2020 Annual Report - Cities Alliance

Coordinating Efforts to Respond to Covid-19 in Informal Settings

In the wake of the pandemic, the Secretariat launched a 12-month initiative in 2020 to strengthen the capacities of communities in informal settlements to respond to the crisis and enhance their resilience to future shocks. The project is supporting slum dweller federations, through SDI and the creation of a Global Programme on Informality and Covid-19. Comprehensive cross-national support was provided to national and local governments, urban stakeholders, and civil society organizations, to exchange experiences on the crisis response and recovery, focusing on informal settlements.

Throughout 2020, the Informality and Covid-19 Programme brought city responses to Covid-19 in informal settlements and alignment of knowledge and approaches to a broad global audience of urban experts, national and local governments, practitioners, and academia. The programme mobilised the Cities Alliance membership and other key partners to deliver transnational learning experiences, promote awareness among decision makers and support alignment of approaches to informality and Covid-19. During 2020, Cities Alliance hosted, facilitated, and participated in a series of Housing Laboratories (LAVs), decalogues, Urban Thinkers Campus events and a Live Learning Experience (LLE)27.

The common purpose encompassed cross-national exchange of experiences related to housing, slum upgrading, and inclusive urban governance, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, and was responsive to stakeholder demands on the ground. Country experiences More than 20 virtual events were convened in 2020, in collaboration with Cities Alliance members and partner organizations, on topics such as slum upgrading, housing and urban equity, as they intersect with Covid-19 across Africa, Asia and Latin America. The programme also distributed sanitation and health supplies in Uganda and Guatemala.¨

Quote:

“Responding to Covid-19 needs the participation of everyone in the world. If we don’t all participate it’s like doing nothing. We can say this is the same as building resilient cities: the city is only as resilient as its most vulnerable resident. It needs all of us to join hands.”

– Sheila Magara, community leader, Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation and member of the Management Committee of SDI.