26 September 2019: The UN Development Programme (UNDP), Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and partners launched a platform to help cities strategically manage challenges and learn from each other by sharing experiences and innovative solutions. The ‘City2City Network’ will provide a forum to find solutions to contemporary urban challenges and promote leadership, learning and innovation.

The Network will focus on areas such as digital transformation, energy and climate change, resilience, governance, the informal economy and municipal financing for development (FfD).

At least 110 of 169 SDG targets, a UNDP press release notes, will require direct engagement of cities and local authorities. The Network will serve as a peer-learning mechanism across regions, and engage the private sector, civil society and development partners by offering tools and diagnostics to support planning and SDG implementation at the local level.

“The City2City Network is born out of the need to connect, share and innovate towards socially inclusive, resource-efficient and sustainable cities,” said Mourad Wahba, UNDP. Wahba noted that the Network will “capitalize on UNDP’s network of Accelerator Labs operating across 60 countries to further experimentation to solve urban development problems.”

The Network, to be administered by UNDP, was launched on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 74). [UNDP Press Release] [City2City Network Website]