New resilience learning modules focuses on key role of local governance for DRR and resilience building
As the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, disaster risk is complex, systemic, and dynamic; just like the urban areas and communities that are exposed to it. Local and regional governments are at the forefront of DRR and resilience building. However, they often lack support, capacity and competences to articulate what constitutes and shapes disaster risk and resilience, and to provide solutions that will not only reduce risk, but also build resilience to ensure equitable and sustainable development in their communities.
Coinciding with the launch of the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) campaign, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), together with UNDRR and UN-Habitat, is publishing its new Training of Trainers pedagogical series: the Resilience Learning Modules, to support the localization of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
“UCLG is committed to supporting its members to localize the Sendai Framework. In the current crises, we are convinced that its objectives are critical, and we need to rethink development from the territories. Resilience is critical to achieve the global agendas, in particular the Sustainable Development Goals.” - Emilia Saiz, Secretary General of UCLG.
The first volume of the Resilience Learning Modules, Fundamentals of Resilient Governance & Development, builds on the work led by UCLG to localize the SDGs, introducing how cities can organize themselves to assess risk, develop strategy and action plans, and finance resilience building. The second volume, to be published by the end of the year, will build on these fundamentals to guide the implementation of specific actions; such as enhancing social resilience, risk-based planning, or using nature-based solutions and innovative design strategies.
“Urban resilience is more than a series of DRR measures. It must be embedded in a general strategy for sustainable development that makes our cities inclusive places providing opportunities for all” - Johnny Araya, Mayor of San Jose, co-president of UCLG.
The modules present a systemic approach to resilience building and disaster risk management, highlighting the key role of governance to drive resilience-based sustainable and inclusive development. They also recognize the important role local and regional government associations must play to push for an enabling environment at the national and international levels for LRGs to be able to implement locally-sensible and responsive resilience strategies which contribute to the localization of global agendas, particularly as they aim to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
The modules will be rolled-out together with the different sections and partners of UCLG, through a training of trainers methodology. They build on the ongoing efforts and knowledge of cities around the world, including the SDGs learning modules, previous peer-learning experiences, the work of UCLG’s Taskforce for Territorial Prevention and Management of Crises, as well as the expertise of UNDRR and UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Profiling Program.
The first volume of the Resilience Learning Module is now available in English, and will soon be available in Spanish, and French. For further information, please reach out to: learning@uclg.org
About MCR2030
MCR2030 is a global, cross-stakeholder initiative for improving local resilience through advocacy, knowledge sharing, city-to-city networks and connecting multiple layers of government. It helps cities understand where they are on their own resilience journey and provides insight and partnership opportunities to ensure they are safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable.