led and facilitated by Mr. Sanjaya Bhatia, Head of Global Education and Training Institute, UNDRR; Ms. Mutarika Pruksapong, Programme Officer, UNDRR and other facilitators from UNDRR.

Targeted Audience

• Mayors, Presidents of Local Governments or Associations of Local Governments; local decision-makers and heads of Local Authorities;
• Representatives of Ministerial Departments and Central and Territorial Public Institutions;
• Staff of Urban Communities, Cities and Municipalities;
• Participants from Local Authorities, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Housing and Lands, Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Ministry of Environment;
• Representatives of the different components of the Civil Society;
• Heads of institutions involved in providing advisory support to local authorities.
   

Participant Prerequisites

• Be a representative of a central, territorial or local public institution; 
• Be a representative of any other actor involved in local governance and local development;
• Have a good command of French or English or Arabic;
• The participation of women and young people is highly recommended.

Date and Time

19 - 21 October 2020 
(2 online sessions and 1 self-paced assignment) 
8.00-9.30 am (Moroccan Time, GMT +1)

Workshop Language

English with simultaneous interpretation in Arabic and French 

Organizers
 

• United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Global Education and Training Institute (GETI) 
• United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional Office for Africa (ROAF)
• United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional Office for Arab States (ROAS)
• African Local Governments Academy (ALGA) of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa)

For more information:

UNDRR Global Education and Training Institute (GETI) at [email protected]
ALGA, UCLG Africa at [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] or visit https://uclgafrica-alga.org/en/training-offer/online-training/