Nairobi, 27 June 2019 - UN-Habitat has published the first draft version of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) Reporting Guidelines, and has invited stakeholders to provide feedback before they are finalized.
Adopted in 2016, the NUA readdresses the way cities and human settlements should be planned, designed, financed, developed, governed and managed to improve the quality of life for all.
Once finalized the Reporting Guidelines will facilitate the preparation of national reports that highlight the progress of implementation of the NUA.
The Guidelines are a core component of the NUA Platform, a new knowledge portal for reporting on the progress made on implementing the NUA and 2030 Agenda at the global, regional, country and local level. The platform is designed to capture information from governments through the Reporting Guidelines, in addition to receiving inputs from the United Nations (UN) System as well as other key stakeholders.
“With the right approach, urbanization could be used to address the many problems the world is currently facing," said Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General recently. "To realize a life of dignity for all and to advance progress on the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, we need cities that are free of crime, pollution and poverty — cities where diversity is celebrated, and the social fabric is strong. We will work together with the Governing Council to strengthen UN-Habitat’s capabilities to support countries in realizing this vision.”
UN-Habitat held its first Multi-stakeholder Consultation Meeting during the UN-Habitat Assembly to present the NUA Platform and Reporting Guidelines. The participants included national governments, European Commission, UN System, grassroot organizations and the private sector. Participants reiterated the importance of leaving no one behind in an effort to promote an inclusive and consultative process when reporting on the NUA.
Ms. Felicitas Kubala, Deputy Mayor of Mannheim, Germany said, “Several cities are working on the Voluntary National Reports. Involvement of Local Authorities should be made mandatory. It would be great if UN-Habitat supported cities to present these Voluntary National Reports for the next World Urban Forum.”
UN-Habitat is developing the NUA indicators framework which has been aligned with the NUA Reporting Guidelines. These indicators will enable the Member States to measure their progress of implementation. To support this, Mr. Claver Gatete, the Minister of Infrastructure in Rwanda, emphasized the importance of understanding the New Urban Agenda. He said, “It is critical to understand the indicators of the New Urban Agenda in order to understand the Platform. We need to work with other organizations that deal with statistics.”
In the lead up to the next Multi-stakeholder Consultation Meeting, UN-Habitat is inviting feedback on the New Urban Agenda Reporting Guidelines to make it as inclusive and coordinated as possible. Once finalized the Reporting Guidelines will facilitate the preparation of national reports, which will feed into the Report of the Secretary General (Quadrennial Report), highlighting the progress of implementation of the NUA.
Please send comments to Ololande.ogunsanya@un.org by 15 August 2019.
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Busy crowds cross the intersection of 5th Avenue and 23rd Street in Manhattan, New York City [Shutterstock/Ryan DeBerardinis]