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Cities and Climate Change Initiative
Calling on governments to build capacity to tackle climate change effects

The Cities and Climate Change Initiative seeks to enhance climate change mitigation and climate change preparedness of cities in developing and least developed countries. This programme is currently active in Ecuador, Mozambique, Philippines, and Uganda. Five cities have been added in sub-Saharan Africa, and a fully fledged strategy has been prepared for Asia and the Pacific, with nine cities already engaged. Additional components are being prepared for subregions with high levels of vulnerability to climate change. This initiative is being implemented with other relevant agencies of the United Nations system.

The Shelter Initiative for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation is a component of the Cities and Climate Change Initiative. In partnership with academia and the private sector, the shelter initiative supports local authorities and housing ministries to develop building codes, local knowledge, and alternative building practices to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. The shelter initiative promotes the use of low-cost, green building materials, construction technologies, and design, with a specific focus on hazard-resistant housing in urban areas affected by disasters related to climate change.

In the 2008–2009 start-up period, the Cities and Climate Change Initiative became a promising global reference point on cities and climate change. Some of the milestones and highlights so far include regional meetings and roundtables in Pretoria, Marrakesh, Nairobi, and Bangkok; a series of successful advocacy meetings; climate change assessments and scoping studies in the Philippines, Ecuador, Uganda, and Mozambique; active engagement of urban actors in national climate change debates in focus countries; various partnerships with international organizations; development of three tools; partnership with ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability regarding the Resilient Cities Congress; and the development of a city greenhouse gas emission standard and urban risk assessment methodology.

Urban Planning and Design Programme
Improving inclusive urban planning management and governance

The quest for sustainable urbanization in the wake of the urban transition witnessed over the past three decades has brought urban planning to the centre stage of development. In order to strengthen the role of urban planning in sustainable development, UN-HABITAT has developed over the past few years a coordinated urban planning programme aimed at supporting member states to improve their planning capacities, systems, and approaches.

Building on the Global Report on Human Settlements 2009 and the principles of New Urban Planning under the 2006 Vancouver Declaration, as adopted by planning associations worldwide, UN-HABITAT's work focuses on (1) supporting national and local governments, planning professionals, and other stakeholders in the review of urban planning frameworks; (2) strengthening local and regional capacities; (3) developing and piloting tools for urban planning that target policymakers, practitioners, and communities; and (4) providing advisory services.

Training and Capacity Building Programme
Supporting local government capacity building through more than 40 training institutions

Many local authorities lack the human resources required to meet sustainable urban development needs. Without strong local institutions and motivated staff, decentralization and human settlements reform will not deliver the desired development outcomes. Local governments need to practice and promote good urban governance by performing their enabling, regulating, and empowering roles while ensuring equity, participation, transparency, and accountability. With emerging global issues such as climate change and economic crises, cities need to do more with fewer resources.

UN-HABITAT supports capacity building through the following:

• Developing cutting-edge, action-oriented tools on topics such as leadership, financial management, local economic development, land, participatory planning, and conflict management. In the past decade, UN-HABITAT has developed high-impact training tools in a number of areas, based on demand.
• Supporting training institutions through training, curriculum development, organizational development, and networking
• Supporting the development and implementation of national capacitybuilding strategies, programmes, and projects

UN-HABITAT has developed 13 cutting-edge training tools. Popular tools include the Local Elected Leadership series, which has been translated into over 25 languages and used in more than 40 countries; the award-winning Local Economic Development series; the Local Government Financial Management series, which was the first of its kind; Participatory Budgeting; Gender in Local Government; and Quick Guides for Policy Makers on Housing the Poor in Asian Cities, a joint product with UNESCAP currently in the process of being adapted for sub-Saharan Africa in three languages.

Between 2002 and 2009, over 100 national training institutions were supported in 40 countries. Support is provided through various means, including curriculum development, provision of tools, training of trainers, business plan development, and networking support. For example, the International Urban Training Centre, the result of an ongoing partnership between UN-HABITAT and Korea's Gangwon Province, regularly offers courses on sustainable urban management for the region. In 2009, a total of 81 participants from 16 countries participated in courses such as Ecological Urban Restoration, Sustainable Urban Energy, and Sustainable Urbanization.

