Urban Governance, Social Inclusion and Fragility in the MENA region
Held on 10 March as part of its 2021/22 global webinar series on Decentralization and Local Development around the World, the Local Public Sector Alliance—in collaboration with the World Bank (Subnational Governance and Decentralization Global Solutions Group), UNDP, UNCDF, DeLoG, and a number of other global partners—hosted a series of knowledge sharing events on Decentralization and Local Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) during the week of March 7-11, 2022.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is defined by its urbanizing, and highly concentrated populations. Yet, rising inequality and exclusion within cities can derail development progress, and MENA is no exception. Fast growing and diverse urban populations face limited infrastructure, poor service delivery and high population densities – in addition to the pressures of economic crisis, fragility and violent conflict in some sub-regions. Against this backdrop, what lessons are being learnt in the region about how cities can be managed to function as spaces for social inclusion and platforms for effective urban service delivery and development?