Civil Society and Sustainable Cities

This side event will demonstrate and discuss experiences from the Arab Region with a special focus on the Egyptian case. It will highlight some of the Arab CSOs and local government experiences in localizing the implementation of SDGs, especially goal 7 (Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all) Goal 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) and Goal 13 for (take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts). The informal areas of Cairo will be presented as an extreme case, not only for their community's vulnerability and resilience, but also for the fact that almost 60% of nearly 10 million Cairo residents live in informal areas. The presentation will explain Egyptian CSOs successful contribution in this regard.

to increase the community resilience towards adaptation to the consequences of climate

change and its effects on achieving sustainable livelihoods.

The work of local actors, including our organization under the Participatory Development Programme of Urban Areas (PDP) will be presented. The PDP is a jointly funded Programme by the European Union and the German Government, and is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

The session will aim at addressing the questions of how urban resilience can be tackled with under the commitments of the New Urban Agenda on the local level, with local and community actors. Through the discussion, the mechanics of increasing community's resilience and adaptation to the consequences of climate change and its effects on achieving sustainable livelihoods will be highlighted,

Furthermore, the discussion session will share knowledge and lessons learnt from the Egyptian experience in addressing the relevant issues of community participation, building synergies, and gender Equality.

And What have been the major challenges and achievements on the local level in Egypt in making cities safer, resource efficient and resilient.

In response to this question, the discussion will focus on:

Institutional capacities of CSOs in the Arab countries.

Roles and responsibilities of all concerned stakeholders through a partnership approach, focusing on the role of CSOs.

Building resilience through knowledge, advocacy, research, and awareness raising and training of CSOs.

Priority actions for improved and more efficient civil society & community actions to address urban development