Between 2002 and 2007, training was delivered directly to 2,133 participants through some 70 training activities. This amounted to a total of 10,871 participant training days. In 2008, 12 training workshops on different thematic areas were delivered globally; in 2009, 20 workshops were completed. Training events have also become a permanent feature of the World Urban Forum. At each session of the Forum, UN-HABITAT coordinates at least 20 training events, which are delivered by Habitat Agenda partners.

Training and capacity building are being further expanded in new and growing thematic areas such as land, climate change, green economy, planning, gender, urban safety, and public administration. Learning and education are also an increasing focus. The learning entails developing cutting-edge research, knowledge, and tools on how people and organizations learn. Pedagogical and learning techniques are stressed, along with e-learning platform management and course design/development, support for the development and usage of online workspace/collaborative platforms, adult education approaches, communities of practice and networks of practitioners, and substantive knowledge on north-south and south-south learning approaches and practices. In education, due emphasis is being given to partnerships with universities through the Habitat Partner University Initiative, which bridges the gap between research and practice (see Habitat Partner University Initiative box).

Safer Cities Programme
Promoting urban safety and social cohesion and preventing urban crime and violence

Rising levels of urban violence and crime worldwide are not only socially harmful, but are also an obstacle to the attainment of development goals and a deterrent to local and foreign investment. It is estimated that 60 percent of urban residents in developing countries have been victims of crime. Crime and violence restrict urban social and economic development, and poverty and social exclusion compound the situation. The impacts of crime and insecurity are pervasive and widespread, often jeopardizing opportunities and pro-poor policies. Launched in 1996, the Safer Cities Programme provides support to local governments towards sustainable urbanization by: 1) improving policies, legislation, and strategies for urban safety and local crime prevention; 2) strengthening urban institutions in charge of violence and crime prevention; and 3) improving the implementation of public policies and programmes related to urban safety and social cohesion.

The Habitat Agenda acknowledges the responsibility of local authorities in preventing crime and violence. Firstly, the programme aims to make 'safer cities' know-how and experience accessible to the whole international community and build capacities in local and national governments to address urban safety challenges. Secondly, it develops responses to specific demands on urban safety related to the core UN-HABITAT mandate, enhances urban safety through the reduction of urban vulnerabilities and through urban planning and management, and strengthens the governance of urban safety. Finally, it develops regional strategies and frameworks for increasing impact through systematic interinstitutional action on urban safety and social cohesion.

In line with the Millennium Development Goals on the living conditions of the urban poor and women's equality, the programme focuses its work on reducing the vulnerability of the urban poor and women to crime and violence. It has developed tools and methodologies for crime prevention strategies; it has built local authorities' capacities in developing countries and organized international conferences on the issue. Finally, it has contributed to spreading a culture of prevention. At present, the Safer Cities Programme focuses on consolidation, at the global level, of existing knowledge and awareness on urban safety through a normative approach and the development of innovative tools and instruments from a social cohesion perspective in order to improve the quality of life in human settlements.

Decentralization Programme
Supporting local governments in promoting decentralization
The Decentralization Programme advocates three elements necessary for better urban local governance: 1) policy and legislative reform; 2) financial autonomy; and 3) adequate capacity and motivated human resources. The programme promotes policy and legislative reforms, which enable and empower national governments and local authorities to improve urban governance. Through the programme, UN-HABITAT facilitates the sharing of best practices and provides technical support on decentralization to enable better delivery of and access to basic urban services and to improve the governance and management of cities. Capacity-building activities and assistance to local authorities in monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of decentralization efforts complement policy development. Furthermore, UN-HABITAT is helping to improve dialogue between local and central governments, through facilitating and backstopping regional meetings of mayors at which special sessions are organized for engagement among mayors, ministers, and development partners. It does this also through the activities of the United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA), an important political platform for mayors and local authority
associations. UNACLA advises the UN system – through UN-HABITAT – on concrete issues, trends, and effective responses to urban development in general. The Advisory Group of Experts on Decentralization is a technical group that contributes to the international dialogue on decentralization and the strengthening of local authorities.

