Cities Alliance in the Middle East and North Africa

Kairouan has an ingenious system of cisterns (Majels) and underground reservoirs to collect and store rainwater that has allowed the city to thrive in an arid environment. Today, the Majels stand as a testament to the ingenuity of Islamic architecture.

While Majels are not as common anymore for the citizen’s daily water use, they serve as an inspiration for modern water conservation solutions tailored to contemporary climate challenges.

The Women and Sustainable Cities project seeks to revitalise the Majels as an essential part of rainwater collection on a household and communal level.

In collaboration with national NGO Lam Echaml and the local authority of Kairouan, the project centres around understanding the existence, value, and use of Majels in water conservation practices.

Its activities include a large mapping activity to evaluate the role of Majels, the participation of women in water governance, and their risks to heat and water scarcity.

Women from the community and municipal staff members participate in training sessions and capacity building.

Together with the local authority, one central public space in the city is rehabilitated with a communal Majel to become a more resilient and inclusive public space. 

Cities Alliance and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) are collaborating on a multi-phase initiative aimed at enabling partner cities, local governments, host communities, and migrants to manage challenges and leverage opportunities arising from migration to cities for sustainable and inclusive development.

In Tunisia, the partner cities are Jendouba, Kairouan, and Tataouine.

During Phase I (2018 – 2021), the projects in Jendouba and Kairouan enabled the city stakeholders to work together to receive, manage, and integrate labour migrants and, at the same time, promote responsible tourism in the city.

In a partnership between local and regional authorities, civil society and the private sector, young labour migrants were trained and guided through tourism-related activities to help them improve their economic situations.

This experience, combined with an urban forum and dialogues at the regional and national levels, is informing citywide strategies to integrate labour migration into local policies and institutionalising the multi-stakeholder partnerships developed through the projects.

Phase II (2023 – April 2026) scales up the interventions to include the  Kairouan and Medenine-Tataouine migration corridors. It promotes the economic inclusion of rural-urban migrants and poor host communities along the migration corridors surrounding the municipalities of  Kairouan, Medenine, and Tataouine.

It also adopts an integrated territorial development approach that emphasises a more equitable distribution of employment opportunities and municipal services across the entire municipal territory.

The project "Improving gender-mainstreaming within local public policies" in the cities of Béja and Médenine, led by the Aswat Nissa in partnership with Cities Alliance and Heinrich-Böll Stiftung, aimed to reduce gender inequalities in a Tunisian context marked by decentralisation of powers. The project included the production of policy briefs, gender-sensitive budget analysis, and training sessions in the two municipalities.

Cities Alliance, in partnership with UN-Habitat, supported the Tunisian government to formulate a National Urban Policy (NUP) that aims to provide a unified urban development framework to manage urban spread efficiently and coherently at the regional, national, and local levels.

Implemented in two phases from 2016 through 2023, the project brought stakeholders together for consultations to gather the necessary political support to develop a joint vision for the future development of Tunisian cities. The Steering Committee produced a road map for developing the NUP, and UN-Habitat completed a stakeholder mapping exercise and the initial strategic outline of a policy. 

To make the NUP sustainable, inclusive, and based on an analysis of cross-cutting realities, UN-Habitat prepared regional dialogues across the country. These dialogues were instrumental in helping to collectively identify urban development priorities and challenges and set future development goals. They also provided guidelines for improved articulation between urban planning and the provision of public infrastructure and services, as well as how to optimise the value of local, national, and regional investments.

In 2007, the seven municipalities part of Greater Sfax approached the Cities Alliance for support in operationalising and implementing the already developed Greater Sfax Development Strategy (GSDS).  The Cities Alliance supported a series of diagnostic studies to assess the extent of the problems facing Greater Sfax. Specifically, the studies focused on local economic development, underserved neighbourhoods, employment, and mass transport. 

An urban observatory was established to gather, analyse and disseminate city data. Based on extensive surveys spanning two years, a typology of underserved neighbourhoods was also identified. These efforts eventually contributed to the identification of a set of priority projects for the Greater Sfax area.

Since 2023, Cities Alliance, the Municipality of Figuig, and civil society have been collaborating to address climate-related challenges that threaten the ecological sustainability of the oasis and the quality of life, especially for women.

