Building a stakeholders’ coalition to bridge the capacity gap: A dialogue on financing and upscaling capacity development programmes

Trends in global capacity-gap assessments have shown that there is longer-term strategic need to radically reassess capacity building efforts to meet the urgency and scale of the problems at hand. This is exemplified by the need to expand the professional pool of planners through educational programs, while ensuring in the intermediate term that those local governments have improved access to adapted and innovative planning knowledge and practices. 

To further scale up capacity-building activities UN-Habitat aims to implement a stronger partnership approach, build strategic coalitions to leverage and sustain results, and maintain a strong focus on North-South, South-South and Triangular Cooperation. This must be coupled with a more mission-oriented approach to identifying capacity gaps at both local and national level with a maintained focused on the SDGs

A radical shift from unsustainable practices to innovative approaches is needed to support future resilience, inclusion, green and economic sustainability in cities. Equipping technical cadres and decision makers with the right knowledge, tools, and skills to drive this shift needs to be approached in a systematic manner. This can be done by

1) Better equipping and maintaining existing capacity needs  

2) Using new tools and methods to accelerate the scaling up of capacity building 

3) Improving access to capacity-building tools in smaller and more remote towns and cities  

Capacity-building efforts need to be leveraged to ensure that a maximum number of urban stakeholders benefit from the latest and most adapted practical knowledge available. Building a coalition of champions and supporters is a way to move the capacity development agenda forward.

This event brings together key partners to discuss the opportunities to scale-up capacity-building efforts and develop dedicated and innovative programmes that multiply impact and create a pathway to excellence.