Fostering Urban Resilience through Preparedness Activities: Lessons from Southern Africa

In the New Urban Agenda (NUA), leaders from around the world recognize the crucial role of cities in enhancing food security and nutrition systems and have committed to enhance social protection safety nets for informal and migrant workers, such as the urban poor.

COVID-19 has drawn attention to the vulnerabilities and the limited support that is currently delivered to urban residents by the emerging social protection systems in Southern Africa.

The Southern African region is highly exposed to the effects of extreme climate events, which, combined with pre-existing stressors, such as high levels of poverty, unemployment, and absence of strong local governance results in high vulnerability levels, that have been furtherly compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This event will promote exchange and better understanding of how Disaster Risk Management, Social Protection and Urban Authorities could work together to prepare for and respond to different kinds of shocks in urban areas of the Region.

The 1.5-hour event will be structured around:

1. Introduction and setting the scene by Moderator ( WFP - 5 min)
2. Key-Note Address by the President of the Session (AU - 10 min)
3. Presentations by Delegates (WFP / UN-Habitat / Govt. of Zimbabwe / Govt. of Lesotho - 20 min)
4. Panel discussion and Q&A (50 min)
5. Closing Reflections (5 min)

The event will be introduced by a keynote address delivered by the African Union (AU) on the relevance of Local Governments in providing solutions to build long-lasting urban resilience.

WFP will set the scene by introducing the project “Fostering Resilience through Preparedness Activities in Urban Areas of Southern Africa”.

The following panel discussion and a Q&A, chaired by WFP, will be focused on sharing examples and challenges related to data and collaborative evidence-building (the WHAT), the role of local authorities and other non-state actors (the WHO), and the coordinated multi-sectoral approaches to urban management needed to prepare for, respond to, and build back better from shocks in urban contexts (the HOW).