Recommendations for the New Urban Agenda

The Cities Alliance Joint Work Programme for Habitat III commissioned this technical background paper on the implications of, and the value added by, partnerships with civil society organisations for implementing the New Urban Agenda at various levels. Recommendations include:

1) A strong component of direct formal and informal collaboration between civil society organisations and governments at various levels should be introduced in the New Urban Agenda and the work of cooperation agencies.

2) Efforts to build and strengthen the capacities of both local government as well as civil society organisations need to be intensified in order to realise the potential of collaborative interfaces between civil society organisations and government institutions at various levels.

3) Local governments should be encouraged to cooperate in using the successful tools developed by civil society organisations for generating knowledge and joint learning across ethnic, social, gender and religious differences. This will substantially contribute to the development of inclusive urban policies. New interfaces should be developed for enhanced dialogue and collaboration in the early stages of strategising and planning.

4) Successful partnerships and co-production models need inter-sectoral and multi-level approaches. While civil society organisations tend to be broad and focus on more than one aspect of exclusion, local governments and international development cooperation need to overcome fragmentation caused by sectoral institutional boundaries.