Program

Lead Organizations

The World Bank, Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI). 

Partners

World Bank Institute (FY13, FY14); GFDRR (FY14); AFD; CEFEB (FY15).

Challenges

• 62% of the total population of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) live in cities. The MENA urban population is expected to double by 2040 which will create important economic opportunities but will also be accompanied with significant challenges in terms of the appropriate planning, management, and planning of urbanization.
• Both at the international level and within the MENA region, successful experiences and innovative analytical work to address these challenges exist but are not sufficiently shared among practioners to ensure effective peer-to-peer learning.

Program Objective

To facilitate knowledge exchange among policy makers concerned with development in urban areas in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region through face-to-face conferences and electronic exchanges that enable mayors, national decision makers, urban practitioners and specialists, private enterprises and leaders to access knowledge, exchange experiences, and conceptualize and collaborate on new initiatives. 

Selected Results

• Deepened knowledge by facilitating exchange of best practice. Participants engaged in face- to-face exchanges learn from each other’s experience, and also from experts and practitioners from other regions.
• Informed policy choice/decision making: During the workshop on city resilience, held May 22-23, 2014, mayors recognized the need for their cities to play a major role (in coordination with other levels of government and with the private sector). The involvement of private-sector leaders was also crucial and made it possible to initiate new networks with decision makers.
• Informed project preparation (upstream support): The workshop on city resilience reinitiated a dialogue with the Algerian counterpart on the implementation of the resilience plans developed through the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) program, Cities and Climate Change. It also triggered similar discussions on new operations with the city of Beirut in Lebanon which now requested support from the WB to develop a resilience master plan. Linkages with the Moroccan integrated risk management project also contributed to the sharing of good practices.