International Housing Coalition
Weekly Update
December 4, 2015
In this Update 
 

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Rockefeller Foundation Launches 10% Resilience Pledge

Last week, the Mayor of Mexico City signed the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities Project's (100RC) 10% Resilience Pledge. Asking mayors from around the globe to join him, Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera committed to  dedicate or leverage 10% of the city's budget to resilience-related projects and initiatives.   In Mexico City, this will translate into over $1.1 billion USD to tackle the city's resilience issues, like flooding, transportation, and social inequality.

The Foundation will also partner with any 100RC member-city who wishes to sign the pledge and "seek to provide up to $5 million worth of goods and services... to support their resilience-building efforts."

The IHC is pleased to see the Rockefeller Foundation engage meaningfully at the city level, and to see Mayor Mancera recognizing urban inequality as a critical resilience challenge. 

Read more about the 10% Resilience Pledge here. 
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Senate Confirms Gayle Smith as New USAID Administrator

The Senate voted this week to confirm Gayle Smith as the new USAID Administrator, following the resignation of Rajiv Shaw in February. Most recently Ms. Smith served as a S pecial Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director at the National Security Council, where she focused on global development, democracy, and humanitarian assistance issues. 

The development community has largely praised her nomination and confirmation, while criticizing the delay between her nomination in April and her confirmation this week. She will have a little over a year in office before the end of the Obama administration, and while there may not be a major shift of resources towards cities and urban issues, during that time, IHC is continuing its advocacy on the importance of urban development and its relationship to the new USAID initiative to combat poverty. 

Read articles on the confirmation process and opinions on critical priorities for the coming year here, here and here. 
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Housing Finance in Africa Yearbook 2015

Correction: The yearbook was published by Center for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, not the Affordable Housing Institute as previously reported. 

The Center for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa recently released the 2015 Housing Finance in Africa Yearbook.  The Yearbook is intended to provide housing finance practitioners, investors, developers, researchers and government officials with a current update of practice and developments in housing finance in Africa,  through a broad introduction followed by specific profiles of 48 countries in Africa. 

Five themes highlighted in the report include:
  1. Innovation in financing
  2. Growing awareness of the opportunity in residential development
  3. The identification of niche markets and an appreciation of the affordability challenge
  4. Policy & regulatory evolution to match investor interest
  5. Growing experience and investor sophistication
Read the full report here. 
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HUD Call for Papers for Cityscape Habitat III Symposium

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD) has issued a call for paper submissions for a dedicated Symposium in  Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research in honor of Habitat III, the UN conference on housing and urban development. 

Many changes have taken place since Habitat II was held in 1996, chief among them  the rapid and varied pace of urbanization and the shift to an increasingly urban global population.  Papers accepted for the Cityscape Habitat III Symposium must be original contributions to knowledge that clearly tie back to Habitat III. Submission proposals may be theoretical or empirical, and papers that provide discussions on policy implications are encouraged. 

Abstracts submissions are due by January 29, 2015. Read a more about the submission and review process here. 
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ADB Event: Governance and Achieving the SDGs

Please join the Asian Development Bank for a discussion on the Bank's 
renewed focus on good governance as a key driver to reducing poverty, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.  

Gambhir Bhatta, Technical Advisor for Governance at the Asian Development Bank, will talk about the work that ADB is doing to support governance reforms, and how governance issues are set to evolve in the coming years as they are played out at local levels.

WHEN:  Thursday December 10th 12:30 - 2:00 PM EST
WHERE:  900 17th Street NW,Suite 900
Washington, DC 20006  

Find more information and RSVP  here . 
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In the News and Around the Web

This week, leaders from around the world are meeting in Paris for COP21, the global negotiations focused on addressing climate change. While more results will be covered next week, coverage has been heavy this week. Read some highlights of the conversations around sustainable cities below.
  • Read an interactive essay by Al Jazeera on the effects of rising sea levels on slums and megacities here. 
  • Read comprehensive coverage from the city perspective of the conference by CitiScope here. 
  • Read a blog post from the Brookings Institution on mobilizing the growth of cities in Africa toward sustainable development here. 
  • Read an article about the 10 winners of the C40 Cities Awards here. 

International Housing Coalition
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phone: (202) 408-8507