UBERn Planner

Result of Service
The main goal of the project is to adopt a responsive Manual for Gender Inclusive Urban Planning and Design that will be used as a reference for sustainable and resilient urban planning and promote gender inclusive cities in Egypt.

Work Location
Cairo, Egypt

Expected duration
Part-time 5 months

**Responsibilities**:
Organizational Setting:
UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. It is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system.

Introduction:
Urbanization is a key driver of development and cities are seen to be on the frontline of many of the global challenges the world is currently facing. In Egypt, 75% of the GDP is generated in urban areas and 80% of the jobs are in existing cities. However, unplanned, and imbalanced urbanization contributes strongly to inequalities and inefficient use of resources. 68 percent of the total population are living in three regions, Greater Cairo Region, Alexandria and Delta; representing 1.8 percent of Egypt’s total area, while 77 cities comprise 4 percent of the urban population.

In this context, the Greater Cairo Region (GCR) - being one of the world's largest and important metropolitan areas
- play a vital role as Egypt's political and economic capital, apart from being one of the largest urban agglomerations in the Arab world, Africa and the world. Its population of 20 million people is distributed over three governorates, i.e. Cairo, Giza, al-Qalubiyya.

Considering the state policy for achieving sustainable development and in recognition of the urban, political, social and economic role GCR plays in Egypt, the General Organization of Physical Planning (GOPP), as the technical arm for the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities (MoHUUC) prepared a long-term Strategic Development Vision for GCR. Under a technical cooperation agreement between UN-Habitat and the General Organization for Physical Planning (GOPP), the vision aimed to achieve sustainable development through improving the quality of life for residents and increasing the competitiveness of the region. Following the created vision, the cooperation project ‘Strengthening Development Planning and Management in Greater Cairo’ was initiated in June 2016 in cooperation with the GOPP, and New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) as a representative of the MoHUUC and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Egypt with UNDP and UN-Habitat; to ensure continued effective implementation of outcomes and results of the vision as well as, to contribute effectively to the realization of priority projects.

UNHabitat is committed to ensure the inclusiveness and integration of women and girls in the development of cities especially given rapid urbanization hinders gender mainstreaming in cities. This therefore prevents the full integration of women and girls in the economic, social, political and cultural life of cities. In order to empower women and girls and improve the well-being of all persons in the city, it is necessary to work towards promoting inclusive cities with spaces that welcome and engage women and girls.

The UN Policy brief “COVID-19 in an Urban World” emphasized that urban areas have become the epicenter of the pandemic with an estimated 90 percent of all reported COVID-19 cases. The pandemic has also increased the vulnerability of women and girls in urban areas, resulting in a significant need to develop a step-by-step planning and design guide to aid in the urban planning and design of gender inclusive and healthy cities. Noting that existing research shows that the COVID-19 pandemic provided a great opportunity for planners and policy makers to take transformative actions towards creating cities that are more just and resilient and that supports gender inclusion, healthy living and well-being.

In this context, this task builds on the identified vision for GCR to ensure mainstreaming of women and girls in urban planning tools and processes by developing a detailed “Manual for Gender Inclusive Urban Planning and Design” that can be piloted and showcased as a part of the GOPP mandate to promote gender inclusive cities in Egypt. It will also contribute to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” and its targets, in particular target 11.2 and 11.7 as well as to SDG 5 “ Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.

The Manual for Gender Inclusive Urban Planning and Design will be developed using the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and Guidelines developed in 2017 as a part of this project, to enhance responsiveness of the strategic urban development planning process to gender related needs. Women and girls face exclusions within the urban sphere limiting the following i) access to livelihoods and basic services