Context

To support local governments dealing with a high influx of forcibly displaced, CMI periodically organizes knowledge exchange, capacity building and learning activities for municipal representatives members of the Host Municipalities Learning Network (HMLN).

During the Training Workshop on Strategic Planning for Local Economic Development in Host Communities in March 2018, municipal representatives from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Turkey formed twinning groups to exchange experiences and learn from each other’s work in planning for Local Economic Development (LED). The HMLN twinning groups consist of two cities collaborating on developing or upgrading their LED strategy and identifying innovative ideas for a better local economic environment in their context. Rather than a formal municipal twinning, twinning groups are collaborative and practice-oriented partnerships designed to enhance cross-country collaboration at the local level among two municipalities sharing similar issues. Following the establishment of 11 cross-country twinning groups, CMI facilitates the first steps and guide twinning group members toward a successful peer-exchange.

Since June 2016 the Mediterranean Host Municipalities Learning Network aims to support host local governments with evidence-based knowledge and Capacity Building to improve their response capacity for forced displacement. The Network benefitted from several face-to-face workshops and webinars on priority themes, surveys, as well as online discussions in the ad-hoc Collaboration4Development (C4D) online collaborative platform. The Host Municipalities Network is moderated by the Center for Mediterranean Integration, as part of the Mediterranean Refugees and Host Communities Program.

Objectives

This Webinar aims to:

• Connect active HMLN members who are part of a twinning group;
• Take stock of twinning groups’ work and share their progress;
• Support the twinning groups’ organization and schedule and solicit their active involvement in the HMLN

Target audience

This webinar targets HMLN members of a twinning group. Given its scope, participation will be upon invitation only.