What we are doing
With the number of people living in cities projected to reach 68% by 2050, mostly concentrated in Asia and Africa (90%), the role and capacity of local governments in addressing impacts of accelerated urbanization is critical. This requires integrated climate action: combining GHG avoidance and mitigation, as well as climate change adaptation and enhanced resilience. In this context (re)designing, building and improving, as well as scaling up sustainable urban infrastructure is critical for cities of all sizes. However, a significant technical and financial gap (staff capacity, knowledge, access to resources, etc.) hinders the need for action by subnational governments to promote urban transformation and develop robust and comprehensive climate strategies that will guide local implementation, especially in the Global South.
The Gap Fund addresses a pressing need by offering specialized technical assistance and tailor-made tools for early-stage projects. Although the support provided by the Fund is pivotal, it focuses only on a very specific part of the project preparation, while local governments need help throughout the whole development cycle, including guidance on the necessary steps to be taken at each stage.
The planned project seeks to provide tailor-made support to selected local governments with priority projects identified and at the pre-feasibility stage. The Gap Fund SUP focuses on further empowering selected cities in Africa and Latin America by enabling their local governments building on the Gap Fund support they already received, to enhance their capacity to refine priority urban infrastructure projects towards investment-readiness.
Read more
Read less
How we are tracking
- Up to seven (7) LG mapping/assessment results (per region) to inform regional work plans
- Up to 2 representatives from 4 core LGs/cities that already received TA from the Gap Fund (max. 8
participants)
- Up to 2 participants from each additional city from max 3 additional cities (max. 6 additional
representatives).
- Two capacity building methodologies (one per region)
- Eight (8) work plans for core participants
- Two regional work plans
- Up to 14 Letter of Commitments (7 per RCoMP)
- Two sets of city pairs per region
- Two (2) facilitated in-person workshops with accompanying materials per Regional CoMP
- Four (4) Virtual exchanges and capacity development opportunities per Regional CoMP with accompanying materials
- Successful international event, with public summary of highlights and key messages released in English (potentially also in Spanish and/or Portuguese and/or French).
Read more
Read less
What we are achieving
Through the Gap Fund SUP, ICLEI will facilitate interactive technical capacity building sessions, city "pairing-and-sharing", and more broadly contributing to the Gap Fund knowledge hub. The project will support 4 projects in each of two regions, respectively Africa and Latin America. Each region will focus on one key sector, with priority themes for actions to be further (re)defined. Participating local governments will be brought on board in two ways, organized in Regional Communities of Practice (RCoMP) to be set up - based on shared language, culture, sector, and/or similarity of governance approaches.
Mechanisms to be used to foster learning and sharing, networking and expanding the community of practice, will be: City pairing, regional CoMPs, tailored technical capacity development workshops, virtual learning and sharing, and international exchange.
Read more
Read less
