In February, USAID Urban was proud to participate in the 2018 World Urban Forum (WUF) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Held biannually, WUF is the most important global conference for influencing policies and programs on urban development, with a focus on implementing the New Urban Agenda. This year, WUF drew 22,000 participants from 165 countries to discuss the steps needed to build more sustainable cities.
At WUF, USAID highlighted promising approaches to addressing a critical development challenge for growing cities – municipal waste management – through an event on the Municipal Waste Recycling Program. Panelists from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and USAID/Washington discussed strategies for improving municipal waste management along with the critical role women in play in environmental management and job creation. They highlighted the constraints women are facing in the sector, the models that are working well, the metrics donors are using to measure empowerment, and how USAID’s support is helping to empower women in the solid waste management sector.
USAID also participated in a high-level round table discussion entitled “Sustainable Urban Development for Peace and Security” and a dialogue session called “Transformative Partnerships in Urban Management”.
To learn more about USAID’s urban programs, check out the new USAID Urban Blog Series, which was launched at WUF:
