Launched on Tuesday 24th August 2020 and closed on Monday 31st August 2020 the first SDG Project Assessment Session in Durban, South Africa, was successfully concluded with the active participation of eThekwini Municipality officials, the delivery partner consortium (Future Cities South Africa), UK FCDO local post and UN-Habitat specialists.
The so-called SDG Project Assessment Sessions constitute the main milestones of the “SDG Project Assessment Tool” implementation, a key component of the Global Future Cities Programme. The sessions consist of participatory workshops between the main partners of the Programme, to discuss recommendations for improving the alignment of a project with the SDG targets as well as the city context and goals.
The session in Durban focused on the “Informal Settlements Information Management Solution (ISIMS)” Project, which focuses on developing a data management and information management solution that will allow the eThekwini Municipality to improve how the Municipality collects, analyses and manages data on informal settlements. Given that a large proportion (approximately 25%) of Durban’s population lives in informal settlements, a key objective of the ISIMS is to help improve municipal decision making and planning processes in the context of informal settlements in Durban.
The session provided the platform for constructive discussion around the project’s alignment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Participants discussed data principles, stakeholder engagement processes and other elements of recent work undertaken within the Programme in the last 8 months, under the lenses of social inclusion, sustainability, and feasibility for long-term implementation. The main outputs of the session, including technical recommendations, will be captured in UN-Habitat’s SDG Recommendations Report.
The SDG sessions are not once-off events, but will be conducted at key milestones during the project implementation, allowing the partners to track progress over time and adequately embedding the SDG approach during the project development.
In addition to the ISIMS Project, the Global Future Cities Programme in South Africa comprises another four projects among three cities: Durban, Johannesburg, and Cape Town. In the following months, SDG Project Assessment Sessions will be also implemented on the themes of urban planning, transport-oriented development, smart mobility, and data systems.
Learn more and download the Tool in this link!