NAIROBI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The UN has asked development stakeholders to step up efforts towards meeting sustainable urban development at the regional and country levels through partnerships and multi-stakeholder engagements.
Victor Kisob, deputy executive director of the UN-Habitat, said that impacts on development policies, legislation and programs can be realized better through the partnership arrangement.
"It is clear that multi-stakeholder thematic networks and coalitions can deliver results and outcomes at all levels," Kisob told delegates attending a global stakeholders forum, a side event ahead of the UN-Habitat Assembly.
The official noted that even though the UN reforms provide for partnerships and multi-stakeholders engagement at all levels, much more needed to be done in making sustained cross-sectoral linkages, building on expertise and knowledge of all partners.
"We believe that the innovative approaches to partnerships developed within thematic areas could inform this process," he added.
Kisob said that the process by which national urban policies are developed brings several actors together within and outside governments.
The UN official told delegates to set up regular urban innovation centers attached to focal point ministries of housing and urban development or academic institutions to allow stakeholders, including young women and men to explore ideas and solutions on how to make cities and human settlements better places for all.
Kisob commended efforts made by countless organizations to move the urban agenda forward and ensure that cities and human settlements are well planned, managed, governed and can work for all.
He observed that the UN-Habitat is committed to creating an enabling environment for stakeholders to engage effectively in the realization of better quality of life in a rapidly urbanizing world.
