For instance, 81% of the population in the Americas and the Caribbean lives in cities and, among the urban population, 25% lives in precarious and vulnerable settlements, subjects to social, political, and economic disparity and thus, vulnerable to disasters especially this pandemic (UNDRR, 2020b).

The COVID-19 pandemic hit many cities hard but also served as a wake-up call for urban leaders to reconsider the way cities are organized, planned, governed and the way investments in cities should be evaluated. As such, the knowledge sharing between cities by reporting practices that have been already tested and implemented by one city and that can be successfully adapted by another is highly desired.

In 2020, the Cities Project organized five capacity training webinars jointly with UNDRR, PAHO/WHO received participation from over 2400 participants from over 140 countries. In 2021, this training series held jointly with UNDRR and PAHO/WHO again attracted over 5,000 registrations from 165 countries and territories, and close to 3,000 participants from 155 countries and territories joined the sessions live.

As a follow-up to the results, Cities Project will continue organizing trainings and promoting collaborations among cities and institutions under this theme in partnership with specialized UN agencies and partners and facilitating new pilot projects to accelerate the transfer of knowledge, technology, and innovation among the Global South.

The Cities Project welcomes city partners interested in participating in this Cities Cluster on Disaster and risk reduction, mitigation in resilient cities and hopes the knowledge exchanged here leads to more South-South cooperation and a swift post-pandemic social and economic recovery.