USAID Urban 2017: A Year in Review

From building new partnerships, to providing new resources, 2017 was a busy year for the USAID Urban team. Throughout 2017, USAID Urban’s online resource portal “UrbanLinks” highlighted USAID’s role in advancing sustainable urban development worldwide. As we begin the new year, we would like to revisit and reflect on a few of the highlights from the past year:

In 2017, USAID Urban…

  • Advanced knowledge on mobilizing resources for financing sustainable urban development. From expert panels, to thought pieces, to infographics, USAID Urban examined and shared evidence and best practices for helping municipal and local governments finance the development of their rapidly growing cities.
  • Partnered with local organizations to improve waste management. USAID Urban launched a Municipal Waste Recycling Program to support, identify, and scale promising innovations in waste recycling, while fostering employment opportunities and women’s empowerment. On January 17, USAID Urban hosted a webinar on this program: Women in Waste Management: An Opportunity. Check it out if you missed it.
  • Forged new partnerships and alliances to better coordinate approaches and leverage resources. USAID rejoined the Cities Alliance, connecting the Agency to the leading network of expertise and innovative solutions on urban issues.
  • Created and shared evidence to improve decision-making. Throughout 2017, USAID Urban continued to expand the UrbanLinks Resource Library, an online, publicly available toolbox of best practices for urban programming. From country case studies on urban resilience to analytical briefs on barriers to women’s economic empowerment, you can easily find and access the tools and resources on UrbanLinks that you may need to help strengthen urban policies and programs.

Here are a few things to look for with USAID Urban in the coming year:

  • World Urban Forum (WUF) – USAID Urban will be participating int WUF 2018, the most important multilateral, global conference for influencing policies and programs on urban development, with a focus on implementing the New Urban Agenda. On February 10 at WUF, we will be convening a networking session on waste management. Also, to coordinate with WUF, we will launch a blog series highlighting key USAID Urban projects from around the globe.
  • Country Urban Profiles – In early 2018, we will launch the first in a series of country urban profiles – in-depth analytical tools providing data and analysis on urban demographic trends and their implications on critical development issues.
  • Online Trainings – Later this year, USAID Urban will launch a series of short online training modules to improve capacity to address critical development challenges–like health, food security, resilience–in urban areas.
  • More Interactivity – Starting with the webinar on Women in Waste Management: an Opportunity and continuing throughout the year, we will be hosting more regular webinars, events and engagement opportunities to connect urban practitioners with each other and with best practices in the field.

Thanks for being a part of the USAID Urban community.