Category: Asia

Categories
Asia

Electric Rickshaw Pioneers Smash Gender Barriers

Electric Rickshaw Pioneers Smash Gender Barriers in India

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Climate, Resilience, Financing, Transport, Gender, Health, SDGs

ORGANISATION(S)

SMV Green

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

10 million cycle rickshaw drivers in India work in difficult conditions for minimal pay. They must also spend a big chunk of their income paying expensive rickshaw rental fees. The alternative, auto-rickshaws, are also expensive for drivers to rent, and although the work is less physically demanding, they are polluting and noisy due to their diesel and petrol engines. Many women in socially conservative communities have been blocked from driving rickshaws, leaving them with few opportunities for employment other than domestic work.

Social enterprise SMV Green aims to eliminate the drudgery of cycle rickshaw work by helping drivers switch to electric rickshaws (e-rickshaws). It provides a ‘one-stop-shop’ for drivers that covers financing, vehicle supply, licensing and permits, money management training, road safety training, and after-sales service.

SMV’s radical Vahini programme has trained some of India’s first woman rickshaw drivers, creating secure incomes for them and improving safety and security for their female passengers. SMV Green is currently active in Varanasi, Prayagraj (formerly known as Allahabad), Lucknow and Patna.

Click here to find out more.

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and where the impacts of climate change are experienced acutely.”
  • “Well managed cities are drivers of economic development, centres of innovation and entrepreneurship, and sources of trade and employment that are vital for the livelihoods of their citizens.”
  • “This will help ensure that cities are properly equipped to deal with the challenges of climate change and rapid urbanisation, to reduce risk and vulnerability, inequality and informality, while promoting inclusion and capitalising on the opportunities presented by agglomeration to promote social, economic and environmental well-being.”

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

SMV Green: https://www.smvgreen.com/

Categories
Asia

Nature-based Climate Adaptation Programme for the Urban Areas of Penang Island

Nature-based Climate Adaptation Programme for the Urban Areas of Penang Island 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Governance, Capacity Building, Resilience, Gender 

ORGANISATION(S)

Think City, Ministry of Environment and Water, Department of Irrigation and Drainage, City Council of Penang Island

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

Penang is situated in Southeast Asia which is projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to be one of the three regions in the world to be hit the hardest by climate change. Penang is mostly susceptible to increasing temperatures, heatwaves and frequent extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall which leads to flooding. Several vulnerable communities in Penang include communities living in areas that are flood prone. The programme is a multilateral initiative that looks to enhance urban resilience and reduce human and ecosystem vulnerability to climate change impacts and extreme weather events through the implementation of nature-based solutions (NBS). It also seeks to improve social resilience and build institutional capacity in collaborative efforts. The programme’s 4 components include the use of nature-based solutions for: a) reducing urban heat, b) improving the management of stormwater and flood mitigation, c) strengthening social resilience and d) building institutional capacity and a knowledge transfer platform. This is the first municipal climate adaptation programme to be developed in Malaysia. It is hoped that through the knowledge transfer platform this programme will be replicated and scaled up across other Malaysian cities. Click here to find out more.

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and where the impacts of climate change are experienced acutely.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.” 
  • “Universities, research, technology, innovation, and knowledge sharing will be at the heart of ensuring sustainable C&HSs of the future.”    

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Think City: https://thinkcity.com.my/

Categories
Asia

Co-composting Plant in Sakhipur, Bangladesh

Co-composting Plant in Sakhipur, Bangladesh

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

WASH, governance, circular economy

ORGANISATION(S)

Sakhipur Municipality in partnership with WAB and BASA and the Department for Agricultural Extension

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

Sakhipur, is a 33,000-inhabitant town in Tangail District, Bangladesh with very poor sanitation. Sakhipur’s sanitation situation was such that sludge was either left in full pits and septic tanks, or emptied and discharged unsafely, causing environmental contamination and health concerns. Solid waste management was complex due to limited treatment. The pourashava (municipality) is responsible for Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) services as well as solid waste management, yet small towns usually do not have the adequate human resources, budget or incentives to deal with the issue. To address this challenge, WaterAid Bangladesh (WAB) and the Bangladesh Association for Social Advancement (BASA) have supported Sakhipur Municipality both technically and financially to analyse the situation; evaluate potential options; and establish a co-composting plant in 2015, which became operational in 2016. The plant treats both faecal sludge and organic waste to produce good quality compost, sold to local farmers. This came alongside improvements along the sanitation chain, such as better faecal sludge emptying with Vacutug motorised pumps, recruiting waste transport workers, and encouraging source separation of organic waste. This solution was chosen given the current waste streams and especially given the high demand for compost coming from neighbouring farmers. Click here for more information.

