Makati City receives award for innovative city-to-city learning initiative
An EMI partner, Makati City in the Philippines, was presented with the City-to-City Cooperation Award at the 25th anniversary meeting of CITYNET, the Asia-Pacific local authority network, in Surabaya, Indonesia last week. The award was given to Makati City for its innovative city-to-city learning partnership together with Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
Funded by the World Bank Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction City-to-City Sharing Initiative, Makati, Quito, and Kathmandu participated in a series of exchanges to share sound practices and experiences in managing and reducing urban risk. Kathmandu and Quito were able to gain insights on emergency management systems and community-based disaster management from Makati. In turn, Quito's 'Atlas of Natural Hazards and Risks' was benchmarked by Makati and Kathmandu, while Quito and Makati learned from Kathmandu's experience with private sector organizations in disaster risk management and public awareness campaigns. Respective city representatives also shared their preservation and rehabilitation strategies for the protection of cultural heritage. Under the programme, the participating cities will also act as international and regional resource centers with other cities in their respective countries and regions.
The City-to-City Sharing Initiative follows the objectives of the Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient, which were developed by UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) to provide guidance to local governments in disaster risk reduction. Makati, Kathmandu and Quito are all members of the UNISDR Making Cities Resilient Campaign.
Additional information is available on the UNISDR website.
