Municipalities and their COVID-19 Response to Local Economic Development

Start of the event:

14:00 Berlin, 8:00 Bogotá, 10:00 Brasília, 15:00 Amman, 16:00 Nairobi, 17:00 Tbilisi, 21:00 Peking

Languages of the event: English, Arabic, Spanish

Municipalities and their COVID-19 Response to Local Economic Development

In the frame of the Connective Cities virtual week, virtual events on Economic Response, Housing & Education will take place on Wednesday, November 25^th. We cordially invite you to participate in our session on How Municipalities in Sub Saharan Africa are Responding to Local Economic Development Due to COVID -19.

This session offers cities and municipalities the opportunity to exchange their experiences and successful strategies about the challenges that local governments face in times of the COVID-19 pandemic is the economic impact of the sudden closure of local businesses. The multiplier effect of such closures is multifold, which results in a reduction in tax revenues and user charges for the local governments and an increased strain on our local economies.

To make the sessions more relevant, we will be using recent data sets. At the moment, we are conducting a desk and frontline research, including interviews with the local Business Associations/Chambers as well as with municipal officials who are asked to describe the known impacts of COVID-19 on their cities and provide actions that they have taken to address or mitigate those impacts. We will synthesize the survey and use it as a basis of our presentation and discussion. In order to create an international exchange, this session will highlight experiences from Uganda and USA. In addition, various Cities officials, the leadership of business organizations, and other interested people from Accra, Nairobi, Kigali, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Lusaka, Harare, Addis Ababa, and Mombassa will participate in the discussion and contribute their views.

The following Topics will be discussed: