New from the International Secretariat
20 July 2009
The International Secretariat continues to have an eventful 2009.
Professor Paul James, Director UNGCCP is currently on his way to England where he has been invited by the University of Salford, to give a keynote address at The Smart City Futures Conference.
The Cities Programme is continuing to gain momentum around the globe, as business, government and the community sector utilize the Cities Programme as a platform for inter-sectoral collaboration as an effective way of governing complex urban challenges. Cities are at different stages of engagement with Greater Amman Municipality, Jordan and City of Pune, India currently in negotiation with the City Mayor.
To assist in responding to external interest and inquiry, our updated website now provides a user friendly overview of the engagement process and illustrates the activities, outcomes and requirements of each phase.
There is now a comprehensive resource set available for member cities to utilize during the different phases of engagement, which are to be used in conjunction with facilitation from the International Secretariat.
In July, Ms Caroline Bayliss, Deputy Director, UNGCCP and Ms Stephanie McCarthy, Manager, UNGCCP travelled to Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India, who has been a longstanding UNGCCP member city.
Jamshedpur is a fascinating city, with its effective governance strategy at the centre of its success. Jamshedpur’s origins are afforded by the large scale steel plant, which is owned and operated by Tata Steel. It is the world’s sixth largest steel plant and celebrated 100 years in 2007. Tata Steel has a rich history in investing in social infrastructure and providing for it people. Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company Limited (JUSCO) is a full subsidiary of Tata Steel and is India’s first private sector comprehensive urban infrastructure services provider. JUSCO provides utilities (water, electricity, sanitation) to over 50,000 in the Bagan Areas and surrounding districts and rural areas near Jamshedpur.
The inaugural UN Habitat Business Forum was held in New Delhi from 7-9 July. The theme, ‘Innovative Cities’ showcased examples of how cities are responding to issues including affordability, slum rehabilitation, water and sanitation and other utility provision.
The Forum also provided opportunity for the launch of the ‘Global Campaign for Sustainable Urbanization,’ which is a five year initiative, which will advocate for urban management issues to be an integral part of policy setting and across government agendas.
The Forum was well attended with representation from China, India, Africa, Europe, USA and Australia.
More recently in Melbourne we met with representation from the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to discuss the recently launched TOUR.pact.GC initiative. This is a collaborative initiative between the Office of the Global Compact and the UNWTO and seeks to provide a platform for cities to showcase their sustainable tourism initiatives.
Finally, thank you to those member cities who sent through their contributions to the UNGCCP Annual Review. We encourage member cities to continue to send news and related media articles about their projects. The Annual Review is currently being reviewed by the International Secretariat and will be made available on our website upon completion.
Please direct any inquiry about the UNGCCP to Ms Stephanie McCarthy, Manager UNGCCP at stephanie.mccarthy@rmit.edu.au
