Swiss sponsor city development scheme ‘in Africa, for Africa’
Specific challenges for urban planners in Africa include resource availability, water supply and sanitation, and the effects of climate change
Keystone
The Swiss government is sponsoring the “African Cities Lab” initiative to provide online training for urban-development professionals in Africa.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/ts
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) is spearheading this initiative – which has received funding from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) – through its Excellence in Africa Centre. The scheme has already signed up six partner organisations.
The African Cities Lab aims to develop training programmes “in Africa, for Africa”, EPFL said in a statement on Monday.
“The initiative comes in response to the extremely rapid growth of African cities and the ensuing need for urban planners trained in the challenges specific to those regions, especially in the areas of urban mobility, resource availability, energy management, water supply and sanitation, and the effects of climate change,” EPFL said.
More
More
Urbanisation poses challenge for Swiss development aid
This content was published on
Switzerland is adapting its international assistance policy to put more emphasis on aiding the urban poor in developing countries.
“The goal is to give urban planners the tools and insight to develop African cities as sustainably as possible.
To that end, EPFL will develop a training platform with massive open online courses (MOOCs) that is aimed specifically at urban-development practitioners in Africa. In a second phase of the project, the platform will be extended to students.
Entire continent
The platform will be hosted at Sèmè City in Benin and will be run by local project managers across the continent with the assistance of EPFL.
Five other universities in Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, Ghana and Rwanda are already involved. These universities were selected to span the entire African continent and will provide the skills needed to develop the MOOCs in French and English.
EPFL will receive CHF2.65 million ($3 million) in funding from SECO for the first phase of the project, which is scheduled to run for two-and-a-half years.
What do you think Switzerland’s Alain Berset can bring to the Council of Europe?
The former interior minister is to become the first Swiss Secretary General of the Council of Europe – which issues should his five-year term focus on?
How is your country dealing with the return of stolen artifacts?
Western nations like Switzerland often have to deal with the process of recovering or returning looted artifacts which have been illegally imported. What’s the situation like in your country?
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Aid money: spending every penny wisely
This content was published on
News that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) had uncovered fraud in its Ebola operation caused dismay.
Humanitarians soul-search over ‘institutional racism’
This content was published on
Some of the world’s most respected aid agencies are examining their structures and employment culture, amid accusations of institutional racism.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.