The Metropolitan Capacity Assessment Methodology (MetroCAM) has been developed by GIZ in cooperation with UN-Habitat as a guiding framework for implementing sustainable development agendas at the metropolitan scale. With this modular toolbox, urban stakeholders are able to assess existing capacity, future needs, and potential trigger points and finally identify options for change to improve existing services and conditions.

Urban and strategic planning are critical tools to create sustainable cities. Local and regional governments (LRGs) drive sustainable development, ensuring essential public services and can act as catalysts for transformative change at the local level. However, LRGs often face significant gaps in data, capacity, and resources. Investing in municipal capacity building, institutional efficiency, and partnerships across various levels is crucial for localizing the SDGs.

The  success  of  National  Urban  Policy  (NUP)  depends  on its effectiveness in helping policymakers ascertain the  positive  change  the  policy  is  making  to  the  life  of  all.  The  Guide  recommends  that  national,  regional  and  local  governments  be  empowered  to  monitor  and  evaluate  urban  policies  as  they  are  not  only  aware  of  the  demands,  changing  tasks  and  needs  of  their  constituencies,  but  they  are  also  conscious  of  the  territorial  and  spatial  inequalities  that  need  to  be  highlighted  in  national  policy  making.

It is in appreciation of the important role of multi-level governance that this guide was developed to offer an understanding on how to improve horizontal and vertical coordination among different levels of government as well as leveraging the contributions of non-state actors such as the private sector, civil societies, community organizations, and academia, among others, in the Global South.

The New Urban Agenda represents a shared vision for a better and more sustainable future – one in which all people have equal rights and access to the benefits and opportunities that cities can offer, and in which the international community reconsiders the urban systems and physical form of our urban spaces to achieve this.

This guide offers state-of-the-art practical guidelines for the development of VLRs based on international, regional and local on-the-ground experience, enhancing multi-level governance and stakeholder engagement.

Presentation of the New Urban Agenda Monitoring Framework by Robert Ndegwa, Head, Data and Analytics Section, 19th October 2020.

This report studies the process that led to the four Swedish VLRs, emphasising the role that social engagement and local democracy had on the outcome. The Swedish experience is analysed in relation to other cases of VLRs in different countries worldwide.

Disaster risk and resilience are complex, systemic, and dynamic; just like the urban areas and communities that are exposed to it. This complexity requires local and regional governments to understand what constitutes and  shapes  disaster  risk,  and  to  provide  solutions  that  will  not  only  reduce  it,  but  also  build  resilience  to  ensure  equitable  and  sustainable  development in their communities.

This roadmap aims to support local and regional governments and their associations to implement and monitor the SDGs and to influence national policy-making with a view to creating an enabling environment for action at local and regional level.