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.”
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.”
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.“

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

WaterAid: https://www.wateraid.org/uk/

Categories
Asia Pacific

SDG Cities Challenge in Malaysia, India, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Australia

SDG Cities Challenge in Malaysia, India, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Australia 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

SDGs, SIDS, Capacity Building, Data 

ORGANISATION(S)

Connected Cities Lab, Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia, Banksia Foundation 

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

The 2020 SDGs Cities Challenge began on 13 May 2020 with ten initial cities from Malaysia, India, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Australia. There is a wealth of resources available for cities and business to support the implementation of the SDGs however it is not always easy to find a methodology that best fits a city’s local context and identifies appropriate local solutions. The SDGs Cities Challenge links cities with their urban partners in academia, business and community in a structured process of co-design. This creates innovative approaches for cities to accelerate action towards the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG11, using an initiative or project to which they are already committed. Each city is given the opportunity to produce an implementation plan, and ultimately a voluntary local review (VLR) aligned to the SDGs. The SDGs Cities Challenge is a comprehensive, long-term program aligned with the 2030 Development Agenda. Click here to find out more.  

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “With almost 50% of Commonwealth citizens living and working in cities and human settlements, and 65% of the 169 targets underlying the 17 SDGs linked to territorial and urban development, sustainable urbanisation must be central to the Commonwealth’s agenda for delivering a common future: connecting, innovating, and transforming.”  
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.”  
  • Universities, research, technology, innovation, and knowledge sharing will be at the heart of ensuring sustainable cities and human settlements of the future.  

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Connected Cities Lab: https://sites.research.unimelb.edu.au/connected-cities

Categories
Asia

Revolutionising House Lending for Pakistan’s Informal Sector

Revolutionising House Lending for Pakistan’s Informal Sector

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Finance, housing, urban poor, climate 

ORGANISATION(S)

REALL in partnership with Ansaar Management Company (AMC) and House Building Finance Company (HBFC)

In Pakistan, the affordable housing challenge is vast with many bottlenecks. One of the main blockages is the lack of housing finance for people on low incomes. These people have been systematically misunderstood or excluded by mainstream mortgage lenders.

Reall have invested in affordable housing property developer, the Ansaar Management Company (AMC), who has successfully launched a pioneering new mortgage product in partnership with the semi-state-owned lending institution HBFC.

AMC and HBFC’s mortgage product is available to people in both formal and informal employment. They have de-risked lending by AMC withholding titles until the loan amount is recovered as a guarantee to HBFC. Community development officers maintain the housing site which increases property value and reassures HBFC that returns will exceed sale value in the case of customer default.

The mortgage product for people on low incomes is the first of its kind in Pakistan. With more than 60 mortgages granted so far, the initial performance has been outstanding with average repayment rates of 80% in 30 days, increasing to 99% in 90 days. This data is proving the commercial viability of lending to this market segment whilst creating opportunities to scale up, resolve the escalating urbanisation crisis and unleash the developmental and economic potential of affordable housing.

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.”  
  • “There is already a substantial deficit in investment in essential urban infrastructure.” 
  •  “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.” 

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

REALL: https://www.reall.net/

Categories
Africa Asia Pacific

Urban Data Collection in India

Urban Data Collection in India 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Urban planning, technology/data, governance 

ORGANISATION(S)

Indian Institute for Human Settlements in partnership with University of Cape Town and Connected Cities Lab. 

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

In the Indian context, data on urbanisation is not released at an adequate spatial and temporal resolution. While data is collected by various government agencies, however, it is collected relatively infrequently and is not released at a fine-grained resolution that allows researchers to understand urban inequalities, vulnerabilities, risks and exposure. This prevents policymakers, practitioners and researchers from formulating adequate policies and theory to deal with the challenges raised by urbanisation in these contexts. In order to address this, the Urban Informatics Lab and the Geospatial Lab at IIHS have been collaborating to develop open source, scalable methods to generate fine-grained data on India’s cities. This approach combines publicly available administrative data along with satellite data, using geo-spatial analysis techniques to develop new methods as well as new datasets that shed light on urban inequalities and pathways to sustainability. Further, IIHS are developing an Urban Observatory on Bangalore to disseminate this data. This approach is further being amplified through a set of partnerships across the Commonwealth – with the Connected Cities Lab, Australia and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. 

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.” 
  • “Universities, research, technology, innovation, and knowledge sharing will be at the heart of ensuring sustainable cities and human settlements of the future.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.”   

