Report of the Proceedings of an Online Workshop on UNESCO/ICESCO Cities 2030

Abstract

This is a report of the proceedings of webinar held on 16th December 2020 to Promote the Membership of Uganda’s Cities to ICESCO Cities and UNESCO Cities’ 2030 Platform for strengthening the resilience of the cities to disasters including the Covid-19 Pandemic. The theme of the webinar was: Making A Case for Membership of Uganda’s Cities to ICESCO Cities and UNESCO Cities’ 2030 Platform and Promoting Resilience and Sustainability. The background to this intervention was the Act of Parliament of November 2019, that approved the creation of 15 new cities to be operationalized in two phases between 2020 and 2023 starting in July 2020. UNATCOM had earlier held a workshop in January 2019 that targeted 7 cities named as candidates at the time, where the participants had recommended among other things that UNATCOM/UNESCO should hold periodic biannual engagements with the cities and municipal planners to create awareness of existing opportunities with view to building the technical capacity and providing general support for physical planners of the urban authorities. The participants were introduced to the programmes of both the Islamic World Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) through technical papers presented by UNATCOM Board Chairman and other Board Members, the Secretary General and Assistant Secretary General and Programme Officers and members of the UNATCOM Board. Information was also shared on the third Development Plan that proposes six focus areas for harnessing the urbanization potential in Uganda The participants raised issues regarding: the need to inculcate reading culture in the Ugandan citizens to be able to realise the designation as Learning Cities, the role of the academia in contributing to the growth of cities, encroachments on city land, challenges of preserving the African culture against the possible onslaught of unacceptable global cultural practices, the need for strong value system and peaceful coexistence as basis for strong cities, the need for appropriate branding to promote local and international tourism and the need for the cities to relate closely with the universities within their areas and enter into Memoranda of Understanding so as to have strong partnership in research, capacity building and financial capital. UNATCOM is to continue consulting with the MoLHUD on establishing a joint taskforce or steering committee to work in promotion of the UNESCO programme for cities and in close partnership organize for another webinar and ensure with the whipping of the MoLHUD and MoLG that all the cities attend. UNATCOM, MoLHUD and other Partners are to follow up on the discussions of this webinar by way of physical visits to the cities to make on-spot gap assessments and plans for capacity building. In the meantime, the MoLHUD is to invite UNESCO/UNATCOM to be on the Urban Development Programme Working Group.