As part of the Women and Sustainable Cities project, Cities Alliance is working with the community to adapt and improve cooling spaces, such as washhouses and public areas around water sources, by adding sanitary facilities, lighting, urban furniture, and changing rooms.

Cities Alliance partnered with Morocco’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Development from 2004–2010 to support and monitor the government’s national Cities Without Slums Programme.

The programme aimed to gradually upgrade slums (200,000 households by 2010), taking the city as the programming unit within a contractual framework between the state and local authorities.

The main activities included:

• A draft comprehensive technical assistance and training plan
• Creation of a Slum Observatory and establishment of a Technical Monitoring Committee to ensure coordination and follow-up of programme implementation
• Support to local stakeholders and intersectoral development structures, including support for the creation of a ‘Cities Without Slums’ agency within the Directorate for Low-Income Housing and Real Estate
• Use of information professionals and the media to design an Information and Communication Plan to share lessons from Morocco’s experience with other countries

In Sebkha, a commune in the capital Nouakchott, demographic pressure, socio-economic difficulties, lack of urban services and the impacts of climate change are posing threats to the local water supply.

As part of the Women and Sustainable Cities project (2023–2025), Cities Alliance is creating inclusive public spaces and collective water kiosks by engaging women living in the area. The project has established the city’s first collective water point, which is co-governed by women from the community.   
 

HERitage: Women, Culture and Development in Madaba (2024–2026) aims to enhance the role of women in the heritage and tourism sector, promote their leadership and entrepreneurial skills, and foster economic development through targeted guidance to the municipality.

Madaba has fostered an inclusive environment where women contribute punctually to the city’s sustainable growth and vibrant community life. However, a workshop session in September 2023, organised by Cities Alliance in collaboration with the municipality of Madaba, showed the need of integrating and supporting women in more facets of the city's development, ensuring their equal opportunities and representation. This publication covers the workshop’s findings.

To respond to these needs, the project will foster an urban environment, where heritage conservation and tourism development integrate the local conditions, skills and knowledge to deliver a living experience for visitors to the city, but also provide economic opportunities for the local population.

The project is implemented in collaboration with the municipality of Madaba and the Madaba Institute for Mosaic Art and Restoration (MIMAR). It is funded by the Embassy of France to Jordan as part of the Fonds Equipe France programme (FEF).

The project (2010–2012) supported four secondary cities in Jordan – Karak, Mafraq, Zarqa and Tafilah – and their surrounding regions in developing a City Development Strategy (CDS).

It had three main objectives:

1. Enhancing the competitive advantage of the cities of Karak, Mafraq, Tafilah, and Zarqa by improving employment opportunities for vulnerable groups (youth, migrants) through better socio-economic integration of municipalities and their resources, and by increasing investment opportunities for the private sector.
    
2. Supporting local economic development through an inclusive and participatory process in their respective city-regions (north, centre, and south), which have significant pockets of poverty.
    
3. Building the capacity of the Greater Amman Municipality to support and guide the CDS process in these cities based on its gained experience in areas such as urban planning, governance, financial management and local tax administration, among others.

The project successfully fostered a greater understanding of CDS methodology and the importance of involving the civil community, women, youth, community-based organisations, NGOs, and other parties.

As a result of its success, the Jordanian Ministry of Municipal Affairs proposed preparing CDSs in four other Jordanian cities (Irbid, Jerash, Salt, and Ma’an).

The project was implemented by the World Bank and the Jordanian Ministry of Municipal Affairs in partnership with Cities Alliance.

With support from the Cities Alliance through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GIZ implemented a package of projects from 2012–2014 to improve livelihoods for informal waste collectors in Greater Cairo whose livelihoods were threatened by privatisation of the industry.

RESULTS

• Development of comprehensive solid waste management (SWM) strategies for the cities of Khosoos and Khanka. The city-level strategies were formulated through a consultative process with all stakeholders, including local city councils, NGOs, private companies, and communities. The Governor of Qalyubeya and both city councils endorsed the strategies, and implementation plans were detailed for projects outlined by the community plans.
   