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS): https://iihs.co.in/

Categories
Asia Europe

Nutrition Smart Cities: ‘BINDI’ Birmingham India Nutrition Initiative in Birmingham and Pune

Nutrition Smart Cities: ‘BINDI’ Birmingham India Nutrition Initiative in Birmingham and Pune 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Food, Health, COVID-19 

ORGANISATION(S)

Food Foundation, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Birmingham City Council, Pune Municipal Corporation 

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

The Food Foundation facilitated a learning partnership between Birmingham, UK and Pune, India which involved the development of policies and practices as part of a ‘Food Smart City’ initiative. Food Smart Cities use data and technology to change the way that food is produced, processed, distributed and consumed. Birmingham and Pune have a common ambition to seize opportunities to support safer, healthier and more sustainable city food environments which prevent malnutrition in all its forms. The focus of the partnership is on policies regarding food prepared out of the home – to encourage that food which is available and promoted is safe, nutritious, affordable and procured in a manner which supports environmental sustainability and local economic development. In the first 18-month phase, the Food Foundation worked with local authorities in both cities to design the partnership, based on citizen engagement and evidence from elsewhere around the globe. A Situational Analysis Reports for both Birmingham and Pune which compiled secondary data on the nutrition situation in both cities to inform the partnership. Both cities shared a similar approach when responding to the COVID-19 emergency. Case studies and videos have been produced highlighting partnerships with the voluntary sector to ensure emergency food aid was delivered to communities and families in need. Click here to find out more.  

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens. This is critical as many Commonwealth cities and human settlements are grappling with poverty, informality, food security and migration.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.” 
  • “The Commonwealth has the potential to transform the way in which it does business to achieve a uniquely Commonwealth response to the challenges and opportunities of urbanisation.” 

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Food Foundation: https://foodfoundation.org.uk/

Categories
Asia

Mapping Vulnerability and Resilience in Malaysia

Mapping Vulnerability and Resilience in Malaysia  

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Good Governance, Technology, Resilience, COVID-19 

ORGANISATION(S)

Think City

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

Despite the socio-economic toll of public health interventions cited by numerous academics, there had been a lack of investigation into the inter-related nature of the COVID-19 impacts and how vulnerability and community resilience would play out spatially. This project aimed to tackle the lack of analysed data in Malaysia, to aid decision-making and raise awareness amongst the public regarding the different levels of impacts associated with Covid-19. A GIS (Geographical Information System) multi-criteria analysis was developed to model the relative social, economic, and health impacts and risks of the pandemic, with the overall aim of identifying vulnerable communities in Malaysia. The mapping tool can be found here. Key challenges included the lack of granular data to accurately map and identify specific sites of vulnerability, as well as ensuring that the data would not be outdated in the face of new reported cases and research produced each day. This exercise demonstrated the crucial role of data in addressing the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic and gaps in developing adaptive response plans and policies. The development of the mapping tool led to an urban policy paper titled ‘Mapping Vulnerability and Resilience: A decision support tool for policymakers’, which dissected the findings and made key policy recommendations based on the spatial and demographic inequality found through the analysis. The policy paper can be found here. 

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • Cities “are vulnerable to external shocks and natural disasters and are dealing with both the immediate and long-term effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic.” 
  • Universities, research, technology, innovation, and knowledge sharing will be at the heart of ensuring sustainable cities and human settlements of the future. 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.”  

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Think City: https://thinkcity.com.my/

Categories
Asia

Kita-2-Kita Programme: Empowering Urban Poor Communities in Selangor, Malaysia

Kita-2-Kita Programme: Empowering Urban Poor Communities in Selangor, Malaysia 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Good Governance, Housing, Urban Poor, COVID-19, Technology, Public Service Delivery 

ORGANISATION(S)

Think City, Afrik Nexus, Selangor State, Menteri Besar Incorporated, Pemodalan Negeri Selangor Berhad, Lembaga Perumahan dan Hartanah Selangor, Perumahan Hartanah Selangor, Citi Foundation 

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

In the Klang Valley (Greater KL), Malaysia, nearly 1 in 4 residents live in public housing which has many major issues that need to be addressed such as old housing stock and infrastructure, lack of social mobility and empowerment, poor job security and other related systemic challenges. The K2K programme has been designed in response to Covid-19 to test ways to engage with the community during movement control restrictions and deliver aid efficiently and transparently. The project has wider aims to reduce residents’ cost of living, improve standard of living and strengthen management systems in urban poor communities within Malaysian public housing schemes. A digital platform links residents with aid and support services in an efficient and transparent way that also generates community insights. In addition to food aid delivery, the programme is now focussing on relieving mental stress, building social cohesion and skills development. The programme delivery combines both traditional and digital methods of implementation.  

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • Cities “are vulnerable to external shocks and natural disasters and are dealing with both the immediate and long-term effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.” 

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Think City: https://thinkcity.com.my/