Partnered Approach to Sustainable Urban Development – Leading Initiatives of United Nations Global Compact City Participants and Partners

This session follows on from the launch of UN Global Compact – Cities Programme’s “City Partnerships Challenge” and through case studies, brings to life the partnered approaches required to overcome the myriad of challenges facing cities – and to realise the SDGs. The presenters are partners and city participants of United Nations Global Compact; they will also be lead implementation partners for the new ‘City Partnerships’ system. Lessons and models are presented from Brazil, India and South Africa.

UN Global Compact leading participants from the state of Paraná, Brazil present an innovative, integrated approach to localise implementation the SDGs across the state. Cooperating across all levels of government, the model has six pillars: commitment of all 399 municipalities in Paraná to the SDGs; training municipal administration officers to develop SDG projects (with private sector support); aligning SDG priorities with state and municipal plans and targets; technological solutions for integrated management of indicators; incorporation of SDGs into State and municipal budgets.

The Global Compact Local Network – India’s Centre of Excellence for Governance, Ethics and Transparency led the promotion of governance and ethics in business in India for many years. Working with the national government of India, with support from Siemens, the Centre has developed a Governance Framework for Smart Cities. The Director will present on this framework for new urban development in India which was drawn from national and municipal consultation and links SDGs 11, 16 and 17.

The Mayor of eThekwini Municipality (Durban) brings insight into the contemporary South African urban reality, presenting the city’s innovation in security and resilience. ‘Durban’s Resilience Strategy’ works on four fronts: collaborative informal settlement action; integrated and innovative planning at the interface between municipal and traditional governance systems; exploring ‘bridging links’; and institutionalising resilience in eThekwini Municipality (through a “Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives Unit).