• Increased community awareness of solid waste management problems and respective roles and responsibilities. Seven community committees were established to monitor the efficiency of the services provided in their respective locations, and then take part in implementing community initiatives. The community groups helped organise ten environmental campaigns with the active participation of more than 1,000 citizens in Khosoos and Khanka.
   
• Capacity development of local administration, NGOs, and informal operators on sustainable and environmentally sound methods of SWM. Two SWM units were established in Khosoos and Khanka to undertake planning, information management and monitoring, and evaluation of private companies contracted by the city council. The units were fully equipped, with staff allocated and extensively trained. The activity also included the development of a comprehensive database of SWM information that is continuously updated.
   
• Enhancement of the institutional and administrative capacities through training. Training was provided for all stakeholders in SWM in Khosoos and Khanka, including the SWM units, NGOs, youth, community committees, and private operators. Unit staff were trained in how to monitor the performance of waste operators by tracking waste collection. They in turn provided continuous on-the-job training on downloading, matching, and geo-referencing Google maps and satellites.
   
• Improved living and working conditions for informal waste operators. The project established an NGO in Khosoos to facilitate informal waste collectors’ integration into the waste sector. The project also executed five complementary small-scale initiatives to address priorities identified by the community, including an income-generation initiative that helped 70 women start micro businesses in sorting and recycling waste.
   
• Establishment of recycling structures for processing waste. A centre was built in Khanka for composting and the supply, installation, and commissioning of sorting. The facility provides the informal sector with direct and indirect working opportunities. A transfer station was also built in Khosoos to limit the distances travelled by collection vehicles, reduce illegal dumping on the outskirts of the city, and achieve better monitoring of waste. 

Cities Alliance supported the city of Alexandria to undertake a City Development Strategy process in two phases from 2004-2008.

The project’s objectives included: Institution building for effective implementation of the CDS, local economic development-related activities, citywide participatory urban upgrading of squatter settlements, and environmental rehabilitation of Lake Marriout as well as development of the surrounding area.

RESULTS

Overall, the Alexandria project was a leading innovation at a time when ideas about urban governance were changing in Egypt. It became a key part of a nationwide move towards reform and had a lasting impact well beyond the city itself.

It introduced the concept of participatory planning. Implementating the CDS greatly helped decision makers, private sector, NGOs, and the community at large to come together for a common strategic vision and unified their efforts towards setting up a strategic plan for development in Alexandria.

By using a consultative process to tailor the development plan, the results reflected all stakeholders’ commitment to work towards its
implementation. By having such equal participation, all of the players knew their roles, duties, responsibilities, and benefits.

Likewise, the CDS provided the opportunity for all stakeholders to
exchange views, develop positive dialogues, and be well-informed about their city development strategic plan.

Cities Alliance in partnership with the World Bank facilitated the development of a national dialogue on citywide slum upgrading in Iran from 2002–2003.

The dialogue aimed to:

• Support a national policy debate on citywide slum upgrading
• Expose policymakers to international examples of citywide and nationwide approaches to slum upgrading
• Identify a range of policy options for Iran
• Strengthen collaboration between different tiers of government and agencies dealing with urban upgrading

RESULTS

With the assistance of an international consultant, the Iranian partners produced a policy framework entitled: “National Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements.”  It provided an analysis of the causes of slums, with a clear emphasis on the role of failed policies and weaknesses of administration.

The policy note was underwritten by key principles contained within the Iranian Constitution. The Iranian Cabinet endorsed the policy note in 2003.

Partly as a result of the policy statement, the government of Iran negotiated a long-term $330 million loan from the World Bank, $80 million of which to support the institution of an integrated approach to upgrading informal settlements and lay the foundations for more fundamental housing sector reforms over five years.  

This project (2016–2018) aimed to inform humanitarian, local authorities, and governmental actors and urge them to mainstream inclusive interventions in Lebanon.

The project was unique in Lebanon. Many within the humanitarian community were focusing on the needs of refugees, while very few stakeholders were planning and coordinating activities with local governments – leaving the emerging crisis of unplanned urban expansion in Lebanon unaddressed.

It produced a sound knowledge base in four cities: Beirut, Saida, Tripoli, and Tyre – which were the most affected by the refugee crisis – by using city profiling as an analytical tool to assist local governments in decision making.