Governance Programme
Promoting accountability, transparency, and civic engagement in urban development

The Governance Programme is a broader initiative that encompasses both relations among different levels of governance (decentralization) and the embedded institutional relations within each level and among key actors. The programme promotes subsidiarity, accountability, transparency, civic engagement, and effectiveness in urban development. The programme involves advocacy, normative debate, capacity building, and knowledge management. The key results include mainstreaming governance in the programmes of UNHABITAT and in all deliverables on the ground; developing a set of tools for capacity building; and contributing to increased involvement of the urban poor
in planning, budgeting, and programme implementation. For instance, the Association of Local Authorities of Zambia, in collaboration with UN-HABITAT, has adopted the Urban Governance Index and trained local personnel to continuously identify bottlenecks and monitor improvements in local governance in cities.

Sustainable Urban Development Network (SUD-Net)
Mobilizing professional networks for the promotion of integrated urban development

The purpose of SUD-Net is to provide a common platform for multi-sectoral collaboration among different cadres of urban networks and practitioners. While linkages are global, the expected results of the collaboration focus on the local or city level. SUD-Net is currently comprised of specialist networks supported through various UN-HABITAT programmes and initiatives (Cities and Climate Change Initiative, Global Land Tool Network, Habitat Partner University Initiative, Global Partnership for Safer Cities, and various governance networks). SUD-Net provides a yearly theme based on urban planning, management, and governance, through which networks can interact and collaborate on concrete activities. For 2011, the theme 'Place-making, public spaces and quality of life in cities' is being used to demonstrate the multi-sectoral dimensions of urban development. In addition to working through themes, SUD-Net supports the development and promotion of common tools, technology, and events that facilitate knowledge sharing and management among urban networks.

Habitat Partner University Initiative

The Habitat Partner University Initiative is one of the components of the Sustainable Urban Development Network and promotes education, training, research, and knowledge management for sustainable urban development, aiming to make such knowledge more accessible and relevant to actors at the city level.

The initiative is also a means of enlarging cooperation between UN-HABITAT and institutions of higher education, as well as facilitating exchange and cooperation between universities in developing and developed nations. Habitat Partner Universities are institutions willing to promote the socially, environmentally, economically, and spatially sustainable development of towns and cities in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals. UN-HABITAT works with them to build the teaching and research capacity of tertiary institutions.

The Habitat Partner University Initiative was relaunched in early 2011 with defined membership criteria, and a cross section of universities will define the priorities of the work programme for the coming years. For the first time, UN-HABITAT will have a dedicated staff member to move the initiative from an informal network to a programme.

Gender Mainstreaming Programme
Promoting gender equality in municipalities

UN-HABITAT promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women as a vital component of sustainable urbanization. Realizing this vision is possible by ensuring that all agency programmes and activities are mainstreaming gender. Working with a diverse range of partners, from academic institutions to grassroots women's organizations, UN-HABITAT is increasing its work in gender advocacy, training, and capacity building, helping policymakers and development practitioners to work more effectively to address gender inequalities in the context of human settlements development.

In 2009, a first training programme for trainers of local governments was carried out with the Golda Meir Mt Camel International Training Institute in Haifa, Israel. Planning officers from municipalities in different regions of the world were trained. The institute has committed to offering the course in partnership with UN-HABITAT until 2013, the final year of the UN-HABITAT Gender Equality Action Plan. In line with the 'One UN' initiative, various UN-HABITAT programmes are part of the UN Joint Gender Programme, as in Kenya. In 2010, UN-HABITAT funded a training session under the gender and local governance component that was developed in collaboration with UNDP, UNIFEM, and the Association of Local Governments of Kenya. Other partners interested in this collaboration are the Kenya Government Training Institute, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Development, and the Ministry of Local Government. An important recent UN-HABITAT publication in the area of gender mainstreaming is Gender Equality for Smarter Cities: Challenges and Progress (2010).