Huairou at the EGM on SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities)

The Huairou Commission, represented by Frances Birungi-Odong from UCOBAC, Uganda, participated in the Expert Group Meeting to take stock of the progress on SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) in Bilbao, Spain on February 7-9, 2023. This three-day meeting was organised by UN-DESA/DSDG, UN Habitat and UNDP, along with other key partners. This discussion aimed to see what progress, achievements, concerns and opportunities have arisen since the last review of SDG 11 in 2018. Further, this dialogue aimed to inform the High Level Political Forum 2023 whose theme is “Building back better from the corona virus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

Frances, who was representing the grassroots women’s constituency, participated in review of the first draft of the SDG11 Synthesis Report 2023 that was organised by UN Habitat, as well as breakaway group discussions which focused on making policy recommendations for concrete action that lead to better access to basic services and an improved quality of life for city dwellers around the world.

Some of Frances’ key messages were:

• The need for greater recognition of the contributions, leadership roles, and capacities of organized grassroots women’s groups and organizations in localizing SDG 11.
• Ensuring inclusive, consultative and participatory planning and decision making to close the gender gap in cities, especially with regards to access to basic services.
• Recognising the value of locally generated knowledge and data, taking into consideration local and indigenous experiences. Huairou has a repository of well-tested tools and practices that are grassroots women led, like the local-to-local dialogues, community mapping, peer exchanges etc. that generate valuable, context specific solutions and innovations that can be scaled-up.
• Partnerships between grassroots women’s groups and other stakeholders need to be formalised, with greater inclusion of groups in participators planning, decision-making and financing decisions. For transformative, sustainable and equitable solutions to make cities more liveable, grassroots women must be taken on board as partners instead of beneficiaries.
• We must expand our understanding of women’s safety, and ensure that women in cities and public spaces are safe from physical, sexual, emotional and mental abuse in its various forms.

Take a look at some of the pictures from the event below!