The Program of Inhabitants at Africities 2018
Organized by UCLG-A in Marrakesh, Morocco from 20 to 24 November 2018, Africities VIII is the most important continental gathering for local governments. The IAI will participate to strengthen the voice of the inhabitants in this dialogue, by organizing on 23/11 the Meeting “Towards the construction of a Mediterranean Network of Inhabitants” to give answers to the request for freedom to reside and circulate residents of this common sea.
Networks of inhabitants as well as those active for the right to housing and the city, such as the SDI and the Global Platform for the Right to the City, organize other sessions, so many opportunities to verify the implementation of commitments taken in Johannesburg at Africities 2015 in building a shared strategy.
Africities will therefore be a major step for Inhabitants of Africa to R-Exist the implementation of neoliberal policies of the New Urban Agenda in the continent, which, in the name of limitless development, cause urbanization that destroys the countryside and nature, increase violent evictions and mass migrations, violating the human rights and the environment.
The Program of Inhabitants at Africities 2018
23/11/18
9:30 to 12:30
Venue: Meknès
SOU 103 - Towards the construction of a Mediterranean Inhabitants' Network
This meeting, organized by the IAI, aims to establish an international network of organizations of inhabitants across the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, residents and migrants, in partnership with local authorities who share the human rights approach in the implementation of housing, urban planning and democratic governance policies. This is the first common step between organizations and institutions that feel the need to exchange experiences, define common strategies, build international solidarity for the right to housing and the city and to promote freedom of movement and the right to reside in welcoming, multicultural, multi-ethnic, safe and dignified cities. It is now imperative and urgent to tackle the roots of these problems, provoking the impoverishment and inequality of inhabitants and our territories, and to implement transformative proposals from neighbourhoods and urban collectives connected across the Mediterranean. The meeting promotes a project of local/international mobilization and training which, starting from the protagonism of the subjects directly concerned, encourages resistance to real estate speculation, social exclusion, war between the poor and racism which feed themselves through poor housing and evictions from one side of the Mediterranean Sea municipality to the other. Speakers will come not only from Morocco, Tunisia, Spain and Italy, but also from other African countries, such as Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe, also concerned by the proposal because these countries are often the backbone from which migrants arrive, new inhabitants of the Mediterranean basin.
21/11/18
14:30 to 17:30
Venue: El Jadida
The session, organized by SDI, aims to:
- Provide critical reflection and debating space for diverse grassroots community constituencies and other locally focused urban stakeholders.
- Short-list issues for collaborative problem-solving and identify planning and financing mechanisms that formalize and resource roles for urban poor organizations in producing inclusive urban policies and practices.
- To catalyze broad and effective participation of grassroots women and men from some of the most marginalized communities to contribute meaningfully towards Africities formal outcomes.
- To expand opportunities in global advocacy spaces that enable leaders of community groups to position the grassroots constituency as a key stakeholder group.
22/11/18
14:30 to 17:30
Venue: Marrakech
SOU 48 - Right to the City and the international agendas: African realities and perspectives
The session, organized by the GPR2C, will be a debate between representatives from local governments, researchers and civil society to explore the specific challenges of the Right to City in different African local contexts, which will incorporate different perspectives not only based on a diversity of local contexts and personal experiences, but also on two specific components of the Right to the City: A city/human settlement free of discrimination and fulfilling the right to housing. The session will explore how the Right to the City is understood in the African context, the different ways in which it is implemented on the ground as well as its challenges and opportunities as a cornerstone for the follow up and implementation of the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda.
Africities includes other interesting activities. You will find by clicking here the whole program we propose.