Nine institutions including the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) a new at the World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia, expressing their collective commitment to help cities improve resilience to disaster and climate risks, as well as to economic and other systemic shocks.
"This collaboration across organizations is a significant step towards facilitating the flow of additional financing to cities and ultimately ensuring that shocks to the urban system don't undermine decades of economic growth and prosperity," said Sameh Wahba, acting director of the World Bank's Urban Development and Resilience Department.
Strengthened collaboration among partners – UN Human Settlements Programme (), UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), , the , and its , the , and , in addition to the Bank and – aims to improve the flow of knowledge and financial resources necessary to help cities become more resilient by:
? Fostering harmonization of the multiple approaches and tools available to help cities build their resilience;
? Catalyzing access to innovative finance mechanisms, including risk-based instruments that will enhance cities’ ability to reduce exposure and vulnerability to shocks and stresses and increase their adaptive capacity; and
? Supporting capacity development of cities to achieve their goals by facilitating direct sharing of best practice information and cities’ knowledge enhancement.
Collectively, these organizations work in over 2,000 cities globally, with over $2 billion committed annually toward advancing resilient urban development.