The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) will also participate in the ninth edition of the Global Summit "Africities," to be held from tomorrow, Tuesday, May 17 to Saturday, May 21, for the first time in Kenya, in Kisumu, and for the first time in a developing city, not in a metropolis or a large capital city.
In fact, this year's pan-African event, held every three years under the auspices of the United Cities and Local Government of Africa, has the theme "The Role of Intermediate Cities in Africa in the Implementation of the United Nations' Agenda 2030 and the African Union's Agenda 2063.''
Included among the 13,000 expected participants are leaders of African states and members of governments for what has become firmly established as "the premier democratic gathering on the African continent."
The theme of the 2022 edition is, of course, highly topical: "Intermediate cities occupy a strategic place in the rapid urbanization process that is affecting the African continent," AICS explains in its statement. "According to data, by 2050 the majority of the population will be concentrated in cities and in particular in towns with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants, a fact that forces us to reflect on the growing relevance of the relationship between land and community and to identify new strategies for restructuring urban spaces to ensure that they can be inclusive, sustainable, safe, and equipped with public services.
This is why Africities constitutes a unique opportunity for direct confrontation between city administrators, local and regional institutions, representatives of civil society and the private sector.
In this context, the presence of international development partners is important in order to talk and think in concert about the future of African urban spaces, a future where improved living conditions for citizens, sustainability and community participation are priorities.
These are key issues for AICS, which through its cooperation initiatives is active with actions in urban regeneration, slum upgrading, improving social services, building infrastructure, creating employment and preserving heritage. The Agency is working on a new manual for intermediate city development and has recently produced, in collaboration with Sogesid Spa, a strategic manual on slum regeneration in partner countries.
In collaboration with the AICS Headquarters in Rome, and in agreement with the Italian representation in Nairobi, the AICS office in Nairobi at Africities will showcase at its booth some of the key initiatives carried out in the field of urban development not only in Kenya, but throughout Africa.
''AICS's participation in Africities represents an opportunity for growth and exchange for all actors involved in sustainable urban development issues, and an opportunity to build integration and peace in cities, starting with the inhabitant communities,'' said Giovanni Grandi, owner of the AICS office in Nairobi. ''In Kenya we are engaged alongside the authorities in improving infrastructure through a multi-sector strategy involving education, health, access to water and waste management in suburban areas.''
Recently from the agreements between Italy and Kenya on debt rescheduling, Italian Cooperation has financed development projects, upgrading interventions and infrastructure enhancement with 132 initiatives approved to date in 25 counties. In the urban development sector, the program covers the redevelopment of informal settlements in Nairobi and Kilifi with infrastructural and policy interventions, with particular reference to the issue of tenure certainty and participatory urban planning. The agency also plans to soon launch an additional initiative worth six million euros for the regeneration of three slums in Kajiado, Kilifi and Siaya counties.