Fostering SDGs localization and NUA Implementation through strengthening the capacities of national and local authorities in urban planning to enhance resilience and strengthen recoveries from the COVID-19 pandemic

The five UN Regional Commissions, UN-Habitat and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) have been working together to support member States and local authorities in overcoming the negative social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic through two global projects funded by the UN Development Account. The two projects are entitled “Inter-regional cooperation for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda” and “Building Urban Economic Resilience During and After COVID-19”. Support has been aimed at strengthening capacities for urban planning, localizing the 2030 SDGs, implementing the New Urban Agenda and promoting urban economic resilience and smart sustainable development. These projects are “plugged-in” to a number of large-scale multi-stakeholder initiatives, including “Making Cities Resilient 2030” (UNDRR); “United for Smart Sustainable Cities” (ITU, UNECE and UN-Habitat); UN Socio-Economic Framework for Immediate COVID-19 Response (WHO); and other global and regional networks which allow dissemination of the UN city level best practices and scaling up successful experiences. This event aims to showcase the work carried out to date and preliminary outcomes of the two joint UN initiatives, while allowing participating member States and cities to provide testimonies of their experiences. Furthermore, the session will shed light on existing tools, methodologies and documented experiences which are of use to a wider public and available for scaling up of results beyond the limited participating countries and cities. Regarding urban plans and policies, materials presented will include newly designed methodologies, examples of impact/ gap analysis conducted and developed local action plans to overcome economic consequences of the pandemic at city level, among others. . Regarding New Urban Agenda implementation capacities, data and monitoring, the event will present the successful coordination of various UN bodies in leveraging tools at country level. These are online self-learning platforms aimed at member states, cities and the UN partners. The Urban Monitoring Framework, which offers an agreed universal framework to track performance of the urban SDGs and the New Urban Agenda (NUA), has recently been endorsed by the HQ governing bodies. The event will share on the application of the Monitoring Framework’s indicators by cities and countries, including National and Local Voluntary Reviews on progress on SDGs. This One UN event will include two panels and be structured as follows: Panel 1: Representatives of UN partners showcasing work from the projects Panel 2: Representatives of Member States and City authorities to provide testimonies and share experiences A brief discussion and question and answer session to engage with the participants. Concluding high-level presentation on lessons learned and proposals for future scale up and next steps.