Fostering Equitable Economic Growth in Cities

The Joint Work Programme implements its partnership approach through three components:

1. Global Policy Dialogue: Structured global policy dialogue to explore and address the role of local public goods and services in stimulating growth and reducing inequalities in cities.
 
2. Generating Global Knowledge: Addressing key knowledge gaps by producing peer-reviewed global knowledge products to inform practitioners and policy makers at the global, national and local levels.
 
3. Campaign Cities initiative: Facilitating local partnerships in selected cities in partner countries, supporting the promotion of equitable access to public goods and services based on local needs, capacities and priorities.

Thematic areas we work in

The JWP EEG has been designed to explore different thematic areas under the umbrella of enhancing public services to achieve EEG. This reflects the fact that the local barriers to EEG are multi-faceted. The key topics covered are:

• Gendered barriers to accessing basic services and gender-blind planning.
• The value of public space and public land as a productive asset.
• Collaboration between secondary cities to overcome their competitive disadvantages.
• The management of ecosystem goods in urban areas, such as water, green space and land.
• Pricing municipal services in a manner that makes economic, financial and social sense in local communities.
• Analysing smart cities approaches to urban inclusion and EEG.
• Sustainable management of medical waste and health hazards.
• Enhancing agro-processing industries to capture value, create employment and livelihood opportunities.
• Tourism development and development of local historical and cultural assets.
• Addressing the challenges that constrain Local Economic Development (LED). 

Geographies

The impact of the policy dialogues and the knowledge products produced by the JWP-EEG is global and not constrained to any particular geographic area. Many of the outcomes and policy recommendations can be applied in different contexts across the Global South.

The Campaign Cities initiative has been delivered in:

• Bangladesh
• Uganda
• Kenya
• Ghana