Upskilling mobility practitioners from 23 cities in Latin America -The MobiliseYourCity/EUROCLIMA+ Community of Practice promotes sharing and provides trainings
The rapid urban growth that Latin American cities have experienced in recent decades demands better strategic planning that integrates environmental, social and economic sustainability criteria. To promote this transition collectively, the MobiliseYourCity Community of Practice and EUROCLIMA+ connect different sustainable urban mobility initiatives in the region and, through the exchange of experiences, strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of governments.
The EUROCLIMA+ programme supports seven Latin American cities in the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). In order to provide more technical tools to the beneficiary cities and others in the region, the SUMP Learning Programme for Latin America was launched in November 2019. So far, two courses out of four have been held, the last one been held virtually between 14 April and 29 May.
More than 70 local authorities from 23 cities are participating actively in the programme. This includes the beneficiaries of the EUROCLIMA+ SUMP projects: Antofagasta (Chile), Ambato (Ecuador), Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (Mexico), Havana (Cuba), Arequipa (Peru), Cordoba (Argentina) and Baixada Santista (Brazil).
The Learning Programme is based on the essence of the SUMP concept and provides participating cities with tools, examples and best practices. In addition, its content is adapted to the characteristics of the regions. The second course focused on the second phase of the SUMP Cycle "Strategy Development" and included three modules, a discussion forum and a SUMP library with resources and documents, as well as a virtual seminar section with the video recordings. Compared to the first course, there were two times more views on the videos and materials, and three times more posts on the discussion forums.
In February 2020, the beneficiaries of EUROCLIMA+ met in Bogotá for the Latin America and Caribbean Sustainable Transport Week. During this meeting, workshops and trainings on NUMPs and SUMPs were held and support needs in the transport sector were identified through the Community of Practice.
At the event, the Platform for Sustainable Urban Mobility in Latin America was presented, which connects specialists and key actors in the region belonging to the government sector, academia and civil society. In this virtual space participants find discussion forums on topics such as electromobility, MVR, transport in the NDC, NUMP and SUMP, among others.
Current issues such as the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the development of SUMPs and how the projects contribute to a green recovery in the region will be included in the next courses of the Learning Programme. This will include international examples and best practices. Moreover, the Platform for Sustainable Urban Mobility in Latin America allows the MobiliseYourCity Partnership to maintain an exchange of experiences even after the programme has ended.
A new learning programme will be launched in 2021 to train coaches throughout the region and bring the knowledge of SUMPs to more Latin American cities.