The city profiles also served as the foundation for a State of Lebanese Cities report and informed the development of a national urban policy project implemented by UN-Habitat.

The project was implemented by UN-Habitat and sponsored by the Ford Foundation and United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA).

Despite its role as a major host to refugee populations, Lebanon has not signed the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, which are the core instruments outlining minimum standards for the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.

Without this framework outlining roles and responsibilities, Lebanon largely has relied on the Lebanese and International NGOs, with the support of the relevant UN agencies (UNHCR, UNRWA) to respond to the refugees’ needs.

Working from previous experiences in local authority training and collaboration, the project (2016–2017) sought to understand the role of local authorities in the global refugee protection regime, using the Right to the City (R2C) framework and the current movement behind the Global Platform on the Right to the City.

It aimed to develop a framework for local authority protection of refugee communities; participatory consultation mechanisms; protection policies and services; and an understanding of the roles and rights of the refugee community.

The project facilitated refugee communities’ interaction with the local community and local authorities to create stronger social inclusion within the community and better provisions for protection.

It also focused on promoting specific measures that protect refugee women and children, who are often engaged in precarious work and/or are more vulnerable when basic rights and services are not met.

The activity was sponsored by UCLG and implemented by the Housing and Land Rights Network – Habitat International Coalition.

When a separation wall was constructed in 2002, residents of four East Jerusalem neighbourhoods became isolated between the wall and the city boundaries. Since then, they have been neglected by the municipality of Jerusalem, resulting in growing informality, lack of basic services, reliable data, and political representation.

This project (2015–2017) supported the development of an urban database to serve as an advocacy tool so that residents can proactively engage decision makers and donors and enhance their living conditions.

Since the construction of the separation wall in 2002, the four neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem covered by the project have been neglected by the municipality. All four lack access to basic services or any kind of official representative body, and they have exhibited exclusively informal growth.

The project’s outputs include fact sheets, infographics, and assessment reports to evaluate the existing socioeconomic and physical conditions in each neighbourhood.

Strategic frameworks for identifying the emergency and development needs were shared with decision makers to provide urban development recommendations and advocate for better provision of social and physical infrastructure.

The project was part of the Innovation Fund's 2014 Call for Proposals on the theme Know Your City: Information for Transformation.

Between 2002 and 2009, Cities Alliance and the World Bank supported city development strategies (CDS) in three secondary cities: Aden, Mukalla, and Hodeidah.

The CDS process in each of these cities brought together public and private sector leadership to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the city, think strategically about opportunities for equitable economic growth, develop a long-term vision, and draft a prioritized action plan.

In all three cases, the CDS process was coupled with revisions to the cities’ master plans to ensure a strong link between economic development plans and infrastructure.

Creating a long-term vision for the city required the participation of a variety of public, private, and civil society leaders who did not often come together to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the city.

The structure for cross-sectoral communication provided under the umbrella of the CDS had a lasting effect in terms of helping to align the city’s social, economic, and environmental interests. In addition, with the financial support under the CDS, local leaders had access to much-needed technical support and expertise focused on issues of local concern.

To promote more sustainable development for Sana’a, the Cities Alliance funded a City Development Strategy (CDS) from 2006–2012.

The CDS process brought together public, private, and civil society representatives to lay the foundation of strategic planning and stakeholder engagement that would enable the city to build on its strengths, better manage its assets, spur sustained private-sector-led growth, and ensure socio-economic integration of the poor.

The result was a strategy and a set of recommended actions focusing on: 1) economic development; 2) institutional strengthening; 3) better financial management; 4) improved urban planning; and 5) a comprehensive approach to urban upgrading.

Several other activities were carried out alongside the CDS. These included the development of terms of reference for a comprehensive
update of the Sana’a master plan; securing a USD 300,000 grant to create a flood management and hazard risk management plan; and an additional grant for a climate change study.

The strategy development process helped to build the local government’s planning capacity and improve collaboration and communication.

It allowed the central and local governments to forge better links and build consensus to move forward with decentralisation reform, which is critical to making local governments more efficient and effective. It also strengthened links between the municipality and the private sector, as well as other key stakeholders.